Restaurants / Openings

Fort Worth’s Iconic Ice House Building Gets New Life With Oysters Galore — Get Ready For the City’s First Hudson House Restaurant

A PaperCity Exclusive

BY // 08.07.22

Picture yourself in New York City’s West Village at a cozy neighborhood haunt, happily nibbling raw oysters. That’s the feel of Hudson House restaurant and raw bar. The popular Dallas-based restaurant chain is now casting a wider net with three new restaurant openings planned. Including a new Fort Worth Hudson House, PaperCity has learned.

While nothing has been announced or website updated, the signage for the new Hudson House is already up along the bricks of Camp Bowie.

When outdoor furnishing mecca Into The Garden vacated the iconic Ice House building at 4600 Dexter Avenue in favor of new digs in The Shops at Clearfork, longtime Fort Worth residents got a bit jittery. What would become of the building? Many us love that building.

Now, it’s set to become the site of Fort Worth’s very first Hudson House, which seems like a perfect fit.

Fort Worth’s Ice House Finds a New Purpose

Fort Worth’s cool Ice House building began life as just that. My father remembers riding his bike there to pick up a block of ice before electrified refrigeration came into vogue. The collective memory of a lot of longtime Fort Worth residents is tied to this Ice House.

Then in the 1980s, the building housed two consecutive restaurants. First, it was the Icehouse Restaurant. Later, a Fort Worth branch of Dallas’ Celebration restaurant held court there from 1990 to 2000, turning the vintage space into one of the city’s most desirable dining experiences. On January 1, 2000, the Ice House building became home to Into the Garden, which finally departed last August.

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A year later, Hudson House is starting to move in.

Hudson – Houston’s own Hudson House will is on the way to River Oaks.
Houston’s own Hudson House will open in River Oaks.

Hudson House currently boasts four North Texas restaurant locations ― Highland Park (Lovers Lane), Belt Line Road, Lakewood (Abrams Road) and Las Colinas, which just opened in May and came complete with a new event space dubbed The Pineapple Room.

Houston is also getting its first Hudson House (at 1964 West Gray Street in River Oaks). That will be followed by the first Hudson House restaurant outside of the state of Texas ― a Beverly Hills Hudson House along Los Angeles’ famed Sunset Boulevard.

The team behind Hudson House is Vandelay Hospitality, which also has the East Hampton Sandwich Co., Drake’s Hollywood and D.L. Macks restaurants. Back in June, PaperCity reported that Vandelay restaurant group is also rolling out another new restaurant concept called Anchor Bar, which will have two Dallas locations when it opens in 2023, with an emphasis on fresh sushi, seafood and an oyster bar.

Fort Worth’s Own Hudson House

What can you expect from the first Hudson House in Fort Worth? There will be fresh oysters for sure, along with chilled shrimp cocktail and chipotle remoulade, plus a seafood bouquet of both oysters and shrimp served with all the accouterments.

In cooler weather — yes, eventually there will be cooler weather in Fort Worth — Hudson House’s satisfying Nantucket chowder, which includes freshly shucked clams, is sure to be a draw.

Hudson House has proved it can do more than one thing at once, with several new restaurants planned. Including one in Fort Worth.
Hudson House has proved it can do more than one thing at once, with several new restaurants planned. Including one in Fort Worth.

The rest of the greatest hits menu features four entree salads like the Beverly with grilled shrimp, hearts of palm, avocado, radish, crispy shallots and tomatoes, all tossed in house vinaigrette. There is a burger, fish tacos and sandwiches like a New England style lobster roll, along with a handful of entrees including pan seared red fish and steak and frites.

Looks like Fort Worth is in for a treat. Better yet, the city’s iconic Ice House Building will soon return to its former life as a bustling restaurant. That’s Hudson House power.

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