1777 Walker St, Suite A, Houston, TX 77010
Xochi Rita
Spiced Pluma
Houston Strong
The Greatest Margarita
Xochi is a must-visit location for Mexican food that is hip enough for a prime spot in downtown Houston. We are Chef Hugo Ortego fans, or we would not have bothered with the parking for a family dinner and saved Xochi for dinner before a concert. If you want to try Mexican food that entertains your eyes and your palate, Xochi provides plenty of tempting options to justify multiple visits. Xochi is on our list for a return visit.
We use a five-margarita glass scale to rate margaritas on taste, presentation, and potency. The best possible rating is five margarita glasses.
The Xochi Rita with mezcal, orange liqueur, lime, citrus syrup, and gusano salt is interesting, more complex than your everyday margarita, and receives 3 out of 5 margarita glasses.
We love a really good traditional margarita, but something different is fun, and the Spiced Pluma is appealing to the eyes and a nice start with appetizers. Made with tequila, orange liqueur, pineapple, lime, habanero syrup, hibiscus-salted margarita foam, the Spiced Pluma was good, and we gave the Pluma three margarita glasses.
Houston Strong is a great name for a margarita served in downtown Houston. Made with Olmeca Altos Tequila, Combier, Aperol, lime, and grapefruit peel, this margarita was good, not strong, and we gave it three margarita glasses.
Xochi is the third Chef Hugo location, where we have tried The Greatest Margarita. Hugos, Caracol, and Xochi all offer this margarita that highlights añejo tequila, 25-year-aged Grand Marnier, tangerine, lime, ginger, agave nectar, and a sea salted rim with an orange slice and rosemary sprig for garnish. This drink is to a margarita what a mimosa is to champagne. It is good, some might find it very good, but for $29, we want excellent. We dispute the name of the drink and give this margarita 3.5 margarita glasses.
While we did not find the best margarita in the world at Xochi, we did find the most interesting and delicious dessert that delighted our family of three generations. It looks like a cacao pod, and once opened, the hard white chocolate shell offers three chocolate textures- tejate foam, milk chocolate cloud, chocolate criollo soil. We love everything about this dessert. With an after-dinner drink and coffee, this may be the best dessert in the world.
The hunt continues…..
