Table Of Content
She's an avid home chef who's always eager to try new recipes, and she's constantly inspired by the culinary traditions of the exciting city of Austin, which she calls home. As the most discerning, up-to-the-minute voice in all things travel, Condé Nast Traveler is the global citizen’s bible and muse, offering both inspiration and vital intel. We understand that time is the greatest luxury, which is why Condé Nast Traveler mines its network of experts and influencers so that you never waste a meal, a drink, or a hotel stay wherever you are in the world. With a boisterous, casual, anything-goes crowd, the Ice House is great for large groups, especially of if you're looking to watch a game. Everyone in Houston is proud to bring out-of-town friends to this institution. Our guide to the best Happy Hour food and drink specials around the city.
Enhance Your Houston
Located on the west end of Alabama Street, West Alabama Ice House has been serving cold beer to the Montrose masses since 1928. In true Texas ice house style, West Alabama is essentially a tiny shack consisting of mostly beer coolers as well as a small bar surrounded by massive covered and uncovered patios (that means no air conditioning, y’all) with space for a couple hundred people. Most days, folks here are kicking back with Lone Star tallboys while their dog laps up water from a beer bucket, watching sports on one of the many screens, or having a few tacos from Tacos Tierra Caliente, a food truck next door. We love to roll up here solo for Monday Happy Hour, with a big group for a weekend pre-game, or to play a couple rounds of corn hole and shoot some pool. Operating since the 1920s, this used to be a place where locals picked up hunks of ice to help them stay cool during Houston’s torturous summers. Along the way, someone added a few picnic tables to the open-air spot, and it became a place to stop in for a beer.
Outdoor Fun and Games
I first visited West Alabama Ice House as a doe-eyed 22-year-old during the welcome week for my two-year stint with Teach for America, and I promptly fell in love. With its inviting picnic tables dotting the front, side, and rear of its sizable lot, “Walabama”—as it’s been dubbed by the regulars—is the place where the Montrose community comes together to socialize. A group of grizzled bikers, their hogs parked outside, sip napkin-wrapped bottles of Shiner and Lone Star along the railing. Polo-clad undergrads shoot hoops out back, and families gather around the picnic tables.
Bars & Nightlife
Your furry family members are welcome at these Paws on Patio-approved spots. We provide accommodations for birthday parties, graduations, baby showers, engagements, and weddings! We can reserve seating areas and put messages on the marquee for your event. You can also also have a private bar and bartender in the backyard for an added fee.
Inside Houston’s Iconic West Alabama Ice House
Today the dog-friendly ice house also offers wraparound patio seating, Ring-on-a-String, an endless supply of long-necks, and the Tacos Tierra Caliente food truck, making it the perfect Houston hangout. Built in 1928 on a dirt road on the outskirts of town, the West Alabama Ice House is a true Texas ice house. Before the days of air conditioning and refrigeration, people in the south would gather at their local watering hole to hang out with neighbors and drink ice cold beverages. This tradition continues today with a great selection of craft beers, ciders, seltzers, sours, and sodas.In 1985, Jerry Markantonis, a Greek immigrant from the island of Kefalonia, acquired the West Alabama Ice House. His son, Petros (Pete), still maintains and runs the bar to this day.
The 10 Things You Must Eat, Drink and Do While You're Here for the Super Bowl
Functioning as a sort of communal living room for the neighborhood, an evening (or an early afternoon—the Ice House starts up early) spent here is like a time-lapse view of what it means to live in Houston. A taco truck parked across the street slings lengua tacos with fiery salsa, while a rotating cast out front might offer Tex-Cajun smoked boudin or boiled crawfish. Obviously, icehouse visitors don’t need giant blocks of ice for refrigeration purposes anymore, but they still love the warm, unpretentious vibe of these outdoor gathering places.
We have a pool table, a ping pong table, corn hole, and ring on a string! Anyone under 21 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian and should leave at sun down. There's no food, but the acclaimed Tacos Tierra Caliente food truck is right across the street. More so than many other large cities, Houston is in a constant state of flux. This makes it an exciting and dynamic place to live, eat and drink, but it also means that history is hard to come by. We’re more likely to redevelop than refurbish, more likely to look forward than back.
5 Dog-Friendly Drinkeries For You and Your Pup - Houstonia Magazine
5 Dog-Friendly Drinkeries For You and Your Pup.
Posted: Wed, 28 Dec 2016 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Bars in Houston to Grab a Drink Right Now
Coffee & Hot Tease is Houston's newest bikini barista shop - Chron
Coffee & Hot Tease is Houston's newest bikini barista shop.
Posted: Tue, 20 Sep 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Dogs, which are allowed to roam, are abundant and always eager for attention. Although the Ice House serves wine, you'll notice that everyone is drinking beer. Go for a cheap Lone Star tallboy or peruse the chalkboard menu of local and Texas craft beers, IPAs, and ciders. Multi-generational drinking is the order of the day at the West Alabama Ice House. While the old timers seem permanently perched on the stools lining the bar, the younger crowd tends to congregate around back watching friends shoot hoops or waiting for their turn at a game of Cornhole. Where did icehouses come from, why have they been so beloved in Texas, and what do they look like today?
Whether you’re visiting Houston or a local, our staff welcome you with open arms. We guarantee you won’t find a better atmosphere than here with us. With nightly entertainment, games, huge events, high-quality local and international cuisines, a huge variety of drinks and so much more!
Big cigars, big hats and even bigger personalities are a common theme among many of the Ice House's longtime regulars, all doing their part to keep the “Bigger in Texas” tagline alive. There's more to Houston than barbecue and beer (though we've got plenty of that too...). Nicholas L. Hall is a husband and father who earns his keep playing a video game that controls the U.S. power grid. He also writes about food, booze and music, in an attempt to keep the demons at bay. When he's not busy keeping your lights on, he can usually be found making various messes in the kitchen, with apologies to his wife Lori, his daughters Cecilia and Juliette, and his son Joshua. With Houston’s indoor smoking ban in effect, places like the West Alabama Ice House are the last bastion for folks looking for beer and a cigarette.
Sandwich joints are plopped in the middle of residential neighborhoods, and for some reason there are three separate Starbucks on one street corner. But the best thing about this weird little slice of Houston is the sprawling outdoor bar that sits between a convenience store and a fitness center on West Alabama Street. The West Alabama Ice House embodies the odd anything-goes ethos of Montrose. Named, "the coolest place in Texas," and one of the top 100 places to visit in Texas by Saveur Magazine. 80 years old as of 2008, this building is a true open air, Texas icehouse. But perhaps this icehouse has stuck around because, as current owner Pete Markantonis explains, “it doesn’t matter how you look or how you dress or where you come from.
A regular cast of food trucks rotates through to complement Tacos Tierra Caliente, and on some days locals pass through on foot, selling goods like homemade tamales straight from a cooler. While the core of the place is still a bit rough and tumble, owner Petros Markantonis and his father have spent the better part of three decades refurbishing. A system of misting fans helps keep patrons cool on blisteringly hot summer days. Still, even the new parts feel time-worn, as if the place is immune to real change.
No comments:
Post a Comment