& Wine’s 2014 list of the best new
chefs in the country. But it wasn’t
long before his convoluted tech-
niques muscled flavor out of the
way. The slippage accelerated even
as McCallister opened and closed
a casual, Southern-oriented venue
named Filament. In the midst of
the trials and errors, he took some
time off to deal with the demons of
addiction that had pursued him
for years, about which he has been
quite open. In 2018, after he had
been clean for two years, he shut-
tered FT33. With sobriety came
insight. “I finally understood,” he
said when I asked, “that I wasn’t
really cooking for my guests. I
was cooking for my ego.” When he
opened Homewood this spring,
he wanted to emphasize a homi-
er style of cuisine. The new direc-
tion is striking a chord with diners.
When I made reservations a couple
of weeks in advance, I could get
a table only before 5:30 or after
9:30 p.m. (since my visits, a patio
has opened to handle walk-ins).The first thing you see when
you walk up to the restaurant’s
entrance—and, yes, I do think it’s
odd that they chose a name in use
by an extended-stay hotel chain;
they must really like that word—are
planters around the deck filled with
lush greens and pungent herbs:
oregano, cilantro, basil, and the
big, floppy leaves of hoja santa.
Inside, McCallister, in ball cap
and apron, is at his usual spot at
the pass-through, overseeing the
kitchen; when there’s a break in the
action, he might ferry dishes to a ta-
ble. Behind him is the dining room,
subdivided into small areas. The
best perch, in my opinion, is a seat
up front at the metal-clad counter
next to a tall bank of windows. The
tables at the back surrounded by
beige wood paneling remind me of
the Becks Prime burger joint that
the space used to be.
But, hey, who cares about de-
cor when there are drinks to be
ordered? I toyed with the idea of
a rowdy Feather & Fig (rye, black-
berry vinegar, fig jam, and a whole
lot more) but finally went with a
soothing reposado tequila mar-
garita. As ballast for such tipples,the menu offers a wide choice of
appetizers, veering from a punchy
caper-strewn beef tartare to glo-
rious braised snow peas with rye
bread crumbs. One of the prettiest
is the beets, a striking magenta de-
spite being roasted in ashes (“em-
bered,” as the menu would have it).
The brothy tahini dressing almost
doubles as a soup.
Or you could go with pasta.
There are five choices, but the one
you shouldn’t miss is the ricotta
gnocchi (another specialty creat-
ed at FT33). On our visit the little
cheesy puffballs had been tossed
with fabulously crisp fresh as-
paragus, sweet pickled leeks, and
mahogany-colored black garlic
bread crumbs—a texture extrav-
aganza. Utterly different was the
gemelli—meaning “twins”—rolled
pasta with a great chew made from
heirloom emmer wheat and acces-
sorized with razor clams, chenzo
chile peppers, and spunky Span-
ish-style chorizo.
Left to my own devices, I could
have made a whole meal of start-
ers and sides, but Homewood also
turns out some substantial animal
DINING GUIDE Turn to page 114. protein. By far the best was water-PREVIOUS:
Purple
Beauregarde
snow peas with
beurre monté,
chile oil, and rye
bread crumbs.
ABOVE: Heads
of lettuce
over the fire;
chef Matt
McCallister; the
chocolate-and-
passion-fruit
torte.38 TEXAS MONTHLY
PAT’S PICK