Meet the Tastemakers

Houston's 11 best bartenders stir up superb sips and stellar service

One thing separates the nominees for Bartender of the Year in the 2023 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards from the other individual categories. As primarily service professionals, they interact with the public in a way that our chef nominees are not required to.

While chefs mostly stay in their kitchens with their colleagues, customers can sit at a bar and have a conversation with a bartender. We suggest that you do, because these 11 professionals know a lot about wine, beer, and spirits. That's part of the reasons why our panel of local restaurants industry experts selected them.

Even more importantly, they’re good at sharing that knowledge without being snobby or condescending. They bring people in. If someone wants a vodka soda or a Jack and Coke, that’s okay, too. They’re here for you.

We’ll find out who wins at the Tastemaker Awards ceremony next Thursday, April 13. Tickets are sold out. For those who missed out, we’re too polite to say we told you so, but hopefully, we’ll see you next year.

Alejandro Medina - La Niña Blanca Mezcaleria
After a lengthy stint at Anvil, Medina moved on to East End hangout spot Lil’ Danny Speedo’s Go Fly a Kite Lounge and La Niña, a pop-up mezcal bar. He tells CultureMap that he’s been traveling to Mexico frequently to meet with mezcaleros and tequileros. His goal is to share the stories behind the spirits in the hope that it encourages consumers to explore beyond the big names.

Courtesy of Kristen Nepomuceno

Kristen Nepomuceno slings martinis at Refuge.

Christian Tellez - Rosie Cannonball
After working at downtown whisky bar Public Services, Tellez became part of the Rosie team two years ago. At Rosie’s, he leads a cocktail program known for its use of seasonal ingredients and a selection of non-alcoholic creations. When he’s not trying to convince diners to try a new amaro, he’s usually playing guitar — including rediscovering his interest in mariachi.

Elena Vann - Quiote
After spending a couple of years at The Toasted Coconut, the tiki-inspired bar that shares a space with Quiote, she moved to the intimate agave bar when it reopened last year. Vann’s cocktails utilize a range of Mexican spirits, including a martini riff made with Condesa gin that’s distilled in Mexico City. Outside of the bar, her work as a hand-poked tattoo artist can be seen on Houstonians with an appreciation for the art form.

Himanshu Desai
At Musaafer, Desai crafted theatrical cocktails that paired with chef Miyank Istwal’s creative interpretations of classic Indian cuisine and one of Houston’s most opulent dining room. As his Instagram account name @liquid__chef implies, Desai takes pride in incorporating culinary techniques into his preparations, a practice he says he learned while working in Dubai. Although Desai recently departed the Indian fine dining restaurant, we can’t wait to see what he does next.

Josh Alden - Reserve 101
As Reserve 101’s beverage director, this experienced bartender helped evolve the downtown spot from being known primarily for its extensive whiskey selection to being equally well regarded for its cocktails and hospitality. Recently, he’s begun working at Refuge, Anvil’s stylish, service-focused sister concept, where he's already earning raves from regulars for his outgoing personality. “I'm neither a cocktail historian nor a scientist but I take pride in pulling what matters most from those worlds to make great drinks for the person in front of me,” he explains.

Kristen Nepomuceno - Refuge
After working at Squable, Bobby Heugel recruited Nepomuceno to work as head bartender at Refuge due to her outgoing personality and strong interpersonal skills. “I value hospitality in its truest form as act of kindness, respect, and love,” Nepomuceno says. “Lucky for me, I’m able to work alongside a community of people who share those same values.”

Kristine Nguyen - Captain Foxheart's Bad News Bar & Spirits Lodge
It can be difficult to know what to order from Bad News Bar’s massive (and well-priced) spirits selection, but Nguyen is there to help. She tells CultureMap she sees her role as helping customers have the best time possible. “I believe bartending should be about the people and having fun, not about me and what I like or want people to drink,” she explains.

Rebecca Burkhart - Johnny's Gold Brick
As the bar’s longtime general manager (a role previously held by her husband, Justin Ware), Burkhart guides Johnny’s staff as it creates its signature monthly cocktail menus. She says she considers herself lucky to work with and mentor the bar’s talented staff. For her own cocktails, she works hard to get all the details right, including using garnishes from the bar’s garden.

Taylor Morris - William Price Distilling Co.
A veteran of Onion Creek and How to Survive on Land and Sea, Morris welcomes drinkers to the popular tasting room that’s part of this Garden Oaks distillery. The creative menu uses William Price’s spirits that include rye whiskey, gin, and its signature coffee liqueur. Ask her about one of her favorite cocktails — a classic daiquiri made with the distillery’s Jamaican rum.

Thomas Marsella - 13 Celsius
Navigating the Midtown wine bar’s extensive selection can be tricky for even the most knowledgeable oenophiles, but Marsella has the knowledge and experience to guide the bar’s customers to something they’ll enjoy. Asked about something he’d like people to know about him, Marsella replies that he really enjoys karaoke. “I left behind a previous career as a touring musician to fully devote my time to the service industry, but still love to hop on a stage to perform,” he explains.

Zulcoralis Rodriguez - Anvil
Prior to joining the team at Anvil, Rodriguez spent four years at San Antonio’s legendary Esquire Tavern. Her interest in bitter and savory cocktails can be sampled via the Navarrese Sour, her current contribution to the bar’s seasonal cocktail menu that includes Calvados and pacharan, a Spanish liqueur. Patrons may notice that she wears hearing aids to compensate for being legally deaf.

“I’m very proud to have accomplished so much personally and professionally having in mind the challenges that I face everyday,” she shared last year. “I’m open to the dialogue if anyone wants to explore this industry with a disability.”

cocktails wine tastemakers

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.

crime interview