Deck the Halls and Pass the Ham: Texas Monthly’s Christmas Menu
There are plenty of small joys we can share with one another this holiday season—it just so happens that many of them will, at some point, pass through the door of your oven. ’Tis truly the season for...
View ArticlePitcher Diablos
An underappreciated classic cocktail, the Diablo first appeared as the “Mexican El Diablo” in Trader Vic’s 1948 Bartender’s Guide. Colloquially, the name has been shortened over time to just Diablo,...
View ArticleMeet the Two Friends Behind One of Texas’s First Mexican Wine Shops
Arturo Flores and Eduardo Mendoza can’t help but smile when they talk about Mexican wine. Standing inside their five-month-old, 330–square-foot wine shop, Vinito, their effusiveness lights up their...
View ArticleBeer Nerds, Get Thee to the Library!
In the corner of the Munday Library archive reading room at St. Edward’s University in Austin sits a four-by-three-foot sculpted metal sign advertising Waterloo Brewing. The first brewpub in Texas,...
View ArticleA Once Dry East Texas Town Now Has One of the Best Wine Lists in the State
For a long while in Marshall, a town of 23,000 in far northeast Texas, there wasn’t a place where you could purchase a glass of wine. Like many other towns and counties in the region, it elected to go...
View ArticleTito’s Handmade Vodka’s Debut Book Is a Love Letter to Texas, Lake Life, and...
The shiny copper top of a bottle of Tito’s Handmade Vodka is instantly recognizable at any bar across the country. The brand may have humble roots as the oldest legal distillery in Texas, but these...
View ArticleThe Horniest Bar in Texas Is on the Rebound
Before Murphy Bailey ever set foot in Henry’s Hideout, an 87-year-old honky-tonk just up the road from his hometown of Magnolia, 45 miles northwest of Houston, he had heard stories about it and Henry...
View ArticlePoppi Is Making Soda Cool Again
Fizzy drinks are at an inflection point. While traditional and diet sodas have been roundly demonized due to the adverse health effects of truly jaw-dropping amounts of sugar and artificial sweeteners...
View ArticleThese Bars and Restaurants Are the Best Places to Drink Wine in Austin
On a recent evening at Ezov, a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant on Austin’s East Side, I found myself scanning the wine list while my friends perused the menu. A rich red blend from Chateau Musar in...
View ArticleGet Your Summer On With These Taco and Beer Pairings
Tortilla chips and margaritas. Chocolate and red wine. Caviar and champagne. They’re all excellent food and beverage matchups, but a less talked-about pairing that deserves more attention is tacos and...
View ArticleBeat the Heat With a Simple-to-Make Ranch Water
With a mere three ingredients, this fizzy highball with fuzzy origins (both Austin and West Texas lay claim to it) couldn’t be simpler. An explosion in popularity in recent years has inspired a glut of...
View ArticleMango Margarita
Mango margaritas were a summertime staple at Teala’s in Houston, a Mexican restaurant with a Thai twist. When Texas Monthly originally published a version of this recipe, in the August 1994 issue,...
View ArticleHere Are the Tequila Cocktails You Need to Pair with Your Favorite Tex-Mex...
While a frozen margarita with salt on the rim and a combination plate is perhaps the most vaunted pairing in the Tex-Mexosphere, there are so many other ways for tequila to complement your favorite...
View ArticleThe Best Texas Tequila Brands, According to Bartenders
Although tequila can only be made in the five Mexican states (Jalisco, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit, and Tamaulipas) that are home to the blue agave plant, many enterprising Texans have launched...
View ArticleHow a Historic Honky-tonk Gave Me Something to Fight For
My hands trembled a little as I locked my car in the parking lot of a small, blue, windowless building off Burnet Road with an image of John Wayne spray-painted on a boarded-up side door. There was...
View ArticleA Cosmic Roadhouse in Wimberley Spotlights a New Texas-Made Liqueur
Trundling down Farm-to-Market Road 32 between San Marcos and Wimberley, a sign shaped like an inverted triangle may grab your attention. In the center, a stylized blue eye surrounds an orb ringed by a...
View ArticleThe “National Beer of Texas” Isn’t as Old as It Claims
At the end of the day, this Texas historian just wants a cold, affordable beer and the truth. Lone Star Brewing Company has long been making the first part easy. The second part? Not so much. For the...
View Article“A Cab and a Slab” No More: Dallas Steps Up Its Wine Reputation
On a recent visit to Pappas Bros. Steakhouse in Dallas, I took a seat on a leather stool at the polished mahogany bar, my mind set on a class of champagne and an order of oysters on the half shell. As...
View ArticleA Cup o’ Joe in the Walmart Parking Lot With ‘Yellowstone’ Star Cole Hauser
Yellowstone’s Rip Wheeler has branded human flesh with a cattle iron, thrown a rattlesnake into a man’s face, and beat the daylights out of a gang of bikers, to name just a few of his escapades....
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