Former Town Hearth frontman Austin Rodgers debuts his Alamo Club tomorrow, the most eagerly anticipated restaurant to open this year

Few front-of-house guys seem better suited to running their own place than Austin Rodgers. If you eat around town, who you’ll probably remember Rodgers as the amiable longtime frontman at Town Hearth, Nick Badovinus’ steakhouse in the Dallas Design District.

Now Rodgers is out on his own (with an assist from Ric Levit and David Cash), debuting a stylish, dark-wood bar and restaurant called Alamo Club tomorrow in the former Blind Butcher space on Lower Greenville Avenue.

You’ll hardly recognize the place.  With its hexagonal white tiles, dark-hued wood panels and honeyed lighting, Alamo Club would be equally at home in Old Chicago or New York, circa 1930s. The shotgun space spills past a semi-open kitchen to an enormous covered patio with heaters and misters. The whole restaurant could double as a Hollywood set.

Rodgers and his chef, Kyle Newberry (HG Sply and others), draw from a script of modernized bistro classics like peppercorn strip steak, pastas and salads. The menu also includes one of the city’s better burgers, a dry-aged number with Pat LaFrieda beef (not as tasty as Allen Brothers, but still damn good), bacon, a schmeer of aioli and a toasted-then-steamed brioche bun.

Given Rodgers’ and Newberry’s talents and Alamo Club’s prominent Greenville Avenue setting — a few steps from Trader Joe’s, Rapscallion, Greenville Avenue Pizza Company, Tacos Mariachi and HG Sply — Alamo Club is poised to be a huge hit with the late night crowd.

On a preview visit last week, Rodgers told me he plans to keep the bar and the kitchen open deep into the night, which means the crowd without kids or daytime jobs will find a lot to like about this place.

Rodgers’ Alamo Club feels like it’s been there for decades. We’re hoping that’ll become literally true many years from now.

Open daily 5pm – 2am,  1919 Greenville Ave, (469) 399-7600.