Cinco de Mayo Weekend Guide

Cinco de Drinko: Best places to celebrate Cinco de Mayo all weekend long (Monday, too!)

Since Cinco de Mayo is on a Monday this year, you can kick off the celebration as early as you like. Revelers are taking advantage of the calendar to stretch the holiday throughout the weekend and some are starting even earlier. Dos Equis is throwing a big Dos de Mayo party on Friday at Little Woodrows in Midtown. Its reservation list has reached capacity, but there are a lot of other fun festivities.

We've rounded some of up the best places to celebrate Cinco de Mayo in the Houston area. If you know of others, add them in the comments section below.

Friday, May 2

Titanium Tequlia Happy Hour at The Terrace Bar at Cook & Collins

Start your Cinco de Mayo festivities early at the opening of The Terrace Bar at Cook & Collins. From 5 to 7 p.m., enjoy bar bites, happy hour prices on signature craft tequila cocktails and prize giveaways.

Saturday, May 3

Cinco de Mayo at El Big Bad

For a truly unique Cinco de Mayo celebration, head to El Big Bad for crawfish and Yucatan roasted pig. The event also features a keg of Karbach Brewing Co.'s FUN Series 007, a limited production of Hellfighter aged in Four Roses Bourbon barrels. DJ Ebonix from 104.1 KRBE will spin from 8 p.m. until 2 a.m., and don't miss out on liquid nitrogen margaritas.

Cinco de Mayo at Cadillac Bar in Kemah

Known for its Tex-Mex fare, Cadillac Bar is hosting Cinco de Mayo parties on both Saturday and Sunday at its Kemah location. The festivities include giveaways, a taco stand and buckets of beer — along with a mariachi band.

Drinko de Mayo at Howl at the Moon

Starting at 7 p.m., celebrate Drinko de Mayo with Howl at the Moon, one of the city's best dueling piano bars. The bar will feature specials on Dos Equis, Jose Cuervo and the 86 oz "Mega Margarita" buckets.

Sunday, May 4

Cinco de Mayo Pre-Bash at El Pueblito Patio

Check out the Cinco de Mayo Pre-Bash at El Pueblito for cozy cabanas, delicious Latin American cuisine and exotic drinks at one of Houston's best patios from noon to 8 p.m. Entertainment includes DJs spinning all evening, go-go dancers and a guest appearance by up-and-coming bachata artist, Manny Loam.

Cinco De Mayo "Mustache Bash" at Proof Bar

Enjoy $7 Jose Cuervo margaritas and Bacardi mango-pineapple bellinis, as well as crawfish and taquitos at Proof Bar's Cinco de Mayo "Mustache Bash." Six DJs will be spinning throughout the night, with festivities starting at 11 p.m. Don't forget to wear a mustache or sombrero!

Monday, May 5

Cinco de Mayo at Hugo's

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo at Hugo's for authentic Mexican cuisine and great top-shelf margaritas. From 5 to 10 p.m., the restaurant is offering happy hour, food specials and live music by house band Viento, as well as a $65 per person four-course tequila pairing dinner.

Tequila de Mayo at Pistolero's

Join Pistolero's for its first-ever Cinco de Mayo celebration, featuring tequila specials from open-to-closing. Specials include $4 margaritas and $5 palomas, as well as tasty tacos.

Cinco de Mayo at TQLA

TQLA is hosting a Cinco de Mayo party featuring tons of drink specials, including $4.50 margaritas and $3 Dos Equis and Corona Light drafts. Get your Mexican food fix with tacos, guacamole and queso, or opt for something different like crawfish and hush puppies. Want to celebrate early? TQLA is also offering $6 Maestro Dobel margaritas starting on Saturday, May 3.

Cinco de Mayo at Cafe Adobe

With live DJs, Budweiser girls and Corona on tap, Cafe Adobe is a great place to get your Cinco de Mayo party on. The event features $3 frozen margaritas, $8.50 premium margaritas and $5 flavored margaritas all day.

Cinco de Drinko at Bayou City Bar

Bayou City Bar is hosting a Cinco de Drinko party, featuring a Selena look-a-like drag contest at midnight. The festivities also include $1 frozen margaritas and Coronitas all night, as well as a Mexican loteria (bingo) hosted by drag family The Crawfords.

Cinco de Mayo at Cadillac Bar — Shepherd

Celebrate the holiday at the original Cadillac Bar, with live DJ entertainment, a taco stand, giveaways and specials on margaritas, buckets of beer and Fireball Whisky shots.

Check out El Pueblito Patio for DJs, dancing and drinks.

El Pueblito Patio margarita with Corona beer on patio

El Pueblito Patio Facebook

Check out El Pueblito Patio for DJs, dancing and drinks.

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Food for Thought

Liquid gold: Best places for chile con queso — the national snack food of Texas

Photo by Jen Foursquare

There’s a darn fine version at Beaver’s, the icehouse cum barbeque joint from chef Monica Pope, made with smoked asadero cheese, green chiles and pico de gallo.

In honor of Cinco de Mayo — a Mexican holiday co-opted by white, yuppie Americans as a day to drink massive amounts of tequila — let’s all raise a corn chip to chile con queso, the national snack food of Texas.

This gooey cheese dip has been around for decades, mostly as a Tex-Mex staple, but its deliciousness can now be found far and wide.

And why not? It’s cheese dip, usually with peppers and tomatoes, sometimes more. The classic American home recipe consists of a brick of Velveeta and a can of Ro✩Tel Diced Tomatoes & Green Chiles, nuked in a microwave. Simple, easy, fast. And good. Perfect game day food and a must have for Cinco de Mayo.

But some local eateries kick it up a notch. I like the one at El Real Tex-Mex. They serve up some good stuff, blending three different types of cheese, chiles and tomatoes and you can add fajita beef or picadillo — spicy ground taco meat — on top. Meat is a good way to go, particularly if you want to make a meal of chips and dip and margaritas.

Of course Molina’s Cantina, started back in 1941, claims to be the original meat and queso place. Their delicious José’s Dip was allegedly created by a long ago waiter named — what else? — José, when a diner asked him to add some meat to the cheese dip. As the story goes, he went back to the kitchen and saw the spicy ground beef for tacos and dumped some in. Makes for a good story anyway.

Maria Selma Restaurant makes a fine dip as well, it’s a little thinner than some and is mostly just melted yellow cheese, but ask for some chopped fresh jalapeños and dump those babies in there, seeds and all, and you have a perfect fiery dip. They also use the dip on their nachos that I really like. Better than the thicker, melted cheeses on most nachos.

And here’s another good one: Pistolero’s. This cool looking spot with the Mexican art and artifacts has a queso that’s a touch on the thin side but that’s because it’s made with beer. That’s right, Jack cheese, pico de gallo and cervazo, baby.

And there’s even queso — no chiles — at Mia’s, a Carrabba family eatery probably better known for its chicken fingers, burgers and smoked meats. But it’s well worth ordering as a side with a basket of hot chips.

In fact, you can find queso and chile con queso pretty much everywhere. There’s a darn fine version at Beaver’s, the icehouse cum barbeque joint from chef Monica Pope, made with smoked asadero cheese, green chiles and pico de gallo.

I’d like to say something about the chile con queso at the new inner loop Pico’s Mex-Mex. I ate it but I hardly remember it. I know it had picadillo on top and it was more yellow and not as spicy as some dips. But I also had a margarita with it. When you order a margarita here the wait staff asks if you want a small, medium or large.

Um, medium?

The medium is a 24-ounce glass that you have to lift with both hands. I actually walked over to the bar and asked to see the large glass. It was a 48-ounce fish bowl! Radio personality Lanny Griffith explained to me that this drink is for three people. Okay, grab some friends and extra straws and go for this Cinco de Mayo.

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Did Marene miss you favorite place for queso? Let us know in comments section below.

Molina's delicious José’s Dip was allegedly created by a long-ago waiter named — what else? — José, when a diner asked him to add some meat to the cheese dip.

Molina's Cantina queso Jose's Dip with chips

Molina's delicious José’s Dip was allegedly created by a long-ago waiter named — what else? — José, when a diner asked him to add some meat to the cheese dip.

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