I just got back from the most amazing food conference, in San Antonio. I think I gained five pounds. I’m also a lot smarter than I was the first day. It was the Latin Flavors, American Kitchens conference (Oct 14-16) put on by the Culinary Institute of
We all followed the bad news about publisher Conde Nast’s plummeting ad sales, and we all watched as their food magazines got skinnier and skinnier. (You could practically slip them under a door they were so flat.) But the bets were that, if CN closed any of them, it would
RDG + Bar Annie, Houston and Park, Dallas
San Antonio
Larry McGuire ought to be buffing his nails on the front of his chef’s jacket right about now. Esquire just named Perla’s, his baby, one of its best new restaurants of the year. The annual list is compiled by restaurant critic John Mariani. Perla’s, on S. Congress in
My cell phone rang while I was fumbling around with my credit card paying for a Greek salad at lunch today. It was Andrew Weissmann, chef/ower of Le Reve in San Antonio. “Are you sitting down?” he said. The only acceptable answer to that question is, “I am now.” “Well,”
I know: There are more “restaurant weeks” than you can shake a stick at. But the one that’s coming up, sponsored by the Texas Department of Agriculture’s “Go Texan” program, is an especially good one because it benefits local food banks. It’s happening Sept. 28 through Oct. 2 in all
I get more free cookbooks at the office than I could use if I cooked ten meals a day for the rest of my life. It’s an occupational hazard of being a food writer. I give a lot of them away, but this is one I think I’ll keep for
Stopped in at Asti for a quick lunch, got the daily panino, expecting a good basic sammy. Wow! Homemade focaccia, toasty, slathered with house mozzarella & thin-sliced salami with a tart-sweet rosemary balsamic reduction. What a treat! They don’t have it every day but I’ll bet if you begged, they
Austin diners will be devastated: Mark Schmidt (formerly of Cafe 909 in Marble Falls), has left his gig at Annie’s (formerly Apple Annie’s). Man, that didn’t last long. And it seemed like such a perfect match. I’ve asked what the deal is, haven’t had time to hear back yet.
The Observer newspaper in London has picked up our barbecue story from May 2008, where we listed Snow’s (in the Central Texas burg of Lexington, Texas) as number one in the state. On Sunday, Snow’s was included in the Observer’s fun wrap-up of “the fifty best things to eat
Austin folks, if you’re not out running around naked in the rain (hallelujah!) this Saturday, you could do a lot worse than check out the Asia Food Fest at the Texas Culinary Academy. It’s really fun, with a ton of activities including an Iron Chef-style contest (full disclosure: I’m one
If you’re the type who MUST be first with everything, today would be a good time to check out chef John Tesar’s new restaurant in the Woodlands (north of Houston). It’s opening, yes, today, so you know the poor guy is probably ready to set his hair on fire about
Fig TreeSan Antonio The recession has had many negative side effects, one being that notable new restaurants are not rolling off the assembly line with the regularity they used to. A positive side effect of the production slowdown is that we get a chance to recognize an old friend
Kata Robata, Houston and Vapiano, Dallas
The end of the Great Austin Restaurant Drought.
You can access the full story on texasmonthly.com (subscriber-only), but here’s the list, just to get your tastebuds revved up. Also, there are lots of related burger sidebars that we couldn’t squeeze into the magazine. Check them out. The list is ranked in order of our preference from one to
Come on down to Viva Chocolato! bistro and chocolate boutique this Wednesday, July 15, at 6:30. Local author and chocolate expert Anne Isham is going to give a little free talk on the subject. (She is the author of the book “Eat Chocolate, Lose Weight,” which she will undoubtedly
Barring some major national news, like peace breaking out or another Michael Jackson will being found, Tom Perini is scheduled to be cooking up one of his nationally renowned hambugers on the “Today” show, this Thursday, during the 8:30 a.m. time segment. The fantastic mesquite-grilled burgers got accolades from the
Austin
Brisa Cocina Mexicana, Houston and Max’s Wine Dive, Austin
My good friends at Fino, Lisa and Emmett Fox, have fully embraced the cocktail craze. They’ve persuaded their chef at Fino, Jason Donoho,and mixologist Bill Norris to whip up a four-course dinner with courses matched to cocktails. Throughout the meal, Jason and Bill will discuss the philosophy behind the pairings.
Cooper’s Barbecue is building the behemoth of barbecue joints in Fort Worth. It’s beyond gigantic–this meat market will be 23,000 square feet! And it’s not like Fort Worth lacks for places to eat brisket and ribs, either, what with Angelo’s and the Railhead, to mention just a few. My friend
In the same day I visited an empty Michna’s which was serving up beautifully smoked meat with genuinely thankful service, I walked into a packed Uncle Dan’s at 2:00 in the afternoon. Hoping for the best, I went with the three meat plate of ribs, brisket and hot links.Simply
I’ve been trying to come up with a good description for the “whimsicles” that I tasted last week, and I think I finally have it: frozen cheesecake bites on a stick. OK, OK. That’s pretty clunky. But it tells you what it’s like to nibble on one
Hot stuff. Rudy Davila, who owns Rudy’s BBQ and Catering in the teeny South Texas town of Sinton (near Corpus Christi), will be on “Live With Regis and Kelly,” Friday morning at 9ish on ABC. Mr. Davila was the top online vote-getter for his brisket recipe. He’s headed to NYC
Norman Brinker, 78, the Dallasite who founded Chili’s, died Tuesday while on vacation in Colorado Springs. Whether or not his many restaurants–Chili’s, Bennigan’s, Steak & Ale–were my cup of tea, I certainly acknowledge the influence he had on Texas restaurant scene and the enormous respect and affection with which he
Have you seen the latest Food Network Magazine (June/July)? It’s all about burgers, and in it (page 78), they’ve got Bobby Flay’s recipe for something they call the “Dallas Burger.” What were they smoking when they thought up that recipe? The monstrosity has ancho chile powder, Spanish
I have to say that I love Saveur‘s all-Texas issue. They managed to hit the high points and get in some things I had never heard of! Plus, the photography is gorgeous. It’s a keepsake issue. Click on the box “24 Reasons Why We Love Texas” when
Yes! Yes indeedy. Had a light dinner at David Garrido’s casual new interior Mexican/taco/small-plate venue Sunday night, and I will be checking it out again soon. Oyster nachos (almost identical version to the one chef-owner David Garrido made famous at Jeffrey’s)–yum! Crabmeat guacamole, lush, lavish, and delish. Lamb “pops” in
Oh, I meant to post this on Sunday, but you can still find this great round-up of cookbook reviews from the New York Times online. It mentions eleven books, all of which sound great, including one co-authored by my friend Paula Disbrowe (Real Cajun: Rustic Home Cooking
Everybody’s been stopping me in the hall and asking if I’ve been to Walton’s Fancy & Staple at 609 W. 6th. Well, no, not until today. Lunch. Verdict: Cute place, great candles & flowers (it’s a florist, too), nice displays, feels good inside to sit at a
Coast Global Seafood, Plano, and Buenos Aires Café East, Austin
Houston
It won’t be open for a year, but the son of Uchi (“Uchiko”) is going to be at 4200 Lamar. Hooray–close to my house, or sorta close. It will be in an existing building on the west side of the street (the old Seton Hospital office building) that is being
If you have never eaten at Evita’s Botanitas, do so immediately. Then you will understand why the Austin restaurant and music community is coming together to aid the restaurant’s owner and chef, Ruben Rodriguez. Plus, he’s just a great guy and he could use some help with hospital bills right
Café Byblos, Houston and The Mighty Cone, Austin
Dallas.
Ruben Rodriguez has made Austin a tastier place. Now it’s time for Austin to pay him back. Ruben is the chef behind wonderful, funky Evita’s Botanitas, and he has a brain tumor. To make matters worse, he does not have insurance, but he does have mounting medical bills. His
I love the New York Times Science section. Love it. Not that I can understand a tenth of the technical articles, but the health stuff is always good, and so are the social science features. Today there’s a Q&A with a scientist who says that the reason prehistoric human beings
Has anybody tried Shaman Chocolates? It’s a company out of California that says it gives all proceeds from sales to support the Huichol Indians (the Huichols being a tribe living in central western Mexico, in the Sierra Madres, said to maintain their pre-Columbian traditions intact). The chocolate used by
I’ve seen the future of cookbooks, and paper is not involved. Well, all right, maybe it’s just one version of the future, but it’s intriguing. There are two of these on-line books out so far, from the Keeper Collection. One of them was done for the Wine & Food
Photographer extraordinaire Wyatt McSpadden will be signing copies of his new book, Texas BBQ, at Kreuz Market in Lockhart on this Saturday, April 11, from 11 to 2. You can buy one there, and then get grease on it with some of Kreuz’s equally amazing ‘cue. You
Austin
It’s easy, really. Just go get yourself some shrimp tacos, a beef-and-cheese cachapa, grilled pork with green papaya, fried chicken, gourmet Frito pie, or any of the 25 finds on this list of my favorite dishes in Texas under ten bucks.
Real live women painted in chocolate! A life-sized chocolate stiletto heel!!! A chocolate necklace!!! A handbag made of chocolate cake . . . and more crazy chocolate stuff, all for charity. This Friday and Saturday evenings at the Domain shopping mall in Austin, a silent auction of the items mentioned
My good friend Laura Kelso, queen of Dishola.com, sent this report on yesterday’s barbecue demo and “crash course,” held at Emo’s as a satellite SXSW event (what it had to do with music, I don’t know, but there you go . . .). It was organized by Dishola.com
Michael Shine just posted a comment saying that Matt passed away last night at 7:30. Thanks for that update. Matt, vaya con Dios.
Two bags of incredibly fresh produce just arrived on my desk. Not being able to eat several pounds of greens and radishes and fennel myself, i put out an email to the staff (AKA the Devouring Horde). The stuff was gone in 60 seconds–no, 30 seconds. The produce came from
Just got an announcement: The Mighty Cone food trailer is having its opening day this Saturday all day (from 11 to 11) at 1603 S. Congress, that’s the southeast corner of Congress & Monroe. TMC is a food truck from Hudson’s on the Bend, selling Hudson’s signature hot ‘n’ crunchy
