by Kristen Wile

Chef Andres Kaifer didn’t expect to open two new concepts and consult on another in such a short amount of time. The owner of Customshop was debuting Marina’s Tapas in Optimist Hall and partnering with the owners of Rally Pickleball on restaurant concept Henrietta’s when a broker reached out about the former Mere’s space, on Park Road, becoming available. His instinct was an immediate response of “no.” 

“We’re in the middle of building something; I don’t have time, money, resources, or bandwidth to build something else, so this needs to wait,” Kaifer recalls saying. “The whole deal was structured with a massive construction grace period and all that stuff, so it’s super favorable for us and the rent was favorable. We love, absolutely love the location; I love that area of town. I remember Alex and I sitting at the table and I was like, ‘I feel like we’re dumb if we don’t at least try. I feel like we’re allowing an opportunity to go to waste if we don’t just give it a shot.’ So we did it. It was risky, but we did it.”

Kaifer and business partner Alex Bridges will welcome guests to a new wine bar in that location, called Emmy Lou’s, later this year. The Park Road space is currently under renovations and will be both a retail wine shop and wine bar, with sandwiches and salads during the day for lunch service and a tight menu of dishes that pair well with wine in the evenings. The kitchen won’t have a hood, but guests will be able to enjoy a light dinner inside or on the expanded patio — and eventually wine dinners. 

During dinner hours, the menu will also include rotating specials and dishes such as a baked pasta, flatbread, as well as carpaccio and crudos, similar to those guests would find at Customshop. 

“The menu will change often — potentially daily, weekly — very similar to how we do things here,” Kaifer says. “So much more similar in style to the food program here, just less expensive, and not married to any sort of cuisine like we are at Marina’s where everything has to be Spanish.”

There will also likely be some grab-and-go dishes for those who want to grab a bottle of wine and food to take home. The wine program will feature old world and new world wines.

Adriana Cavazos, currently at Marina’s Tapas as well the group’s pastry chef, will be the chef de cuisine at Emmy Lou’s, with Bridges overseeing day-to-day operations as well as the wine program. Kaifer aniticpates Emmy Lou’s being open seven days a week, opening at 11 a.m.