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    Bars of the Year

    9 best bars in Houston for 2019, from classic haunts to buzzy hot spots

    Eric Sandler
    Feb 8, 2019 | 2:31 pm

    Bars play an important role in people's lives. Walking into a restaurant alone can be awkward, but bars welcome solo patrons — just belly up to the bar and engage the bartender in a conversation.

    On sad occasions, a couple of drinks can provide some comfort. On happy occasions, they enhance cheerful spirits.

    Our judges panel of former CultureMap Tastemaker Award winners understands how important bars are to the city's culinary scene. They've selected these nine establishments as the finalists for Bar of the Year. This mix of veteran establishments and buzzy newcomers represent the best of what Houston has to offer.

    Who won? Find out at the CultureMap Tastemaker Awards party on March 27 at Silver Street Studios. We’ll reveal the winners, sip cocktails, and dine on bites provided by the nominees. Tickets are on sale now.

    Anvil Bar & Refuge
    As it approaches its 10th birthday (!), Anvil has become the Alabama Crimson Tide of bartending talent. When Tastemaker Award Bartender of the Year winners like Terry Williams and Alex Negranza get promoted to new roles that take them away from working regular shifts, Bobby Heugel (Nick Saban in this analogy) reloads with folks like Kehlen Scott and Jordan Pitts. The break-even bottle remains an incredible way to taste rare spirits at cost, and the cocktails are as delicious as ever.

    Goodnight Charlie’s
    It isn’t obvious that a master sommelier, a highly talented chef, and a local businessman would unite to open Houston’s newest honky tonk, but that’s what David Keck, Felipe Riccio, and Peter McCarthy achieved with Goodnight Charlie’s. Turns out that if you offer Houstonians a place with free live music, cold beer, and affordable bourbon, they will come dance in it. Riccio’s food menu, built around tacos made with house-made, hand-pressed corn tortillas, only enhance the bar’s appeal — especially considering they serve food until midnight.

    Grand Prize
    This Houston institution remains a favorite in the restaurant community for its creative cocktails, unpretentious atmosphere, and reasonable prices. Happy hours seem to feature regulars who all know each other, while Friday and Saturday nights typically draw a younger crowd that’s smoking away on the upstairs patio. Regardless of when someone bellies up to the bar, the veteran staff is sure to have the perfect option to suit any mood.

    Julep
    With its brass overhang and comfortable booths, Alba Huerta’s Southern-inspired cocktail bar has a romantic quality that sets it apart from other establishments. Whether sipping on its namesake cocktail or a house original like the Cherry Bounce Sour, the drinks are always balanced and flavorful. The tidy food menu offers satisfying bites that are as eclectic and thoughtful as the drinks.

    Lei Low
    Whatever the weather is like outside, this Heights bar transports its patrons to a tropical paradise. From its island vibes to its potent cocktails, this tiki bar sets the standard for escaping the everyday. While the cocktails are creative and well-balanced, they are typically so potent that even veteran drinkers will find that consuming more than two means using a ride-sharing app or a designated driver to get home.

    Light Years
    Houston’s wine community is buzzing about this recently opened natural wine bar. Located in a converted house in Montrose, Light Years pours natural wines from around the world. While how a wine is produced doesn’t always guarantee its deliciousness, the well-trained staff will guide patrons to a bottle that suits their taste. The flexible space works equally well for a gathering of friends or an intimate stop on date night.

    Miss Carousel
    Agricole Hospitality’s new cocktail bar — part of its trio of new establishments in EaDo — takes its inspiration from a stylish hotel lobby bar. Filled with comfortable couches and midcentury modern furniture selected by co-owner Morgan Weber and his wife, Julia, Miss Carousel forgoes having an actual bar in favor of providing spaces for friends to gather. Utilizing servers means patrons never have to wade through a crowd to catch a bartender’s attention. Bar bites from the Indianola kitchen help take the edge off the consistently potent drinks.

    Poison Girl
    Some people call this bar “Montrose’s living room,” and it’s easy to understand why. Casual, unpretentious, and welcoming, the bar works equally well for bourbon connoisseurs who want to dive deep into the bar’s extensive selection as it does for people who want to drink beer while playing pinball. The quirky artifacts in the backyard will always give it that “hipster dive” label, but who can say no to strong drinks, reasonable prices, and a Kool-Aid Man?

    Wooster’s Garden
    Last year’s opening of sister concept Holman Draft Hall has allowed Wooster’s to focus on the things it does best: cocktails that feature housemade infusions, tinctures, and other creative additions. The beer selection has more focus, too; it mostly consists of boozy, barrel-aged brews that offer a potent counterpoint to the cocktails. Chef Brandon Silva shows off his Uchi training with creative fare like a chirashi bowl that swaps the usual raw fish for marinated ribeye. Led by Bartender of the Year nominee Jessica Johnson, the well-trained staff deserves credit for cranking out drinks quickly.

    Who knew Montrose needed a honky tonk?

    Goodnight Charlie's neon sign
      
    Photo by Ralph Smith Studios
    Who knew Montrose needed a honky tonk?
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    he finished the job

    Houston chef Tristen Epps dishes on his Top Chef victory — and what's next

    Eric Sandler
    Jun 13, 2025 | 9:05 am
    Top Chef Tristen Epps
    Photo by David Moir/Bravo
    Kristen Kish, Tristen Epps, Gail Simmons, and Tom Colicchio.

    Houston has played a leading role in America’s culinary scene, but the city has never been home to a Top Chef winner — until last night. In the final episode of season 22, chef Tristen Epps earned the title and a $250,000 cash prize.

    Epps secured his victory by remaining true to the Afro-Caribbean cuisine that helped him secured an impressive four Elimination Challenge wins and $35,000 in additional prize money from two Quickfire wins and as a member of the team that won the show’s signature Restaurant Wars challenge. His four-course menu took a panel of celebrity judges on a journey that also referenced the finale location of Milan, Italy.

    In particular, Epps wowed the panel with his second course — Chicken “Durango” with injera shrimp toast and shellfish jus — that referenced both the Ethiopian chicken stew doro wat and the Italian dish pollo durango, a sly nod to the history of imperialism between the two countries. He finished his savory offerings with Oxtail Milanese Crepinette with Carolina Gold rice grits, curry butter, and bone marrow gremolata, which earned praised from the panel.

    “Historically, we’ve been underserved oxtail,” Top Chef alum and James Beard Award winner Gregory Gourdet said during the episode. “Tristen took the time to pull it, create that beautiful, huge, maybe too big, portion of oxtail. And cover it with that gremolata. He did not forget the bone marrow. That’s very, very smart.”

    Throughout Top Chef’s run, Epps has been holding a series of pop-ups devoted to everything from hot dogs to steakhouses. Now, he can turn his attention to Buboy, a tasting menu concept that will celebrate the Afro-Caribbean cuisine he championed throughout his time on the show.

    CultureMap caught up with Epps on Friday morning for a brief chat about his victory and what’s next.

    CultureMap: What do you remember from the day you cooked that final dinner?
    Tristen Epps: It was an extreme amount of focus. A lot of writing in my notebook. I didn’t want to laugh. I didn’t want to cry or do anything except finish the job, regardless of whatever the outcome would have been. I remember wanting to call my mom. I really wanted to talk things out so I could calm myself down and stay within my focus. Once I got into cooking, I felt so much at ease. It’s my happy place. It’s my serenity.

    CM: How did you feel when you saw Gregory Gourdet on the panel? Did you feel like you had an advocate in the room?
    TE: I’ve cooked with gregory before, a long time ago. It was really fun. I loved what he was doing.

    I felt like I had kind of an advocate. I was worried my food wold be too spicy or too overpowering [for the European chefs]. Seeing Gregory was really good, especially with what I was doing.

    CM: Other chefs, including Gregory Gourdet and Houston chef Dawn Burrell, have done well on the show with Afro-Caribbean cuisine but they didn’t win. How important was it to you to finish the job and use those flavors to win the title?
    TE: To me that was super important. There’s adventurous people who make phenomenal food. They’ll go once because it’s interesting, bu they’re usually skeptical. When you don’t nail it, they say, that’s why I go to the regular places that are familiar.

    Finishing the job was really important to me. People have come up short on this. I wanted to get this right for everyone who’s made that step forward and created the ladder.

    CM: What have your last 12 hours been like since the episode aired? Have any celebrities reached out to you?
    TE: A lot of calls, a lot of good luck. A lot of everything. It’s been amazing.

    A lot of past Top Chef winners reached out to me, giving me a lot of support and telling me what they did after they won.

    [ESPN football commentator] Mina Kimes did, which was really cool.

    CM: What are your plans for the prize money?
    TE: It’s going to go to Buboy. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, it can go a little faster.

    CM: You’ve been holding a series of pop-ups that range from tasting menus to hot dogs? What’s next?
    TE: Part of getting the restaurant open has been introducing myself to all of Houston. These pop-ups represent my interests and my fun. They’re the things that Buboy is going to represent. It can be fun, it can be a conversation, it can be educational, it can push the limits of cuisines we know. It’s an expression of culture in whatever way I see fit that day.

    The hot dog concept will probably be a separate venture, but who’s to say there’s not a hot dog at the end of that meal?

    Top Chef Tristen Epps
      

    Photo by David Moir/Bravo

    Kristen Kish, Tristen Epps, Gail Simmons, and Tom Colicchio.

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