Culture ETX is the latest restaurant to open in Downtown Tyler, Texas.

Owner and Executive Chef Lance McWhorter is an East Texas native who wanted to put his East Texas roots and worldly travels to use when crafting the menu for Culture ETX.

“I’ve had the opportunity to travel all over the world, about 40 different countries, and was really inspired by everything I ate,” said McWhorter. “So I wanted to bring a little bit of that to East Texas but also those East Texas roots I grew up with eating at my grandma’s table. So I’ve been combining stuff from Texas with Middle Eastern, Spanish, Italian, French, Asian and Latin American cuisine.”

The menu at Culture ETX is broken up into different sections: Small Plates, Salads, Sandwiches, Main Courses and Desserts.

“You can start out with the small plates, it’s very Tapas style, which is the Spanish style of eating where you have smaller plates that are meant to be shared,” said McWhorter. “Whether you’re kicking back with friends and drinking wine or drinking beer you can order three, four, five things and everybody has a bite.”

One popular dish is their Charred Pulpo which is brick oven roasted octopus over black-eyed peas with crispy ham and harissa.

“I was a little worried about the [octopus] dish because it’s a little different, but everybody loves it,” said McWhorter. “Everybody’s been raving about it!”

They also make homemade Chicarrones. “All of the animals here we breakdown in-house from local farmers and local ranchers,” said McWhorter. “So nothing goes to waste.”

The atmosphere and Culture ETX is also specifically designed with Downtown Tyler in mind.

“One thing that worried me is I think some people are going to see my plates and go, oh, that’s fancy food. And it’s totally not,” said McWhorter. “It may be fancy food, but it’s put on a plate without pretension. And the room isn’t pretentious, the music isn’t pretentious, the service is totally laid back, it’s just a fun spot. I think people will think that people will enjoy it.”

Culture ETX is located at 118 West Erwin Street in Downtown Tyler. It’s on the corner of Erwin Street and College Street.

Hours of Operation:

You can visit their website here. And you can view their menu here.

Click here to order online.

And to keep up with their latest dishes and updates follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

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