Larry McGuire

The Philosophy “I was born and raised in Austin.” That simple biographical fact matters in McGuire’s work because the city is not a backdrop in his résumé; it is the place where he studied at the University of Texas at Austin and where his major restaurant projects have taken root. In 2006, he co-created Lamberts in Austin, a modern high-end Texas barbecue eatery. Three years later, in 2009, he co-founded McGuire Moorman Hospitality, also in Austin, building a company name that became part of the city’s restaurant vocabulary. The business map expanded through McGuire Moorman Lambert Hospitality in Austin and through his role as Owner and Chief Executive Officer of McGuire Moorman. His current operator roster includes Perla’s Seafood & Oyster Bar, Lamberts Downtown Barbecue, Elizabeth Street Café, Clark’s Oyster Bar, Jeffrey’s, and Josephine House, all in Austin.

In Practice At Perla’s Seafood and Oyster Bar in Austin, McGuire has been executive chef and co-owner, and the restaurant gives the clearest view of his seafood language. His specialty is oyster bars and seafood restaurants, and the menu there has been praised for care, simple American cooking, oysters, peel-and-eat shrimp, sandwiches, Texas bouillabaisse, and fried okra. The most cited signature is Perla’s Lobster Roll, described as one of the best lobster rolls in America. It is made with Maine lobster shipped in daily, served with Bibb lettuce, house mayo, and drawn butter. Another dish, the crab Louis, brings lump crabmeat together with lemony homemade mayo and fried green tomatoes. It has been described as a Southern send-up of the ingredients, which is a precise way to read the dish: familiar seafood salad structure, altered by regional texture and acidity. Roasted wreckfish at the restaurant has been served with sauces that pull the plate in two directions. One was a garlic, herb, jalapeño, and olive oil chimichurri called salsa verde; another was a guajillo chile sauce called red chimichurri.

In Their Words McGuire’s own language is plainspoken and visual. “It’s going to be like a French street cafe serving Vietnamese food. We wanted a funky neighborhood restaurant, and South 1st and Bouldin Creek is the perfect place for that.” That sentence shows how he describes a restaurant before it becomes only a list of dishes: a street-café feeling, Vietnamese food, a neighborhood address, a particular Austin corner. It also sits beside his sharper line about refusing “the scrappy taco truck thing,” a reminder that his restaurants are often built from contrast — easygoing in service of a defined idea.