Co-owners Craig and Jennifer Lobel have always loved brick-oven pizza, craft beer and wine, Jennifer said, but no eatery in the Magnolia area offered cuisine like this. The couple, who owns The Culinary Courtyard—home to Victory Pie Co. & Cafe, The Chipper, The British Depot, Toffee Cellar and The Market—on Tamina Road decided to open Brick & Brews in the last available building of The Culinary Courtyard last September to serve their favorite kinds of food to the community, Jennifer said. “We didn’t think we were going to be the ones to [take over the last space], but it ended up that it didn’t work out with the people who were originally interested, so we thought, ‘Let’s just do it ourselves,’” Jennifer said. Brick & Brews offers both build-your-own and specialty pizzas—including margherita, Pig & Fig, and French dip pizzas—cooked in a wood-fired oven as well as three kinds of salads and a variety of appetizers. The menu also includes craft beer and select red and white wines. The restaurant staff uses only a toaster oven and the wood-fired oven for cooking, Jennifer said, and Craig chops the wood for use at the restaurant. “You get a great flavor from the oak wood [we use], and it gives the pizza that char on the dough underneath and around the edges,” Jennifer said. “It’s light and airy but still has that thin and crispy texture that makes brick-oven pizza unique.” Within the restaurant, wine lockers line the wall behind the bar, each labeled with a customer’s name. A wine locker is filled with a custom selection of wines chosen by the locker owner and not offered on the regular menu, Jennifer said. “[People who own wine lockers] feel like this is their place because they can come in and see their name on the locker. It’s kind of like [the TV show] ‘Cheers,’” she said. “Our restaurant becomes theirs too.” To further tap into the community, Jennifer said the couple focuses primarily on offering craft beer from local breweries and using ingredients from local vendors because that is their goal—promoting local businesses. “We keep it as local as possible because we want people to know that we support Magnolia and Montgomery County,” Jennifer said. “This is our community, and we want our customers to feel like family.” Brick & Brews 32907 Tamina Road, Magnolia 281-789-7910 www.brickandbrews.com Hours: Tue.-Thu. 5-9 p.m., Fri. 4-10 p.m., Sat. 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m., closed Sun.-Mon.