Pinch Boil House
By Meredith Kay
Photography by Al Rendon
Walking through the door at Pinch Boil House, your senses are assaulted by a myriad of unique aromas, some familiar, and some mysterious and exotic. The atmosphere is bright and welcoming, and you’ll immediately notice the rainbow of colors in the Southeast Asian dishes as diners chomp, chew, and slurp happily.
Pinch Boil House is now open in The Stewart Center on Broadway. They have relocated their downtown restaurant to Alamo Heights and are excited to introduce the neighborhood to their delicious cuisine. Partners, Sean Wen and Andrew Ho, have known each other since their high school years in Houston, where they grew up. They both attended the University of Texas in Austin. Sean earned his B.S. in Psychology and Andrew holds a B.A. in Corporate Communications. In their free time they would combine their cultures to throw Viet-Cajun crawfish boils for friends and special events around Austin. These events grew to be quite popular, and they joked that one day they should open a restaurant together.
After college, they both headed off into the corporate world. Andrew later moved to Thailand to teach English, and Sean would often go visit him there. It was during one of those visits that they decided to take a leap of faith and pursue their dream. They both moved to San Antonio and Pinch Boil House was born as a pop-up restaurant concept, creating, and fine-tuning their Taiwanese and Vietnamese fusion recipes, while they looked for a brick-and-mortar location. They opened the first Pinch Boil House downtown in 2017 on the corner of Main and Houston Street, but they have decided to focus their efforts on becoming a part of the community, instead of focusing on tourists and the downtown lunch crowd.
The food at Pinch Boil House is outstanding and there is something for everyone, even if you are not familiar with Southeast Asian cuisine. One of their most popular dishes is Kap’s Chicken Curry. Named after their chef Kap Sounraj, who was born in Laos, Kap’s Curry is a rich and velvety Panang curry dish served over jasmine rice, with roasted chicken, coconut milk, lemongrass, potato, and cilantro. Most of the dishes at Pinch Boil House are layered with spices but you’ll find a variety of heat levels to satisfy everyone.
The fresh seafood boils, however, are the signature dishes here and the Business Boil covers it all. They take a half pound of peeled shrimp and marry it with sausage, corn on the cob and potatoes to create a rainbow of flavors that seems to work in all of the food groups together. However, you can also make your own boil bowl in a three-step process that puts your tastebuds in charge. First, select your seafood (shrimp, crab legs, mussels, or fresh crawfish, when in season). Second, select your sides (corn, potatoes, smoked sausage, and/or steamed rice). Finally, you pick your sauce and your spice level. Sauce options include their O.G. Garlic Butter, their sweet and savory Coconut Curry, or their firebreathing Dragon Sauce. They’ve even been creative with their heat index levels: Mild Child, Spice is Nice, or Spice God.
When asked what their motivation for Pinch Boil House was, Sean states, “We wanted to introduce our cuisine to the city in an affordable and approachable way. We only use the freshest ingredients. Nothing is ever frozen, so we only serve crawfish in season.”
The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner and they offer take-out and delivery through Uber Eats.
Pinch Boil House
5130 Broadway at Barilla In the Stewart Center
(210) 227-8801 | pinchboilhouse.com
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 11:00AM – 9:00PM, Closed Monday
