you picked a fine time, lucille

Generous Museum District restaurant hosts pop-ups for out-of-work bartenders

Lucille's will host pop-ups on its patio.

Courtesy of Lucille's

One Houston restaurant wants to help some of the city's out-of-work bartenders. Every Thursday, Lucille's will host different bartenders on its patio for one night only pop-ups.

After kicking off two weeks ago with a trial run, the program has locked in a weekly schedule that includes live music and established a partnership with global liquor brand Beam Suntory. Participating bartenders will keep 100-percent of sales and tips from their cocktails sold that night. In addition, patrons will vote for their favorite cocktail of the night, which will be added to Lucille's menu for the following week; bartenders will receive the revenue from those sales, too.

"When restaurants and bars were initially forced to shut down during the pandemic, we made sure to support an independently owned restaurant every single day that we were open for to-go service," Lucille's chef-owner Chris Williams said in a statement. "I would feed my entire staff … every single day, with food from Houston restaurants. Now we want to do the same thing for bars. The truth is that everyone is suffering right now, and we all need each other."

Williams' program highlights the degree to which bartenders have suffered economically during the coronavirus pandemic. Hosting a pop-up at Lucille's allows bartenders to earn income at a time when they otherwise wouldn't be able to work. Recently, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered all bars statewide to close for dine-in service in order to slow the spread of COVID-19.

First up on Thursday, July 16 will be bartenders David Cedeno (better known as David Daquiri) and Ryan Perry (Foreign Correspondents, Ladybird's). Cedeno tells CultureMap he picked two cocktails that will pair well with Lucille's Southern fare: the Lockwood Hustle (Knob Creek, Basil Hayden, lemon, tamarind, Amaretto, Oloroso sherry) and the 100 Days of Solitude (single barrel Cruzan rum, Oloroso sherry, turbinado, bitters).

Perry will present a variation of the classic Paloma called the Crimson Dawn (Hornitos, hibiscus-infused grapefruit soda, peach-cinnamon cordial) and the Honey Wasp, a spritz made with Roku gin, white port, and a honey-rosemary-citrus gastrique. "Both are refreshingly effervescent summer cocktails designed to pair well with Lucille's dinner menu or as a standalone tipple," he says.

All four cocktails will be available for both dine-in and to-go from 6 - 10 pm. Reservations are required to dine-in, and Lucille's enforces a strict policy that requires customers to wear masks when they're not seated at their tables.

Next week's bartenders will hail from NettBar, a patio bar near Washington Avenue. Future bar teams will be announced on Lucille's Instagram every Tuesday.

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a major award

Houston sushi spot's Dubai outpost named to prestigious 50 best list

Courtesy of Duckstache Hospitality

Kokoro's original Dubai location received the award.

The Dubai location of a Houston-based Japanese restaurant has been named one of the best restaurants in the Middle East. Kokoro ranks No. 15 on the Middle East & North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants list.

Presented by the same organization as the prestigious World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, Kokoro earned recognition for its location in Al Quoz, Dubai, one of three locations in the city. Considered to be the city’s first handroll bar (according to press materials), the list’s authors praise the restaurant’s whimsical design and the signature temaki that Houstonians know well.

“Pristine nori-wrapped parcels packed with crunchy, creamy and zesty elements — Kokoro's hand rolls are the highlight of the menu,” the entry reads in part. “Made to order with the likes of Japanese yellowtail, salmon, Hokkaido scallop and marbled A5 wagyu beef, each cone-shaped offering combines the freshest of ingredients with masterfully prepared rice to create a handheld package that's big on precision, but small on pretence.”

Chefs Daniel Lee and Patrick Pham opened the original Kokoro in Houston’s Bravery Chef Hall in 2019. Since then, the duo’s Duckstache Hospitality has expanded with three locations of handroll concept Handies Douzo, Garden Oaks sushi restaurant Himari, Kokoro Handroll Bar in The Woodlands, Doko and Bar Doko in Autry Park, and Aiko, their Washington Avenue restaurant that won Best New Restaurant in the 2023 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards.

In Dubai, the company partnered with FYTE Hospitality. Like its Houston locations, the Dubai restaurants are adorned with Duckstache’s signature “duckies” — a whimsical element that bridges the more than 8,000 miles that separates the two cities.

“Dubai’s food scene is one of the most diverse in the world. The culinary landscape of this city is always evolving, and we saw an opportunity to bring something new to the market while staying true to what we’ve built in Houston,” Lee said in a statement. “Kokoro is all about quality, precision, and that made-to-order experience and now we get to share that with Dubai while still giving Houstonians something familiar to smile about when they walk in.”

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