I am visiting family who have recently moved to Port Arthur, Texas. We are flying in and out of Houston and I would like to check out a nice bottle shop with good selection. I'm looking for some obvious stuff that I can not normally find like Jester King or Prairie, but I'd like some suggestions on what else is good in the area. Also, a good BBQ or Mexican spot would be good. I'm coming from Boston. We don't do BBQ/Mexican that well. Thanks!
So, I posted this and then did a search. Saw some other threads about beer, but I would also like the BBQ/Mexican tips as well. One: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/houston-westchase-area-bottle-shops-or-bars.211813/ two: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/headed-to-houston.202965/ Three: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/bottle-shops-in-houston.199717/ Four: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/houston-beer.190051/
The big Specs downtown will have some Prairie beers, your choices will depend on when you happen to get in/out. Jester King can be tough to find, but I've seen/bought El Cedro, Le Petite Prince and Noble King in the last week. Some local beers to look out for that you can buy in stores are Karbach (Weekend Warrior Pale Ale is my fav beer they make year round), St Arnold, Lone Pint Yellow Rose IPA (should be released in bottles sometime soon), some of the Buffalo Bayou beers are interesting. We get a decent amount of beers from the West Coast and Colorado, so depending on what distribution is like in MA you could see some good stuff. BBQ- Killen's and Gatlin's are your best bets in Houston. Killen's is in Pearland (south of the city- would be much easier if you are in and out of Hobby not Bush airport) and only open during lunch Mexican- El Tiempo is awesome. I'm not big on tex-mex and I love El Tiempo (there are a few of them, the one on Navigation is my favorite). Others can be a better help here
Nice man! Plenty of good Mexican and BBQ here in Houston. Spanish Flowers is always a staple to Houston Mexican food. I hear Killen's BBQ is great but I haven't tried. For the Jester King and Prairie offerings, your best bets for bottle shops are visiting Specs Smith and D&Q Beer Station. Jester King offerings are super limited when they hit retail so its just whether its there or not when you visit. Always ask just in case in the back.
People will disagree cuz that's how food works but my suggestions would be: Barbecue (roughly in order, best best to just best) - sadly except for Gatlin's, they're all a fair drive/have lines: Killen's (Pearland) Corkscrew (Woodlands) Brooks (Cypress) Gatlin's (Heights) Mexican (no order, I just love it all) - none of these are far: The Original Ninfa's on Navigation (Get the fajitas. NOT other Ninfa's locations, if any still actually exist) Irma's (no menu, lunch only, traditional and wonderful. Get the lemonade. NOT Irma's Southwest Grill) El Real (Tex-mex but put an egg on anything) Tia Maria's (Very cheap tex-mex, the kind that we all grew up with - still one of my favorite places) Chuy's (people are divided on this - it's a very different type of Mexican, really "Aus-Mex" - but it's great. Haters gonna hate.) Taqueria Laredo (for quick, cheap tacos. Not open sundays.) Gerardo's (Saturday or Sunday, go for barbacoa tacos for breakfast. Best in the world.) Hugo's (not Tex-Mex, legit Mexican. A bit more upscale. #worthit.) I probably missed some good recs but that'll get you covered.
