Editor's Note: The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is almost here! Each day until then, we'll be talking to one of the featured pitmasters, with questions from TM staffers, esteemed BBQ experts, Twitter followers and you, the readers of this blog (fire away in comments section).Today it's Angela Ashley, 54, of
When you think "BBQ in Lockhart," you think Kreuz & Smitty's - but a lot of people swear by Black's. And when you think "taco trailer on South 1st St.," you think Torchy's - but there's also Izzoz Tacos, which opened in December of 2008 in the same parking
It's been a long time in the making (a VERY long time in the making): John Mueller, sometimes called the black sheep of the Taylor smoked meat family, is almost back in business here in Austin. Mueller, who used to have
Through recent years of watching celebrity chefs like Mario Batali and Giada De Laurentiis magically unveil classic Italian dishes on television screens, many have been convinced the dish is as easy as 1, 2, 3 (eggs, flour, water). But the chefs and cooks who have mastered
<!----> The Texas Craft Brewers Festival is back! Well, it was back and now it's gone. Don't worry, you can always catch it next year. It happened this past Saturday, September 24th at Fiesta Gardens in Austin--the first time the festival had been put on since 2005. There
A bright red sign outlined in neon lights screams CHICKEN as you approach Ms P’s Electric Cock, a large silver trailer on a quieter part of South Congress Avenue. As you may have guessed from the attention-getting name, Ms P’s is not a place for subtlety. It is, however, a
Inspired by the beginning of fall (or, at the very least, football season), and the ever-so-slightly cooler air that seems to be hinting that the end of summer is nigh, I turned on the oven for the first time in months this week. For good measure, I brought out
Tailgate season is upon us. Since a Texan can never have too many recipes for queso and cheese dip, herewith are three magnificently gooey ones from three great new Texas cookbooks published this fall. Fort Worth chef Lou Lambert’s Big Ranch, Big City, cowritten with collaborator June Naylor
(The famous Perini Ranch mesquite-smoked peppered beef tenderloin. Photo by Pat Sharpe)Editor's Note: This guest post is by longtime Texan Jim Shahin, now a resident of Washington, D.C.... and "craving Central Texas barbecue almost every minute of every day," he says. The "Smoke Signals" columnist for the Washingon Post,
Editor's Note: Daniel Vaughn, writing under the name BBQ Snob, runs the Full Custom Gospel BBQ blog and will also be writing about barbecue for Texas Monthly. This is his first column. Texas barbecue is having a moment. It seems like every time I turned around this
It wasn't chili dogs that brought me to Dogello's on yet another 105-degree day in Austin. It was coffee ice cubes. Joe Holland's trailer in the parking lot of Freewheeling Bicycles was formerly The Good Bike coffee stand, so when he opened up in January, he kept serving their
What do you call a group of chefs—A covey? A gaggle? A gargle? A convocation? A competition? Whatever you call them, several big-name chefs from the San Antonio area will be cooking dinner as a benefit for Foodways Texas next Thursday, September 8, at 7 p.m. If you’ve been
Well, folks, it’s been almost a year and half since I braved a sushi trailer in June and lived to tell about it. In that time, I’ve circled Texas’ cities in search of the best trailer food. I’ve binged on bulgogi-and-kimchee tacos, bogarted some
(Editor's Note: This guest post about last week's Texas Sommelier Conference comes from San Francisco food, wine and spirits writer Jordan Mackay, a James Beard Award-winning author for his 2010 book with Rajat Parr, "Secrets of the Sommeliers." But we
This week I thought I’d take a cue from Jared Fogle, of acclaimed Subway fame, and start my own sub sandwich diet. But rather than jump on the Subway bandwagon a decade too late, I decided to support Austin’s neighborhood trailer sub shop, Short
Awww. Bon Appétit is lovin’ on Austin again: On its website, bonappetit.com, Austin restaurant Congress was just named number nine of the magazine’s ten best new restaurants in America. Way to go, chef David Bull! (Bon Appétit is on a Texas tear; about a month ago they
As a barbecue trailer in Texas, the Smoke Shack, in San Antonio, has quite a reputation to live up to. Franklin Barbecue has changed the game for all of us, and even Hitler is into their ‘cue. While no one can
The bad news. Texas has a feral hog problem, with an estimated 2.6 million-plus animals roaming in destructive packs around our ranchland, woods and suburbs. The good news. They’re delicious. If you still haven’t picked up our August issue, check out writer Philipp
Get your general admission tickets to the Texas Monthly BBQ Festival on Wednesday, starting at 10 a.m. But if you are in or around Austin, we can also feed you sooner. Come downtown at lunchtime for the final TM BBQ Hunt, where we’ll pick four winners in
Dear Kitchen Window, It’s been less than a week since we met, but I knew it was true love as soon as I picked up one of your delicate, deep-fried wings with a sweet chili-sesame glaze and habanero peppers and took a big bite. Name one other
Over at Eater National, their regular “Sound Cheque” interview (musicians talking food) is with Eric Johnson of the Fruit Bats, which just released its fifth album, Tripper, on Sub Pop Records. The Portland-based musician says The Salt Lick is “something I basically think about daily.” But
Not that Texas needs New York to tell us that our barbecue is better than sex. Still, it’s nice to get a little love and see some mouthwatering pictures, particularly on New York magazine’s food blog, Grub Street. The ‘Street editors asked TM a few weeks back for our suggestions,
From Dominic Episcopo’s book-in-progress, Meat America, which also has a Facebook page. (H/T to Jeff Smith for the headline.) – JASON COHEN
MEATLIFTING. It's nothing new. The 2010 arrest of Austin's Ronnie Allen Brock provided Texas Monthly with one of our trademark never-ending punny Bum Steer headlines (as if "Bum Steer" itself wasn't enough). But meat fencing? With an undercover sting called "Operation Meat Locker" to catch
Let’s face it. Vegetables aren’t usually a part of the trailer experience. So I was pleasantly surprised to find grilled veggies on the menu at Trey’s Cuisine, the newest trailer next to Odd Duck and Gourdough’s, on South Lamar. Despite the truck’s unfortunate and puzzling Celtic logo,
It’s hard to be in a bad mood when you’re eating at a place with a silly-fun name like “Yummy Bowl.” Of course, I’ve always been a big supporter of such onomatopoeic interjections and have been known to order sushi rolls solely because they came with “yum-yum” on top. I’m
(Dallas winner Ashley Scalf with Baker’s Ribs) You probably know the drill by now. Look for the TM BBQ Hunt team tomorrow (July 16) at the Pearl Farmer’s Market information booth (near La Gloria). Three lucky winners will score pork ribs from The Smokehouse, and one
Eater.com has just posted this picture, sent by a reader, of someone who most definitely looks like chef Paul Qui, of Austin’s Uchiko, in a photo shoot allegedly at Whole Foods San Antonio, dated July 2. They’re saying the time frame coincides with previous speculation about Qui being
Clever puns are to Austinites what baker’s yeast is to bread: an essential ingredient that never fails to get a rise out of the crowd. (For example, the annual O. Henry Pun-Off, in May.) But sometimes, the puns go a little sour. That seems to be the
Here’s the thing. Not only is it summer in Texas, but it’s the hottest, driest summer we’ve seen in, well. . . Maybe ever. My husband and I had such grandiose plans for this summer. We’ve lived in our house for about one year now, and we were bound and
You know you’ve lived in the southern part of the country for too long when you’re seriously disturbed by a lack of cream gravy. Now, don’t get me wrong, SoCo to Go’s Southern comfort trailer food did exactly that: It comforted. But when I uncovered my chicken-fried
The Fourth of July may be all about American patriotism. But Texas chauvinism—and Texas barbecue—will be the order of the day on the Second of July. So fire up the TV at 8 a.m. Central and tune in to the CBS Early Show to watch Wayne Mueller, co-owner of
Picture this: It’s one of those brutally hot days, when the Texas air is as still and thick as homespun cream. Far in a South Austin field, behind a row of trailers, there’s a girl. She’s standing in a tiny patch of shade, holding something in each hand. Closer, closer
From our BBQ app and BBQ web site partner, Daniel Vaughn of Full Custom Gospel BBQ: There’s a BBQ Hunt going on across the state, and Texas Monthly is behind it. As part of the promotion for the badass BBQ app, they are giving away large amounts
<!––>For the last several weeks, Aaron Franklin (he of the massive overnight success Franklin Barbecue, in Austin) has been building an additional smoker in his backyard, to increase the capacity of his perpetually sold-out joint at 900 E. 11th. Yesterday he and his wife/biz partner Stacy were in
Two weeks ago, to celebrate the launch of our BBQ app and web site, we bought three Austinites a Franklin brisket. And we aren’t stopping there. Follow @TMFood or @Texasmonthly on Twitter to keep tabs on the #tmbbqhunt. From here on out, three lucky winners will still
If you’ve been to half as many trailers as I have, you know one sad little fact: Many of them are never open. Oh, all right—maybe “never” is an exaggeration. But many times, finding a truck that sticks faithfully to its hours is almost as tricky as gracefully eating
Could the insanity over Franklin Barbecue spin more out of control than it already has? Totally. For one thing, we’re piling on. Yesterday, Texas Monthly named the riotously popular eighteen-month-old Austin joint as the designated “newcomer” at the second annual Texas Monthly BBQ Festival, coming up October 30.
La Tasca may not be the most original name for a Spanish tapas locale, but the Texas-inspired, absolutely decadent, and beautifully presented food at this Central Austin station is a refreshing surprise. No longer do you have to travel to a certain odd spot
Sigh. A Texas ingredient actually made it onto the menu of a posh London charity dinner attended last week by the Dude and Duchess of Cambridge (i.e., Prince William and the former Kate Middleton). Yes! There it was in the appetizer: Rio Grande Valley avocado! But the poor things didn’t
If the term “molecular gastronomy” turns you on instead of off. If you don’t flinch at the idea of syringes, dehydrators, and liquid nitrogen as kitchen equipment. If you would have given an arm and part of your spleen to have dined at El Bulli, then you need
One of the best things about food trailers is that they’re on wheels. So if they want to pick up from, say, San Antonio and truck all the way to, oh, I don’t know, Jasper, Missouri, they can say the word and get on the road. That’s exactly what
Bravo Network is promoting its top food show with a 21-city cross-country trip: Top Chef–The Tour. It began back in April and it’s got two Texas stops this week (that’s not as many as New Yawk, but more than most other states). So if you can get away from
Forget pop-up restaurants. That’s so two months ago. The new hot spot this week isn’t popping up but rather traveling into town in an Airstream trailer, and it’s got a warm, gooey center. This Friday, all the way from NYC, culinary guru Dorie Greenspan and her
PASADENA—The strawberries start arriving a week early. Specially-designated H-E-B trucks pull into the Pasadena Fairgrounds and then up to the convention center, where they unload 340 flats of berries—1200 pounds. By Wednesday, the 100 H-E-B volunteers are dicing, and at 5 a.m. Friday they pull up 72 six-foot-long tables
Big names in Texas chef circles will be starring at three events this week as part of the annual convention of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, in Austin. The general public can attend this trio of events (which are some of the best of the convention); the rest of
For years, trailers were the ugly ducking of the culinary scene, with spotty service, slim variety, and the constant specter of food poisoning. Enter a new era, the age of the concept truck, when innovative chefs, cooks, and just plain ordinary folks started opening up quirky, fun food trailers to serve
For years now, I’ve been trying to grow my own strawberries. And year after year, it’s a disappointing “harvest” of one or two small bites of tart berries. In fact, this year, my niece and I ogled two berries on the vine. I told her she could have one, and
Just as I was headed out the door on Saturday morning, Philip Speer (right) let drop the most interesting tidbit of the whole morning’s entertainment: “It would be fun to do this on a citywide scale,” said the executive pastry chef for Austin’s Uchi and Uchiko. We were at
Look out, Lucky’s Puccias. Enoteca, Vespaio—you’d be wise to watch your step as well, brick and mortar though you may be. There’s a new Italian trailer in Austin that can juggle circles around you. And by circles, I mean the perfect fried risotto orbs