Before tossing a jar of name-brand preserves into your shopping cart, read its label. Made from fruit concentrate? High-fructose corn syrup a main ingredient? Canned in Alaska? “These days, people don’t generally make their own preserves,” says Lynette Gold, the co-owner of Stonewall-based Gold Orchards, which was established in 1940.
If you can’t stand the heat, take a sip of a cool mango lassi and select refreshing recipes-such as chilled sorrel-and-watercress vichyssoise or gingery shrimp pulao-from these three menus.
Gingerbread PancakesAsk the folks queued up at the Magnolia Cafe what their favorite breakfast dish is, and nine times out of ten the answer will be gingerbread pancakes. You can put syrup on these fat, fluffy beauties, but they’re great just by themselves. Recipe from Magnolia Cafe, Austin.Buttermilk BiscuitsRolled,
What do you get when you mix a love of food with determination, skill, and maybe, some luck? Three successful culinarians at the top of their game.
Salads, they do get weary, wearing that same shabby dressing. And when they get weary, Thai Spice says, try a little tenderloin.
Tired of talking turkey? ‘Tis the season to feast on a bird that’s all it’s quacked up to beand other dishes created by five of the state’s hottest chefs.
What’s on the menu this year? Not the best new restaurants of all time, perhaps—but you’ll still love the veal shank at 17, the Texas quail at T’afia, the Guinness stout cake at George, and the fusion of French and Mexican cooking at Lanny’s Alta Cocina Mexicana. And don’t forget
Where are the best places to eat barbecue in Texas? Six years ago we published a highly subjective—and hotly debated— list of our fifty favorite joints, and now we’ve gone back for seconds. Ten intrepid souls drove more than 21,000 miles in search of 2003’s worthiest ‘cue. Here’s what they
MANHATTANHill Country Barbecue MarketLast year, word of a new barbecue restaurant spread through New York’s Texas-expat community. Usually, this kind of thing doesn’t cause much of a stir. We see a lot of “Texas barbecue” joints up here where they take a brisket that tastes like pastrami and drench it
Listed alphabetically by city, y'all.
Nineteen joints we couldn’t countenance not noting at all.AMARILLO Beans N Things A cozy country cafe plunked down on a busy city street. 806-373-7383BRADY Hard Eight Pit Bar-B-Que Meats are cooked cowboy style directly over hot mesquite coals. 325-597-1936DALLAS Baby Back Shak
Ode To BrisketWhen you’re a food writer, people are always asking about the best meal you’ve ever eaten. I know they’re expecting tales of an unforgettable lunch at Michel Bras or a poetic kaiseki meal in Kyoto or a beluga extravaganza on the banks of the Volga, but what always
The traditional way to prepare Texas barbecue is in a pit, the more smoke-infused and grease-encrusted the better. The word “pit” harks back to the days when meats were cooked over smoldering coals in an earthen pit or trench, especially for large gatherings. Nowadays, such buried ovens are extremely rare,
The best barbecue in Texas is currently being served at Snow’s BBQ, in Lexington, a small restaurant open only on Saturdays and only from eight in the morning until whenever the meat runs out, usually around noon. Snow’s is remarkable not only for the quality of its meat but
The old Kreuz Market was like a one-room chapel. The humble brick building off the courthouse square in Lockhart had turned out divine smoked meat since 1900. But just as churchgoers nowadays worship in larger halls, so too does the visitor to the new Kreuz Market, which opened in 1999
Don’t bother going in the front door. You’ll end up in the parking lot behind the boxy brick building anyway, doing the Smitty’s shuffle: At peak hours, the lines invariably stretch out the back door. Patiently, you inch your way forward, passing the waist-high brick pits and perusing the list
You’ve come for wholeness, for satisfaction deep within your soul. Your searching has brought you here, to the company of fellow pilgrims in the snaking line. Slowly, you advance across the tile floor, past the knotty-pine walls, and up to the inner sanctum: a glass-enclosed chamber where a host of
Forty-nine years of post oak coals in the pit have smoke-cured the building, which previously housed a ladies’ basketball court and a grocery market. Louie moved in with his barbecue business in 1959; his son, Bobby, took over more than three decades ago, but not a thing has suffered from
From Austin’s Eastside Cafe come three soups that will bowl you over.
Don’t steer clear of the chocolate mousse iceberg from Dacapo’s on the Parkway in Houston.
Mesteña’s apple sorbet and walnut-apple flautas are delicious to the core.
Tired of plain old greens and lifeless veggies? Houston’s La Mora has a salad you just can’t beet.
The luxurious French toast at Benjy’s in Houston makes every day a challah day.
CAFE CENTRAL109 N. Oregon at 1 Texas Court, 915-545-2233. This chic upscale spot is more a continental than a Mexican restaurant, but the Mexican dishes it does have are original and excellent, including wonderfully crisp bacon-wrapped prawns in a chipotle marinade, lovely puntas de filete (sliced tenderloin) in jalapeño
This three-milk cake from Cafe Central in El Paso is sweet and moist.
A Moment Of Epiphany After you’re done with turtledoves, maids-a-milking, and the other ten days of Christmas, you can celebrate el Día de Reyes (Epiphany) on January 6. Commemorating the day the magi arrived bearing gifts for the infant Jesus, the Day of the Kings is observed in Latin
Three former Texas first ladies dish about life in the Governor’s Mansion and share recipes that have served them well.
Who feeds Zuni stew and scrambled eggs to George W. Bush? Meet Sarah Bishop, the young chef at the Governor’s Mansion—and try out some of her favorite recipes.
A cake that gets to the heart of the batter from Austin’s Rather Sweet Bakery.
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
The restaurant’s sign—a giant white “7” set against a marine-blue background—is —an enigma. But here’s a hint: Think “seven seas.” Located in a small, unfussy space —on South Congress, 7 brings Austin diners a daily-changing menu of pristine sea creatures from around the world. The storefront, formerly occupied by
Even your mother can’t top Rex Hale’s light-as-a-cloud shortcake.
Even cowgirls get the munchies, which is why Paula Disbrowe came up with these great recipes for migas, blackberry blue-corn muffins, and other breakfast staples.
Walnuts, Gorgonzola, and chutney make for an upscale fish dish at the Grape in Dallas.
There’s nothing fishy about tasty Vietnamese fish tacos at Houston’s Kim Son.
With just a nip of nuoc mam you’ll be on your way to the cooking frontier of Vietnamese food.
Yellowfin tuna with wasabi mayo at San Antonio’s Silo Elevated Cuisine? It may take you a while to get Orient-ed.
How I learned what to do with the one that didn’t get away.
At Joey’s (4217 Oak Lawn) in Dallas, the concept of cheesecake has undergone a paradigm shift: Restaurateur Joey Vallone’s version is (1) not sweet and (2) not a dessert. To create this savory variation on a theme, chef Michael Wahl blends cream cheese with mascarpone, then folds in jumbo shrimp
Pudding a new twist on shrimp at Houston’s Amazón Grill.
It’s okay to be shellfish: You won’t want to share this shrimp appetizer from San Antonio’s Massimo.
Salmonchanted evening, you’ll get hooked by a delectable fish dish at Fort Worth’s Bistro Louise.
CAPITAL HILL I could feel the effects of a brutal day vanishing the minute I walked into the elegant dining room of the Mansion at Judges’ Hill—the designers who create impeccable sets for Merchant-Ivory films have nothing on the architects and decorators who brought Austin’s historic Goodall Wooten house back
If it’s salmon you relish, you’ll go bananas for a plantain-crusted concoction at Austin’s Z’Tejas.
Will you enjoy the smoke-roasted shrimp at Houston’s Moose Cafe? You can plank on it.
Shellfish? Swellfish. One bite of miso-glazed shrimp at Dallas’ Green Room and you’ll be hooked.
Anaqua Grill, San Antonio
The grilled scallops at Houston’s Bistro Lancaster are morsels of edible silk.
At Dallas’ Toscana, it’s a time to grill—shrimp, that is.
These crispy salmon and spinach spring rolls have Saks appeal.
