Window To the World
A prayer (and a migas recipe) for the unemployed.
A prayer (and a migas recipe) for the unemployed.
A prayer for pagan souls and finding redemption in almond cake.
A prayer of thanks (and some cranberry stuffing) for those that don’t give up hope.
Recipe from Randy Rucker, formerly of the Rainbow Lodge Houston.
The best way to go completely nuts this Thanksgiving is with this five-part meal featuring the bounty of our beloved state tree.
In the hip city of Austin, trailer food is fast becoming übercool.
Julie Powell, the author, blogger, and inspiration for the film Julie & Julia, discusses living in New York, missing Austin, and seeing her life on the big screen.
The end of the Great Austin Restaurant Drought.
It seems simple enough—make tea, add sugar—but brewing a high-class glass of Southern champagne is “all about time, temperature, and quality,” according to Clayton Christopher, the founder of Austin-based Sweet Leaf Tea Company. He should know: In just over ten years, he’s gone from making batches of the stuff at
Wes Hurt makes people happy—one cupcake at a time.
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.
BECKER VINEYARDS464 Becker Farms Road Stonewall 830-644-2681 http://www.beckervineyards.comValentine’s Dinner Chefs At Large of Fredericksburg will create a tantalizing menu, and wines will be paired with each course. Prepayment and reservations required. Dress attire is business. February 14: 6:30 p.m. Price: $85 per person Merlot & Chocolate
A crispy, calamari salad perfect for summer. Recipe by Peter Lindquist of NoRTH, in Austin.
The PartyAs at most holiday functions, there’s no escaping your kin at a tamalada, or tamale-making party. For generations, Latinos have gathered at Christmastime to cook, assemble, and eat the age-old dish (tamales date back to pre-Columbian times). “A tamalada is a multifamily, multigenerational event,” says Sylvia Cásares, who owns
Need someone to create a menu for the ultimate backyard feast? Paul Petersen, the executive chef at Marathon’s Gage Hotel, is ready, grilling, and able.
The executive chef of the Gage Hotel, in Marathon, created a feast in which everything is grilled—even dessert.
When you dine out for a living, you can get a bad “been there, ate that” attitude. While other people are e-mailing each other like crazy over their latest find, you’re hitting the “delete” key as fast as possible. But a few months ago, notes from readers about a San
Villa O, Dallas and Trattoria Lisina, Driftwood
With all due respect to the assembled face-wipers on page 6, the brains, not to mention the gullet and the stomach, behind our latest list of the best barbecue joints in Texas is executive editor Pat Sharpe. Who else could it possibly be? For a generation or more, Pat’s led
Dallas
Bistro Don Camillo, Houston and August E’s, Fredericksburg
Houston
Café Pita, Houston and Rise no1, Dallas
How many downtown Houston restaurants look out on real, honest-to-God trees? Whatever the number—and I suspect it’s in the single digits—you can add another to the list: the Grove. I’ll get to the food in a minute, but first let me say one word about the Grove’s setting: wow.You stroll
Merchants Grand CaféSan Antonio You might wonder what this simple, white, “big box” space used to be. Then a local tells you it was a hardware store. Ah, that makes perfect sense. The Alamo Heights newcomer has a name chef at the helm (Jonathan Parker, from the River Walk’s
What will dining be like in decades to come? We asked the state’s top chefs and foodies.
If I close my eyes tight, I can still taste the cloudlike custard filling of Au Petit Paris’s tartelette de tomates confit, with its milky hint of mozzarella and sweet, delicate bits of tomato; the warm, flaky pastry crust is simply museum quality. On the side is a pristine salad
Café CentralEl Paso What’s new at venerable Café Central? The decor, for one thing. The border stalwart has shed its animal-print upholstery and New York–bistro look in favor of a classic redo, with sleek chocolate-brown chairs, chrome sculptures, unusual art, and floor-to-ceiling beveled mirrors along the back wall. Given
What will dining, both out and in, be like in decades to come? We asked the state’s top chefs and food folk, from Dean Fearing and Hugo Ortega to David Bull and Charles Butt.
What Stephan Pyles, Dean Fearing, and Robert Del Grande were to the last generation—the state’s biggest-brand celebrities in the fine-dining arena—this Alamo City native may well be to the next. A broadcast journalist by training (he has a degree in radio-TV-film from the University of North Texas, in Denton), Weissman
Bear with me—I’m trying to remember the olden days when a restaurant with more than two locations was by definition terrible. Nope, chains have changed. Sure, we’ll always have mass feeders like Chili’s and the Black-eyed Pea, but upscale chains are a different proposition altogether. And as much as I
Rebecca’s Table, Fredericksburg and So Vino Wine Bar & Bistro, Houston
One year (okay, two days) of livin’ la vida locavore.
From city to country, fancy to down-home, the state’s 38 best steakhouses. Plus: the Japanese beef that everyone should be eating, our favorite butcher shops, and how to grill a ribeye that even your father-in-law will love.
The corn dog’s birthplace may be disputed among gastronomists, but there is no denying that the corny dog, as the fried delicacy is known in these parts, made its first appearance at the State Fair of Texas. Dallas native Neil Fletcher formulated the recipe in 1942, set up a
Life is too short to enjoy cocktail hour with a bag of Doritos. In Kate Heyhoe’s new book Great Bar Food at Home, we learn that you can have a sophisticated bar atmosphere in the comfort of your own pad. You just have to plan. And Heyhoe is ready to
Five of the best museums in the state have cafes designed to tempt the most refined tastes and sophisticated palates. A few have masterpieces on the menu; others are works in progress.
Ten foods to gorge on in 2007.
Well, first and foremost, Dallas, since four of the year’s ten best new restaurants—including the top three—are there. But if you’re hip and hungry in Houston, Austin, or San Antonio, my list won’t disappoint.
NORMALLY I WOULDN’T DO THIS: mention tripe, tongue, and sweetbreads in the first sentence. No, no, no. The very thought of organ meats makes some people woozy. But here’s my point. A chef who makes a cow’s innards appealing—and Will Packwood emphatically does—can make anything else taste great. At two-month-old
Sixty-three of them, to be exact: from picadillo in Dallas and brisket tinga in Houston to carne asada gringa in San Antonio and chorizo-and-jalapeño in McAllen. Be sure you don’t leave this earth without trying each and every one.
You want to send your granny a grapefruit this Christmas? Your bro a brisket? Your pop a pie? We’ve taste-tested more than four hundred foodstuffs that Texas companies will happily ship to your door, and more than forty are first-class.
• In Dallas, newcomer Salum has been drawing crowds to its serene white interior (you feel as if you’ve been dropped into a vat of whipped cream—in a good way, of course). Chef and owner Abraham Salum is offering an eclectic Mediterranean menu, from which I’ve quite enjoyed an excellent
AUSTIN Enoteca Vespaio, 1610 S. Congress Ave., 512-441-7672. Open Mon–Sat 8 a.m.–10 p.m., Sun 10–2. Fino, 2905 San Gabriel, 512-474-2905. Open Mon–Thur 11–10, Fri 11–11, Sat 5–11. DALLAS Cafe San Miguel, 1907 N. Henderson Ave., 214-370-9815. Lunch Mon–Sat 11–3, Sun 10–3. Dinner
Our favorite new restaurants of the year—and a few more that almost make the cut.
Senior editor Patricia Sharpe, who wrote this month’s feature on home cooking, talks about local opinions and okra.
All restaurants accept major credit cards unless otherwise noted. AMARILLOMontana Mike’s, 4332 SW Forty-fifth Avenue, 806-353-3339. Open Sun—Thur 11—9, Fri & Sat 11—10.AUSTINArkie’s Grill, 4827 E. Cesar Chavez, 512-385-2986. Open Mon—Fri 5:30 a.m.—3 p.m.Dot’s Place, 13805 Orchid Lane, one block south of Howard Lane, 512-587-4222. Open Mon—Fri 11—2.Freddie’s Place, 1703
AustinThe apples in the filling are crisp, the spicing pitch-perfect, the crust reasonably flaky at unpretentious but agreeable Tony’s Southern Comfort, and the restaurant’s smooth, firm sweet-potato pie is equally worthy of a slice. And don’t overlook the peach cobbler, plenty sweet, with cinnamony crusts on top and bottom and
For going on five years, my admiration has grown for the weekly paper in the tiny Panhandle town of Miami (above). The New York Times it ain’t, but it tells me everything I could ever want to know about local births and deaths, windblown mail, bad potholes, and good yards.
AmarilloDecorated with faux-log-cabin walls and outdoorsman ephemera—“Closed till the fish stop biting” reads a chalkboard near the bar— Montana Mike’s is intended to look like a mountain fishing lodge in the heart of the flatlands. Skip the fish and order the thin-cut grilled chops, which come two to a plate