I realize that it’s early February and we just had Icepocalypse and it was too cold to leave the house, let alone consume food and/or beverages outdoors, but never fear! This is Houston. Tomorrow it will probably be sunny and 75°. We will all be flocking to our favorite bars and restaurants with patios any day now. Here are a few of my favorites. These three spots all have (a) an awesome patio (b) great drinks & atmosphere and (c) ACTUALLY excellent bar food. Enjoy them now, because in a few weeks it will be 123° with 107% humidity. Or something like that.

Beaver's on Westheimer

You know I REALLY like a place if I'm willing to go outside the loop for it. And this post features TWO spots that are outside the loop. Beaver's on Westheimer is, amazingly, located on Westheimer, a little west of the Galleria. Refer to my HRW post for pictures of some of the other food options here, but this post is strictly about burgers. This is a high-quality burger. This one may have more of a restaurant-y and less bar-y atmosphere than the others on this list, but it ended up being a fun place to watch ALCS game 2 (which happened to fall during happy hour) and stress drink something that I believe was called "Pumpkin Spice Frose" (no shame). This place is a little pricier than the others, but all of the food and drinks I've had there have been excellent, and they have a lot of fun cocktails. Highly recommend going during Happy Hour!

FM Kitchen & Bar

This opened last year and has quickly become one of my go-to spots, as it hits ALL my criteria for a perfect bar...good beer selection, fun cocktails, excellent food AND desserts, huge patio, lots of indoor seating as well, Instagrammable walls, chill atmosphere, cornhole, and, of course, proximity to my apartment. The burgers here remind me of Shake Shack burgers, but better. And that beautiful shake pictured below is available with or without alcohol (but let's be honest...you're getting the boozy version).

Cottonwood

People who know me well are never going to believe this...my number one favorite bar in Houston is outside the loop. By about a quarter mile, but nonetheless. Cottonwood is perfection. If you ask me where I want to go out, and the weather is even remotely nice, there is a 96% chance I am going to suggest Cottonwood. The beer selection! The trendy light fixtures! The huge patio! Live music! BRUNCH! Everything about this place screams Liz! (I'm going to calm down with the exclamation points now.) The burger pictured below is called the Squirrel Master Burger, and it is absolutely what you need to order. I mean...it has a fried egg on it. If there is a burger on the menu with a fried egg on it, that is what you are getting (the other food there is good too). I've been to Cottonwood for pretty much every occasion imaginable - slowpitch softball postgame drinks, my best friend's dad's birthday dinner, my best friend's engagement party, my own birthday dinner, random gathering with my parents and family friends, post-church brunch, Friday night before inevitably heading to midtown, a semi-awkward date, work happy hour...there is never a bad time for Cottonwood. Oh and the parking...there is so much parking. It's glorious.

Now go forth and take advantage of the (hypothetical) patio weather (that presumably we will have at some point) by drinking beer and eating great burgers! Never settle for crappy bar food.

<3 liz