Chilled to Go: Triple Digits Are Coming, Get Yourself a Bellini

It’s July.

While that would normally mean we could be at a Texas Rangers game succumbing to the employee who’s sweating in the heat yelling “Lemon Chill,” we’re at home.

But it’s still hot: As of now, it looks like we could reach 100 degrees this week, something we know will surely continue through August.

So for those two months, we’ll offer you something to cool off once a week — something you can pick up from a local restaurant and take to your own patio or living room, or vehicle if we’re not talking booze.

But this week we are talking about booze since restaurants are now permitted to sell cocktails to go.

We’ve previously raved about Red Stix Asian Street Food, which has been using On the Rocks to sell sealed cocktails for takeout alongside meals.  But now a stop there is even sweeter because you can get chef Uno Immanivong’s lychee Bellini.

Named the Pinkies Up cocktail, this granita cocktail has Skyy Georgia peach vodka, lychee, bitters, lime and hibiscus.

The peach is thankfully an underlying note, with the lychee pairing with hibiscus for a balanced flavor with a proper hit of acid from the lime.

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If you get it to go, the drink doesn't look like this when it's handed to you. But it's prettier this way, so we're using this version for photos.

Uno Immanivong

It sounds loaded with alcohol but isn’t booze-heavy, which is good since one sip makes us want to guzzle the whole thing down like a Slurpee — just a really good one because of the lychee, hibiscus and alcohol. (And your tongue doesn’t turn red or blue.)

“Inspiration for the lychee Bellini came from wanting a frozen drink that wasn’t too sweet and incorporated my favorite fruit from Thailand, the lychee,” Immanivong said. “The Pinkies Up cocktail was a natural way for Red Stix to introduce this exotic fruit by adding it to an already fabulous and familiar Bellini. The drink has hints of peach while subtle notes of this tropical fruit dance on your tongue, there’s just the right amount of lime that makes [you] salivate just a little when you take the first sip.”

Red Stix Asian Street Food, 6501 Hillcrest Ave., University Park. Open for takeout and limited dine-in 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday through Saturday.