Julep from the Street
I stopped over at a Washington Bar, Julep for an after work Happy Hour. I visited Julep before when it first opened and was excited to come back. As the name and look imply, Julep is meant to take you back to the old South, minus slavery and Jim Crow. Simply put, Julep is a beautiful bar that is true to its’ theme, yet not overdone at the same time. There are small touches like mint julep cups all around or a wall of stuff like bottles of Bourbon. For a Monday around 5pm, this place had a really good happy hour crowd primarily young professionals. My group sat outside on their large patio. Now, when it is not in the middle of a Houston summer, I imagine this space is ideal. They even have a little fire pit for an unseasonably cold day. But for now? Stick to the inside, I basically melted on that patio! (I forgot to get a pic of the patio! Blame it on the heat.)
The bar
A view of the bar as you enter
Not the best picture, but I wanted to show the Southern touches!
I could not stay too long, but in the 30 minutes that I was there I tried few things. Julep is a bar, yes but I have heard rave reviews for their food. I tried the potato wedges and what looked like a hush puppy, so I am going to assume it was. I am not a fan of hush puppies any day so do not trust my judgment on that. The potato wedges were decent. On my next visit I will go for the seafood dishes. Everyone inside seemed to be feasting on things like oysters, so I imagine those are their signature dishes.
Half eaten plate of wedges and hush puppies.
My punch
On to the drinks! I tried the Mt Gay Rum punch. The staff brought the punch out in a large punch bowl, similar to those you would see at a Mississippi Debutante Ball or one of Scarlett O’Hara’s weddings. Other than our waiter spilling a bit of the punch on the delivery, I enjoyed the addition of the punch bowl. But you don’t care about that, you want to know how the drink was! I liked it. The bartenders included fresh fruit and that is always a welcome addition for me. It had a tart after taste, but I would attribute that to the raspberries. Drinks and food aside, for me the biggest draw to this place is the look! I love a good venue. I will be back sooner than later and I will make sure to share what else I try on my next visit.
Awesome meeting you here! This is a totally cool place.. their Gin Fizzes are worth every second of the 10 minutes it takes the bartender to shake it up. $10 bucks during HH.