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    Houston's Cocktail Culture

    Farm to bottle: Top Houston restaurant offers a crash course in hot new cocktail trend

    Marene Gustin
    Marene Gustin
    Feb 3, 2014 | 8:48 am

    The Houston Museum of Natural Science is one of my favorite museums in a city rife with museums. We have museums for everything in Houston, even funeral history.

    But, being more interested in living, and eating and drinking, I’m a real fan of HMNS’s Cultural Feasts. In the past these food and history events have focused on foods of Ancient Egypt and the Miracle Fruit, a berry that tricks your mouth into tasting sweet things as sour and vice versa. Which is weird, very weird. I know; I tried it.

    But the next HMNS Cultural Feast is coming up and it’s all about the booze, baby.

    “I worked for AT&T for a thousand years. That’s where I learned to drink so when I retired I decided to work with cocktails."

    “We’re going to have a little bit of fun with cocktails and teach people about the chemistry and the history of drinks,” says Richard Middleton, mixologist at Brennan’s of Houston, which is hosting the HMNS fundraiser Feb. 20.

    Middleton is a wealth of information.

    “I worked for AT&T for a thousand years,” says the 65-year-old Texan. “That’s where I learned to drink so when I retired I decided to work with cocktails at my favorite restaurant.”

    Self taught, Middleton says he reads and talks to distillers constantly and describes liquor as his baseball, his personal passion, with the players being Scotch and bourbon instead of Craig Biggio and Nolan Ryan.

    Besides Middleton, culinary historian Merrianne Timko will also be on hand at the event to discuss the history of cocktails in the United States and how they developed and are different from European drinks.

    “She is just a wealth of information,” Middleton says. “Every time I talk to her I learn something.”

    Topics of discussion and drinks will be emulsion — like how to mix egg drinks properly — and sustainability and green trends.

    Green Drinks

    Farm-to-fork may be an overused term in restaurants, but farm-to-bottle is still a growing trend. Middleton points to Texas boutique distillers such as Balcones Distillery and Garrison Brothers Distillery, which claims “Texas born from Texas corn.”

    “A lot of them are using organic products, buying from local farms, repurposing the grains for animal feed and reusing bourbon barrels as Scotch barrels,” Middleton explains.

    By law bourbon has to be aged in a new barrel every time. Not so with Scotch, so now you have liquors like Laphroaig that’s aged in former Maker’s Mark barrels.

    Farm-to-fork may be an overused term, but farm-to-bottle is still a growing trend.

    It all promises to be very fascinating and then, of course, you’ll get to drink too. And eat.

    The menu hasn’t been set yet, but Middleton says to expect five courses — five special cocktails that chef Danny Trace will pair with small plates.

    Don’t worry about getting too tipsy. Brennan’s hosted the first Chemistry of the Cocktail for HMNS in 2011 and actually checked some of the patrons before letting them leave.

    “It’s five cocktails in three hours,” Middleton says. “We want them to be able to walk out the door.”

    Which is why the drinks will be served in coupe glasses. If you’re an aficionado of stemware you’ll know that these 1930s-era champagne bowl glasses, also known as champagne saucers, hold only three ounces instead of the usual five or six.

    If you are a fan of Brennan’s weekday lunch 25-cent martinis, you’ll recognize these little post-Prohibition glasses. They’re just a sip, sip and done. But after five you still might want to have a cab on call.

    The Chemistry of the Cocktail Culture Feast is Feb 20 at 7 p.m. at Brennan's. Tickets are $115 per person, $95 for members.

    The Houston Museum of Natural Science's "Cultural Feasts" get boozy with "Chemistry of the Cocktail," hosted by Brennan's of Houston.

    cocktails on the bar at Brennan's of Houston
      
    Brennan's of Houston
    The Houston Museum of Natural Science's "Cultural Feasts" get boozy with "Chemistry of the Cocktail," hosted by Brennan's of Houston.
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    and the winner is...

    Innovative Houston chef is the city's newest James Beard Award winner

    Eric Sandler
    Jun 17, 2025 | 6:00 am
    James Beard Awards 2025 Thomas Bille Belly of the Beast
    Photo by Getty Images for James Beard Foundation
    Thomas Bille is Houston's newest James Beard Award winner.

    Add another Houston chef to the city’s growing list of James Beard Award winners. Thomas Bille, chef-owner of Belly of the Beast in Spring, earned Best Chef: Texas at the James Beard Foundation’s Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony.

    Held at the Lyric Opera of Chicago on Monday, June 16, Bille was one of five finalists for the award, along with fellow Houstonian Emmanuel Chavez (Tatemo), Emil Oliva (Leche de Tigre in San Antonio), Regino Rojas (Purépecha in Dallas), and Michael Anthony Serva, (Bordo in Marfa). Neither of Houston’s other finalists — Mexico City-inspired cafe Casaema (formerly known as Ema) for Best New Restaurant and fine dining tasting menu restaurant March for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program — earned awards in their categories.

    A Los Angeles native who moved to the Houston area to be closer to his wife’s family, Bille took a winding path to his James Beard Award. He opened the first iteration of Belly of the Beast in 2020 as a chef-driven taqueria that was known for its ceviches and birria tacos. He then spent about a year at Chivos, an ambitious but short-lived Mexican-American restaurant in the Heights.

    In late 2023, he and his wife Elizabeth opened a new version of Belly of the Beast in a Spring shopping center. It showcased a broader array of Bille’s skills, with a wide-ranging menu that pulled from global flavors — lamb shank rendang, anyone? — that included meat, seafood, and pastas. The new restaurant quickly earned wide acclaim, including a Bib Gourmand in the 2024 Michelin Guide and CultureMap Tastemaker Award nominations for both Restaurant of the Year and Chef of the Year.

    “I feel a depth of gratitude,” Bille tells CultureMap in a text message. “Knowing that my wife and I were able to reopen on our own terms. Gratitude for my family, staff, and guests to give us love and support. It is much appreciated.”

    In an interview from the ceremony shared by the James Beard Foundation, Bille paid tribute to his wife, Elizabeth, for her role in the restaurant’s success.

    “The risk that my wife and I took to open this restaurant is more than worth it. My wife left her industry, she was a national director for nonprofit organization,” he said. “I said, ‘We’re going to reopen Belly of the Beast. I need you with me side-by-side the whole time.’ The first iteration she held down her job and supported us. With her at my wide, I’m able to focus on the kitchen, on the food, and mentoring my cooks. Able to see the bigger picture instead of just being in the weeds all the time.”

    Bille is the second Houstonian to win Best Chef: Texas, joining Street to Kitchen chef-owner Benchawan Jabthong Painter, who won in 2023. Since the category of Best Chef: Texas has only been awarded since 2022, Bille is the first man to earn the title. Prior to being its own region, the James Beard Foundation included Texas in the Southwest, where chefs Robert Del Grande (Cafe Annie), Chris Shepherd (Underbelly), Justin Yu (Oxheart), and Hugo Ortega (Hugo’s) all won awards.

    The only other Texas finalist to win his category was Arjav Ezekiel of Birdie's in Austin, who became the first winner of Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service, one of three beverage-oriented categories the foundation added for 2025.

    In addition to Bille and Ezekiel, Texam Chad Houser, founder of Cafe Momentum in Dallas, received the Humanitarian of the Year Award. Toni Tipton-Martin, a Houston-based author, scholar, and journalist, received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Houstonian Alba Huerta, who won Outstanding Beverage Program for her bar Julep in 2022, presented one of the night’s awards.

    “It’s with deep celebration that we congratulate the 2025 Restaurant and Chef Award winners — distinguished culinary, beverage, and hospitality leaders whose talent and vision are shaping our dining landscape,” said Clare Reichenbach, CEO, James Beard Foundation, in a statement. “These outstanding professionals are the epitome of ‘Good Food for Good,’ elevating our industry’s standards and redefining what’s possible in American cuisine.”

    James Beard Awards 2025 Thomas Bille Belly of the Beast
      

    Photo by Getty Images for James Beard Foundation

    Thomas Bille is Houston's newest James Beard Award winner.

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