Houston chef David Skinner is switching things up at his Kemah complex. The chef, who earned a James Beard Award semifinalist nomination for his Native American-inspired tasting menu concept Ishtia, is bringing back Eculent, his modernist tasting menu concept — sort of.
Instead of reviving Eculent’s original concept of a theatrical, 20-plus course tasting menu, a new name, Eculent Restaurant + Liquid Lab, points to its new iteration as a cocktail bar and restaurant with an inventive approach to drinks that are paired with tapas-style small plates, including some of the fan favorite bites. Before diving into the details, let’s clarify a few salient points.
First, when it opens on October 1, Eculent Restaurant + Liquid Lab will occupy the space that had been dedicated to Th Prsrv, the historical tasting menu restaurant Skinner opened in partnership with James Beard Award-winning chef Benchawan Jabthong Painter and her husband Graham Painter of Street to Kitchen. While Th Prsrv has served its final meal, Skinner emphasizes that his personal and professional relationship with the Painters remains strong and the trio will collaborate again in the future.
Second, when Skinner announced his plan to close Eculent and replace it with Ishtia, he said at the time that he was ready to move on after a successful 10-year run. Although Ishtia’s menu is grounded in Native American techniques, including some that Skinner adapted from his Choctaw grandmother’s recipes, he continued to use modern elements such as sous vide to maximize the ingredients’ flavors. While Eculent lived on at large-scale private events, both the chef and his customers realized they missed the experience of dining there on a regular basis.
“I have a decade’s worth of customers who’d say ‘I miss the Caesar salad. I miss the BLT. I wish you’d bring it back,’” Skinner tells CultureMap. “I kind of missed making them.”
Specifically, he started making cocktails that were inspired by his visits to some of the world’s most innovative cocktail bars. They include familiar flavors like a blackberry mojito and rosemary gimlet as well as more avant garde offerings like the Floating Fire, which is served in a Tesla coil and paired with cotton candy.
The food menu starts with some of the small bites that had been part of Eculent’s experience, including the Caesar salad, the smoking mushroom soup, and the BLT. Skinner has also dreamed up some new creations like a duck in mole taco on a house made red corn tortilla and and a beef Wellington flatbread.
Diners who opt for the Taste of Eculent will receive 13 bite-sized dishes for $75. Skinner jokes that it could appeal to people taking GLP-1 medications that limit their appetites.
“The DNA of Eculent never went away,” Skinner says. “Sabbatical is the best way I can describe it. We’ve kept the science-driven whimsy, layered with inspiration from the world’s best bars. We have a much more interesting story to tell now. Story telling is more front and center with this version of Eculent. That comes from the experience with Ishtia.”
In addition to being a la carte rather than a tasting menu, Eculent 2.0 will also distinguish itself in the ordering experience. Skinner has created a website and app that allows diners to control every aspect of their meal — choosing not just what they order but when it will arrive. If someone isn’t interested in any of the cocktails on the menu, they can create their own custom concoction. If Skinner and Eculent’s staff like it enough, they’ll put the drink on the menu and name it after its creator.
“The app allows guests to create a completely bespoke experience. If you don’t like what we have on the menu, create your own. The goal is that we get a lot more regular guests,” he says.
“We may have an AI component where you can tell it [about your day and your tastes], and it will say, ‘here’s a cocktail we recommend or here are some bites we recommend,’” he adds.