Renowned Basque steakhouse Etxe, created by prominent Boca alums David Matern and Heather Brady, announced that the restaurant had found a permanent home for their Spanish-influenced cuisine today.
The restaurant, which launched as a “culinary residency” inside The Aperture in Walnut Hills, quickly became one of the city’s most prominent fine-dining experiences thanks to their expansive wine program, wood-fired txuleta beef and tableside gin-and-tonic service.
The new location will be located at 1395 William Howard Taft Road inside the new Woodburn Exchange development in East Walnut Hills and is expected to open one year from today. It will feature indoor and outdoor seating, a full bar and new hearth and wood-fire infrastructure (which is essential for Basque cooking). The building is expected to seat around a 100 guests.
“This will be the restaurant we’ve always envisioned,” Matern said. “The residency gave us the chance to prove what Etxe could be. Now we get to build what it was always meant to be — from the hearth up.”
In the meantime, Etxe will continue to operate at their temporary location inside The Aperture’s former home.
“We came here to build something that didn’t exist in Cincinnati,” Matern said. “A place rooted in Basque spirit, Midwest heart. What we didn’t expect was how quickly Cincinnati would make it their own. That’s what’s driving us into this next chapter.”
Etxe means “home” in Basque and Matern and Brady intend to build on their culinary experience at the nation’s finest restaurants to produce something the Cincinnati area has been missing.
“Etxe exists because of the people who walked through our doors,” Brady said. “The ones who came back. Who brought their friends. Who celebrated with us and made it feel like exactly what we hoped it would be — home. This city made this possible, and we don’t take a single night of that for granted.”
