Excellent made-to-order margaritas featuring top-shelf tequila, freshly squeezed lime juice and more can now be found in numerous restaurants throughout the city, which is a very good thing.  These concoctions have deservedly became much more popular, as they are usually much tastier than the margaritas we grew up with – and, not incidentally, the nice extra margin for the establishments ensures that these are always pushed by the servers.
 
But, sometimes, with the desire to dull the edge in a familiar fashion for well less than $10 to be slurped with some caloric and spicy enough Tex-Mex, especially when it’s hot and humid outside, a basic frozen margarita is often what’s on the mind.  These have been a Houston staple since the early 1980s, and quite likely still the most commonly ordered mixed drink in the area.  And, it is National Margarita Day, one of those bullshit days honoring a certain cuisine, dish or drink.  It can be an excuse to share a drink or two with co-workers or friends, so the bullshit rationale can be excused.
 
There is a wide variance in the quality of frozen margaritas, most I find are too sweet and often redolent of cheap margarita mix plus the unmistakable bite of inexpensive and harsh-tasting tequilas, if there is much tequila at all, and some arrive as a slushy mix and quickly watery mix rather than truly frozen.  With these lesser margaritas, one is usually my limit before needing to switch to beer.  But, as the bar has been raised on the high end, and several places offer quality house frozen margaritas in addition to a usually estimable array of top shelf margarita-inspired cocktails.  What I believe makes a good house frozen margarita includes a pleasant mix of tart and sweet, and certainly not too sweet, evident, clean-tasting tequila made from 100% agave, usually the unaged silver tequila, some taste of lime and not much in the way of processed flavors.  Good is good enough for a quality house frozen margarita, in my opinion.
 
After years of dedicated research, below is my list of the best frozen margaritas in Houston, listed alphabetically.  Just frozen.  Yes, I know that margaritas on the rocks are better than frozen margaritas even with basic ingredients, and I really like the very tart not-quite frozen specialty at Spanish Village, but this list is for bulk-made and wallet-friendly frozen staple of the Houston people.

In "research" in the past year-plus since the original version of this was posted, I have had to drop Ninfa's and Pico's, the latter has devoted their effort to the more expensive, and still excellent, top-shelf margaritas.  Ninfa's quality has seemingly dropped too much, too.  Maybe that is influenced by the definite drop in quality of their long-famed fajitas, which makes for a more disappointing visit, overall.
 
El Tiempo – Long known for probably the strongest margaritas around and rumors that Everclear played a big role in the mix, I had found these too sweet and unbalanced for my tastes until the past couple of years or so when they changed the makeup and upgraded the tequila.  These are now very good while retaining all that potency.

​Laurenzo’s – Same as above.

​Laurenzo’s  Grill – Same as above and above.

The Pastry War – You should expect that the bar dedicated to tequila and mescal from the folks at Anvil would serve up an excellent frozen margarita if they deigned to, and they do, thankfully.  For just $8 you are treated to a more serious than usual frozen blend of quality blanco tequila, key and Persian limes, agave nectar and citrus salt.

Texas Shrimp Shack – With still plenty of plenty of tequilas on display when it was Maria Selma's, who remain with a new tasty concept, this Montrose eatery has always had a very enjoyable and properly balanced frozen margarita.

Last month I posted an excerpt from my eBook about Italian restaurants in this country that got some traction.  It relayed the restrictions on immigrants passed in the 1920s that greatly limited newcomers from Italy and the rest of southern Europe and eastern Europe and excluded immigration from elsewhere in Asia that was already covered by the 1882 that barred Chinese immigrants.  A fun article posted online at the New York Times today by Jennifer Schuessler, "What Makes a President Great? Clipping? Sipping? Slashing?" references a new website with some more humorous and insightful information: shittypresidents.com. 

The self-proclaimed American history nerd and former history doctoral student who was prompted by the surprise current occupant of the Oval Office to create the site has a recent post about Calvin Coolidge's views on immigration and the immigration acts that were signed into law by him in 1924, National Origins Act and the Oriental Exclusion Act.  Silent Cal, of course, is no sensible person's idea of good President and this post sheds additional light on those laws that limited immigration from Italy beginning in the 1920s.  The National Origins Act was based on the number of peoples who were counted in "the 1890 census, which just so happened to be before Italians, Jews, and other undesirables started coming. Imagine a quota based on how many black people own Merle Haggard’s Greatest Hits."

These immigration laws lasted for four decades, and were not fully overturned until the The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 that was signed by Lyndon Johnson at the  base of the Statue of Liberty.

A political cartoon from the 1920s

​As a part-time food and drinks writer with a varying level of output, I don’t get invited to as many media events as I used to.  One that I did receive for and decided to attend, was also what turned out to be my last meal at Triniti, which closed just after the Super Bowl.  I was surprised, as most were, and disappointed.  The often ambitious Triniti was in the top tier of Houston restaurants, and was even sought out by former First Lady Michelle Obama, who is known for her taste in dining, when she was in town a few years ago.
 
The meal with comedian and actor Cheech Marin was in November, a Sunday brunch to announce his association with a new brand of mescal.  As it turned out, it wasn’t much of a food event in terms of focus, even if a liquor its centerpiece and reason for being.  I seemed to be about the only food writer there, and about the only person connected at all to food or drink.  The only other one I found was a young bartender from Uvalde and his girlfriend.  He had won a contest creating a cocktail with mescal.  Aside from a New York-based publicist who I sat next to and another PR person, just about everyone else appeared to be an artist or someone connected to the Houston art scene.
 
Cheech, previously unknown to me, is a longtime art collector focused on Hispanic art, and one who said that he has traveled to Houston for years mostly because of its dynamic art community.  I was surprised, but found it quite interesting.  The benefit of living in such a large and diverse city with a vibrant creative art scene that is regarded to be the best in the region.  I didn’t have too much to talk about with most of the other attendees other than my mother is an artist who has been part of the cooperative Archway Gallery in Montrose for years, which the other artists were familiar.
 
This brunch was mostly an art-centric event with a celebrity in town.  Even though he was there to promote a brand, most of the attention of Cheech who spoke mostly about art and the crowd was on art.  And, each of the attendees was given a booklet featuring some of the art from Cheech’s collection.  The food was a very slow to arrive and the staff was overtaxed, though the multi-course meal was quite tasty, as expected, and even somewhat artful in thought.  There were a couple of cocktails made with the mescal, which were also enjoyable.  Overall, it was a very odd and different food event, and brunch for that matter.  It was cool.
 
I am sad that Triniti has closed.  I am glad that my list visit was memorable.

Chili cheese fries are one of the indecent indulgences often found at sports bars and other exceedingly casual eateries.  It somehow always manages to work well enough even when made with poorly fried fries that have spent eons in deep freeze, indifferent chili, and a gloppy, refined orange cheese-food substance; at least it does for me.  The combination of hunger and beer are likely contributing factors.
 
I was a little surprised to find a version of it at the Red Lion on Shepherd, where I have long liked the food.  The dish is listed innocuously under the title, “Keema Fries,” and described as “Loads of French fries smothered with Cheese and our Keema.”  As you would expect with the kitchen the quality of the Red Lion, their version is a bit better and more interesting than the usual.  Not more refined, though; it is still an expectedly hearty, messy preparation. 
 
At the heart of the dish is a generous portion of keema, which is ladled atop the fries. The keema is flavorful tender minced lamb meat that has been stewed in slew of spices.  It is terrific.  The fries are thick and sturdy.  Unlike the typical chili cheese fries, these actually hold their shape and do not become a mushy muddle.  There was not much in the way of cheese, just a few shreds of a mild cheddar – joined with a bit a diced scallions or chives – but, not matter, the dish was delicious.  Owner Craig Mallinson suggested that it could be improved with the addition of two fried eggs atop of the meat, which mixes very well with the sauce of the meat.  If your cholesterol is too low you might want to give it a try.
 
The Keema Fries, sans eggs, went well with a pint of bitter, too, a very important consideration.
 
The Red Lion
2316 S Shepherd (between Fairview and Gray), 77019, (713) 782-3030
redlionhouston.com

​Garnering pre-opening buzz from national outlets like Esquire and Food & Wine while featuring a chef who had not led a kitchen, much less had his own restaurant, the almost six-week Riel on Fairview near the western edges of Montrose must have a hell of a PR person.  But, based on my first trip there the other night, that early publicity is much deserved, as I had a terrific meal and a very enjoyable visit, overall.
 
Riel is headed by executive chef and co-owner Ryan Lachaine, who has been an integral part of the kitchens at Underbelly and before that Reef, working with Chris Shepherd and Bryan Caswell, two of the city’s best chefs.  It is a very good resume to have for Houston, and his productive time at Reef, especially, was on display during my visit, with three very good to exemplary seafood dishes: a pleasantly vibrant snapper crudo; blue crab with bits of bacon and tomato on top of a luscious toasted brioche; and something called Gulf Fish Karagge. The last was the highlight of the meal for me.  It is a Japanese name that translates here to pieces of delicately fried redfish and grouper coated in a piquant fashion and served with a surprisingly complementary and subtle house-made ranch dressing; the overall effect was more sophisticated, and more flavorful than my description provides.
 
The top quality sourcing for these Gulf seafood preparations were evident, and expected in Houston for a restaurant of this caliber (and price), but was probably best represented the other night with the dish with just the name of ‘Carrots.'  Featuring much-smaller-than-your-supermarket carrots from a farm in Louisiana, these tasty carrots were made much more so with a light touch of cardamom-laced honey, yogurt and powered hazelnut – a possible modernist trick that worked quite well here – plus a slightly sweet sauce from golden raisins, all for a pleasing effect that highlighted the natural flavor of sturdy, well-cooked carrots.
 
Our final dish was a steak, the Hanger Steak that featured a perfectly cooked steak cut with a terrific, salty crust encasing the moist, deep-red interior.  Served sliced for sharing along with a horseradish cream sauce, crisp, deep green haricot verts and a couple of pierogis filled with potatoes and a sharp-tasting smoked cheddar.  As much as I love pierogis, part of a testament to my Ukrainian and Polish heritage and childhood memories of the dish from my grandmother, these pierogis, though pan-finished and as attractive as pierogis can be, were my least favorite of the dishes I had that night.  The sharp taste of the cheese were discordant with my thoughts of what potato and cheese pierogis should be and even with the rest of that dish.  No matter, it wasn’t much of a fail. I still ate them with relish.
 
The seventeen dishes, fifteen of which are savory, at Riel the other night were meant for sharing.  Well, maybe not the borscht. Though Lachaine’s Ukrainian dishes have been mentioned in seemingly all of the pieces about the restaurant – writers and restaurants have to come up with stories to tell – it only shows in the borscht and the pierogis, which are just one component of a dish.  These two items fit in well with the rest of the menu, as does his Canadian-influenced ones, something called Montreal Smoked Meat and another, Tourtiere, which we were told is a type of French-Canadian meat pie.  All in all, Riel offers what is a sensible, contemporary Houston menu with some personal touches that should be readily approachable and very enjoyable for most diners.
 
To note, and important for those with large appetites, portions are definitely side at Riel.  And some, like Snapper Crudo, can be miniscule.  Priced at $13, I could have quickly eaten over $60 worth as a starter.  But, with the quality of ingredients, technique and skill in the composition of the dishes and menu, for that matter, I was impressed.  They have a nice, very well-edited wine list that has more than enough food friendly choices and a full bar with plenty of fine quality liquors, even if the current crop of specialty cocktails might not entice – it did not me the other night.
 
The restaurant is quaint, maybe sixty seats or so, small by Houston standards, but has a nice, energetic vibe that goes well with the style of small plate service.  The quaintness is most evident in the two stalls: one for women, the other unisex.  The waitstaff the other night was friendly and attentive, if not polished.  It’s Houston, after all, and truly polished service is a rarity.  It will be expected.  And, it won’t really detract from what will certainly be one of the best restaurants to open here in 2017, at least if my first visit was any indication.
 
Riel
1927 Fairview (east of Shepherd), 77019, (832) 831-9109
rielhtx.com

​When I was leaving Uberrito – the former Mission Burrito – the other day at lunch, a glance across the street quickly reminded me how much we Houstonians still love Tex-Mex even as our restaurant options have grown substantially over the years, and Tex-Mex gets far less ink (or pixels) among the local food press.  Just within single block where I was sitting are four places that serve at least some Tex-Mex, albeit is different fashions: Uberrito, serving the locally honed version of the big burrito that might have gotten its start in San Francisco, but has become part of the local scene in the past couple of decades; a branch of the Tex-Mex stalwart Cyclone Anaya’s that has gone somewhat upscale in its most recent incarnation; Jax Grill, which serves a lot of hamburgers, but also a lot of fajitas and nachos; and a location of a favorite of many for fajitas, Lupe Tortilla’s. 
 
This is all within one block of Durham, a couple of blocks south of the I-10 feeder, along a several block stretch of roads that contain nearly a score of restaurants.  Go another block, and easily within a couple block radius, is another Tex-Mex restaurant, the longstanding Cadillac Bar.  Not as good as it once was before the Landry’s organization helped to suck most of its charm and a certain amount of quality, it still draws folks.
 
Though the Houston dining scene has long been far more than Tex-Mex, steaks and barbecue – and many more intriguing heart-healthy or waistline-friendly options – a great many diners still enjoy these on a nearly regular basis.  If this concentration of Tex-Mex purveyors is any indication, and I think it is, Tex-Mex is food we still enjoy as much as any other, even we might boast about enjoying it as much.  At the very least, a cold margarita will still provide some comfort on those hot and humid days that we see far too often, even now in February.


Kind of a crappy photo since I was too lazy to take a proper one: from Uberrito with Cyclone Anaya's to the left, and  Jax Grill to the right. Lupe Tortilla's is even further to the right of Jax Grill, out of sight.

A friend just asked me about Mexico's Deli, which was a favorite of mine when I worked on the west side.  Unfortunately, it has been a while since I have visited, but it remains a great stop for lunch, especially, and one of the best dining values in the city.

It can be tough to choose among the roughly twenty-five tortas listed on the chalkboard near the entrance at the bright and inviting Mexico’s Deli in west Houston. Shown by number and partial description, for fans of piquant and tender meaty goodness, each of the Mexico City-style sandwiches is an enticement.
 
One of recommendable choices is the #22 pastor, marinated pork, pineapple & melted cheese torta ($6.99), which features that and more on toasted, airy telera roll. The pastor is pork roasted and cut from a traditional trompo, a vertical spit. The other porcine component is from a loin that had been marinated for a day with ten different spices and herbs. Presented as attractively as an inherently messy torta can be, small pieces of the moist meats are mixed with chunks of pineapple and some mild asadero cheese then topped with avocado, slices of tomato and some raw onion. An enjoyable mix of understated, complementary flavors, it is even better with a few swigs of the slightly smoky, intense, deep-reddish-colored salsa that accompanies it.
 
Mexico’s Deli
2374 Dairy Ashford (north of Westheimer), 77077
281-679-7790
mexicosdeli.com

Lucky number thirteen is a guest nearly as appalling as its predecessor, and these still show up at events, if more infrequently post-college. The explanation given is usually forgetting to eat rather than consuming an inordinate amount of alcohol, which is the true cause, that mixed with indiscipline. 

Drunk, Vomiting – This person is drunk as hell, and throwing up.  

What else you might try – Before they pass out, ask if this person is a drummer in a rock band.  If so, they are probably a goner.  Otherwise, have one of their friends take care of them, and try to get them to depart.

Hopefully you didn't encounter one of these while at your Super Bowl party, or anytime in recent years for that matter.  According to bar staff at a place downtown I frequent downtown, there were a few of these on Friday night on Main Street.  This was early on Saturday when I heard this, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was a reprise later on Saturday. 

Drunk, Violent – This person gets drunk then belligerent.  And, nothing can ruin a party more quickly than a fight.  

What else you might try – Though two of these can be a source of entertainment during your event, provided their belligerence is directed toward each other, it’s best to get these people to leave.  If that does not work, with another trustworthy guest or two explain that violence will not be tolerated, and possibly escort this person from the party.  If all else fails you might want to call the police.  You don’t want them to drive, so arrange for someone to take them away, if not the police.

As you can expect from the name, the specialty at the tidy Heights area taqueria Tortas El Angel is their take on the ubiquitous Mexican sandwich, the torta. Located in a grungy, older strip center filled mostly with Hispanic business south of 11th Street nearly across N. Shepherd from the large Krogers, its menu has grown in the past few years, but it is the tortas that still seem to entice most customers. A consistent pleaser is the straightforward La Pepito ($7, large and $9, giant). Served on sturdy, sufficiently large telara bread, the sandwich features juicy pieces of steak, strands of both raw and deeply burnished onion, slices of quickly sautéed fresh jalapeño, along with a few wedges of avocado and pieces of tomato. It is piquant, flavorful and, given the comparative heft of the recently made bread, a lot less messy than the usual local torta.
 
Tortas el Angel
1018 N. Shepherd Houston, Texas 77008
713-862-9222
tortaselangel.com

Given the length of the Super Bowl last night, and the temptation to pre-game, you might have seen one of these after the sun set last night.

Drunk, Sleeping – They get drunk, sit, get comfortable then fall asleep and stay asleep.  

​What else you might try – Usually not a problem provided there is a place for them to sleep in peace, if they don’t snore too loudly, and have eventual transportation home.  It’s also a good, if somewhat immature, idea to have markers handy and placed next to Sleeping Beauty.  Your other guests can scribble their appreciation or other thoughtful suggestions on this person.

​Lager beers, which are generally cleaner and crisper tasting than ales, take much longer and more difficult to brew.  Much more so, which is evident in the output of most smaller breweries, which often stick to the top-fermenting ales, with an occasional one-off with a lager that usually finishes with an odd, waxy aftertaste.  Karbach is an exception, and has been so since inception, brewing the laudable Sympathy for the Lager right off the bat. (And that beer has gotten even better since then).  Their new seasonal, Zee German Pils, is another winner.
 
This beer tastes like a good German pils, specifically a Munich-style pilsner, as a pils beer is made by each of the several Munich breweries.  Clean, and slightly bitter on the palate with mild German hops and long, very pleasant finish, this an easily likeable beer.  It’s a little lighter than the Sympathy for the Lager, and tastes a little less hoppy, even though both are listed as having 40 IBUs.  The Munich style pils is known for its “a big, malty middle” compared to other pilsners, according to late beer guru Michael Jackson, and the style is distinct from the better-known, more delicate and nuanced (and generally better) pilsners from Bohemia.  But, it’s less hefty than the most popular of the Munich beers, helles.  Interestingly, though labeled as a pils, the very good seasonal Summer Pils from Saint Arnold tastes more like helles than a pils.
 
With the quality of Karbach’s lagers – and their beers, overall, it should not be a surprise that their brewer Eric Warner is very experienced, with about a quarter-century in the field.  He even attended the Technical University of Munich at Weihenstephan that is renowned for its brewing program.
 
If you enjoy flavorful lagers, you should find some cans or a bar with it on draft, which might be tough, as it seems to be selling out quickly.  Likely available through March.