Eva Longoria Chows Down On a Tex-Mex Feast in Houston — This Actress Entrepreneur Loves El Tiempo and Her Tequila

The petite actress, producer and entrepreneur Eva Longoria gets swallowed up in the throng of fans awaiting her arrival at El Tiempo Cantina on Navigation when she stops in for lunch and a promotion for her Casa Del Sol tequila. She is gracious. She is friendly. And at 5-foot-1 she appears to be a giant of a star.

Instagram photos, a few autographs, even a few hugs later, Longoria and her host Domenic Laurenzo, the El Tiempo executive chef and president, move to a private area for what the Corpus Christi native says she hasn’t had in ages — Tex-Mex food.

“Cheese enchiladas,” Longoria exclaims with joy as plate after plate of El Tiempo specials are placed before her. “I’m eating because I’m starving,” she adds sampling guacamole, chili con queso and toasting with Casa Del Sol margaritas, which Laurenzo has cleverly rebranded as Evaritas. The table is surrounded by photographers and fans with smart phones capturing every bite.

“COVID drove me to cocktails. I had been a wine girl before that,” Longoria dishes between an enchilada mouth full. “And then during COVID I started having cocktails and Casa Del Sol was born during that time and it was the first tequila that came to me that was very Mexican forward.

“It honored the art of tequila making and giving back to the region of Jalisco.

“If you look at all the other brands out there, their spokespeople are white males and one of the number one consumers of tequila is women.”

The brand also appealed to Longoria because of its female-heavy corporate structure. Among them is Alejandra Pelayo, goddaughter of the late Francisco Alcaraz, master distiller and creator of Patrón. She serves as head of production. Mariana Padilla, daughter of Jalisco’s famed ceramicist Paco Padilla, serves as Artesana Tequilera.

“For me it was a no brainer. It was really the amount of women involved and how the distillery was 100 percent Mexican owned, which is very rare,” Longoria tells PaperCity.

Casa Del Sol has a distinct aging process in which 100 percent Blue Weber agave from Jalisco is stored in cognac barrels which are handcrafted with French Limousin Oak. The process is said to give the tequila a smooth and long finish. The results are available across the three typical styles of tequila: blanco; reposado, which spends at least four months in barrel; and añejo  which ages for at least 14 months.

“We’re trying to reeducate the public about how you drink tequila. It’s not shots like you get in Cabo,” Longoria says. “This is an ultra premium tequila. It’s meant to be sipped. It’s meant to have minimum ingredients.

“We have what we call ‘clean cocktails’ because we want the tequila to shine. You don’t want to hide it.”

Casa Del Sol is just one of Longoria’s current interests. Her big screen directorial debut took place at SXSW last week with the premiere of Flamin’ Hot about Frito Lay executive Richard Montañez, who started in the company as a janitor and climbed the ranks to become one of their top executives. She also appeared on stage at the Oscars Sunday night in Hollywood.

Debuting on CNN on Sunday March 26 is Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico, which is in the tradition of Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy.