Two Hugos, Hugo Osorio and Hugo Galvan, recently teamed up to open Oak Cliff’s newest seafood spot.
Photography by Kathy Tran
Photography by Kathy Tran
Photography by Kathy Tran
Photography by Kathy Tran
Osorio grew up in the neighborhood and started out in the restaurant industry his senior year of high school, going on to bartend at spots such as Bolsa and Perry’s Steakhouse. Osorio is the bar manager at Hugo’s and has learned his craft through working at several Oak Cliff favorites like Lady Love Lounge and Sound.
Galvan was born in Mexico and started his career in the restaurant business early at age 15. He came to the states and opened his own place, Cafe San Miguel, by Knox Henderson. After a couple more endeavors, he decided he was done opening restaurants and decided to work for people he admired.
That was until he met Osorio.
“I told him, if I open another place, I will open another place with you, but I’m not going to open another place with anybody else,” Galvan says. “We saw this place, and it seemed like the right place to open something small, something where we can dedicate more time and more service to the guests.”
Hugo’s Seafood Bar opened in mid-December and seats no more than 30 guests at a time in a small space.
“Bottom line, we wanted to do this very neighborhood type place, and I think that so far, we’re accomplishing that,” he says.
Located on the edge of Bishop Arts on Davis Street, the tiny space has a bar and a single row of tables. The moody interior is dimly lit with a forest green ceiling and an exposed brick wall. The vibe is upscale enough for a date night but is still suitable for a casual dinner.
“This space allows us to spend time with the guests, to get to know them,” Galvan says. “This place is too small for us to miss a thing.”
The restaurant does not take reservations, and its emphasis is quality seafood in an intimate setting.
“I think that we got a great menu,” Galvan says. “I wanted to do seafood — I’m very passionate about seafood, but that requires a lot of attention because seafood needs to be high quality. Seafood needs to be fresh. We’ve been doing a lot of work on that side in the kitchen, getting fresh oysters, live lobsters, Japanese scallops and those kind of things.”
The oyster bar menu offers East Coast oysters by the half dozen ($22) and dozen ($40). The House Royal Oysters are $45 for a half dozen and $80 for a dozen made with lemon juice, uni, royal caviar, salsa macha oil and chives. The $7 oyster shooter includes aguachile, fresh oyster and trout roe.
“I think that we got a great menu,” Galvan says. “I think many places, they just are more focused on the aesthetics of the restaurant. They just forget about service. I think that us, we are a little bit more the opposite way, we did this place with our budget, but we want to make sure that we become very personal.”
Classic cocktails are $14 and include selections like a tequila smash, gin sour and gin martini while craft cocktails are $15 and include selections such as the Blame It On The Juice, made with Tanqueray Gin, Blanc Vermouth infused with honeydew, suze, lime and milk wash. A refreshing Ice, Ice, Babyyy! is made with Reyka Vodka, kiwi, green apple oleo, lemon and sparkling water.
The wine list focuses on whites and bubbles that pair well with the oysters. Most bottles cost between $40 and $80.
Galvan says that since opening, they have been much busier than they anticipated.
“I was just projecting it’s gonna take some time, but it didn’t,” Galvan says. “Almost immediately, we started to get some traffic after we opened, and these last two months, they’ve been very good.”
“We’re planning to stay here for a long time,” Osorio says. “I feel like we’re in a great position where we can manage to be consistent. People in the neighborhood, they’ve been grateful.”
Photography by Kathy Tran
Hugo’s Seafood Bar, 334 W. Davis St., 214.242.8651, hugoseafoodbar.com
