Free wine tasting, new menus and plenty of tacos mark dining scene – Houston Chronicle

Mutiny Wine Room to offer free wine flights Jan. 21

Mutiny Wine Room will celebrate its one-year anniversary with free wine flights on Jan. 21. The wine country-inspired concept will conduct the 30-minute tastings from its tasting room at 1124 Usener in the Heights.

Reservations are required by calling 832-618-1233 or on Resy.com. Mutiny’s sommelier Ben Harris will lead the tastings. Mutiny opened last year as a tasting room/restaurant/retail wine concept, a passion project by husband-and-wife team Mark Ellenberger and Emily Trout of Kagan Cellars in Napa Valley.

FM Kitchen rolls out new menu items

FM Kitchen & Bar has debuted an expanded menu this week with new dishes from head chef Bety Barrera. The restaurant at 1112 Shepherd will now offer new dishes such as grilled salmon tacos, flank steak with salsa verde, chicken tortilla soup, and a birria torta sandwich.

FM’s happy hour (weekdays from 3 to 6:30 p.m.) also has some new food and drink options including garden hummus, crispy Brussels sprouts, chicken or potato and jalapeno flautas, and shrimp remoulade. On the bar side, happy hour drink specials now include Tallboy & Tequila Tuesdays ($4 tallboys and $5 Espolon Tequila shots), Wine Wednesdays (an appetizer with bottle of house red, white or rose for $30), Steak Night Thursdays (12-ounce ribeye and twice baked potato for $18), and Fried Chicken Fridays (three pieces with biscuit for $14).

The restaurant also has added a late night menu available Friday and Saturday from 10 p.m. until closing.

Sticky’s Chicken offers free wings for its 1-year anniversary

To mark it’s one-year anniversary, Sticky’s Chicken is offering customers two free wings with each order on Jan. 16 and 17.

The Sawyer Yards restaurant, 2313 Edwards, made the jump from food truck to brick and mortar last year. The wings giveaway is how sibling owners Benson and Patsy Vivares are saying thanks to local foodies.

“We opened our doors early 2020, with the excitement of a new adventure,” co-owner Patsy Vivares said. “Little did we know that opening the restaurant was the easy part. Keeping it alive through a worldwide pandemic was the actual challenge, but we did it. The love and support from our community has been a humbling experience through these trying times.”

Customers may choose from the original wing, Asian Tings, SLAB (Spicy, Loud and Bangin’), smoked shallot, or plain.

New birria taco for Taco Tuesdays at Tacos a Go Go

Tacos a Go Go has topped chef Dawn Burrell for January’s Taco Tuesday Team-Up series that pairs local chefs with the taco brand to raise funds.

Burrell, a James Beard Award semifinalists, has created a beef cheek birria taco (beef birria topped with red onion, cilantro, sliced radishes and Monterey Jack cheese) that will be sold at all Tacos a Go Go locations on Tuesdays in January. A donation from each taco sold will go to I’ll Have What She’s Having supporting women’s health.

For locations see tacosagogo.com.

Taco Cabana offers new pork adobada for new year

Taco Cabana began the new year with new menu offerings, including pork adobada, offered for the first time.

The adobada – pork marinated in spices and dried guajillo peppers – is available in tacos or cabana bowls. Taco Cabana also launched Cheesy Gordita Bites filled with mozzarella cheese and topped with cilantro lime ranch and cotija cheese. Additionally, Beyond Meat bowls and tacos are now back on the Taco Cabana menu for a limited time.

See tacocabana.com for locations.

Greg Morago writes about food for the Houston Chronicle. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter. Send him news tips at greg.morago@chron.com. Hear him on our BBQ State of Mind podcast to learn about Houston and Texas barbecue culture.