AlyssaOn October 3rd of 2016 we sat down with the Pinch team – Sean Wen and Andrew Ho – to talk about Pinch Crawfish, a local pop-up concept. Pinch took over the culinary scene by collaborating with local restaurants to host their community crawfish boils. Where are they now, you may ask? Officially located in the Rand building in downtown San Antonio! Oh yeah, Pinch Crawfish is now Pinch Boil House and Bia Bar and they are open for business six days a week.
Pinch Boil House and Bia Bar reflects what the community fell in love with – fresh crawfish boils, Southeast Asian street food and Vietnamese style salads and seafood. I stopped by for their grand opening last Friday at 11:45 a.m. I remember parking in the Rand building (Pinch provides free 2-hour parking in the Rand Parking Garage after 5 p.m. on weekdays and anytime on weekends!), silently smiling that I had made it before noon; before the lunch crowd I thought. Nope. There was a line to the door after being open for a mere 45 minutes. It was actually quite beautiful. Perhaps this was the one time in my life where I didn’t mind a line.
The restaurant menu consists of traditional bánh mì, bánh mì bowls, and fresh seafood boils of shrimp, crab, mussels and seasonal crawfish smothered in their signature O.G. garlic butter. The menu also features snacks. Make sure you order the Pinch Fries topped with crab, umami mayo, Sriracha and scallions. Vegetarian? Order the bánh mì bowl with marinated tofu and add avocado!
Courtesy of Pinch Boil House and Bia Bar
Did you know ‘bia’ means ‘beer’ in Vietnamese? Tell your friends when you invite them to Pinch Boil House and Bia Bar!
Pinch Boil House and Bia Bar is located at 124 N. Main Ave. and is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.