cheers! death is coming.

Cool new bar shakes up Lindale Park with cheeky cocktails and inspired eats

Death is coming. Eat trash. Be free.

No, that's not the message of some crackpot spreading doom on Substack. Rather, it's an utterly Instagrammable neon sign at Trash Panda Drinking Club, a new bar in Lindale Park that began its soft opening last week and will celebrate its grand opening on Friday, July 30.

Located in the former Edison & Patton space (4203 Edison St.), Trash Panda is the latest concept from Night Moves Hospitality, the minds behind this year's well-received Space Cowboy at the Heights House Hotel. Night Moves partner Greg Perez worked with local artists to transform the 3,000-square-foot space with black paint, velvet bar stools, and midcentury modern fixtures.

In addition to the neon, look for floral paintings on the ceiling and a large mural of "General Rigby," the bar's unofficial raccoon mascot.

“Edison [& Patton] was my first bar managing job and it’s in the neighborhood I grew up in, so it feels like coming home,” Perez said in a statement. “The staff and I built something special at the last bar we opened in the neighborhood a couple years ago, and we hope to bring that same feeling to Trash.”

Bar managers Mathew McEwan and Logan Pollak, both of whom worked with Perez at Monkey's Tail, have created a light-hearted cocktail menu of refreshing sips. The bright pink bubblegum martini is made with gin, hibiscus, lime, and Green Chartreuse, while the Purple Kush features two kinds of rum, ginger wort, and lime.

The cocktail menu also displays a cheeky sense of humor. Buy beer for the kitchen for $10, or enlist Pollak as your "wingman" for $200. The truly bold can allow the staff to choose their own tip.

Night Moves chef-partner Lyle Bento's menu channels some of the same inspirations he displayed at Southern Goods, his restaurant in The Heights that closed in 2017. For example, Trash Panda's pork cracklings utilize the same recipe as they did at Southern Goods, and the wedge salad comes topped with remoulade and crawfish. Bento has also incorporate some Mexican influences with dishes like a Milanese served with mole and corn tortillas, elotes, and chips and queso.

Trash Panda is open Wednesday-Monday from 4 pm-2 am (closed Tuesday). Reservations available via the Resy app.

Purple kush cocktail and wedge salad.

Photo by Dylan Scardino

Purple kush cocktail and wedge salad.

cocktails news-you-can-eat openings

crawfish season is here

Essential Houston crawfish joint heads to Beaumont for new location

Photo by Paulina Olague

BB's Tex-Orleans is bringing its boiled seafood to Beaumont.

One of Houston’s favorite destinations for crawfish is heading east. BB’s Tex-Orleans will open 12th location in Beaumont.

Slated to open in April, BB’s will occupy the former home of The Park on Calder (2325 Calder Avenue). With 3,200 square feet inside and a massive, 5,000-square-foot patio, BB’s will seat 70 people inside and 175 people outdoors. The patio has enough space for a children’s play area and a 225-inch outdoor screen for showing the day’s games.

“At BB’s, we like to say that our culture is making Maw Maw, my grandmother, proud,” founder and CEO Brooks Bassler said in a statement. “So many of our recipes are inspired by Maw Maw’s cooking, but even more than the great food, it’s a way of living: family, hard work, fairness. Maw Maw was born in Winnie, and her sister still lives there, so BB’s roots actually start in the Golden Triangle. Finally opening a location in Beaumont feels like coming home.”

The menu will feature all of the dishes that have made BB’s a go-to for Cajun fare. That starts will boiled seafood, including crawfish, shrimp, and crab legs — all of which can be enhanced with Prasek’s smoked garlic sausage, alligator andouille sausage, corn, button mushrooms, red potatoes, and BB’s “Monsta Greens.”

Diners also turn to the restaurant for po’ boys, such as the Bedtime in the Bayou (fried shrimp) and the South Texas Fire Po’boy (marinated outside skirt steak topped with melted pepper jack cheese, avocado, sautéed peppers, and onions, topped with a spicy pepper cheese sauce).

Here’s founder Brooks Bassler with a Bedtime in the Bayou.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BB's Tex-Orleans (@bbstexorleans)

Founded in 2007 in Montrose as a late night po’ boy destination, BB’s has grown across the Houston area. BB’s Cajun Cantina in San Antonio adds Tex-Mex flavors to the mix.

news-you-can-eat openings