At long last, Otto Koehler is having his day in the sun — or at least as the namesake of chef and restaurateur Levi Goode’s newest concept, which opens this April in San Antonio’s Historic Pearl District. A tongue-in-check homage to the legendarily adulterous founder of Pearl Brewery, Otto’s Ice House, a casual restaurant and bar — and Goode’s restaurant debut in San Antonio — will be located at Pearl at 111 Newell Ave.
While the luxurious symbol of Pearl, Hotel Emma, was named for Otto’s audacious wife, Emma, who presided over and led the brewery to great success after Otto’s murder by a jealous lover (also called Emma), Otto’s Ice House, a beer joint, will stand in whimsical contrast across the river. Jokingly, it provides a missing backstory to Pearl, where so much of the district’s soul or raison d’être stems from the brewery, its history and San Antonio’s colorful past.
