Patch Drinks: Watch Tony's Kennady Cosby Make a Peppered Pisco

HOUSTON, TX — Kennady Cosby is calm and collected, pouring a glass of Aligoté for a customer and keeping an eye on the bar's tables at the same time. It's Saturday evening at Tony's Restaurant, a Houston institution on Richmond Avenue, and the place is crowded. Cosby, however, is at ease, and that ease is contagious.

Sit at the bar in the elegant restaurant on Richmond Avenue — now enjoying its 53rd year of business — for a few minutes, and, unless you are experiencing a panic attack, you will feel more relaxed, calmer, ready to enjoy a drink and discuss the news of the day. To your right, a young couple shares a bottle of Champagne, while the gentleman on your left is nursing a Margarita and reading the news on his iPhone. No matter your choice this evening, you're in good hands with this bartender, and all is well.

Last week, I asked Cosby, who's been the bar manager at Tony's for six years, to make me a cocktail using Ancho Reyes Verde, a liqueur made with poblano chilis (I had been sent the bottle as a sample, and wanted to see what she could do with the slightly spicy, slightly smoky liquid). I gave her a few days, then went back and tasted her creation ... and it was good. She called it the Peppered Pisco. It's got some Pisco Portón in it, that wonderful brandy from Peru, plus some grapefruit for acidity.

You can make this in a Champagne coupe if you wish, and I've made it in an Old Fashioned glass and liked it just fine. Here's your list of ingredients:

2 oz. Pisco Portón
.5 oz. Ancho Reyes Verde
1 oz. fresh grapefruit juice
.25 oz. lemon sour
one grapefruit, washed

I'm recommending this as a Father's Day drink, but it would be delicious at any time, especially if you like a concoction that provides a bit of sweetness and a bit of heat.

Having a cocktail before dinner — or in the afternoon while lounging by the pool — is a pleasurable ritual, a civilized and elegant practice that whets the appetite and sparks conversation. Whether your choice of libation is a Campari and Soda, a Negroni, a dirty Martini, or an Old Fashioned (or anything in between), there's an abundance of great restaurants and bars in the Houston area at which you can enjoy your selection. Patch Drinks is your guide to those places and the people who create the magic behind the bar, and we invite you on our journey.

Let's watch Cosby make the Peppered Pisco.

— Image: James Brock