{"id":107793,"date":"2023-06-10T06:13:48","date_gmt":"2023-06-10T06:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/10\/new-houston-speakeasy-meo-is-an-asian-inspired-oasis\/"},"modified":"2023-06-10T06:13:49","modified_gmt":"2023-06-10T06:13:49","slug":"new-houston-speakeasy-meo-is-an-asian-inspired-oasis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/10\/new-houston-speakeasy-meo-is-an-asian-inspired-oasis\/","title":{"rendered":"New Houston Speakeasy M\u00e8o Is an Asian-Inspired Oasis"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Plenty of speakeasies<\/a><\/span> <\/strong>on the town have novel entrances, disguised as bookcases or kitchen cabinets, however there\u2019s just one you enter by cat door. Well, not a conventional cat door, per se. The entrance at M\u00e8o<\/a>, a brand new bar inside Texas-Asian restaurant Wokker within the Heights, is hidden behind a mural of a cash cat sporting a really Texas getup of a cowboy hat and lasso. Although not all cartoon cats in cowboy hats are innocuous, as any fan of\u00a0Fievel Goes West<\/em> can inform you, this human-size cat door creaks open to disclose probably the most nice of surprises\u2014however solely after urgent a hidden button (which you\u2019ll have to search out for your self).<\/p>\n


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M\u00e8o, Vietnamese for \u201ccat,\u201d is supposed to really feel like a dockside bar in Vietnam. Two glass chandeliers grasp dramatically within the heart of the big, deep blue room, their gentle scattered a thousand methods by a wall of gilded mirrors of varied sizes and shapes. Below, a row of cubicles is accented by scarlet purple cushions that includes a lotus blossom design. On the opposite facet, a mural of a lily pond is partially obscured by woven Vietnamese baskets held on the wall in a swirling sample. At the far finish, behind the bar, one other lily pond and its koi fish residents are etched on a big piece of glass that\u2019s backlit by a kaleidoscope of soothing colours.<\/p>\n

This tranquil house is the brainchild of two {couples}: homeowners Man Dao and Ahn Nguyen, and companions Marco Juarez and Charity Brown. The speakeasy, which serves some top-notch dim sum and craft cocktails, is simply the newest undertaking from a partnership between Dao and Juarez that’s virtually a decade previous. In 2014, the duo opened their now uberpopular meals truck Wokker. A brick-and-mortar on Airline Drive adopted in late 2021, however the workforce shortly realized the house that they had acquired was too large for only one idea\u2014therefore the start of M\u00e8o.<\/p>\n

They initially supplied desk service, however determined to reduce to bar service to make the house really feel extra informal and approachable. \u201cM\u00e8o feels like a dive bar, but you still feel like you\u2019re being treated,\u201d Brown says. \u201cA lot of times when you go to cocktail bars, they\u2019re kind of bougie and you can feel out of place. So we just wanted to create a place where everyone felt welcome,\u00a0but you could still get a good drink.\u201d<\/p>\n


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A longtime bartender, Brown oversees the day-to-day operations of M\u00e8o and is answerable for its cocktail menu, which is closely influenced by Vietnamese flavors. Nguyen grew up with salted plums as a childhood deal with, and launched them to Brown, who shortly fell in love with them. They characteristic within the Salty Kitty, a canary-hued libation made with salted plum vodka, orange bourbon tincture, lemon, turbinado sugar, and egg white\u2014all garnished with a chunk of dried salted plum. \u201cIt\u2019s been fun learning about Vietnamese ingredients,\u201d Brown says.<\/p>\n