Cocktails

5 Simple Breakfast-In-Bed Meals and Morning Cocktails For Mom

On Mother's Day, mom deserves royal treatment. What better way to make her feel like the Queen she is than to make her breakfast-in-bed (and serve up some morning cocktails)? While the kids make breakfast, dad can whip up a cocktail to complement her scrumptious and relaxing meal. He can also make n ... More >>

The 5 Best Things to Eat or Drink This Weekend: Derby Day at Anvil, BBQ at D&T, El Gran Cinco, Party at Paulie's and Blake's BBQ on Burgerland

Derby Day at Anvil Bar & Refuge Saturday, noon 1424 Westheimer Anvil will open its doors a few hours early tomorrow to host a Kentucky Derby viewing party complete with the classic cocktails of "the greatest two minutes in sports." The menu for the Derby day will be overseen by Alba Huerta -- owner ... More >>

Maggie Rita's Takes Over Ninfa's

Higher prices, bland food and no really good margaritas to ease the pain.

The 18th Cocktail Bar: The New Blind Pig in Town

They say everything old is new again -- though Prohibition ended long ago and we can all freely enjoy an adult beverage, we're still nostalgic for the speakeasy -- or blind pig -- as seen in the creative and stiff cocktails at such places as Anvil, Prohibition and Hughes Hangar. The new 18th Cockt ... More >>

How to Make the Perfect Margarita for Cinco de Mayo, Diagram-Style

Illustration credit: tabletinfographics.com You don't need Triple Sec or fancy ingredients to make a good, basic margarita. That's exactly what a good margarita is, after all: basic. If you decided not to brave the Cinco de Mayo crowds this year, just follow the simple diagram above to make the per ... More >>

Upcoming Events: Mucho de Mayo

As May approaches, more Cinco de Mayo events are announced every day. Here are a few of our favorites. La Mexicana in Montrose is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. And while the restaurant doesn't normally host a big Cinco de Mayo bash, it's blowing off the roof on Saturday, May 5, with t ... More >>

Bartender Chat: Sikica Crosby of Cecil's Pub

I come from a long line of martini drinkers. One school of thought holds that the gin martini is the one true martini, but my grandparents enjoyed the vodka version of the cocktail nightly with the news for more than 60 years. Maybe my love for the vodka martini is hereditary? My grandfather's mart ... More >>

Cultural Feast: Shaken or Stirred? The Chemistry and History of the Cocktail

Bartender Chat: Nathan Wells of Beaver's

​This week, we paid a visit to Beaver's to meet bartender Nathan, or "Dollar Wells," as he's called. It was pretty dead at 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday as I sat at the bar, beautifully littered with several rocks glasses filled with different-colored concoctions. Nathan tells me they're making some la ... More >>

$1 Jello Shots at Sunny's Bar

A good jello shot can bring out the kid in anyone. "You're supposed to loosen the sides with your tongue so you can get at the jello," my friend told me as I held the little plastic cup against my mouth , trying to suck out the contents in vacuum fashion. Just the act of doing so gave me a heady b ... More >>

Drinking Like Hemingway

Making the Hemmingway Daiquiri.​It's not Ernest Hemingway's writing that influenced me. The style is still amazing, and even Hunter S. Thompson, who copied Hemingway manuscripts just to hear the rhythm of the words on his typewriter, wasn't fool enough to imitate it. I won't emulate his lege ... More >>

Bartender Chat: Aaron Lara of Haven

​Aaron Lara, bartender at Haven, is a self-proclaimed cocktail nerd. Although he got into bartending unexpectedly (he was applying for a valet position during college, but was asked to try has hand at bartending), it has become a passion. "I'm absolutely and unconditionally devoted to making ... More >>

Is Good Tequila Required for a Good Margarita?

​ Years ago, a wise bartender in a cantina known for its destination margaritas and so-so cuisine revealed his secret: Cointreau. "I can beat El Tesoro and triple sec any day, with common tequila and Cointreau." I didn't know how much wisdom he had, so I asked him to make what he had descr ... More >>

Branch Water Tavern's Ramble

Sunny Cocktails at Shade

​The Heights is often associated with being dry, although plenty of area restaurants from casual (Onion Creek) to high-end (Zelko Bistro) have fabulous beer and wine selections. Adding to the mix is the lovely cocktail menu at Shade (250 W. 19th, 713-863-7500). General manager Rachel Loil tel ... More >>

Hpnotiq Signature Cocktails at Houston Fashion Week

​Last night the city's movers and shakers flocked to the Wortham Center for Houston Fashion Week, where the hair was big, the heels were high, and the drinks -- they were blue. Hpnotiq, one of the event sponsors, provided fun flair with candy bars and signature cocktails created in honor of th ... More >>

Benjy's Debuts New Dessert Cocktails

​For those of you who like to drink your dessert, Benjy's has added two new sweet cocktails to its fall drink menu. Created by mixologist Mason Houge, these drinks go beyond the typical chocolate or green-apple sweet "tini" versions. For a grown-up version of a nostalgic treat, Houge mixed u ... More >>

Trevisio Touts a Texas-Sized Happy Hour

Photo by bhamsandwichAll this and more can be yours...​A common complaint of Medical Center denizens -- whether they're in the area to work, to receive treatment or to visit someone in one of the maze-like hospitals -- is that there are very few decent places to eat and drink. (You thought we ... More >>

Bobby Heugel's Weekly Cocktail: The Bee's Knees

​This week's cocktail is the Bee's Knees - both figuratively and literally. The phrase "the bees knees" appeared at some point in the 1920s as an allusion to the prized pollen carried by bees in sacs located on their legs. The cocktail itself originated during the same period as a way to compe ... More >>

Happy Hour Scene: Voice

Photos by Paul Knight​The Place: Voice Lounge at Hotel Icon220 Main St. 832-667-4470www.hotelicon.comThe Hours: The "Traditional Happy Hour" at Voice runs on Fridays 4-7 p.m., but drink specials also are offered on Wednesdays 4-7 p.m., and Thursdays, for the "legal community," 4-9 p.m.The De ... More >>

Bartender Chat: Lindsay Heffron of Stella Solla

The San Remo. ​We've read a lot about Bryan Caswell and his new venture, Stella Sola. But, what you may not know is that in addition to the Texas-Tuscan food, Stella Sola has a sleek, modern bar with a unique cocktail menu. Mixologist Bobby Heugel of Anvil Bar & Refuge designed the eclectic me ... More >>

Raising the Bar at the Bourbon Throwdown

Photos by GroovehouseAdam Bryan finishes up his No Bogey Fizz cocktails.​Last night's Bourbon Throwdown at Branchwater Tavern was the fifth throwdown -- a casual, Iron Chef-style competition between local chefs -- that the Houston Chowhounds have thrown since June 2009. But far from being a re ... More >>

Sunday in River Oaks, Feeling Broke

​We were sipping martinis at La Griglia in River Oaks this weekend before going to the River Oaks Theatre. Sitting on the patio, we could watch all the plastique boobs and rainmakers pull up. Who needs Jersey Shore when you have hot spots like this? They were serving apple martini's like was ' ... More >>

Bartender Chat - Nick Leone of Komodo's

​It has officially been two years and two weeks since Nick Leone moved to Houston. He's not really a big-city type of guy, but he moved here after the economy in Florida started going downhill. "For a big city, Houston is a great town with really friendly people," Leone told us. You don't have ... More >>

Bodega's Taco Shop's Hibiscus Margarita on the Rocks

​A contractor I knew as Cowboy once told me the margarita was named after singer Peggy Lee in the late '40s at Galveston's storied Balinese Room. (He also told me that Frank Sinatra, a fixture at the former waterfront hotspot, refused to touch his own penis; he had hired hands do the job for h ... More >>

Holiday Cocktails

The owners of a respected Vermont restaurant and wine bar visited T'afia last weekend to hold a holiday cocktail camp benefiting local charity Live It Big. Sommelier Deirdre Heekin talked guests through the history of many of the spirits they sampled as chef Caleb Barber prepared each drink. T ... More >>

THE COUGAR DEN'S COUGAR COOLER

A Chat with Karen Racine of Absinthe Brasserie

​Walk into Absinthe, and it's almost guaranteed that Karen Racine will be pouring your drink. Karen, or at least someone she's related to. "I actually own the bar going on six years. My sister and I own this, and she and my brother-in-law own Bowl. We have a staff of five, and it's all pretty ... More >>

Pearl Bar's Pearl Martini

Under the Volcano

Ducking Humberto at Under the Volcano

Myles J

Seeing Is Believing

¡Party en el Patio!

A shaggy taco shack gets a makeover and starts serving margaritas under the stars

Wrestling with Gourmet Tex-Mex

Don't let the upscale decor at the new Cyclone Anaya's trick you into ordering the lobster enchiladas

Plano Tex-Mex

Mi Cocina's food may be tepid, but the margaritas are magnificent

Dating Hazard

Kim Son's Tiki Tumbler

Best Theme Restaurant

Floridita

Stirred and Shaken

Aries's Ernest Hemingway daiquiri

Stirred and Shaken

The Confederate House's mint julep

Stirred and Shaken

Ouisie's Table's bellini martini

Stirred and Shaken

Sambuca Jazz Cafe's cosmopolitan

Booze in a Blender

Bossa's mango daiquiri

Booze in a Blender

El Meson's Orange Margarita

Best Margarita

Cafe Adobe

Booze in a Blender

Chuy's mango margaritas

Time Capsule

Mama's Frozen Daiquiri

Berry Simple

La Jaliciense's Strawberry Margarita

Booze in a Blender

Two-Tone Tonic

El Queso Grande?

Is Bravos the best Tex-Mex in town?