Taking over Icehouse means inheriting a decade of expectations

Every day, Zack Cutrona's scrolling through Google reviews of Icehouse, the Tex-Mex spot on Roy and Saint-Dominique he bought with his father Salvatore Cutrona and Lawrence Picard in November 2024. Someone says the brisket's better than ever, someone else swears it's not what it used to be, and both of these reviews are about the same night, the same dish, the same kitchen.

"Every day I'm on there trying to figure it out. When I see a negative comment, it bothers me because I'm really trying to keep it going the way it's going," Zack says over the phone.

Here's the thing about buying a restaurant that's been around for over a decade: You're not just buying the lease and the equipment. You're buying expectations, the memory of every birthday dinner, every late-night taco Tuesday, every pitcher of bourbon lemonade someone had on that patio since 2015, and loyalty that wasn't built for you.