Dishing it: As promised, John and Jessica McAleer this week debuted 1817 Steak & Seafare, a restaurant in West End Galveston neighborhood Evia.
12 Evia Main. As it settles in, 1817 will be open from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays.
Fridays and Saturdays, the kitchen is open from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. but the full-service bar will remain open until midnight serving late-night bites.
mignon, New York strip and ribeyes and seafood dishes, including pan-seared red snapper, Frenchmen Shrimp & Grits and crabcakes, to name a few.
While sophisticated, the white-tablecloth restaurant isn't stuffy, the McAleers said. The dress code is island chic.
The restaurant's name is a nod to famous pirate and privateer Jean Laffite, who in 1817 moved to Galveston where he established an outpost he called Campeche. A painting of Laffite by artist Stacey Brod adorns a restaurant wall.
The aesthetic is "Paris meets the swamp," said Jessica McAleer, who has launched Jessica Lynne Interiors and was behind the restaurant's interior design.
She commissioned a hand-painted mural by artist Stylle Read, famous for depicting scenes of Texas history and culture. Read's monochromatic mural captures what the landscape and native botanicals might have looked like during Laffite's time, Jessica McAleer said.