Lawless Spirits & Kitchen Makes a Break for Shuttered Downtown Bar

Rumors of the restaurant and bar first surfaced last year. Local real estate blog Swamplot received a tip about the bar's future from a source last June:

The Lawless Kitchen will feature cocktails, a "chef-driven" menu, and "will pay homage to the political, legal, and industrial history of the space," the source writes. (Before the Rice Hotel was built in 1913, the same lot at the corner of Travis St. and Texas Ave. was the site of the Capitol of the Republic of Texas.) According to the source, the Lawless takeover had been plotted a while back, and was not prompted by the recent sale of the Rice Lofts (from Atlanta’s Post Properties to an entity connected to the Trammell Crow family in Dallas) or its new management (by Greystar)... According to the source, Lawless will be attempt to be a "an updated, modern interpretation of what the original Old Capitol Club could very well have become, had it not closed down so very long ago."

No further information about the concept has resurfaced since. As of last December, the space has quietly undergone renovations, with hired hands stripping the floors and walls for a complete transformation. Still details remained sparse but that may be changing soon.

Yesterday, a job posting for Lawless Spirits & Kitchen listed on Craigslist. The listing asked those looking for front of house and back of house positions to apply in person at Sambuca Restaurant, which is located directly underneath the forthcoming bar. A call to the downstairs restaurant revealed Lawless Spirits & Kitchen is owned by Sambuca Restaurant Management but are two separate entities. A manager at Sambuca declined to answer further questions regarding the concept, but with a Craiglists ad online, that's one indication that Lawless Spirits & Kitchen is opening soon. Maybe more details will slowly find its way to the public in the next few weeks.