Bar Buena, Houston’s New Intimate Cocktail Bar, Is Serious About Agave

Levi Goode, the chef and restaurateur behind Houston’s Goode Co. hospitality group, where he has overseen a melange of restaurants, including Goode Co. Barbecue and Goode Co. Kitchen & Cantina, has been traveling to Mexico for more than 15 years. What started as a curiosity about tequila grew into a deeper exploration of agave spirits across Jalisco and beyond.

Those trips eventually led to the opening of Bar Buena this summer. Tucked behind Goode Co. Kitchen & Cantina on West Gray in River Oaks, this moody and intimate cocktail bar leans hard into agave, with more than 120 Mexican spirits on the back bar — that’s more than 80 tequilas from 25 different NOMs (regulatory codes that identify a tequila’s distillery), plus mezcals, raicilla, bacanora, sotol, and even whiskey and rum. 

“We don’t carry Patrón. We curate for quality,” Goode says. “For newcomers, we’ll guide you. For people deep into this stuff, we’ve got what you’re looking for too.” We asked Goode for all the intel on the drinks and dishes that best speak to what Bar Buena’s all about.

Oaxacan Old Fashioned

“The Oaxacan Old Fashioned is really just a play off the classic bourbon Old Fashioned. By adding mezcal, you pick up some smoky notes. The mole bitters really complement that well,” Goode says. The bitters in the drink feature Bittermens Xocolatl mole bitters, Angostura, and a tincture made in-house that consists of cocoa nibs, pasilla chiles, dried avocado leaves, palo santo leaves, and raisins. “You get this complexity and richness that I really enjoy,” Goode says. The drink is a creation of Bar Buena’s beverage director Westin Galleymore and comes from inspiration he found while traveling to Puebla and Oaxaca. 

Ardilla

If you’ve ever had Gran Maizal, a young Yucatán distillery’s whiskey made with indigenous corn, you know it’s about as funky as whiskey gets —  in a good way. Gran Maizal is the spirit that anchors the Ardilla, which Goode says is “inspired by the domestication of corn over 9,000 years ago in Mexico.”

“It’s finished in terracotta vessels with cocoa nibs and vanilla pods. You get dry, earthy tones from the terracotta,” he says. “It’s not a smooth sipper — if you’re a person who drinks Jack Daniels, this is going to be strange to you.” 

For the Ardilla, which also has cocoa nibs, oloroso sherry, and ancho reyes, the team clarifies the ingredients with whole milk and sweetened condensed milk — an overnight process that leaves the cocktail clear, with a well balanced, creamy, silky mouthfeel on the palate, rounding off the whiskey’s funk while keeping its earthy edge. “It takes the rough edges off of that funkiness on corn whiskey to makes more well balanced and smoother on the palette,” Goode says.   

Chakalaka

“The Chakalaka is named after a bird you find in Mexico and West Texas,” Goode says. “It makes this crazy cackling kind of raucous sound, and people compare it to someone who talks too much. That’s what we wanted the cocktail to be: lively, noisy, something that gets you talking and puts you in a talkative spirit.”

The base liquor of Uruapan Charanda, a rum out of Michoacán, might also shock an inexperienced drinker — it packs more funk than a four hour George Clinton concert. “Not mainstream by any means,” Goode says. “We wanted to educate people and offer a place where you can try something you wouldn’t find [everywhere else]. Bar Buena felt like the right canvas for that.”

To build the drink, the Charanda is joined by lemon juice, tepache (a fermented pineapple drink), cantaloupe, and a pinch of salt. “The tepache gives just enough lift to keep it bright,” goode says. “It smooths out the roughness, but you still taste the Charanda.”

Pato Tinga Memela

“Overall on the menu we wanted smaller, flavor-packed bites inspired by our travels through Mexico,” Goode says. “The pato tinga memela is definitely one of those.”

The memela starts with a corn masa disk with crimped edges sturdy enough to hold the toppings —  refried beans, pickled onions, cilantro, lime, and braised duck leg.

The duck legs are first rendered on the plancha (a flat-top griddle) then braised bone-in at 300 degrees in a liquid with dried chiles, duck-fortified poultry stock, and herbs. Confit, a more common method for cooking duck breasts wouldn’t work here. “I love confit as much as the next person, but we really wanted to introduce some of those additional flavors with the chilies, the garlic, the fresh herbs to get that consistency that we’re looking for,” Goode says. 

Ribeye Taco

On the surface, the ribeye taco is one of the more straightforward items at Bar Buena. Instead of a thick steak cut, the ribeye is sliced milanesa-style — about an eighth of an inch thick, cut on a 45-degree angle so each piece matches the diameter of the tortilla. The meat hits the plancha with just sea salt and a little chili pepper, then gets folded into an heirloom corn tortilla made in-house from nixtamalized masa supplied by La Ranchera. A spoonful of salsa, onions, and cilantro finish it off.

“It’s just kind of a small bite,” Goode says. “But with the ribeye sliced that thin, you get a great ratio of meat to the tortilla.”

Carnitas Flautas 

For the carnitas, Bar Buena uses pork butt in a three-day process. “We marinate them first, then braise them in their own fat,” Goode says. The braise includes Mexican Coca-Cola, fresh oregano, oranges, and milk, with the pork releasing its own juices as it cooks low and slow. Once the meat reaches the right tenderness, it’s cooled overnight so the juices redistribute. The next day, the pork is fried in its own fat until crisp.

As for the milk, Goode says it’s a part of a classic carnitas methods he came across while researching in Mexico City.

Aguachile Verde

Ever had aguachile that had a bit too much of a citrus punch? Bar Buena intentionally tries to give this dish a more balanced flavor. “I didn’t want to go full cook in lime juice — it’s too much for what I was looking for,” Goode says. 

The kitchen starts with poached Gulf shrimp — Goode didn’t want to begin with a raw ingredient — then the crustacean is dressed ina sauce made with Persian cucumber, lime, cilantro, and sea salt. The shrimp are tossed with diced avocado and served over fresh tostadas. “It’s simple and clean, a good way to beat the heat,” Goode says. 

The result is still bright and citrus-forward, but the shrimp keep their flavor and texture. “The shrimp still taste like shrimp, not just lime,” Goode explains. “You don’t end up with super acidic shrimp — it’s just coated, rather than fully through and through.”