It Ain't Easy Being Green

It was Monday night, and my kidneys were aching from my drinking all weekend. The last thing I needed was fast food or a chicken-fried steak larger than my typewriter. So I ventured into the Black-eyed Pea (2048 West Gray, 713-523-0200), thinking about a table full of vegetables and nothing stronger to drink than a nonalcoholic Arnold Palmer (iced tea and lemonade, no vodka). But what caught my attention was a drink called the Green Spider that you can get only at this BEP location. My waiter said it was invented over Mother's Day. ("I couldn't find the right card, Mom, so let me buy you a drink instead.") Then a bar manager told me it was concocted right after Spider-Man was released, and so many people requested it that the drink stuck. It's similar to a Purple Passion, one of those drinks in which you can barely taste the alcohol. Then again, maybe that was the whole idea. The first one was a pleasant surprise; the second one left a few cobwebs in my brain the next morning.

The Black-eyed Pea's Green Spider:

1 1/2 ounces vodka

3/4 ounce Midori liquor

4 ounces white cranberry juice

Fill a tall juice or Tom Collins glass with ice and then measure in vodka and Midori. Top off with cranberry juice.