Lili's Owner Vance Martin To Open Cat City Grill On Magnolia
July 9, 2009 at 4:49 pm | Architecture & Urban Design, Preservation, Urban Development | Tags: Architecture, commercial, Fairmount, Historic Preservation, Magnolia Village, mixed-use, Retail, Shop Local
DFW.com is reporting that Vance Martin, of the foodie favorite Lili’s Bistro on Magnolia between Spiral Diner and Panther City Bicycles, will be opening a new restaurant, Cat City Grill, in the former Catholic Charities building at 5th Avenue & Magnolia currently being revamped by developer Fran McCarthy.
The menu will continue to evolve as the partners ready the space to open in late September or early October. Vance says the pricing will be similar to Lili’s: lunch entrees should be between $9 and $12, and most dinner entrees will be no more than $25. The food will be approachable but interesting. “We want it to be creative and innovative without getting too far out there,” he says. Steaks will be a focus – they plan to offer a filet, rib eye and flat iron and do some combos with scallops and shrimp – but Vance says they don’t want to bear that label. “We feel like there’s a need for great steaks and seafood, but we don’t want to be branded a steakhouse,” he says. “We’ll start with a few and see if there’s a market for more.”
Cat City Grill will also offer a wide range of sandwiches, such as:
…a ham and cheese made famous in Pittsburgh, one of the signatures from a New York place like Katz’s, a Philly cheesesteak patterned after those at Pat’s or Geno’s, perhaps a muffaletta a la Central Grocery in New Orleans and even a bahn mi that’s always popular at Vietnamese cafes.
Cat City Grill will be about twice the size of Lili’s, with seating for between 80 and 90 inside and another 30 in a patio space.
The redevelopment of the Catholic Charities building has been ongoing for a little while now, with office tenants moving in upstairs. This is definitely the largest announcement for the building’s ground-floor retail space, though. Once opened, Cat City Grill will be open for lunch Monday through Friday and dinner Monday through Saturday.