Juliette Highland and Chris Davis in Frontier by Alamo. (Mike Platania photos)
A longtime Church Hill barbecue joint has pressed pause while its owners look to expand the building and restart their second restaurant nearby.
Wife-and-husband duo Juliette Highland and Chris Davis recently closed Alamo BBQ at 2202 Jefferson Ave. and brought its operations to their other restaurant, Frontier by Alamo, at 412 N. 25th St.
Davis said they’ve temporarily closed Alamo while seeking city approval to build an addition onto Alamo’s building.
“We need more kitchen space. We want to have nicer bathrooms and do some beautification on the outside,” Davis said, noting that the additional space would allow the eatery to do more catering. “We’re basically keeping the facade of the original building up and figuring out what we can do around it.”
The expansion would add around 500 square feet and roughly double Alamo’s current footprint, where it’s been operating out of 489 square feet for 14 years. Davis and Highland bought it in 2019 for $204,000.
Davis said they recently submitted plans for the Alamo expansion to the city’s Commission of Architectural Review. He said they anticipate that Alamo will be closed for most of 2023. They hope to have a new, expanded version of it open in spring 2024.
Davis is looking to build an addition on the right side of Alamo’s building along Jefferson Avenue.
In the meantime, Alamo’s barbecue will be available at Highland and Davis’s sister restaurant, Frontier, which they reopened in December 2022 after a nearly three-year hiatus.
Frontier initially opened in late 2019 but closed in the early days of the pandemic. Frontier had remained closed while the owners focused on Alamo, but Davis said they always planned to reopen it eventually.
“The timing’s finally worked out,” Davis said.
While Alamo operates with a walk-up window, Frontier is a sit-down restaurant with table service and a full bar. Its menu is driven by an open-flame rotisserie and includes dishes such as hanger steak frites and chile rellenos.
Local chef Thomas Owens recently joined Frontier and is helping to oversee its menu. Owens formerly had been a chef at Saison until it closed last year.
In addition to serving lunch and dinner, Frontier reopened with brunch service for the first time. Its menu includes brisket hash, huevos rancheros and a breakfast burrito.
“There’s a lot of potential (at Frontier),” Owens said. “We’ve got the rotisserie, and I’m anticipating what we’ll be able to do when Alamo reopens.”
In other city restaurant news, Torchy’s Tacos opened this week in the Publix-anchored Carytown Exchange shopping center at 3550 W. Cary St.
The Austin-based fast-casual chain offers tacos, most of which are priced between $5 and $6, burritos, breakfast tacos, queso and more. Torchy’s 4,700-square-foot Carytown location also has a full bar and an outdoor patio facing Cary Street.
Torchy’s has more than 100 locations nationwide and has been on an aggressive growth plan in recent years. It opened its first local spot in January in Short Pump, and has a third in the works in Chesterfield that’s scheduled to open later this year.
Juliette Highland and Chris Davis in Frontier by Alamo. (Mike Platania photos)
A longtime Church Hill barbecue joint has pressed pause while its owners look to expand the building and restart their second restaurant nearby.
Wife-and-husband duo Juliette Highland and Chris Davis recently closed Alamo BBQ at 2202 Jefferson Ave. and brought its operations to their other restaurant, Frontier by Alamo, at 412 N. 25th St.
Davis said they’ve temporarily closed Alamo while seeking city approval to build an addition onto Alamo’s building.
“We need more kitchen space. We want to have nicer bathrooms and do some beautification on the outside,” Davis said, noting that the additional space would allow the eatery to do more catering. “We’re basically keeping the facade of the original building up and figuring out what we can do around it.”
The expansion would add around 500 square feet and roughly double Alamo’s current footprint, where it’s been operating out of 489 square feet for 14 years. Davis and Highland bought it in 2019 for $204,000.
Davis said they recently submitted plans for the Alamo expansion to the city’s Commission of Architectural Review. He said they anticipate that Alamo will be closed for most of 2023. They hope to have a new, expanded version of it open in spring 2024.
Davis is looking to build an addition on the right side of Alamo’s building along Jefferson Avenue.
In the meantime, Alamo’s barbecue will be available at Highland and Davis’s sister restaurant, Frontier, which they reopened in December 2022 after a nearly three-year hiatus.
Frontier initially opened in late 2019 but closed in the early days of the pandemic. Frontier had remained closed while the owners focused on Alamo, but Davis said they always planned to reopen it eventually.
“The timing’s finally worked out,” Davis said.
While Alamo operates with a walk-up window, Frontier is a sit-down restaurant with table service and a full bar. Its menu is driven by an open-flame rotisserie and includes dishes such as hanger steak frites and chile rellenos.
Local chef Thomas Owens recently joined Frontier and is helping to oversee its menu. Owens formerly had been a chef at Saison until it closed last year.
In addition to serving lunch and dinner, Frontier reopened with brunch service for the first time. Its menu includes brisket hash, huevos rancheros and a breakfast burrito.
“There’s a lot of potential (at Frontier),” Owens said. “We’ve got the rotisserie, and I’m anticipating what we’ll be able to do when Alamo reopens.”
In other city restaurant news, Torchy’s Tacos opened this week in the Publix-anchored Carytown Exchange shopping center at 3550 W. Cary St.
The Austin-based fast-casual chain offers tacos, most of which are priced between $5 and $6, burritos, breakfast tacos, queso and more. Torchy’s 4,700-square-foot Carytown location also has a full bar and an outdoor patio facing Cary Street.
Torchy’s has more than 100 locations nationwide and has been on an aggressive growth plan in recent years. It opened its first local spot in January in Short Pump, and has a third in the works in Chesterfield that’s scheduled to open later this year.
Stopped in at Frontier the other night and had a delicious meal at very good prices. Happy to see them—and there bear—welcoming guests again.