A Houston bar is basking within the nationwide highlight. Bon Appètit has named Lee’s in Rice Village to its listing of The 9 Finest New Bars of 2025.
Revealed final week, the listing spotlights new bars in cities starting from cocktail staples like New York and New Orleans to an institution in Madison, Wisconsin that served a menu impressed by the Nice British Bake-Off. “These locations remind us why we exit within the first place: not simply to drink, however to drink in neighborhood, creativity, and craft,” the journal writes.
Lee’s is the one Texas institution to make the listing. Open since January, it’s the companion cocktail bar to Milton’s, the nostalgic Italian-American restaurant that Native Meals Group opened final yr. Simply as Milton’s is known as for LFG proprietor Benjy Levit’s father, Lee’s is known as for his mom. The bar earned a CultureMap Tastemaker Award Bar of the Yr nomination for its capability to mix a unusual cocktail menu with a heat, welcoming environment.
In its entry, Bon Appètit acknowledges Lee’s for cocktails such because the Black Hat, a black Manhattan that’s additionally black in coloration courtesy of cuttlefish ink, and the Pale Blue Eyes, an Previous Normal that’s blue due to a clarified blue corn syrup. “A lot of the inspiration at Lee’s is modest, from drink names that reference the Velvet Underground to complicated mixology,” the journal provides.
“I’m extraordinarily honored for Lee’s to be acknowledged on such a brief, significant listing by Bon Appètit,” Levit stated in an announcement. “The article describes an excellent bar as being about ‘temper, reminiscence, easy hospitality, and a candy suspension of time.’ It’s every part we attempt for at Lee’s and throughout all Native Meals Group ideas.”
Shortly earlier than Bon Appètit named Lee’s to its listing, the bar made a quiet change in personnel when director of bars Máte Hartai left the corporate in mid-Might. In his place, the corporate has named former March bartender Chad Matson because the bar supervisor for each Lee’s and Milton’s.
“The LFG staff is grateful for [Hartai’s] contributions and needs him one of the best in his future endeavors, which is able to indubitably be enjoyable and artistic,” a consultant tells CultureMap.
