We're not claiming to be winos, but Houstonist is just like any other Joe Schmo who likes a good glass of wine. . .or two. Maybe three. That being said, we were more than thrilled to stumble (not literally—that comes afterwards) across Sonoma Wine Bar and Boutique. Okay, so we didn't even bother checking out the "boutique" part, but do you blame us? Even though there was an extensive wine list at our fingertips, we......

Spent all your cash on girlie drinks and shattered dreams again this weekend, didn't you? No worries - Thriftster gives you the lowdown on cheap stuff to do until Paycheck Friday. Monday: Hit the Houston Boat show tonight at Reliant Center (8400 Kirby Dr.) to find the yacht of your dreams - or perhaps to find the man/woman of your dreams that can actually afford such nautical pleasures (did that sound dirty?). With tickets under......

The incredibly talented and modest Mlee Marie Suprean has to be one of the hardest working musicians in Houston. Juggling five musical projects (including the fantastic Hearts of Animals) at the same time can’t be easy for anybody, but even while recovering from a nasty cough, Suprean still made time to talk to the Houstonist about what’s on both her mind and plate. Mlee is an interesting name. Where did that come from? My......

There are so many freaking cool things happening this weekend -- here's just a list of what Houstonist has on hand. Please send us the rest. Thursday November 29th HOUSTON. IT'S WORTH IT. Book Launch Party At the Lawndale Parking Lot, 4912 Main Street 6:30PM-9PM Images from the book will be projected on North wall of Lawndale art center. DJ Pooks spins the tunes and there will be refreshments. Proceeds from sales of the......

A recent phone conversation with Houstonist's doctor went like this: Doctor: Houstonist, your tests came back and everything looks great except for your cholesterol. Houstonist: Cholesterol? Really? Doctor: I'm not sure how much you know about cholesterol levels, but what we're shooting for is under 200. Yours is 250. As you can imagine, this has major ramifications, especially for someone like you. Heart disease is the number one killer of women. . . . .......

Spent all your cash on girlie drinks and shattered dreams again this weekend, didn't you? No worries - Thriftster gives you the lowdown on cheap stuff to do until Paycheck Friday. We're making this 'multi-cultural' Thriftster week, given all the great global goodies in town for you to experience. Monday: Catch the last night of the Polish Film Festival at the Angelika (510 Texas Ave.) with 3 shows for $10 (or $8 if you've got......

Actually this is event is a time to celebrate - even though the Dynamo lost a tough SuperLiga battle last night against CF Pachuca. The Dynamo are inviting you, the fans, to come celebrate this season’s achievements with them as part of their Summer Soccer Ball (haha…get it?). The party starts at 7pm tonight at Planeta Bar-Rio, where there will be drink specials (including orange margaritas!), door prizes (for the early party-goers), and a big......

Trammell Crow, Co. has announced that their project at the former HISD Headquarters at 3830 Richmond Ave. will start immediately, just short of a year after the demolition. The project, called "Greenway Commons," includes a 164,000 square foot Costco to be topped with an LA Fitness health club. Three years ago, HISD accepted Trammel Crow's bid of about $38 million for the site, which included the administration building, annex, and Will Rogers Elementary. We were......

Black Math Experiment Lures David Arquette to the Proletariat Under the "Random Events" file, Houstonist sniffs out this unique show at the Proletariat tonight. Houston's own Black Math Experiment are bringing to town their self-proclaimed "muse and patron" David Arquette to meet and greet fans, and show clips from his recently written and directed thriller, The Tripper. The night will include a full set from The Black Math Experiment and Dewy Deputy Dawg himself previewing......

Universal Happy Hour Day Houstonist loves happy hour, and we especially love it on Thursdays, when it seems that everyone in the world loves happy hour. It is our early evening celebration of the approaching weekend. In honor of what we like to call "Happy Hour Day", here is a list of Thursday Happy Hours in and around the Houston area... enjoy! Amazon Grill 5114 Kirby Drive Houston, TX 77098 4pm-7pm $1 off wine Various......

Houstonist loved Valentine's Day as a child - poking all the chocolates in the Whitman's Sampler box Mama Houstonist "hid" on the refrigerator - gotta get the good ones! Now that we are all grown up, things are more serious and any Houstonian in love or like needs to impress that special someone with a fancy or just romantic dinner (flowers, gifts, sparkles, cards - at least a stinking card). If you haven't made the......

Sprawled and traffic-clogged Houston isn't traditionally known as a bicycle-friendly city. BikeHouston is trying to change that, promoting bicycling as an alternate method of transportation, educating both bicyclists and motorists about bicycle safety, and lobbying the city to build more bicycle lanes and Metro to attach bicycle racks to the front of buses. BikeHouston’s annual meeting is tonight. There will be food, along with a talk by the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Pedestrian-Bicycle Coordinator, Dan Raine.......

Last week's Houston Calling Happy Hour was canceled due to the ice storm threat of ice drizzle. However, we're glad to report that it has been rescheduled for tonight. Houston Calling is a local music website headed up by music aficionado David Cobb. This is his third series of happy hours, and the same artists scheduled for last week will be playing tonight. As an added bonus, you'll get the Proletariat's previously scheduled performance by......

This show has been postponed due to the weather. We'll let you know when it is rescheduled. David Cobb knows how to throw a good concert together focusing on local music, and he’s doing it again tonight soon. Houston Calling is hosting their third music-filled Happy Hour tonight at the Proletariat. Tonight’s Eventually, the show will feature Arthur Yoria as the headliner. Yoria was born in Chicago but has called Houston home for quite a......

In the patchwork of land we call Houston, there is one tiny area that defies something that makes Houston...Houston: zoning. In 1990, St. George Place became the first of now twenty-two Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones, which was instated by petition to promote new economic growth into the area which needed a little boost. Soon after, City Council decided to enact zoning in the small area as well. St. George Place is located within "walking distance"......

Houstonist had to get our "burger on" after our first birthday party - had to. So, we phoned in some bacon cheeseburgers and rings for ourself and a co-worker from Pete's Fine Meats on Richmond Avenue. Normally, a "go burger" is kinda listless by the time you get to where you're going with it - this one was not super hot, but still warm enough and juicy. The onion rings were not homemade, however, they......

This summer’s Houston Calling happy hour was such a success, that the blog is organizing another one with a new array of bands for this coming Monday, Oct. 23rd. Once again, some of Houston’s best local bands will be featured: the rock-flavored Bright Men of Learning, punk-rock Something Fierce, and alternative-rock Southern Backtones. You can preview these bands through this podcast. Houston Calling is a branch off the Done Waiting music website, and is focused......

Yeah, yeah, we know it's not Saturday, but this is worth a special Shelterporn mention: This weekend, you can indulge your list for architect-designed homes (admit it, you have one) at the AIA Houston's 2006 Home Tour. The tour will include 10 architect-designed houses, including a recent Texas Society of Architects award-winning design: 505 West Alabama, a four-unit townhome project by Collaborative Designworks 4029 Chatham, a contemporary home on a Highland Village-area lot by Val......

Tomorrow is the second birthday of Urban Harvest's Bayou City Farmers' Market, from 8 am to noon. Enjoy birthday cake, hand-cranked ice cream, live music, and other activities along with the wide array of locally-produced vegetables, fruits, coffee, grass-fed meats, honey, baked goods and more. The market is located near the intersection of Richmond Ave. and Eastside St., and is open rain or shine every Wednesday from 4-7 pm and Saturday from 8 am......

Love it or hate it, we'll bet you know where the Taj Mahal is. No, not that one — we're talking about the former HISD administration building, which will be history within a few days, to be replaced by ... a Costco. No kidding. HISD had its headquarters in the building at 3830 Richmond Ave. from 1969 until the district moved to new quarters off 610 and 290 earlier this year. The big, white......

At Houstonist, we enjoy a good mid-century modern house. So we're really excited about Houston Mod's new exhibit Booming Houston & The Modern House: The Residential Architecture of Neuhaus & Taylor. Neuhaus & Taylor was one of Houston's premier architectural firms in the 1960s and '70s — their designs include the "Taj Mahal," the former HISD headquarters building on Richmond Avenue (which probably won't be around much longer), Galleria I and the towers of......

Everyone gets a case of the Mondays. There’s no better cure for the Mondays than celebrating a happy hour with great live music, sponsored by our favorite local music blog. This coming Monday, our friends at Houston Calling will sponsor a happy hour at the Proletariat. Not only is one of our beloved local musicians, Tody Castillo, performing, but you’ll also be treated to some great local power-pop from The Dimes and alternative pop/rock from......

Houstonist is a sucker for bad local commercials — we've been a fan of the Thunderbolt ad for as long as we can remember — and keeping that in mind, we are happy to bring you this 1990 ad for the Season Ticket sports bar. Cheesy sales pitch thinly disguised as phone conversation! Mysterious, oddly colored bar food! A waitress who can't deliver a line! 18-inch televisions! Yes, it's all here. (If you check......

There's some debate on how the Margarita originated — one theory is that a Texas bartender made the first one by mistake. Sounds like a good explanation to us. Whatever the story, one thing everyone can agree on is that this heat is ridiculous, and we have about three months more of it ahead. It's the perfect time of year to cool down with (what might be) a real Texas drink. Frozen or on the......

Transplanted Houstonian Stephanie reads Phillyist all the time and thought coming home for the summer would be a ton more fun if we started our version of one of their features: a list of things to do each week on the cheap. Everything on this list'll be $10 or less, so we're calling it "Fun for a Hamilton". Thanks for the idea, Stephanie ... enjoy! Friday, June 9th Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries,......

Do you want the best barbeque that Lulling has to offer? If you left downtown Houston and drove west down I-10 to Lulling to find it, we suggest you turn around and drive the 133 miles back to park your appetite at the Lulling City Market in Houston. We also suggest you buy a hybrid if you’re so prone to taking such ill-conceived road trips. Nestled between Bayou City Seafood and a Pizza Hut on......

If you haven’t noticed, we like lunch. If it weren’t for lunch, we’d probably not make it to dinner. If it weren’t for lunch at Thai Cottage, we’d probably go insane. The food is so good that we almost forget that two people can eat there so well for around $15. Located near the Edwards Grand Cinema on the corner of Richmond and Wesleyan, it’s a favorite amongst the Greenway set. The location affords......

Houstonist is the first to admit that Houstonians are wimps when it comes to cold weather. You disagree? We present for your consideration the first day in the fall when the temperature drops below 70 and you see people walking around in parkas. When it gets below 60, we start covering exposed skin. Hey, better safe than sorry. So this week, the first legitimate cold snap we've had this year (shouldn't this have happened......