An El Gran Proposal at El Gran Malo

An Australian and a Colombian walk into a bar in Houston. Nope, it's not the beginning of some cheesy joke, it's actually a love story that involves some his and hers tequila, a pop-up brunch and a ring. And it all happened inside the "So Hot Right Now" Eater Award winning bar/taqueria, El Gran Malo.

In his own words, proposer, Jason Bainbridge, an El Gran Malo regular (along with his used-to-be-girlfriend-but-now-his-betrothed) recounts the tequila-filled joy of the evening.

Nathalia and I have been together about a year, so on Sunday during the pop-up brunch [with Jonathan Jones and Alvin Schultz] at El Gran Malo we began discussing getting engaged. I had thought about it in the past and had begun the search for the ring already so we agreed we should go ahead and get engaged.

We chose a ring together on the Monday and I also asked her father for permission, picked up the ring on Wednesday after it was resized to a tiny 3.5 for her finger and decided that El Gran Malo would be the perfect spot to propose as we spend so much time there and always enjoy it. I also thought it wouldn't be that busy so it wouldn't be so daunting.

However El Gran Malo has gotten really popular so I didn't feel comfortable until later in the evening when out of the blue I slipped off my barstool and down onto bended knee to pop the question, she said yes, the ring was placed on her finger, we kissed, our favorite bartender Matt along with two of the owners, Steve & Shaun congratulated us and we had celebratory shots. She had the durian fruit infused tequila and I had the bonito flake.

Infused tequilas for a tequila-infused romance. We'll drink to that.

Have an engagement story that takes place at a Houston bar or restaurant? We want to feature it in our new "A Decent Proposal" series here on Eater Houston. Old or recent, feel free to send it our way. Just email us at houston@eater.com.

· Jason's Twitter Acount: @geekjason [Twitter]
· All El Gran Malo Coverage on Eater Houston [EHOU]