Anvil turns on the Southern charm

Sunday, June 12th, 2011 - 11:21 pm - Fun Entertainment Life

The creative juices are always flowing at Anvil Bar & Refuge. Could have something to do with the fact that the owners work so closely with juices that warrant creativity.

But Anvil has truly outdone itself with a new menu dedicated to cocktails of the steamy, sweltering, sultry South.

“The Summer of the South,” which owner/bartender Bobby Heugel calls the most ambitious, thought-out menu the bar has done, is a four-month foray into the flavors and customs of the deep-drinking Deep South.

“Everyone writes about the cocktails from the North, but there are great historical cocktails of the South,” said Heugel, who threw himself into the fascinating history of a region drenched in boozy charm. “We’ve taken a big step forward with the bar. I’ve never been prouder of the cocktails we’re serving.”

Those well-researched tipplers include the Dewberry Swizzle ; Zydeco Fiddle ; Devil’s Run ; and the Mud Turtle , a slang term once used to describe Houstonians. Anvil’s original Southern cocktails will join 15 classic Southern cocktails .

The new Southern cocktails, lavished with Anvil’s signature creativity, are not inspired by particular spirits, but by a particular culture, Heugel said.

Foodies will appreciate the delicious new drinks and will certainly raise their glasses to the menu’s other big surprise: a new slate of edibles. Chris Shepherd, who has a dash of down time until his Underbelly fires up, has created a menu for Anvil that also takes a big bite of the South. For starters, there’s Creole-spiced hazelnuts, boiled peanuts and house-roasted olives. A pretzel comes with Kentucky Beer Cheese; roasted pepperoncinis are stuffed with a hot goo of Redneck Cheddar studded with tasso ham.

Larger plates include a pimento cheese panini or a gourmet meat-stuffed muffaletta, both served with Zapp’s Cajun Crawtator chips. A Kentucky Hot Brown sandwich comes with a salad of local tomatoes. A pork debris po-boy is graced with tangy house-pickled tomatoes. A ceviche of Gulf shrimp and “bycatch” fish might very well be the most refreshing and tasty seafood tumble in town. The menu’s show-stopper is a hot skillet of cornbread topped with a fried egg and an onion jam and a sprinkling of chopped pickled vegetables.

Shepherd’s Southern sojourn is, without question, Anvil’s most sophisticated food offering to date. What makes it even more remarkable is that the dishes are coming out of Anvil’s thimble-size kitchen, a 10-by-12-foot box that is equipped with only a small pizza oven and a panini press.

How is the kitchen able to send out such creative dishes from this wee nook? Call it Southern magic.

Anvil Bar & Refuge1424 Westheimer713-523-1622anvilhouston.com

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