perfectlypairedhtx

A Trip to Germany while staying in Houston

Featured by perfectlypairedhtx, posted in Happy Hour

Location: King’s BierHaus

Recommended Time: Happy Hour of course!

Perfect Pair: Charcuterie Board and Frosé

This week we are taking you on a trip to Germany, and by Germany we mean a very German bar in the Heights. This place is authentic as it gets: the staff wear lederhosen, the owner is from Germany and has the coolest accent you’ve ever heard, and there are so many choices of beer you could stay there all night. And to make things even better, they have an awesome beer garden!

This is the perfect place for large groups because the tables both inside and outside are large picnic tables that are great for any size group. And hey, if your group is small then you can make some new friends at the other end of the table!

Happy Hour lasts from 3pm to 6pm Monday thru Friday, and offers some great deals for you to enjoy. $5 Specialty Bites, $6 Beers, and $7 Cocktails. You can’t get much better than that. The Pals always order the Giant Bier Pretzel, but this time we tried something new but not all that surprising for us – the charcuterie board. This charcuterie board is not your average board, it is served on the giant bier pretzel! How cool is that!? The cheeses were all delicious, and while the meats were not our absolute favorites, the ratio was perfect. They also include their famous spread that is to die for. The charcuterie board is not a part of happy hour but at $18 it is a pretty good deal for the amount of food you get. This week we also ordered the fried mac and cheese balls. You can never have too much cheese, and these were absolutely worth any extra carbs with the perfect ratio of mac to cheese. Since we are typically wine girls, we started with the Frosé, which is a staple in our rotation, and then moved to trying things off the vast list of beer options. They have options that most everyone would like, even those of you who don’t like beer at all. And back to how authentic King’s is, here is a pic of one of the pals enjoying the same beer in Germany at Hofbräu.

King’s also has themed trivia nights which are so much fun! Last fall, we went for Harry Potter trivia night and loved every minute of it. People were so into it with costumes, all while drinking their authentic butter beer While we thought we were Harry Potter experts, we quickly learned that there were a lot of things that we didn’t know and that there were a lot of other people that did. This didn’t stop us from having a great time. Check King’s calendar to find out when the next trivia night is!

We hope you have a great week and spend some time outside in the beautiful weather!

Peace and Pinot,

The Perfectly Paired Pals

Brunch in a “glass tree house”

Featured by perfectlypairedhtx, posted in Brunch, Restaurants

Location: The Kitchen at The Dunlavy

Recommended time: Brunch (but early brunch– some might say breakfast)

The Perfect Pair: Suroeste Bowl and a Mimosa

dunlavy

Eating a wonderful meal in a glass room filled with countless sparkly chandeliers surrounded by lush trees sounds like it couldn’t be anything but a dream. It’s not a dream though. It’s here in Houston. It also doesn’t cost a million dollars to eat there. The Kitchen at the Dunlavy is open from 7am-2pm with lunch starting at 11. We recommend you go for an early brunch, or just breakfast when going on the weekend because boy, it fills up fast. The line to give your order at the counter can get pretty long if you come after about 9:45. However, take a seat and your food will be there shortly. The tables are huge, so feel free to make new friends and share with another group.

dunlavytable

Now for what to order. The food is just a pretty as the venue. We are obsessed with the Suroeste Bowl. It has cilantro rice, beans, skillet potatoes, elote, avocado, cotija, pico, and a fried egg– Everything us Texas gals love. Another item that is a MUST HAVE is the rosemary goat cheese biscuit with honey butter. This is up in the window at the counter and last time we went was our first time to order it. I’ll be honest, the only reason it was added to the order was because the lady behind us in line told us right before we ordered that if we didn’t order that biscuit we would regret it forever because it is the best thing that ever was. At the time we thought she was being dramatic. She wasn’t. It is a must order!. Also pictured is the Autumn Warm Grain Bowl. It was yummy and filling with the right amount of sweet from the honey and bee pollen and tart from the pears. This trendy and picturesque spot for millennials wouldn’t be complete without Avocado Toast and it does not disappoint. Listed as the Avocado Tartine, this fun take on the typical toast will make all your avocado and runny egg dreams come true.

Don’t worry, we weren’t going to forget about the mimosas! They’ve got your favorite breakfast cocktail on lock and they are on point. Order by the glass or by the carafe to share! They also have a full bar, so feel free to order whatever your heart desires. Mine usually wants a spicy Bloody Mary. 🙂 This past trip we just ordered coffee. It’s great coffee and you can refill your mug over and over again. As part Gilmore girl, a full cup of coffee is something that I always support.

girlsdunlavy

This post is all about breakfast and brunch, but there is something that we have to mention. The Kitchen at The Dunlavy closes at 2 everyday because it is available to book for special events. This swoon-worthy event space could be all yours for whatever party or event you want to host. **Cue “What Dreams Are Made Of”- Hilary Duff** Sometimes when there are no events going on, they do pop up happy hours. The drink prices are not necessarily what we would call “happy hour” prices, but with the setting, delicious drinks, and tasty light bites it’s a great spot. Be sure to keep up to date with their schedule online so you don’t miss one!

Lauren and Julia

This place is just fantastic for birthdays or celebrations of any sort and a great place to take out of town guests to get a feel for Houston with the Bayou in sight. We hope to see you there and order us a rosemary biscuit! 🙂

Peace and Pinot,

The Perfectly Paired Pals

Happy Hour on the Patio

Featured by perfectlypairedhtx, posted in Happy Hour

Location: Calle Onze

Recommended Time: Happy Hour!

Perfect Pair: House Margarita and Guacamole

Tried a new hot spot this week and we were not disappointed! While we didn’t have wine or cheese at happy hour this week, we enjoyed our time outside on the most perfect outdoor patio. Some things never change. The temps are FINALLY cooling down here in Houston, and we couldn’t be happier. As you know we LOVE sitting outside, so this spot is perfect for us! If you like places with a trendy vibe and great cocktails then you have to go to Calle Onze!

Happy Hour lasts from 4-6 every day and there are some great deals you won’t want to miss. The basic cocktails are only $6 during happy hour. These include the House
Margarita, Frozen Margarita, Mexican Mule, Mojito, Paloma, Sangria, and a Calle Onze specialty. We tried the margaritas and palomas; and boy were we pleased. Based on these two drinks we don’t think you can go wrong with any of their cocktails. Next time we want to for sure try the Sangria.

While the food is not on special during Happy Hour, it is a must to have something to snack on while having a delicious drink. Calle Onze does a great job making sure all their food pairs well with the plethora of drink options. We ordered a few different things that were all crowd pleasers. First we ordered the guacamole, because come on it seems wrong to have a margarita without some guac. Even with a smaller group, we finished it off in what seemed like 30 seconds. If it doesn’t last longer than 1 minute on the table, that’s when you know it’s good. Next we ordered the quesadillas. Fun fact about me, my absolute favorite food is quesadillas. I could eat them every meal for the rest of my life. So for that reason, I feel I am a bit of a snob when it comes to my favorite food. These were really good! The portion is a little small so you may be best to have it as an app and not your whole meal, but if you weren’t starving it would be enough for a light dinner! The last thing we ordered was the oysters. We know not everyone is a fan of oysters, or you have a particular way that you like them cooked, and oysters can be very expensive. We found these to be reasonably priced and quite delicious. There were lots of other things in the dinner menu we want to go back and try!

If you’re looking for a great outdoor patio for the beautiful fall weather that will eventually make its way to Houston, check out Calle Onze. This is different than our normal spot, but just may have earned a place in the happy hour rotation.

Where are you going to Happy Hour this week? We are always looking for new places to try!

Peace & Pinot,

The Perfectly Paired Pals

A trip to Sonoma right here in Houston

Featured by perfectlypairedhtx, posted in Happy Hour, Wine Bars

Location: Sonoma Wine Bar

Recommended time: Happy Hour

The Perfect Pair: A bottle of the happy hour Cab and the Sonoma Pizza

Wooohooo it’s finally Thursday!! Which I’m sure you’ve learned by now, for us means happy hour. Sonoma Wine Bar is a pick of ours and we definitely don’t **WINE** about it. Rightly named, this wine bar has us dreaming of Sonoma and planning our future trip there. Fingers crossed for the near future. We’ve only been lucky enough to try the Heights location, but the Upper Kirby location will be crossed off our list soon. This cozy and homey destination is a wonderful wine bar with a casual neighborhood feel.

sonomapizza

Happy hour is every day from open until 6:30 and it is fantastic. Every day of the week for happy hour they have select bottles of wine for $20, $1 of wines by the glass, $6 glasses of Sangria, $3 beer, and $5 snacks. On certain days of the week they have other deals. Thursdays there is ½ priced pizza. Yum. We went with the Sonoma Pizza and it was killer good. Four words: Gruyere, pesto, meat, and Artichokes. Yum. The wine list has been thoughtfully compiled and there is well over 100 bottles to choose from with every taste profile and every price range available. If you don’t want a whole bottle, they have plenty of options by the glass. On Sunday, they have all their open bottles of wine for ½ by the glass! Yes please! Oh and the wine flights. Oh, how we love wine flights. They all have cute names like “You had me at Pinot” and “well traveled.” A carefully chosen group of three glasses of three ounce pours and we can’t wait to try every single one of them.

sonomacheese

Did you think we would make it through this whole post without talking about cheese?!?! They’ve got a variety of cheese and charcuterie boards all sourced from Houston Dairymaids. There are premade boards that have lots of different combinations of meats and cheeses and accompaniments or you can choose to make your own board. We opted to build our own. 🙂 The cheeses we chose were the Drunken Goat and Prairie Breeze. For charcuterie we chose the Salami Etna. The board came complete with crackers, toasted hazelnuts, and honey. We were so pleased with the portions of everything. That didn’t stop us from eating the whole thing in about .27 seconds though…

If you make it there quick, you might just get there in time for a glass of wine in front of the fireplace before the cool weather disappears!

Processed with VSCO with f2 preset

Peace and Pinot,

The Perfectly Paired Pals

From Tailgates to Touchdowns!

Featured by perfectlypairedhtx, posted in Hosting

Location: At home or at your favorite football stadium!

Recommended Time: Game Time!

The Perfect Pair: Wings and Beer

We have almost reached the halfway point of this college football season, which means there is still PLENTY of time to Tailgate! You may be thinking, “I live nowhere near my favorite college campus, so I can’t host a tailgate.” But really you don’t need to be on campus to have a good time watching the game with friends. We do live pretty close to our beloved Texas A&M, but for away games or after a long week we like to do the tailgating at home. This past weekend was filled with some good football games in Texas, and they were spread out through the whole day. This meant we were “tailgating” all day long, which was an absolute blast and gave the Pals the perfect opportunity to have lots of different snacks!

Since the first game we wanted to watch started at 11:00 am, we kicked things off with a classic breakfast casserole and mimosas. The breakfast casserole was a family favorite recipe that is super easy to make. All it takes is bread, eggs, sausage, and lots and lots of cheese. It is best if you put all the ingredients together the night before and then just pop it in the oven for 45 minutes right before you are ready to enjoy! Breakfast casserole is best paired with a classic mimosa, so of course the champagne and OJ was flowing!

At around halftime of the first game the boys were ready for round 2, so we put them to work! Off to the grill they went with a mountain of chicken wings. We stayed busy inside prepping guacamole, black bean and corn dip, and sour cream and onion dip. All three dips are super easy and always a crowd pleaser.

Guacamole: we cheated on this one and just bought our favorite guac from HEB 🙂

Black Bean and Corn Dip: This dip is a passed down recipe that I have never written down, so it is all a taste test as far as amounts go. The ingredients include: black beans, corn, feta cheese, green onions, bell peppers, red wine vinegar, olive oil, sugar, and garlic salt.

Sour Cream and Onion Dip: this may be the easiest one of the three. It is just sour cream and french onion soup mix. Stir together and enjoy. It’s so easy, you can find it on the back of the soup mix box.

From the grill the wings were marinated in either buffalo wing sauce or garlic parmesan sauce. Both were delicious and paired with carrots, celery, blue cheese dressing, and ranch dressing.

We snacked on the dips for the whole day, but the wings were gone in a flash. Around dinner time we of course needed something else to eat. The boys were responsible for the meat again, and this time they went with ribs. Another delicious and easy to eat option that is perfect for a tailgate. We cooked them in the oven, but if you were doing at tailgate at the stadium, you could easily cook them on a grill!

We love any excuse to host and be with friends, so football season is one of our favorite times of year. This weekend, invite your friends over or pile in the car to see your favorite team play while enjoying some yummy snacks!

Let us know what your favorite tailgate treats are so we can add them to the rotation the rest of the season!

Peace and Pinot,

The Perfectly Paired Pals