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Missing Mexico?

Try sotol

BY DAVID THEIS 8 February 2012

Sotol is a smooth alternative to tequila

We’ve been missing Mexico something terrible the last several years. We lived there once upon a time, and even had a gringo son born there. After moving back in the early ‘80s, we returned as often as we could—usually to insanely compelling Mexico City itself. But our travels slowed drastically when the drug wars metastasized into something like real war, and we haven’t been back in four long years. We know that not all of Mexico is a shooting gallery, of course, but the idea of flying over a war zone to get to Mexico City, or some point farther south, just strikes us as dispiriting.

So we were thrilled to hear this story on NPR about efforts to introduce the Mexican spirit sotol to the U.S. market. We’d barely heard of the drink; in fact it was less well known to us than is the sotol plant, known in Latin as the Dasylirion wheeleri, a hardy desert shrub. According to NPR, sotol is made from wild-growing plants (unlike massively harvested tequila); harvesters hack off the leaves and then carry in the hearts to be fermented and later distilled.

No doubt because of this rude process, sotol has been looked on as a kind of rotgut in Mexico, and has been unknown here. But seeing that 100 million liters of tequila are consumed in a single year, and that sales of artisanal mezcal are booming, sotol makers have decided to enter the high-end spirit market.

We weren’t thinking about the NPR story when we went to Spec's the other night; in fact we were looking for mezcal. But the attractive Hacienda de Chihuahua bottle caught our eye, as did the amber tint of the añejo sotol, and we bought it on a whim for around $30.

And we were happy with our selection. Sotol tastes wild, all right; it tastes of grass, if not hay. But we were most impressed at how smooth it is; it’s hard to imagine mixing sotol, or diluting it, with anything. And just when you think it might be too smooth, you get a little highland desert kick at the end.

Discovering sotol doesn’t make us miss Mexico any less; it just gives us a way to temper our sorrow. And by the way, the sotol plant grows in the Texas Hill Country, so the local variation could be on the same shelf as all those Texas vodkas before long.

« Never Made It To El Bulli? | Main | Paris, Texas »

Our hearts go out to Sylvia Casares of Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen as we hope she will make a quick and speedy recovery after a tragic incident this week concerning her business partner and boyfriend.

March 21 and Houston committee members and local artists will demonstrate their crafts and sell bowls at the Whole Foods Market on Kirby. Benefiting the Houston Food Bank in conjunction with the Empty Bowls Houston event. Whole Foods plans to donate 5 percent of the day’s sales from all four area locations to the Houston Food Bank.

Oxheart opened this week. Among the Uchi’s and Underbellys of the culinary scene Oxheart is right up there with them. Be sure to put it on your to-try list for March.

This Monday, March 19th The Last Chef Standing Restaurant Challenge will kick off at The Tasting Room from 6 - 8 p.m. The competition will have local restaurants compete against in each other in a bracket-style competition to determine a People’s Choice Winner over the course of five rounds.

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Paul Qui of Uchiko a sister restaurant to Tyson Cole’s Uchi wins Top Chef Texas.

Underbelly is now accepting reservations. Make yours here.

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James Beard Award Semi-Finalist Nominees were released this week. This year, Houston has six chefs in the running, that’s one more than last year.

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Johnny Mandola named General Manager of Damian’s Cucina Italiana, located at 3011 Smith St., Houston, TX 77006.

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Cinq Chef Jeramie Robinson is leaving Houston for Austin as Chef Tyson Cole offers him a job with Uchi Austin.

Acclaimed Mexican chef Aquiles Chávez opens his upscale Mexican and seafood restaurant this Saturday — La Fisheria. Filming for the new show Aquiles in Houston begins soon.

Come celebrate Fat Tuesday at BB’s. Festivities start at 5:30 p.m. with live music from Keyun & They Zydeco Masters. Expect Abita beer specials, King Cake and of course Crawfish. 2701 White Oak.

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Jonathan Jones steps down from XUCO XICANA.

New York City’s famous restaurant LE CIRQUE launches a series of pop-up restaurants, with one of them in Houston. New executive chefOlivier Reginensi hosts the pop-ups; he started his culinary career with Le Cirque in 1993 and is excited to be back.

EATSIE BOYS food truck sits down for an interview with Eater Houston on their one year anniversary.

THE RAILYARD, a River Oaks bar, is a finalist in the 2012 Nightclub & Bar Awards for “Small Wonder Bar of the Year,” only one of two Texas bars to reach the finals. The other nominee is STATS SPORTS BAR AND GRILL of Tomball, TX as a finalist for “Sports Bar of the Year.”

GEORGIA'S MARKET opens a downtown store January 27th. With four distinct sections, is there anything Georgia’s doesn’t have? Complete with the famous all-day buffet, an organic grocery store, a second-floor area meant to be a reading loft and last? The cellar soon to start serving up local microbrews and sustainable wines that can also be found up stairs in the grocery.

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