PAT'S PICK

HOT TOPIC When you hear the name the Burning Pear, I challenge you not to think of British funnymen Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's classic skit about a restaurant called the Frog and Peach ("There's only two . . . dishes, really," Cook says to Moore. "There's frog à la pêche, which is a frog done in Cointreau and with a peach stuffed in its mouth. And, ah, then, of course, there's pêche à la frog . . ."). Thankfully, neither creation is on the menu at the Burning Pear, a two-month-old Sugar Land restaurant owned by Fort Worth chef Grady Spears and Austin chef Lou Lambert. There are, however, many upscale Texas dishes, including excellent fried green tomatoes with homemade ranch dressing and wild-boar ribs with a chipotle-cactus pear sauce (pig à la pear?). The gentrified cowboy philosophy also influences combinations like brown-sugar-and-mustard-rubbed ribeye and asparagus in Tabasco hollandaise. In case you're curious, the restaurant's name refers to the ranching practice of burning the thorns off prickly pear cacti so that cattle can eat them safely. What would Cook and Moore have done with that tidbit of information?

SHOW ME THE COOKIES! I love cookies. They're a quick, compact treat, perfect for anyone under constant deadline pressure. While reflecting on the subject of cookies recently, I realized that I don't make them nearly as often as I want to eat them. Instead I rely on the kindness and generosity of others. Therefore, because this is the cookie-making and cookie-giving season, I want to share three excellent recipes—created by some of the state's finest chefs—with the cookie-making public, on whom I depend. First up are Mediterranean-inspired almond shortbread cookies, from Louise Lamensdorf, the owner of Bistro Louise, in Fort Worth—substantial, buttery shortbread squares capped with a delicious sticky-crunchy caramel-and-almond topping. Thierry Burkle, the owner of L'Etoile, in San Antonio, offers a simple, subtle citrus cookie, light and soft, with the refreshing zing of lemon and orange zest. Delicate orange lace cookies from Mark Cox, the owner of Mark's, in Houston, are fit for a special event or a special person—these crisp, doilylike oatmeal confections wear jackets of dark chocolate. Make these cookies for your loved ones during the holidays and, of course, me.

BOWS TO HOLLEY Mark Holley confesses that interviews make him nervous. But the 44-year-old executive chef of Pesce, a seafood restaurant in Houston, is going to have to get used to the attention, especially if the accolades keep rolling in: My Table, the Bayou City's foodie magazine, recently named him chef of the year.

Did you have a food epiphany, a moment when you knew that this is what you'd be doing for the rest of your life?

My stepmom, Mary, would make late-night snacks. Her favorite was a relish plate of olives, cheese, salami, sardines, and sometimes hogshead cheese and pickled pigs' feet. Eventually those things became favorites of mine, and I took charge of making them. By fourteen, I was cooking breakfast on the weekends for my entire family, so I knew at a young age that I had a passion for food.

What brought you to Houston from your home city of Dayton, Ohio?

Well, one reason was to get out of Ohio and away from the cold weather. But I also wanted to pursue a restaurant career and get closer to an area that had more indigenous seafood, produce, and so on. In the late eighties I worked at Le Meridien, a fine French-owned hotel in Houston, where I picked up European fundamentals.

You eventually worked for the Brennan family in both New Orleans and Houston. What did you learn there?

Working under them gave me a feeling of professionalism. There was a sense of urgency, and they always pushed me to be a better culinarian and to focus more on the customers—their needs and their tastes.

What do you like to eat on your day off?

Sweet and simple: My wife's cooking, red beans and rice. Just good, homey comfort food: It's something she does from her heart.