Sandi Villarreal

Oct 23, 2024 | texasmonthly.com | Sandi Villarreal |Rose Cahalan

“The password will be on the receipt. Take a right into the alley and look for the door with the mask.” I’d just finished a nightcap at a cigar-and-cocktail bar in charming downtown Bryan, twin city to Texas A&M University’s College Station, when the server asked if my husband and I had tried out the speakeasy around the corner. My long-ago memories of nights around the A&M campus are littered with shots at the Dry Bean, in Northgate, and dinner at the Dixie Chicken.

Sep 26, 2024 | texasmonthly.com | Sandi Villarreal

If you’ve ever wanted to sip on an old-fashioned set afire by a master mixologist in the renovated venue of the 1992 NAFTA initialing ceremony, have I got a spot for you. A plaque commemorating the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was initialed by President George H.W. Bush, Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, is an unobtrusive centerpiece in the courtyard at the brand-new Kimpton Santo, in downtown San Antonio.

Jul 10, 2024 | texasmonthly.com | Ben Rowen |Sandi Villarreal |Allegra Hobbs |Dan Solomon |Michael Hardy |Russell Gold

So many cities; so many rivalries. Houstonians seem to view Dallas with contempt, while Dallasites claim not to think about Houston at all. Most San Antonians could happily live the rest of their lives without hearing anything else about Austin. West Texans would like folks along the Interstate 35 corridor to remember that they exist.

Jul 2, 2024 | texasmonthly.com | Sandi Villarreal

An El Paso district judge on Tuesday denied Attorney General Ken Paxton’s attempt to shut down Annunciation House, a Catholic migrant shelter. Paxton had targeted the 45-year-old nonprofit in February, when he accused its staff, without evidence, of “operating a stash house” and “harboring aliens,” and requested a host of records from the shelter in an attempt to prove it. But in granting Annunciation House relief from Paxton’s requests, District Court Judge Francisco X.

May 24, 2024 | texasmonthly.com | Sandi Villarreal

When introducing Pantone’s 2024 color of the year, executive director of the institute Leatrice Eiseman said that Peach Fuzz is a shade that “resonates with compassion, offers a tactile embrace, and effortlessly bridges the youthful with the timeless.” The pale hue was plucked in searching for one that “echoes our innate yearning for closeness and connection.” It’s fitting, then, that the color—and various complementary pigments—can be seen dotting the landscape at the newly opened Camp...