Category: General Blogs

Summer is punctuated by bountiful produce, and Whiskey Cake is committed to delivering farm-fresh appeal with local flavors and hand-crafted recipes that put simple, seasonal ingredients on full display.

Whether you’re looking for chilled apps and entrée salads, you want to savor the intense flavors of a slow-cooked feast, or you’re headed to the bar to sample refreshing spirits, you’ll find an enticing selection of delectable, locally-sourced, farm-to-fork, and garden-to-glass items to whet your palate and tame your hunger.

With brunch, lunch, dinner, and drinks to tempt every diner and a slew of new menu items to try, you’ll not only find a hospitable atmosphere when you visit Whiskey Cake — you’ll also score a dining experience you won’t soon forget. Which innovative items will become your new faves? Here are a few you don’t want to miss.

Snacks

Small plates make for a great starter or even a light meal on a hot summer day. So we’ve added a couple new options to tempt your taste buds. You can’t go wrong with Blistered Green Beans, studded with cashews, sweet peppers, and shiitake mushrooms. Or you could opt for Flash-Fried Brussels Sprouts, glazed and served with a zesty BBQ-lime aioli.

From the Garden

If you’re looking for garden-fresh fare, you’ll love the farm-to-table appeal of our new salads and grain bowls. The Lemongrass Shrimp & Soba Noodles offer peppery-sweet vibes, perfectly paired with refreshing Thai basil ginger dressing.

For heartier fare, try the Grains Bowl with savory lamb meatballs and chilled golden quinoa, paired with a slew of summer veggies and roasted garlic hummus, all topped with a bright Aleppo-lemon feta vinaigrette. You’ll also find plenty to love in the Smoked Chopped Chicken salad, with all the proteins and greens you need for a filling meal.

Between the Bread 

Our classic sandwiches on sesame-coated bread get a summer upgrade with three new selections: the Chickenbirdger, Smoked Tri Tip Dip, and Shroomin’ Sandwich. The first packs a flavor punch with two cheeses and a heap of tasty veg, smothered in basil-garlic aioli.

Not to be outdone, the Smoked Tri Tip delivers a delectable combo of melted Swiss and sweet-spicy toppings, plus dip. For the non-meat crowd, a trifecta of crispy cremini mushrooms, roasted red pepper marinara, and basil-garlic aioli is sure to please.

Mains

To stave off the hangry vibes, jump right into flavorful and filling mains, like the Farmshuka Cauliflower Rice Bowl, featuring spicy tomato stew. Or opt for the satisfying Shrimp & Grits. If the white cheddar-roasted green chile grits weren’t enough, we’ve added wilted greens with a medley of savory, sweet, and spicy ingredients to make your taste buds sing.

With so many new options to choose from, you’ll have no trouble finding new faves on Whiskey Cake’s summer menu.

Keeping your plate local, fresh, & community-oriented is our priority at Whiskey Cake. Crisp, fresh, vegetables from our area, regionally-crafted artisan cheeses, country sausage, and even Texas-harvested and pressed extra virgin olive oil make their way on to your plate by way of our kitchen. Our farm-to-fork ethos is embedded in our DNA, and that means we’re serious locavores. We care about not only our ethical footprint, but also supporting our fellow Texas entrepreneurs and culinary artisans.

We don’t just feature Texas whiskeys like Balcones Rye, we’re also a community of badass-yet-welcoming barkeeps slinging craft cocktails and bringing together our neighborhood over fresh bread baked daily. Because “local” means farm fresh and it means being a good neighbor, too. That’s why we use beans roasted by Sacred Heart Coffee in Houston when we serve you our barista-worthy French Press coffee at brunch.

It’s why our noted goat cheese fondue is made with fresh chèvre handcrafted at Dapper Goat Dairy, where Saanen & La Mancha goats are free to roam, and lovingly cared for by ranchers. Noted for its buttery & smooth taste, the milk from Dapper Goat’s herds produces a cheese that rivals any import, and is served with grilled sourdough, thyme, olives, and other tastes of the Mediterranean.

Our namesake whiskey cake is made with Silver Tree Nuts’ pecans, grown right in the heart of Comanche County. After all, it wouldn’t be whiskey cake without pecans, and it wouldn’t be pecans without Texas. Oh, and a dollop of our house-made vanilla whipped cream, because that’s just the way it should be.

If you’re wondering how some of our signature dishes like our Handcut Ribeye, Shrimp & Grain Salad, & our Steak Frites get their subtle sweetness, look no further than the family-owned Stroope Honey Farms in Pearland, TX. Dating back four generations to the early twentieth century, the Stroopes have been producing honey for nearly 100 years and have been operating their farm in Houston for half-a-century.

It’s local, craft businesses like these that keep Whiskey Cake firmly rooted in the community. Eat local; eat in your neighborhood. We’ll be here, whipping up homespun meals and cocktails for you when you drop by.

Barrel out the door and into Whiskey Cake for the complete craft whiskey experience

There’s no card required to check out a pour from our library of over 250 hand-selected whiskeys, bourbons, ryes, and single-malt scotches at Whiskey Cake! Featuring an encyclopedic selection of local, domestic, and international whiskies from Texas, Florida, Kentucky, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, Japan, and beyond, you may as well get your atlas out while you sample the globe’s varied takes on that beautiful, amber, “water of life” aged in barrels and imparted with a wide array of tasting notes. We also have a number of expertly-curated whiskey flights for when you’re in the mood to kick your shoes off, (figuratively, of course. Or maybe for real. That’s cool, too.) sit back, and enjoy a selection of whiskies carefully chosen by connoisseurs of the boozy arts. You can also create your own lineup of whiskies from our extensive collection – a fun way to spend an evening comparing single-malts to Kentucky bourbons, or even a Japanese rice whiskey. If you order something really top-shelf (literally), you might even see one of our barkeeps scale a ladder to retrieve your bottle of choice from our immense backbar – how’s that for a drink and a show? Naturally, our barkeeps are well-educated in the ways of whiskey (and the cocktail canon, too!) and will gladly help you pick out a quad that’ll give you that peaceful, easy feeling.

CRAFT COCKTAILS AND HAPPY HOURS: KEEPING YOUR SPIRITS HIGH AT WHISKEY CAKE

OK, so maybe a nice sipping whiskey neat or on the rocks isn’t your thing. Or maybe it is, but you’re just in the mood for a handmade, artisanal, one-of-a-kind cocktail or rare elixir made by one of our accomplished bartenders. Maybe you need a pick-me-up like the Hustle & Grind, made with coffee-infused Buffalo Trace bourbon, espresso liqueur and other coffee fixings like cream and salted caramel syrup. Perhaps you’re feeling a bit old-fashioned (ahem) with a bit of a twist; in that event, ask for our Smoked Old Fashioned, a take on the classic bourbon cocktail infused with a rotating selection of wood chips for a finely-fumed concoction. See, the thing is, just as with our kitchen’s farm-to-fork philosophy, we’re all about the garden-to-glass outlook on cocktails. Fresh ingredients make for singular syrups and infusions like the peach-thyme simple syrup in our Ryes N Shine whiskey cocktail, or the locally-sourced honey in the Winchester 85 & the Wabbit Smash – featuring in-house, freshly-made carrot juice. A Bee Sting is always a great way to get your attention – ours features a slightly dry and fruity Monte Alban Tequila with freshly-squeezed grapefruit, agave, lime, finished with a mellow kick of jalapeño. Our juicer’s always fired up and ready to go for when you’re in need of a bit of a recharge: freshly-juiced mocktails like the Hulk with its enlivening cucumber-basil base or the Beet Le Juice featuring a certain assistant to the regional manager’s favorite red root vegetable along with green apples, yuzu juice and local honey will leave you feeling refreshed and replenished when you’re in need of a little R&R.

INDULGE A LITTLE AT OUR MONTHLY WHISKEY PAIRING DINNERS

We’re known for our innovative, local, and chef-driven food here at Whiskey Cake. Naturally, because we’ve got a top-flight whiskey bar and strong relationships with local and national whiskey producers, we tie the two together to offer you unique whiskey pairing dinner experiences each month. We’ve partnered with craft whiskey distillers like High West, Whistle Pig, and Garrison Brothers in the past to bring you thoughtful and themed dinners where oaky meets umami. These dinners feature off-menu fare that you’ll only be able to catch once, like the Texas Quail with Cowboy Caviar & the Venison Ragù from our July dinner this year, or the Tea-Brined Duck Breast with Crispy Skin & Fried Homestead Mills Cornbread Stuffing from September’s dinner. Paired with neat pours and often with exclusive cocktails, these curated selections are designed to whet your appetite and complement your drink, while their very distillers are on-hand to guide you through the process of nosing and tasting exceptional whiskey created by their own hand. They’re highly educational, and yet way more fun than a school lunch. Just a smidge, I’d say.

BE WHISKED AWAY BY WHISKEY CAKE

A true pioneer of both America’s cuisine and its favorite spirit, Whiskey Cake’s commitment to farm-sourced, local, seasonal ingredients crafted and grown by people that we know on a first-name basis is the foundation for our unique, heralded, cuisine and unparalleled whiskey library. Our Whiskey of the Week program means you can try an assortment of 52 rotating whiskeys each and every week of the year – now that’s dedication! Stop by any one of our locations across Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida for the full craft whiskey and cuisine experience. Oh, and don’t forget to take home one of our namesake cakes, too: we promise that our whiskey tastes just as good on a plate as it does in your glass!