This Week's Food News: Burgers, Bourbon and End-of-Summer Specials

This Week's Food News: Burgers, Bourbon and End-of-Summer Specials

The 'Daiquirí Clásico,' available one night only at Julep

SCHOOL MAY BE in session — but summer ain't over for these Houston restaurants. They're still celebrating the season with frozen cocktails, live music and tons of bourbon. (But Hopdoddy's Back to School Burger does look quite tasty, too.) Read on ... and bring your appetite!


Hopdoddy Takes Over Grub Burger in The Woodlands

The Back to School Burger

Hopdoddy Burger Bar took over another Grub Burger location earlier this month, this time in The Woodlands. The Austin-based chain, which for years boasted lines wrapping around its buildings hours before opening, is also shilling a Back to School burger, topped with fried bologna, muenster cheese and a fried egg. Yum!

Cool Off with a Frozen Watermelon-Mint Cocktail at Brennan’s

Watermelon Mint Freeze

Forego the frozé and instead opt for the new Watermelon Mint Freeze at Brennan's, available through the end of the month. It's $12, and makes the restaurant's charming courtyard bearable in August. Worth it!

Feges BBQ Hosts Bourbon-Splashed Pop-Up

Feges BBQ is partnering with Treaty Oak Distilling to host a five-course dinner with cocktail pairings at the end of the month. It will be served family-style — think peach-and-feta panzanella, and smoked beef shank with cast-iron grits and Korean-braised greens — and in addition to cocktails, there will be a whiskey tasting and a party favor of Ghost Hill Texas Bourbon. Tickets are $130 per person.

Paccha Nikkei Now Open on Westheimer

Pacha Nikkei dining room (photo by Marco Torres)

Located in West Houston near the Beltway, Pacha Nikkei is a first-of-its-kind concept, melding the flavors of Peru and Japan in sharable small plates and craft cocktails boasting sake and pisco alike. Helmed by chef Masaru Fukuda and operator Sebastien Laval (an alumnus of La Table, Le Colonial and Musaafer), it opened last week, promising heaping helpings of seafood-heavy dishes like pulpo a la parrilla and Peruvian-spiced-infused sushi rolls. For more, click here.

‘World’s Best Bar’ Takes Over Julep

Julio Cabrera

On the heels of her James Beard Award win, Alba Huerta is inviting some of the best bartenders in the world to shake things up at Julep. Julio Cabrera of Miami's Cafe La Trova will be pouring some Cuban-inspired cocktails on Monday, Aug. 29, from 7-10pm. His bar came in at No. 28 on the list of the World's Best Bars in 2021, and No. 6 on the list of Best Bars in North America this year (Julep was No. 46). Expect five signature cocktails from Cabrera, who'll also have Julep's kitchen whip up some of Cafe La Trova's bar bites. Outside, find a cigar bar and live Cuban-jazz music!

Food
Meet Brian Boyter, New High-End Residential Broker with an Unique Background

BRIAN BOYTER IS a Houston native with an interesting background in real estate. After an impressive 16-year tenure managing commercial transactions in a Fortune 500 Real Estate Investment Trust, he recently made the shift to high-end residential brokerage. The experience left him uniquely suited to thrive in the sometimes-emotional world of buying or selling a home.

Keep Reading Show less

The 50th Annual Spindletop Holiday Ball, Seas and Greetings, will be held on Thursday, December 12. Tables and sponsorship opportunities are available now.

What is your mission? Spindletop Community Impact Partners, Inc. enhances the lives of at-risk youth through funding and volunteering from the energy industry, while promoting fellowship and networking among its participants.

Keep Reading Show less

What is your mission? The Children’s Assessment Center (The CAC) provides healing services to over 6,300 child sexual abuse victims and their families each year. We offer forensic interviewing, family advocacy, mental health services, medical care, and court services at no cost. We facilitate community outreach and prevention training to raise awareness about child abuse in our community and how to keep children safe. Last year, we provided prevention training to over 35,000 community members, including 23,500 children in schools.

Keep Reading Show less