Each month, Galveston Monthly compiles a list to keep its readers up to date on what’s new and cool on the island. What’s new in the neighborhood this month? Four new Galveston establishments are now open for business.
Start your afternoon with lunch at the newly opened Fish Company Taco. Then plan a visit to the Anne Lane/Dahlia Wood Art Gallery where the work of featured artist and Galveston’s celebrated muralist Gabriel Prusmack is on display as well as the brilliantly colorful work by Lane and Wood.
Then, wind down with drinks and late-night snacks at the Social Tap Kitchen & Cocktails, and finish your evening off with a premium, hand-rolled cigar from Havana Harbor Cigars on a balcony overlooking Galveston’s beautiful Cruise Terminal.
PARTNERS IN ART AND CRIME Two established Galveston artists have joined together to form the Anne Lane/Dahlia Woods Art Gallery located at 2111 Postoffice Street in downtown Galveston. The two began collaborating last year at Lane’s former location on Avenue S before moving to the art district this earlier summer.
“We are both very referenced artists with large art history backgrounds,” said Lane of her new partner.
“We are quite simpatico regarding our color range,” she said. “We both create high-saturation, high-color paintings. Our paintings are not quiet; they will dominate a room,” Lane said.
Lane is an internationally collected artist who ventured to Galveston in the fall of 2022. She lived and opened galleries worldwide but most recently moved from New Orleans. She says she was drawn here by Galveston’s Gulf Coast and the Texas narrative of “big skies and bold stories.”
A prolific painter, Lane’s works appear in private collections and public spaces all over the world as well as local businesses like the Old Galveston Club at 418 21st Street. Her new curated show is titled Angels Are Fire.
“These are very personal paintings about the spirit of protection,” Lane said. “Angels are a metaphor for all of the ways people can protect themselves. I’m getting ‘old school’ with the imagery. These are not sweet, pretty cherubs; these are angels of strength.”
Woods has degrees in art, teaching, and the history of architecture. She has renovated more than 40 historic, turn-of-the-century homes and says she loves the process of restoring and renovating.
“As an artist, I paint vivid, super-colorful scenes of Texas or wherever I travel,” Woods said.
Her gallery in downtown Dallas had a successful run before she moved to Key West for five years. As avid visitors to Galveston during the holiday season, Woods and her husband decided to purchase a 1910 bungalow to renovate in the historic East End in 2021 and eventually moved to the island full time.
Woods teamed up with Lane almost immediately and together they opened the Postoffice location, where she supervised the building renovations.
“Galveston is a wonderfully open and welcoming community,” said Woods who paints in brilliant, knock-your-socks-off colors. Her work is a modern infusion of a Fauvist color pallet and Expressionist energy.
Although she is Galveston-based, Woods roams around Texas and throughout the world for her subjects. Her landscapes are drawn from Germany, Italy, Key West, Big Bend, the Texas Hill Country, the missions of San Antonio, and the Galveston coast.
Woods’ paintings can be found in several Galveston Island locales including Riondo’s Ristorante at 2328 Strand.
Visitors to the gallery will also find a collection of Bad Boy Books, crime fiction stories written by her husband, Jonathan Woods. His books are now on display and available for sale at the gallery among other retail outlets.
Live readings of his pulp fiction and full-length plays (including original sets) are being scheduled at the gallery for fall and winter. Look for news of a screening of Woods’ ‘original short’ that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
The Lane/Woods Gallery is now inviting other creatives to join them as featured artists. Renowned Galveston muralist Gabriel Prusmack will be featured at the gallery, beginning with this month’s ArtWalk on October 5.
The “Love Big, Be Free” muralist has created more than 20 fresco paintings in, on, and around Galveston Island’s public spaces. The aforementioned mural can be seen by visitors as they enter and leave the island on the two columns flanking the causeway bridge.
Prusmack says he likes to use joyful colors to convey optimism and to use design to reinterpret the world. “I just want to create a better world with my art than was there before it,” he said.
The Anne Lane/Dahlia Woods Gallery is open daily from 11am to 6pm. They are closed on Tuesdays. For more information, please call 202.251.3600 or visit www.annelanegallery.com.
TACOS NOT JUST FOR TUESDAY The wait is finally over. Fish Company Taco reopened its doors with a fresh new look and an expanded menu over Labor Day Weekend. Restaurateur Raz Halili, who also owns Pier 6 Seafood & Oyster House and Pier 6 Bungalows, has reopened and revamped the award-winning taco shop located at 1914 23rd Street.
Halili is a Galveston native and was raised on the docks of his family-owned Prestige Oysters Company. He purchased the beloved counter-service taco joint from chef Daya Myers-Hurt last spring and has refreshed the look inside and out.
Anchoring the menu are Meyers-Hurt’s original, globally inspired tacos: Baja, Korean, Vietnamese, Empire, and Dirty South. All tacos are ordered a la carte and prepared with locally caught fish, shrimp or vegetables.
As his predecessor did, the new team of Executive Chef Joe Cervantez and Chef de Cuisine Lexy Garcia will continue to source fresh catch from Katie’s Seafood Market and ingredients from Galveston’s Own Farmers Market.
Flour tortillas are made in-house, while the Baja taco comes on a house-made corn tortilla prepared with heirloom blue corn masa harina.
Side dishes include a mix of existing menu items, including the elote-like corn cup and seasonal battered-and-fried pickle bits. New creations include chili-marinated cucumbers, Brussels sprouts with an apple gastrique, onion rings with house-made curry ketchup, and a baby kale salad featuring cranberries, blue cheese, hazelnuts, and Dijonnaise.
Cervantez and Garcia have developed daily crudo specials that showcase fresh catch in a bright, light application. The daily crudo will be available in limited supply so show up early if you have your heart set on savoring some.
A new cocktail program was designed by local consultants Laurie Harvey and Kris Sowell. In addition to frozen options like the Third Coast Margarita and Grapefruit Guava Frose, the drink menu features vibrantly hued tropical juice-based drinks akin to Mexican aguas frescas.
Some signature cocktails include the Lime in the Coconut, the Pineapple Verde, and the Mango Tango.
Halili renovated the cozy 1,000-square-foot restaurant inside and out, including updating the kitchen, converting the wraparound counter into a large, marbled bar top, and replacing the tile flooring.
The dining room now seats up to 35 guests. Two large TVs will show sporting events. Guests can also dine al fresco out front at high-top tables and a picnic table, or on the soon-to-open 500-square-foot back patio.
Fish Company Taco is currently open daily for counter-service lunch from Tuesday to Sunday from 11am to 4pm. The restaurant is cashless and accepts credit cards and mobile payments.
Online ordering and happy hour food and drink specials are coming soon. For more information, please visit www.fishcompanytaco.com.
NOT JUST SMOKE AND MIRRORS Cigar aficionados will be thrilled to learn a new, high-end purveyor and smoking lounge has opened in the heart of downtown Galveston. Havana Harbor Cigars held a grand opening in August with a whopping 500 people in attendance, live music, a DJ, and special food offerings.
The new cigar lounge is collaborating with Stuttgarten Tavern, located at 111 23rd Street on the corner of Harborside and 23rd Street, occupying a portion of the building’s bottom floor.
“We are in the same building,” said Havana Harbor co-owner and managing partner Jennifer Nichole. “Which allows our customers access to the food and drink at Stuttgarten and all of the outdoor spaces.”
Visitors can smoke inside the shop while lounging on comfortable leather seating, on the outdoor patio overlooking Saengerfest Park, or on the rooftop balcony with stunning views of Galveston’s Cruise Ship Terminal. If you prefer to sip and smoke, Stuttgarten’s full drink menu is available to patrons.
The cigar lounge boasts a walk-in humidor, Havana Harbor merchandise, and all the accessories you need to get your smoke on.
Patrons can purchase a VIP membership for an annual fee. The membership includes discounts on all cigar and accessory purchases as well as first access to monthly VIP events.
Every Friday, the lounge hosts a Havana Night with Cuban-themed music, cuisine, and cocktails. Each month, at least one special VIP event will be held.
On October 13, they will hold a Paint ‘N Puff Mimosa Brunch. “Cigarberfest” will be held from October 25-26 and a Halloween Costume Party will be hosted on October 31.
A large array of flavored and non-flavored premium cigars is available from Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Cameroon Africa, and many other locations. Lockers may also be purchased to keep cigars and accessories on the premises for your convenience.
Nichole was born on the island (BOI) and is a second-generation cigar lounge owner with 15 years of experience in the industry. She was issued a license as a Certified Retail Tobacconist in 2014 and was a National Sales Manager from 2016-2023.
Her dad, Charlie Head, owns Carlos Cabeza Cigars on 27th and Market streets. Nichole’s parents, including mom Stella, are partners with her in Havana Harbor Cigars as is co-owner Chris David.
Havana Harbor Cigars is open on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 12pm to 7pm and on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 11am to 11pm. They are closed on Tuesdays.
Customers must be 21 and up. Leashed pets are allowed on the outdoor patio. For more information, please call 409.737.0757.
TAP INTO A GOOD TIME Looking for a place where everybody knows your name? The vibe of this new neighbor hub is “Cheers” meets “Friends” with late-night options for food and drink.
Guests at The Social Tap Cocktails & Kitchen will eat and drink in a friendly and comfortable atmosphere. The décor at this new social club, located at 811 21st Street (near Ball), is casual mid-century modern, and immediately relaxing as you walk in the door.
A carefree atmosphere is exactly what long-time Galveston resident General Manager Nick Kovich was looking for.
“We wanted to do something unexpected,” said Kovich who has more than three decades in the hospitality industry. “We wanted to create an upscale social environment with late-night options. Remember the old 21 Club? That’s our vibe.”
Social Tap serves “upscale bar food” and their starters are easily sharable. They use Texas Wagyu from R-C Ranch, exclusively, for all of their beef items, including an array of specialty hotdogs. The pizzas are made fresh to order with fresh ingredients.
Fried chicken is their most popular item, Kovich said. “We do fried chicken proud.”
Loaded tater tots, nachos, giant pretzels, and sandwiches like fried bologna, French dip, and cheesesteak are some of the menu options. Eight big-screen televisions showcase seasonal sports throughout the year.
The owners have plenty of experience running bars and restaurants as they have brought seven different establishments to Galveston Island including Gizmos, Midtown Tavern, Roll ‘N, Corner Pocket, Dizzy Dorado, the Seawall Tavern, and Shuck’s Tavern & Oyster Bar.
The Social Tap Cocktails & Kitchen is now open from Sunday to Thursday from 11am to 12am and Friday and Saturday from 12pm to 2am.
A five-item, late-night menu is available from 10pm to closing and includes pizzas, hot dogs, hamburgers, street tacos, and fried chicken. Everything on the menu is ala carte.
Everyone is welcome, residents and tourists alike, as long as they are 21. Follow them on social media for more information.