When you spot the Al Capone mural, you’ll know you’ve arrived at Prohibition Restaurant & Bar. You can find an entrance hidden inside RETRO; just be prepared for the culture shock. “It’s a different vibe, but it’ll feel like you’re being transported into a different era,” said Freddy Rodriguez, who owns both RETRO and Prohibition. “It’s a cool vibe when you wanna slow down a little bit and have a conversation, talk some business.”
A Corpus native from Molina who started splitting his time in Houston at age 7, Rodriguez has taken an entrepreneurial interest in the revitalization of downtown. “I sold all my properties in Houston, and I reinvested in Corpus Christi,” he said.
During the pandemic, Corpus made Rodriguez an offer he couldn’t refuse: “I’m in the real estate business; that’s how I got into this deal. It was a real estate investment.” He purchased the building at a pandemic price, but social-distancing restaurant/bar tenants were scarce. So he opened his own nightspot.
RETRO came first, alongside a partnership with New York & Chicago Pizza Co., a Rodriguez family favorite in Houston. Owner Dominic Catalano relocated the brand, providing Corpus with pizzas like the Selena (“lots of pepperoni”) and the Godfather.
Under Rodriguez, Catalano and General Manager JJ Stegar, the veteran-run establishments also share access to the rooftop lounge overlooking Water Street, which welcomes musical acts and smoking—even stogies.
Behind the bar at Prohibition is Michael Dart, a Marine Corps veteran and certified mixologist with 22 years of bartending experience. He moved to Corpus from Cincinnati two years ago, managing the bar at Holiday Inn Marina before taking a job at RETRO. With Prohibition in the works, Dart began crafting the cocktail menu for the speakeasy side of the building.
His popular rum Old Fashioned offers a distinctive take on the “regular, run-of-the-mill old fashioned that every bar in America makes,” Dart said. He also concocted the Untouchable, an only-at-Prohibition nod to Capone with smoked Chivas scotch, lemon juice and spiced brown sugar syrup, topped with ginger beer and garnished with lemon and candied ginger. “This is the kind of cocktail I enjoy making,” Dart said. “The more love I put into a cocktail, the better the cocktail is going to be.”
Specialty cocktails are Prohibition’s bread and butter, but don’t shy away from Whiskey Wednesday, Thirsty Thursday or Friday Night Flights, all with accompanying spirits specials. Add Prohibition to your rotation of after-work happy hour or weekend nights out. It has invested in the Downtown Corpus Christi landscape and is here to stay.
Contact: 326 N. Chaparral St., Suite 100 | @prohibition_corpus