On Point: BYOB on the way to Point Breeze
He's a chef with Garces. She has a restaurant background. They live in the neighborhood.
Longtime Garces veteran Juan Lopez and his wife, Mallory Fix, just got the keys to 1200 Point Breeze Ave. in the city's Point Breeze section (just off 20th and Federal Streets).
By September, they hope to open On Point, an American bistro with a homey atmosphere and a refined menu that will start in the morning and run through dinner.
Sample items: fresh corn pancakes with house-made honey-corn butter, seasonal chutney; an 8-ounce breakfast burger with fried egg, avocado, bacon, and lemon aioli; "the Clucker" (sweet potato waffle, fried chicken, honey mustard hollandaise, fried egg); "La Granja" (yellow corn grits, chicken ham croquette, sauteed Swiss chard, roasted butternut squash, sriracha hollandaise); a lamb burger with feta labne, bibb lettuce, caramelized onions, barissa aioli, steak tomatoes on a sesame roll; mac and cheese; and fish and chips.
The couple and their baby live five blocks away. "We want to do something to be a part of our neighborhood," Fix said.
Mexican-born Lopez started with Jose Garces when Garces was chef at Alma de Cuba in the early '00s and followed Garces to El Vez. He's worked at pretty much all the local Garces restaurants, wrapping as chef de cuisine at Garces Trading Company. In his final months, he's helping to manage food at Garces' catering arm. Fix, who grew up in Lancaster, worked in restaurants. She's an English teacher.
(Kristin Wolack, owner of the space's previous occupant, Breezy's Cafe, says she is building a new location nearby.)