meet the tastemakers

Presenting Houston's 10 best patios for outdoor drinking and dining

Each year, the CultureMap Tastemaker Awards includes a wildcard category that’s unique to that year’s ceremony. For 2024, CultureMap’s editors have selected Best Patio.

After all, Houstonians love to eat outdoors. Sure, it becomes tricky in July and August, but our mild winters mean plenty of al fresco opportunities. Recognizing that reality, restaurant and bar owners have provided their fellow Houstonians with any number of comfortable spaces for drinking, dining, and socializing.

Our nominees run the gamut from a down home ice house to River Oaks’ ultimate see-and-be-seen spot. Some have a view of a parking lot, while one offers one of the best places to admire the downtown skyline. All of them offer an ideal environment for escaping the stress of city life.

Which establishment will win? Find out March 27 at the Tastemaker Awards party. We’ll dine on bites from this year’s nominated restaurants and sip cocktails from our sponsors before revealing the winners in our short and sweet ceremony.

Buy your tickets now. VIP passes are already sold out. Don’t miss out on the remaining General Admission tickets.

Axelrad
Since it opened at the end of 2015, Axelrad has welcomed patrons to its spacious backyard patio. Whether lounging in a hammock or gathering for community events like movie nights and concerts, Axelrad’s outdoor space facilitates a wide array of experiences. The extensive beer selection, craft cocktails, and the ability to order pizza from Luigi’s all contribute to the experience.

Courtesy of Saint Arnold

Saint Arnold Brewing Company.

Backstreet Cafe
This River Oaks institution has a small exterior patio, but the true prize is its spacious interior courtyard. The tree-shaded space has a magical ability to feel cool during all but the hottest summer days. It feels even more special during Sunday brunch, when diners feast on chef Hugo Ortega’s creations while sipping on selections from the extensive wine list.

Better Luck Tomorrow
The sprawling patio at Bobby Heugel and Justin Yu’s neighborhood bar has become a Heights staple. Friends gather on it for casual weeknight dinners or as a place to grab drinks before wandering around the neighborhood. Recent upgrades to the furniture make it an even more comfortable place to spend an afternoon.

Brasil
Choose from two experiences at this Montrose cafe. The front patio gets energy from its proximity to the bustling intersection of Westheimer and Dunlavy. An inner courtyard offers a quiet escape from the city’s hustle and bustle. Either way, Brasil’s casual, affordable menu will satisfy almost any craving.

Brasserie 19
Houston’s ultimate see-and-be-seen patio provides a venue for its River Oaks regulars to schmooze and socialize. Trays of oysters and bottles of bubbles provide sustenance, or indulge in French classics like Nicoise salad and trout almondine. B19’s patrons add an extra level of excitement by rolling up in the latest hypercars or a vintage Ferrari.

Coltivare
Houstonians have been eating pepperoni pizzas and bowls of black spaghetti on Coltivare’s patio for 10 years. The patio connects to the restaurant’s massive garden that supplies the kitchen with herbs and produce to demonstrate its commitment to only using the freshest seasonal ingredients. When the weather warms up, the signature gin & tonic helps cool things off.

Giacomo's Cibo e Vino
Lynette Hawkins’ River Oaks restaurant remains one of Houston’s most satisfying Italian eateries. Its patio serves as an ideal place to enjoy Giacomo’s carefully curated menu of vegetable dishes, pastas, and other favorites. The ivy-covered fence adds a natural element that will lift anyone’s spirits. Even better, it’s dog friendly.

Saint Arnold Brewing Company
If this category were titled “Best Patio View,” then Saint Arnold’s look at the downtown skyline would make it the automatic winner. A large canopy — complete with a fountain made from an upside down brew kettle — provides an all-weather space where patrons can enjoy beers, pizza, and more. The brewery displays Astros games on a giant screen, making it a perfect place to root for the home team.

West Alabama Ice House
Not to get too romantic, but something special happens in this bar’s sprawling backyard. Houston may not have better spot to gather on a sunny afternoon. Grab a beer. Play a lawn game or two. Snack on tacos from the adjacent Tacos Tierra Caliente truck. It doesn’t get better than that.

Winnie's
It’s a simple fact that po’ boys and cocktails taste better when eaten outdoors. Thankfully, Winnie’s has a spacious patio with picnic tables that provides a proper setting for sampling its wares. The patio also serves as a venue for pop-up markets and other happenings that keep regulars coming back again and again.

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The 2024 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards takes place 6-10 pm Wednesday, March 27 at Silver Street Studios (2000 Edwards St.).

The Tastemaker Awards ceremony is brought to you by Stella Artois, Rías Baixas Albariño, Topo Chico Sparkling Mineral Water, 8th Wonder Cannabis, Tito's Vodka, and more to be announced. A portion of proceeds will benefit our nonprofit partner, the Southern Smoke Foundation.

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Chris Cusack explains

Houston bar owner speaks out about surprise arrest for health code violations

Photo by Sergio Trevino

Chris Cusack owns two locations of Betelgeuse Betelgeuse.

Certainly one of the most unusual interactions between a restaurant and City of Houston officials took place on Wednesday, May 6 when Betelgeuse Betelgeuse owner Chris Cusack was arrested for health code violations at his location on Washington Avenue.

News of the arrest spread quickly across social media over the weekend. Now, Cusack is ready to tell his side of the story.

Cusack, whose time operating restaurants in Houston goes back more than 15 years to Down House and its affiliated restaurants such as Hunky Dory and D&T Drive Inn, tells CultureMap the problem began on Monday, May 4 when a health department inspector came to Betelgeuse Betelgeuse and asked to see the restaurant’s grease trap.

The only problem is that location has never had a grease trap. Prior to becoming Betelgeuse Betelgeuse, it was Liberty Station, a pioneering bar in Houston’s craft beer and craft cocktail scenes. In the early days, Betelgeuse served food from a food truck. More recently, it prepares its food next door at The Bell and Crane. Cusack acknowledges he didn’t share this information with the inspector.

“Usually I’m a charmer with the health department, but I was a little defensive. She kept asking me. I said, ‘ma’am, we don’t make food here,’” he explains. “The tone wasn’t my finest moment, but there was no name calling or anything like that. She said, ‘where does the food come from?’ I said, ‘it doesn’t matter where it comes from. It’s produced in a commercial kitchen.’”

Cusack says he knew there would be a follow up, but he was shocked when the inspector returned two days later with more colleagues from the health department, TABC inspectors, and Houston Police Department officers.

“I got somewhere between 21 and 25 citations,” Cusack says about the return visit. He got dinged for everything from graffiti in the bathroom to a missing Harris County tax stamp on the photo booth he leases from a vendor (it has both State of Texas and City of Houston stamps, Cusack says).

One inspector told Cusack he needed a food dealer’s permit. He showed the inspector that a food dealer’s permit had been issued for the restaurant's address under the former food truck’s LLC but not to the LLC that operates Betelgeuse Betelgeuse. Cusack says he had renewed the food truck’s permit in March, but that wasn’t good enough for the inspector. In Cusack’s telling, he was arrested for not having the permit, since it was also flagged as missing in an inspection from October 2025. He's the only person he knows who has ever been arrested for a misdemeanor violation of the health code.

Cusack says he spent 21 hours in the Harris County Jail. When he got out, he says he was contacted by a more senior official within the Health Department. Once Cusack confirmed he owned both LLCs, he was told he could reopen. Both locations of Betelgeuse Betelgeuse have been operating normally since Friday, May 8.

Cusack maintains he never knew about the October 2025 inspection, which is why he renewed the food dealer’s permit for the food truck’s LLC rather than applying for one under Betelgeuse Betelgeuse’s LLC. “There’s no paper trail that shows I was given this information,” he says. “I did not get the email [from the Health Department].”

As for why things got so out of hand, Cusack theorizes he was a victim of Houston Mayor John Whitemire’s crack down on “reckless behavior” on Washington Avenue and stepped up enforcement on bars generally that led to the temporary closure of near northside cocktail bar Rabbit’s Got the Gun.

Cusack says he’s a “huge supporter” of efforts to reduce crimes like street racing, drug dealing, and sex trafficking along Washington and in its surrounding neighborhoods. Still, he feels targeting by the city for being impolite to a health inspector.

He plans to fight both the arrest and the citations in court. “I want the charges dropped, and I want it expunged completely from my record. That’s the first thing, and I’m going to try very hard to do it,” he says.

“That’s going to end up costing thousands of dollars just to deal with the sheer volume,” he adds.

CultureMap contacted Mayor Whitmire’s office. A representative said the mayor was not aware of the situation and has no comment on an open investigation.

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