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Roar of the Crowd|
July 31, 2008

Second Helpings

I enjoyed your barbecue story and am planning my summer trips so that they include stops at some from the top five on your list. [“BBQ08,” June 2008]. But I must say that y’all missed a great one: Martin’s Place in Bryan.Matt WiedersteinBryan. . . Angelo’s Bar-B-Que in Fort

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Roar of the Crowd|
June 30, 2008

Cover Boy

Looking at your Willie cover, I see him praying, my wife sees him stoned, and my daughter sees him reflecting on a long, well-lived life. It is truly a work of art.James JolleyOdessaTwenty-four hours after literally being stopped in my tracks by its impact, I’m still left speechless by your

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Recipe|
June 30, 2008

Rum-Glazed Grilled Pineapple and Banana Split

Ice Cream1 pint vanilla-bean ice cream (not slow-churned style) 1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherriesIn a mixing bowl, allow ice cream to soften slightly, then mix in maraschino cherries. Refreeze (slow-churned style does not refreeze well).Pineapple and Bananas1/2 cup spiced rum 1/2 cup dark brown sugar pinch ground cinnamon 4

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Roar of the Crowd|
May 31, 2008

Kidding Around

Your piece on the 68 awesome things to do with your kids was terrific but incomplete when it came to family-friendly train rides [“Child’s Play,” April 2008]. You missed the Austin Steam Train, which runs vintage trains every weekend on a 33-mile route into the Hill Country, and the

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BBQ Joint Reviews|
May 21, 2008

Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Q

The Brother-in-Law, a sandwiched smorgasbord of chopped beef, butterflied hot links, and cheese, has a powerful (and well-deserved) reputation in East Texas, but order the old-fashioned hand-pulled-pork sandwich, filled with juicy shreds of perfectly smoked pork shoulder. Nick Pencis, the owner and pitmaster, follows a fifty-year-old smoking method—meats housed for

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BBQ Joint Reviews|
May 21, 2008

Tom and Bingo’s Hickory Pit Bar-B-Que

For more than fifty years, this boxy luncheonette has turned out sliced- and chopped-beef sandwiches as good as you’ll ever eat, plus smoked-ham sandwiches and smoked burgers. That’s all, but that’s enough. The brisket, cooked for sixteen to eighteen hours in a well-worn brick pit, is lean and succulent, with

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BBQ Joint Reviews|
May 21, 2008

City Market (Luling)

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

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BBQ Joint Reviews|
May 21, 2008

Cowpoke’s

The brisket fell into delectable shards while remaining moist, even after sixteen hours in the smoker. We missed the ribs, but the porcine portion of the barbecue family was well represented by two kinds of sausage, plain and spicy. Darn-good sides rounded out the offerings. The thick, sweet, tomato-tart sauce

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Roar of the Crowd|
April 30, 2008

Twist of Faith

With so great a host of believers around Matt and Kari Baker, it is tragic that no one saw the serious pain Kari felt or tried to seek professional help for her [“The Valley of the Shadow of Death,” March 2008]. It’s also tragic that Matt and Kari’s two

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Eat My Words|
April 7, 2008

The End of Civilization as We Know It

Oh heck. I missed April Fool’s. Actually, this is for real. Don’t gag, but there is a recipe for Spam fajitas on the Internet. Yes, people, you cut Spam into strips and saute it with (get this) bell peppers and Chi-Chi’s salsa (another unforgettable product of the Hormel company)

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Roar of the Crowd|
March 31, 2008

Tap Dance

I have been in the water business for more than 28 years. “The Last Drop” is the best article I have ever read about the state of water supplies, planning, and history of supply development in Texas [February 2008]. This article should be considered a great public service. However,

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Eat My Words|
March 26, 2008

Must . . Have . . . Chocolate

I ran into the Fat Turkey Chocolate people at a little farmers market behind Casis Village in Austin last Saturday and they said they had some new combos, including a truffle with a dark chocolate shell and dark chocolate ganache as the filling, blended with, get ready, sweet potato

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Eat My Words|
March 24, 2008

Eat Tyson’s Lunch . . . Er, Dinner

Here’s a proudly biased and partisan assessment of the “Iron Chef America” showdown last night between Austin’s Tyson Cole and iron chef Morimoto: Our boy wuz robbed! The loss by the executive chef of Uchi Japanese fusion restaurant to Morimoto was roundly booed by

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Eat My Words|
March 18, 2008

Wine & ‘Cue?

The April issue of Food & Wine has a feature on Hill Country barbecue and wine. Ok–so they really focused more on the wine. And they were surprisingly positive about it. By and large, I think they gave proper credit to those vineyards that are making great

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Eat My Words|
March 3, 2008

The Kids Are All Right

Yesterday, I saw the future of Texas chefdom. I was blown away. The occasion was the final cook-off for the $15,000 Stephan Pyles Culinary Scholarship, which is named for the famous Dallas chef and awarded through the auspices of the Wine and Food Foundation of Texas. The finalists, three

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Roar of the Crowd|
March 1, 2008

Bum Rap

Oy! It’s a pretty bad state of affairs, I say, when Texas Monthly—the arbiter of all things hip in the Lone Star State—botches a sneering slam as badly as y’all botched the “Guns Up! IQs Down!” Bum Steer [“The 2008 Bum Steer Awards,” January 2008]. If you’re going to

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Music|
February 1, 2008

Charlie Jones

He didn’t invent the outdoor music festival—perhaps you’ve heard of Woodstock?—but he’s as responsible as anyone for its resurgence as a twenty-first- century form, and he’s just now getting started. As one of three principals at Capital Sports and Entertainment, the College Station native and onetime club booker was the

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Roar of the Crowd|
February 1, 2008

Steak Your Claim

I enjoyed your story on the 38 best steakhouses in Texas [“Meat Your Maker,” December 2007]. However, I was disappointed that Western Sky Steakhouse, in San Angelo, was not mentioned. I live in Kerrville, and for nearly thirty years I have been flying friends and clients out to Western

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Eat My Words|
January 28, 2008

Steaks, Seafood, & Whiskey–Back to Basics

Attention, Fort Worth: The old Pedro’s Trailer Park location at 2731 White Settlement Road is getting an extreme makeover. Chefs/restaurateurs Grady Spears (Dutch’s, Fort Worth) and Lou Lambert (Lamberts Downtown Barbecue, Austin, pictured) have thrown in together and will open a modern Texas steakhouse there in a couple

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Eat My Words|
January 25, 2008

Texas, Our Texas, All Hail the Mighty Plate

I used to think that only native Texans could love Texas the way it should be loved, but Scott Cohen has proved me wrong. The San Antonio chef recently published a cookbook, The Texas Hill Country: A Taste of Provence, which brims over with his enthusiasm for all things

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Eat My Words|
January 22, 2008

The Grove–Groovy

The Grove–the futuristic-looking new downtown Houston restaurant from chefs Robert Del Grande of Cafe Annie and Ryan Pera formerly of 17–is definitely all it’s cracked up to be. Approaching the low-slung entry, you worry you’ve arrived at the rear. Then you go inside, and the whole thing opens up

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Eat My Words|
January 20, 2008

Tacodeli Never Disappoints

Austinites may not know about Tacodeli, but people who visit the Austin Farmer’s Market regularly know of the little taco stand that brings breakfast tacos and lunch tacos. Austin360 named it best breakfast taco winner of 2007.My boyfriend is fond of the chicken frontero fondido and he’s not the only

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Eat My Words|
January 16, 2008

Bacon and Eggs with a Side of Nice

Nothing says welcome home to Texas like friendly folks, and no place could’ve welcomed me back to Austin on a recent weekend visit like Counter Café. It wears well the casual-cool thing that has always made me love this city (no fancy pants Domain/2nd Street District thing here). The food

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Eat My Words|
January 13, 2008

Mood Control

I was in such a bad mood after fighting the parking behind Dutch’s, in Fort Worth, on the first day of the city’s annual whoopdedoo rodeo that I was ready to bite somebody’s head off. “Why are you morons doubled-parked in your gigantic pickup trucks,” I shouted to myself

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Eat My Words|
January 5, 2008

Do It Yourownself

The other day, my friend the Constant Eater showed up with this adorable notebook. Her son gave it to her for Christmas, and it’s for food freaks, so they can take notes on their favorite places just like restaurant reviewers do.Of course, my selfish interest in promoting it is that

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Bum Steers|
January 1, 2008

The 2008 Bum Steer Awards

It was a year of angry Aggies, Baptist bravado, confused Cheney, death row drollery, enemas in evidence, fetid feet, ghetto gobbledygook, helicopter hunts, insurance idiocy, jerk judges, kin kidnappers, lawbreaking Longhorns, meshuggener misfires, NASA nimrods, Oswald online, pooped-on presidents, quick quarrels, requested roaches, scrotum-scarring Sooners, taped teenagers, unhinged urinators, visible

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Roar of the Crowd|
January 1, 2008

Twin Peaks

Finally someone sees Jenna Bush as she is today [“Girl Gone Mild,” November 2007]. She did nothing in her younger years that many other girls have not done—they just weren’t the daughter of a president. Jenna has grown up. People who are critical of her should do the same.

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Eat My Words|
December 31, 2007

Southwestern Sparkler

If reducing your carbon footprint by eating more organic and local food has popped up on a resolution list, here’s a way to usher in the new year in a more sustainable, but still delicious way. Gruet champagnes are made next door in New Mexico outside of Albuquerque by

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Eat My Words|
December 20, 2007

Yogi Berra

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Or in this case, take your spoon over to the new Yogo Berry on South Congress. Fans of tangy frozen yogurt of the cult Pinkberry (now highlighted in the AMEX Plum ads) will understand the allure of this no-fat

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Eat My Words|
December 18, 2007

Love at First Bite

Here’s to the really thin, crusty pizza like the one with (yum) tomato, pecorino cheese, spinach, mozzarella, truffle oil and a soft-cooked egg at Sagra. This is the cool little trattoria and enoteca that opened up in Mars’ old location at 1610 San Antonio, in Austin (512-535-5988). It’s pretty

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Eat My Words|
December 14, 2007

Honky Tonk Holiday

Now, I am not one to claim that dance halls are fine dining establishments, but they are part of what makes a holiday ring true for this Texan. Somehow I always seem to make my way to a honky tonk over the holidays, even if

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Roar of the Crowd|
December 1, 2007

Alpine Mystery Slights

You left out one of the best (if not the very best) towns in your story on Big Bend: Alpine, home to Sul Ross State University, the Museum of the Big Bend, cowboy poetry, Gallery Night, balloon festivals, great people, and no red lights [“River Deep, Mountain High,” October

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Eat My Words|
November 29, 2007

What the Heck Does This Have to Do With Steaks?

The Garcia Art Glass company in San Antonio has come up with the perfect stocking stuffer for the steak lover on your holiday list: an oil lamp entitled “Rare.” (It’s even peppered.) They also sell “Medium,” and “Well-done.” Why would anyone dream up such a thing? Easy. Company owner

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Eat My Words|
November 28, 2007

Sticky Fingers

Kudos to Tracy Claros, Austin owner of the Sticky Toffee Pudding Company–she got a shout-out today in the New York Times story on mail-order gifts for the holidays. Those wonderful cakey, puddingy desserts that she makes are indeed irresistible. We should know: We couldn’t stop eating them when

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Eat My Words|
November 19, 2007

No Fear of Frying (Turkeys)

How can it be turkey time again? I got all nostalgic for the deep-fried turkey recipe we published a few years ago, courtesy of Fort Worth chef Grady Spears. It was fabuloso, with a cinnamon-chile-brown sugar rub on the outside. And it cooked fast, too. I remember it all too

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Eat My Words|
November 18, 2007

The Mark of Marco

You need to know this the next time you’re in Houston: You can have a smaller, selected edition of Marco Wiles’ fantastic food for a little more than half the price he charges at Da Marco. All you have to do is sashay down to 500 Westheimer Road to

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Eat My Words|
November 15, 2007

Salvation on 34th

I first found this pizza place for a photo assignment for a past job. The family-owned restaurant wowed me with its Neapolitan style pizza (thin crust is the only way to go). Salvation Pizza is a fitting name for the red house on 34th street in

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Eat My Words|
November 2, 2007

Oh, Mama! Umami!

Who knew that cacao (which comes from trees, left) and truffles (the kind that grow in the ground) were so beautiful together?The best dessert that I tasted at the cool Arts and Eats fest in San Antonio last night was Bin 555’s Chocolate Torte (think flourless dark-chocolate cake) topped

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Roar of the Crowd|
October 31, 2007

Portrait of a Lady

Texas lost one of its true legends with the passing of Lady Bird Johnson [“A Lady First,” September 2007]. It is all the more disappointing when you look around at today’s landscape and find it lacking in those larger-than-life personalities who shaped the mystique of this great state. Today’s

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Eat My Words|
October 29, 2007

Frisco Shop Saved, Moving Down the Street!!!

Old-time Austinites (such as moi) mourned the passing of first one and then another branch of the once-legendary Night Hawk chain. The last one standing now is the Frisco Shop, just south of the intersection of Burnet Road and Koenig Lane. A national drugstore is going in there

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