Best Dive Bar: Trash Panda Drinking Club
Anyone venturing to a Houston dive bar would benefit from a few particular social traits, like being highly intelligent, exceedingly curious and extremely adaptable. Those also happen to be the best-known characteristics of the raccoon, the spirit animal of Trash Panda Drinking Club in Lindale Park. The quaint neighborhood bar allows its patrons to share all these talents and more in an intimate, friendly space surrounded by middle-class homes and a few exceptional outlying establishments (White Oak Music Hall, Bad Astronaut Brewing and Gristworkz, to name a few) to keep the party going.
What we love about Trash Panda – besides its cute li’l mascot – is its coziness and playfulness. An evening here feels like home, with tacos, wings and pizza (all served ‘til 2 a.m.) and beer, wine and cocktails – served “Chill” and “Strong AF” – at our fingertips. The “Trash Tails” list of cocktails have thrilling names like the “Dirty Pho-King Martini” (includes peas, carrots, Thai chili and star anise!) and “50 Shades of Green,” which mixes tequila with clarified spinach, honeydew melon and watercress foam. These creations remind us of the bar’s patron critter rooting through discarded remnants to concoct something awe-inspiring and delicious.
Whether it’s chilling with family and friends or listening to the DJs who swing through, Trash Panda is always a blast. We especially loved going last year during Christmas, when the bar went Tim Burton with a Nightmare Before Christmas theme and served special holiday drinks. But any time of the year, Trash Panda reminds us to be thankful for the times we share together, with kinship and a bright neon reminder which reads “DEATH IS COMING. EAT TRASH. BE FREE.”
515 Patton
832-582-5659
trashpandahtx.com
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
