Coming to the Heights: Chivos Touts ‘Current’ Mexican Food, Spirits Beyond Tequila and Mezcal

Coming to the Heights: Chivos Touts ‘Current’ Mexican Food, Spirits Beyond Tequila and Mezcal

Chef Thomas Bille; photo by Dylan McEwan

THE HEIGHTS AREA is getting another cool new bar-restaurant. Greg Perez and his Night Moves Hospitality, the force behind the buzzy Space Cowboy in the Heights House Hotel, will open Chivos next month.


Chivos — Spanish for goats, a play on the "greatest of all time" acronym — will replace Calle Onze on West 11th Street, where Perez was formerly beverage director. Chivos will highlight Thomas Bille, an alum of Hugo Ortega's Xochi and the popular Belly of the Best in Old Town Spring, as executive chef; his style is often called "unpretentious."

A rep for the new concept says it will be neither Tex-Mex nor traditional Mexican, "but a more current representation of the Mexican-American experience" with items like pozole dumplings and duck with fig molé. Tortillas will be made using the indigenous nixtamal process, in which corn is soaked in limewater to remove impurities and heighten both flavor and nutritional value.

Bille, a Los Angeles native, also previously worked as executive sous chef at "Final Table" winner Timothy Hollingsworth's Otium restaurant in Tinseltown.

Chivos' cocktail program will focus on Mexican spirits with flavors from foods and candies they grew up on. "We're excited to introduce a wide variety of Mexican spirits, from rum to gin to sotol and liqueurs," Perez says. "We want to expose people to other Mexican alcoholic products besides tequila and mezcal."

Calle Onze owner Chris Manriquez will remain a partner with Perez in the new enterprise, at which the entire leadership team is of Mexican American descent, notes a Chivos rep.

Besides Space Cowboy, Perez and Night Moves have also recently opened Trash Panda Drinking Club nearby. As previously reported in CityBook, the new raccoon-themed bar is home to an irreverent menu of highly creative cocktails like the Bubblegum Martini, a cheeky concoction made from Brooklyn gin, "bubblegum broth," hibiscus, lime and Green Chartreuse. The food menu is equally whimsical and features Southern comfort food but with a spicy twist, like a DLT sandwich with thick-cut bacon, iceberg lettuce and tomato slices with deviled egg aioli, as well as a Southern-fried Cornish hen served with buttermilk biscuits.

Greg Perez, Leesly Valdez, Thomas Bille, Celi Perez, Chris Manriquez; photo by Dylan McEwan

The Wedge Salad at Trash Panda; photo by Dylan Scardino

Cream Fotress at Space Cowboy

Food
‘Culture of Service and Accountability’ Supports Mission of Orion EMS

Gerard O’Brien, President/CEO & Founder, and Sumi Patel, Vice President

HOW DID YOU get where you are today? The EMS industry, quite literally, never stops. Our staff and units are called to serve our community every hour of every day; there are no weekends, holidays, or “days off.” Obviously, the demands of EMS are not for the faint of heart, and we have established a culture of service and accountability that is different than nearly every other organization. Our leadership team sets this culture by exhibiting their passion for this industry daily. Their tireless dedication makes a better experience for our staff when they come to work and for our patients and clients when they call on us to transport their loved ones.

Keep ReadingShow less

David Adickes and Bun B

SOME OF THE CITY'S most influential VIPs gathered at Steak 48 in River Oaks District for the annual toast to CityBook’s “Leaders & Legends,” a recurring franchise for the publication whose past honorees have including a Tony and Grammy winner, a Nobel laureate, a member of Congress, an Olympic medalist, multiple billionaire business moguls, TV stars, artists and scientists of every sort, and the city’s most glamorous and generous socialites.

Keep ReadingShow less
Parties

Tay Butler’s Lawndale installation, spring 2023

DESPITE ITS PAIN and pitfalls, there’s no denying that the pandemic inspired artists like never before. This season, one of the most ambitious public-art projects to emerge from the Covid years comes to a close.

Keep ReadingShow less
Art + Entertainment