The Pastry War

A French pastry chef named Monsieur Remontel, operating in Mexico City, claims his shop was looted by Mexican army officers in 1828. He files for damages with the French government. Ten years later, after a series of escalating diplomatic incidents, France blockades the Mexican port of Veracruz and demands payment of 600,000 pesos in restitution. The blockade becomes a brief war — the Pastry War of 1838-1839. France wins, Mexico pays, the conflict is mostly forgotten outside of Mexican history textbooks.

The Pastry War opens in downtown Houston in 2013 as a mezcal-and-tequila room — about 100 agave spirits at any time, mostly from small Oaxacan and Jaliscan producers. The name is deliberate. The bar argues that the European narrative around Mexican spirits — that tequila is a college shot, that mezcal is exotic, that the cocktails should be Margaritas and not much else — is a kind of cultural continuation of the original Pastry War: a European framing of Mexican production that does not take the production seriously. The bar opposes the framing through the cocktail menu.

Start with the espadín flight — three small pours of espadín mezcal from different Oaxacan producers, around $24. The bar will not pour you the cliché tourist-stuff (Casamigos, the standard 1800 anejo); the staff is trained to redirect you toward producers worth supporting. After the flight, order whatever the bartender suggests built on tobalá or madrecuixe — the wild agaves whose distinctive vegetal character is what the Pastry War programme is built around. The Margarita is on the menu but is the third order, not the first.

The Pastry War operates on Main Street in downtown Houston, around the corner from the original Anvil ownership group's downtown footprint. The room is small (around 40 seats); arrive before 9pm for a stool, after 10pm for the busier weekend evening. The bar takes walk-ins; reservations are not the system. Open Tuesday through Saturday from 5pm to 2am.