I already know what some of you are thinking. “Cake balls,” you scoff. “That’s so 2009.” Well, it’s 2011, and Holy Cacao’s cake balls are here to stay, for a good reason. These beauties are moist, fluffy, and served in perfect little portions. If you’re a peanut
Call me unadventurous, but I’d have to be three Shiners in before I’d consider trying a calf fry. Same goes for liver and onions, or caviar, or sweetbreads. I guess I wouldn’t make a very good reality show contestant. But this week, staring me down in the kitchen like
When the temperature drops a few degrees and it’s “winter” in Austin, I start craving pizza. There’s something about robust red sauce, crisp crust, and stringy mozzarella that recalls the warmth of summer and instant comfort. I started out my evening with Spartan by holding
I never thought anything good could come from Taco Bell. The Mexican pizza, the Enchirito, the cheesy gorditas: No thanks. But I underestimated the power of their slogan, Think Outside the Bun. The new Tenderland trailer, on Manor Road, has appropriated that idea in the most literal
Oh, Kebabalicious, how I love you. Let me count the ways. Your falafel is crisp on the outside and fall-apart tender on the inside. You slather your wraps with cool tzatziki sauce and a fiery red concoction. You bring new meaning to the word “pun.” And you’ve
I wasn’t a believer until I tried the foie gras peanut butter and jelly sandwich at Bohanan’s downstairs bar in downtown San Antonio. My initial reaction was, What! Foie gras?! You’re kidding, right? No, they weren’t kidding, and darned if it doesn’t work (something about the creamy texture of
Pig Vicious has refined drunk food to a science. The science of bacon, that is. I started with a light hors d’oeuvre, the fried bacon-wrapped pickle spear. Never before has the calorie-full been so close to the calorie-less, and with your daily amount of
Bake a loaf of bread? Before Christmas? Yes, my friends, it’s possible. Even in this busier-than-busy week, while you’re running around doing all that Christmas shopping you should have done a few weeks ago (I’m in that boat too), wrapping gifts (and trying to keep the dog from opening them),
When I was five, I brainstormed the best business model: My mom would open a restaurant drive-up window, through the backyard to our kitchen, so that the world (or at least Dallas) could experience her awesome cooking. I like to think that I was ahead of my time, since in
GQ magazine has just released its list of the ten best new restaurants in the country, and Austin’s Uchiko is number 7 on the roster. Hooray for our team! And it’s the only Texas restaurant. Who did the deciding? GQ correspondent and restaurant critic Alan Richman, who traveled the
I can think of so many ways to repurpose an 8-foot-by-20-foot shipping container. Use it as a place to store your discarded lamps, books, folding chairs, and husband’s hideous red leather sofa from his “wild and crazy” days. Hang a disco ball, invite some bell-bottomed friends, and party like
It’s just a few days into December, but the holiday spirit has gotten a little out of hand is in full swing at our house. My husband started playing the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack two weeks into November. We went to Elgin and chopped down a tree even before we’d
What an unexpected journey from sommelier at Hotel Johannesburg, Germany, to winemaker at the only winery in Galveston County, Texas. After working in many departments at Haak Vineyards & Winery, Nadia Hetzel was promoted from assistant winemaker to winemaker and vineyard manager one year ago. Before she arrived
Pop quiz: What’s brown and stuffed and smoking all over? If you answered a Cuban cigar, then you lose. Forget the cigars. Cuban-pressed sandwiches from the Texas Cuban are where it’s at. But before diving into sandwiches so good they should be illegal, try a real cigar-shaped treat:
Poor Snoopy. He concocted the best Thanksgiving dinner he could, but Peppermint Patty flew into a rage when she saw the spread: buttered toast, pretzel sticks, popcorn, ice cream sundaes, and jelly beans. I’ve never understood why Patty got so angry at Charlie Brown about that assortment of carbs and
Leave it to me to write something cryptic on the office party Thanksgiving potluck sign-up sheet. Under the desserts column, I just wrote “butternut squash surprise.” One skeptical colleague wrote “dessert??” underneath my claim. “Yep!” I replied, with confidence. Except I had no idea what to whip up. Another colleague
Oh, how downtown Austin’s Rainey Street has changed. This quiet little neighborhood used to be the last refuge of cute houses in the area, and its inhabitants probably never imagined such a transformation. It started with a modest influx of hula hoopers and beer-pong players at the trendy
Sharon Hage, the chef-owner of York Street, one of the smallest, yet most celebrated, restaurants in Dallas, is closing it on Saturday. Food writer Teresa Gubbins broke the news on the web site Pegasus News about an hour and a half ago. Gubbins wrote that Hage told she
Every five to six years (starting in 1999), this magazine has published a roundup of the best Mexican restaurants in Texas. Our December issue marks the third edition of that opinionated, subjective, and controversial list. First, a few words of explanation: The headline on this story is “LET’S HAVE MEX-TEX.”
In Texas you can’t lift a fork without brisket raining down on you, à la Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. In the trailer scene, slap a bun around that baby and you’ve got the ubiquitously uniform brisket sandwich, ready to be eaten on your way to the bar, stumbling
If I were stranded on a deserted island and could only have three foodstuffs to take with me, they would be dark chocolate, red wine, and (most importantly) cheese. So when it comes to lackluster meals, my go-to fix is simply to add one of those three. The pan’s too
I don’t know why I love tea so much. I think it has to do with exploring a different cultural reality than the “DWF Seeking Something Fun To Do On The Weekend Besides Go See A Movie That Everyone Saw When It Came Out” that is my current life. Anyhooo.
She may not have been a lady who lunches in the traditional sense, but she sure knew how to lunch: The woman standing in front of me at the Peached Tortilla ordered Belgian fries and peach poppers. Granted, the hand-cut fries rocketed out of this world when combined with
If Abel Gonzales Jr., with his deep-fried butter at the State Fair of Texas, is the king of frying, let’s just say Kate Bellinger, from Kate’s Southern Comfort, on Barton Springs Road, is the, um, duchess. She boasts a fine-looking menu, centered around traditional
My husband (I can officially call him that now) gives me a hard time about the way I outwardly express my joy when eating something delicious. “It’s like you’re on a poorly-scripted cooking show, and every time you take a bite you have to come up with something amazing to
All right, you dirty-minded folks. I’m ashamed of you. Yes, there’s a new sausage trailer in town. Yes, it’s headed up by the drummer of Oliver Future, a band whose members are all dudes. So, yes, you might even call it a sausage fest. Well, unlike all you heathens, I’m
Ah, Italia. A country with a language so beautiful it can romance even the basest American classics. Casserolderci. Jell-O-tto. Brisketti. Puccia. Wait, that last one? Pronounced poo-chah, it may not be the prettiest word but it’s all real, and an amazing sandwich to boot. First, let’s talk
Like any good harbinger of changing seasons, the arrival of butternut squash at the farmers market signals that it’s time to start doing something different in the kitchen. Crank up the heat, folks, let’s get some casseroles on the table. Butternut squash has, in the last year, quickly trumped broccoli
You could say that the “Pac-Man” in vegan trailer Counter Culture‘s Pac-Man Caesar salad refers to all the good nutrients packed in such a simple salad: chopped kale, carrot rounds, and a light, nutty dressing somehow reminiscent of Parmesan. Or you could say it means that upon
Once upon a time there was a little culinary college in San Antonio. Then a local gazillionaire and philanthropist gave it $35 million. The little school proceeded to merge with the exalted CIA (Culinary Institute of America, the most prestigious cooking academy in America, headquartered in Hyde Park, New
Some Austinites are snotty about Houston. Not me, I love it. The Montrose area. The Museum District. The Chocolate Bar. Alas, none of these are trailers. Fortunately, the Desi Grill and More has got Indian dhaba food in Houston covered. And I mean “covered” in
On Sunday, October 3, The Next Iron Chef Season 3 will begin. Houston chef Bryan Caswell—of Reef, Stella Sola, and Little Bigs—is one of ten contestants nationwide competing over eight episodes to see who gets a shot at being on Iron Chef America. The premiere airs at 8 p.m.
Texas Wine Crafted with the California Touch The wines at Flat Creek Estates Vineyard and Winery founded in 1998 by Rick and Madelyn Nabors have always been notable. But since California native Charlie Kidd joined the team as winemaker in 2008, the wines are even more impressive. Kidd
Though the word “baller” might be a little crude, Baltimore Ballers‘ snow cones are anything but. This ain’t no Sno Beach, or anywhere that cherry syrup reigns supreme. And you’re more likely to find a line of midnight revelers here than a gaggle of swim-suited kiddies
Good Samaritan that you are, if you saw a school bus on the side of the road with smoke billowing from its roof, you’d probably call 911. Now, it might seem counterintuitive, but don’t dial those digits. Pull over, whip out your wallet, and prepare for some of the best
To those of you who were anxiously awaiting on a new seasonal recipe on Monday, I do apologize. My kitchen has been getting the short end of the stir stick in the last couple of weeks; its most dubious task of late has been keeping the can opener in plain
I must be a glutton for punishment. Or, more likely, I’m just a glutton. After my brief fling last week with the Cutie Pie Wagon (fudge brownie pie, anyone?), I waddled over to Gourdough’s vintage Airstream trailer to get my hands on some of
There are very few things that could drag most people out of bed at 2:30 a.m. But thankfully, you don’t have to wake up in the wee hours, as Jaynie Buckingham does, to enjoy the benefits of her baking. And, oh, are there benefits. For sweet fiends such as myself,
We all have those little things that get to us. Nails on a chalkboard, a dentist’s drill—you know the sound that makes it feel as if someone is forcing, oh, somewhere along the lines of 241 small daggers into your temples and twisting them to and fro, just for fun.
Relax, y’all. Sure, there are more Californians stampeding to Texas than surfing the waves off their own coast these days, but there’s an upside, at least for Austinites. Not only are the people of the Golden State migrating this way, so is the latest golden trend: Korean-Mexican
It was announced yesterday that Bryan Caswell, chef and co-owner of Reef, Stella Sola, and Little Bigs in Houston, has been named a contestant on the next season of Next Iron Chef, the Food Network show. We actually found this out this back before July, when we featured Caswell
It’s still hot. And by hot, I mean a scorching 104 degrees. And we’ve got at least another month or two to go. So I thought I’d share with you my favorite recipe for keeping cool in Austin. Just this summer, I finally discovered the secret ingredient:
A few weeks ago, an invitation arrived in the mail to a family reunion for my fiance’s side of the family. The invitation was promptly misplaced, only to be dug up again mere moments before we needed to leave for said reunion. I mean, that happens to the best of
How do you improve on a killer grilled pastrami with cheddar and horseradish mayo? Or a gyro sandwich with Israeli salad and Tabasco tzatziki? Austin Daily Press knows how. Wrap the sammy in The Onion newsprint and sell it at a bargain to late-night downtown revelers. Oh, and
In a world of snow cone stands, froyo trailer MamboBerry is the underdog. Okay, they’re located in the prime South Congress trailer park. And they’re part of the increasingly obnoxious froyo craze. And they also have a bit of a line. So maybe they’re less underdog and
About a month ago, my grandma gave my fiancè and I a grill as a house- warming present. Given my fiancè’s love of fire and mine of cooking, this was the perfect gift for the two of us. And though we have yet to have her over for a grilled
They say that true Austinites describe places by what used to be there, not by what’s there now (Liberty Lunch, anyone?). Well, it’s been four years, and I still haven’t forgiven Mojo’s for closing its doors. It was replaced by the Kasbah, which used to make mediocre Moroccan
It’s a little ironic that the best part about Me So Hungry, situated in the parking lot of all-vegan Cheer Up Charlie’s, is the meat. The Asian-style barbecue chicken in my Zen Salad was delicious, and it was a great surprise to find heaps of fresh baby romaine,
This time of year, when my mother calls me and says, “Honey, I have veggies for you, whenever you’re ready to come pick them up!”, it never just means she has a couple of cukes and maybe one zuke and a handful of figs. Ohhhh no, it means so much
Vegan ice cream? Let me say what you’re thinking: Hmmm. But there’s something special going on at ¡Hola Aloha!, a South Austin snow cone and sweet treat stand. Their vegan ice cream, made with coconut milk, was just that—creamy, cold, milky, and delicious. I tried it in an Aloha
