Spiced Coffee and Cocktails on Your Own, Nov 28
Linger over a few pages in Chinatown before Southern cooking in Historic Filipinotown. Spend this Thanksgiving weekend Saturday at your own pace. Take Metro or a rideshare home, and don't drive after drinks.
Chinatown to Historic Filipinotown
Coffee for an Unhurried Solo Saturday
Start at Café Tondo in Chinatown and order at the bar. Cafe de olla is flavored with piloncillo and cinnamon. Take a seat with a cup and open one of the Mexican architecture books for a few pages between sips. Low wooden tables and grey stools furnish the lounge interior. Give this first stop room in the afternoon, with Thunderbolt saved for the second half of the outing.
Southern Plates After Chinatown
Thunderbolt opens at 5:00 PM on Saturdays. The Historic Filipinotown bar pairs technique-driven cocktails with food inspired by Southern cooking. Its drinks program uses clarified tomato water for dilution. Take a stool at the long counter and pair a cocktail with cheesy grits or crisp drummettes. The interior includes an illustrated wall mural and illuminated liquor shelves. The venue is ADA-accessible. Saturday hours run until 1:00 AM.
Pairing Afternoon Brews with Evening Sips
Café Tondo in Chinatown brings Mexican influences to the first stop, with piloncillo and cinnamon in its cafe de olla and Mexican architecture books on hand. Thunderbolt in Historic Filipinotown gives the second stop a Southern accent through cheesy grits and crisp drummettes, alongside cocktails made with experimental techniques. The pairing centers on two distinct culinary traditions, spiced coffee and reading material at one address, inventive drinks and Southern cooking at the other.
