Food for Thought

Your self-help drinks guide: The best holiday cocktails in Houston — in the baror at home

Wander downtown to Hotel Icon’s Line & Lariat, and you can sip on mixologist(and minister) Houston Farris’s Padre Navidad.
Courtesy Photo
Latin Bites has an Algarrobina Cocktail mixed with egg yolks and carob treesyrup.
Photo by Melisssa Kuo
In December, you’ll find two holiday specialty sips at Fleming’s PrimeSteakhouse & Wine Bar: The bubbly Haute Holiday with prosecco and the Merry MintSpice with whiskey.
Photo courtesy of Fleming's
Line & Lariat's Ponderosa
Courtesy Photo
if you are dreaming of a white Christmas, head out to Hotel Sorella inCityCentre for a sweet Sorella Snowflake.
Courtesy Photo
Phil’s Wine Lounge (the casual wine bar at Philippe’s Restaurant + Lounge) willwhet your whistle with the Patch L’Autumn, made with pumpkin pie syrup.
Photo by Melissa Kuo
Cherry of San Leon at Triniti with Raileen XO Rum and cherry liquor
Photo by Melissa Kuo

What a great time of year for foodies: The dark, rich game; the root veggies; apples and pumpkins, oh my!

But it’s not just the food I crave. It’s also the cocktails.

All of my favorite places are turning out cocktails for the holiday season, with ingredients ranging from pumpkin pie syrup to brown sugar and mole bitters. If these drinks don’t get you into a seasonal mood than you just need to put on your shorts and flip-flops, grab a margarita and wait for spring.

All of my favorite places are turning out fall cocktails for the holiday season, with ingredients ranging from pumpkin pie syrup to brown sugar and mole bitters.

Phil’s Wine Lounge (the revamped casual wine bar at Philippe Restaurant + Lounge) will wet your whistle with the Patch L’Autumn, made with pumpkin pie syrup and Latin Bites has an Algarrobina Cocktail mixed with egg yolks and carob tree syrup.

Chef/owner Monica Pope of Sparrow Bar + Cookshop celebrates the season with maple syrup. She uses it in her Maple Rum Sour, which is terrific.

Wander downtown to Hotel Icon’s Line & Lariat and you can sip on mixologist/minister Houston Farris’s Ponderosa or Padre Navidad, both with subtle tastes of the season.

Or search out two new holiday specialty sips at Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar: The bubbly Haute Holiday with prosecco and the Merry Mint Spice with whiskey.

And while it’s too early to tell if it will snow even a little in Houston this year, if you are dreaming of a white Christmas head out to Hotel Sorella in CityCentre for a sweet Sorella Snowflake.

But if you’d rather curl up at home by the fireplace, that’s OK, too. We’ve got y'all covered because here are some of the best fall holiday cocktail recipes you can make at home.

Phil’s Wine Lounge

Phil’s Patch L’Autumn

1.5 oz. Stolichnaya Vanilla vodka

.75 oz. pumpkin pie syrup (recipe below)

.5 oz. lemon juice

One egg white

Shake all above ingredients with ice vigorously for 60 seconds. Strain into cocktail coupe rimmed with cinnamon sugar.

Pumpkin pie syrup:

Heat one cup of water to boiing, remove from heat and stir in one cup turbinado sugar, one can pumpkin puree, four cinnamon sticks, one clove, one vanilla bean.

Let cool for at least four hours, strain through coffee filter.

Latin Bites

Algarrobina Cocktail

Infused Pisco 6 oz.

Four egg yolks

6 oz. condensed milk

Add carob tree syrup to taste

Blend all ingredients with a scoop of ice in a blender and serve in a small sniffer. Garnish with powder cinnamon.

Sparrow Bar + Cookshop

Maple Rum Sour

1.5 oz. spiced rum

One oz. maple syrup

One oz. Meyer lemon juice

Two splashes Bar Keep Baked Apple Bitters

Chill and pour into a martini glass garnished with a Meyer lemon wedge.

Line & Lariat

Ponderosa

1.5 oz Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur of the Alps Prosecco

One brown sugar cube

One sprig of rosemary

Add rosemary then brown sugar cube to champagne flute.

Add pine liqueur.

Top slowly with prosecco (be aware of the fizz so as to not overflow)

Padre Navidad

One oz. aged rum (preferably Brugal Extra Viejo)

One oz. Paula's Texas Orange liqueur

One oz. half and half cream

Five drops Bittermens Xocolatl Mole bitters

cinnamon

chipotle pepper powder

Pepperidge Farms chocolate fudge piroutte

Shake rum, orange liqueur, cream, and bitters on ice. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Dust the cinnamon and chipotle powder across the top of the drink. Garnish with pirouette.

Fleming’s

Haute Holiday

.5 oz Quady Elysium (muscat dessert wine)

.5 oz St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur

4 oz Mionetto Prosecco

Serve in a champagne flute garnished with a Luxardo Cherry.

Merry Mint Spice

1.5 oz Gentleman Jack

1 oz. Domaine De Canton

2 oz. POM juice

.5 oz. Simple Syrup

Eight fresh mint leaves

In a Boston shaker, muddle eight fresh mint leaves with the simple syrup to release the mint aromas. Add ice and add Gentlemen Jack, Canton and POM juice. Shake vigorously. Strain into a bucket glass over ice. Garnish with mint sprig.

Hotel Sorella

Sorella Snowflake

1.5 oz Smirnoff Kissed Caramel Vodka

1.5 oz Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a martini glass. Top it off with sprite. Garnish with sprig of mint and cherry.

Triniti Restaurant + Bar

Cherry of San Leon

1 1/2 oz. Raileen XO Rum

3/4 oz. liquor 43

1/2 oz cherry heering (cherry liquor)

Shake with ice, strain into martini glass, garnish with macerated cherry

Now, you have no excuse not to indulge in a little holiday cheer. So, go get the jigger and glasses and get to work.

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dock to table

Chef-loved Houston fisherman opens affordable seafood restaurant near Third Ward

Photo by Shane Dante

Captain Mc's serves fried drum and shrimp caught by McBride's boats.

A fisherman who’s a favorite of Houston chefs is getting into the restaurant business. Frederick McBride, better known as “Captain Fred,” will open Captain Mc’s Seafood near the Third Ward in May.

Located near the University of Houston and Texas Southern University at 5055 Griggs Road, Captain Mc’s will serve wild caught popcorn shrimp, black drum, and blue crab caught by McBride and his team of commercial fisherman. The menu has been streamlined to include plates of fried drum and fried shrimp, a fried shrimp po’ boy, and a crab cake sandwich, along with hamburgers and chicken tenders for non-seafood eaters.

“Our diners will have the real possibility of eating a fish or blue crab that was caught early that morning and fried up just in time for dinner,” McBride said in a statement.

The restaurant’s proximity to the coast allows Captain Mc’s to sell fresh caught, wild seafood at a price that’s similar to national fast food restaurants. For example, a four-ounce crab cake sandwich with fries, a hushpuppy, and a drink is priced at $20, and a combo meal of drum and shrimp with fries, a hushpuppy, and a drink is $25.

Since 2020, McBride and his crew have been supplying seafood to restaurants such as Navy Blue, Josephine’s, and Pier 6. As he prepared to open the restaurant, McBride asked his chef friends to contribute recipes. Matt Staph, a private chef who has worked at Brennan’s and One Fifth, helped with the fried recipes, and Lucille’s chef-owner Chris Williams worked on the crab cake. Pier 6 chef Joe Cervantez contributed a sauce that’s served with every meal, and James Beard Award winner Chris Shepherd contributed a remoulade recipe. Josephine’s chef Lucas McKinney, a CultureMap Tastemaker Awards winner, helped with overall menu development.

“Chefs Luke, Matt, Chris Williams, Joe, and Chris Shepherd have all been fishing with me on multiple occasions and have experienced the sea to table experience that we are bringing to Houston,” McBride said.

Speaking of Shepherd, he devoted an episode of his TV show Eat Like a Local to McBride’s operation. Watch it below.

Initially, the restaurant will be open Thursday-Sunday from 11 am-11 pm. It will offer diners the choice of a 35-seat dining room or getting a to-go order from its drive-through window.

Photo by Shane Dante

Captain Mc's serves fried drum and shrimp caught by McBride's boats.

news-you-can-eat openings captain mc's seafood