Tacos
December 3, 2019
Taco of the Week: The Puffy Taco at Abilene’s La Popular Bakery
The fried treat scarcely found outside San Antonio isn’t officially on the menu, but it’s worth inquiring about.
Abilene
BBQ Joint Reviews
June 1, 2017
Stillwater Barbeque (Top 50)
“Matt’s gone to feed the governor,” Emily Hall told us on our visit. She was referring to Matt Proctor, the founding pitmaster of Stillwater, who’d been summoned to Austin to grill for a cohort of visiting Aussies. But Hall, Proctor’s twenty-year-old apprentice, handled the pit with aplomb. The beef ribs…
Travel & Outdoors
December 17, 2015
15 Highlights From My 2015 Texas Wanderings
The best sights, bites, and experiences from my travels around the state this year.
Travel & Outdoors
November 12, 2015
Big Country Day Trips
A few reasons to hightail it to the heart of Texas's Midwest.
Texas Trip Guides
October 22, 2015
Trip Guide: Abilene
While away a weekend in the heart of Big Country.
BBQ
January 7, 2015
Interview: Tom Perini of Perini Ranch Steakhouse
Co-Owner: Perini Ranch Steakhouse; Opened 1983 Age: 71 Smoker: Indirect Heat Wood-Fired Pit Wood: Mesquite Tom Perini cooks with mesquite. It might be in the form of coals for direct heat cooking, or the active flames of burning logs for grilling steaks. That mesquite also fuels an offset smoker for the…
BBQ Joint Reviews
December 12, 2014
Stillwater Barbeque
With a history formed by ranching and railroads, Abilene sounds like a city destined to have good brisket. It was founded in 1883 after cattle ranchers and land speculators convinced the railroad to swing north of former county seat Buffalo Gap, and a new city was born. After the…
Critters
January 21, 2013
Feathery Friday: Giant Egg Laid in Abilene
One Abilene chicken had a rough week.
January 21, 2013
Alzheimer’s Patient Bites Nurse Aide. Aide Bites Back.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, an Abilene nursing home aide claimed "her teeth hit the resident as she raised her head and tried to stand up."…
Critters
January 21, 2013
Man Arrested for Stabbing Puppy in Abilene
Abilene police arrested a man who attacked a fourteen-week-old puppy.
Travel & Outdoors
January 21, 2013
The Cattle Trail Drive
ROUTE: Fort Belknap to Red Bluff ReservoirDISTANCE: 505 milesNUMBER OF COUNTIES: 15WHAT TO READ: J. Evetts Haley’s Charles Goodnight: Cowman and Plainsman In the rolling country northwest of the Palo Pinto Mountains, nestled along FM 61, stand the barracks of Fort Belknap. It was from this outpost,…
Web Exclusive
January 21, 2013
A Q&A With Michael Hall
The senior editor on writing about Mary Eula Sears, talking to relatives of the deceased, and dealing with sensitive issues.
Web Exclusive
January 21, 2013
Special Condition Z Blocks Wayne East’s Release
Abilene law enforcement officials don’t want the convicted murderer back in their part of the state.
Web Exclusive
January 21, 2013
An Update to the Mary Eula Sears Case
The convicted killer of a prominent Abilene resident is set to be released.
Feature
January 21, 2013
Who Killed Mary Eula Sears?
In 1982 a man named Wayne East was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of one of Abilene’s most prominent citizens. To this day, he maintains his innocence. And one member of the victim’s family believes him.
Art
January 21, 2013
Texas Treasures
My journey in early Texas art began while I was a student at Southern Methodist University, where I studied Frank Reaugh pastels and met Jerry Bywaters. After 24 years at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, curating exhibitions and traveling the state, I’ve come up with a list of greatest hits.
Art
January 21, 2013
The Art Lover’s Companion
More than sixty art insiders gave us their list of favorite works of art to see in Texas. So grab your notepad, sketchbook, or iPad and take the ultimate tour of must-see art in Texas.
Food & Drink
January 21, 2013
BBQ08
Eighteen hungry reviewers. 14,773 miles driven/flown. 341 joints visited. Countless bites of brisket, sausage, chicken, pork, white bread, potato salad, and slaw—and vats of sauce—ingested. There are only fifty slots on our quinquennial list of the best places to eat barbecue in Texas. Only five of those got high honors.
January 20, 2013
Historic Downtown Abilene
You can eat a good steak here in cowboy country—and take in some fine art while you’re at it.
The Culture
January 20, 2013
126–150
From Buzz Bissinger arriving in Odessa—with a notepad—to Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen writing songs in College Station…
The Culture
January 20, 2013
126–150
From Buzz Bissinger arriving in Odessa—with a notepad—to Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen writing songs in College Station…
Music
January 20, 2013
Three Chords and A Station Wagon
In the years before anyone had heard of Woodstock or Altamont, teenagers across Texas started bands in their parents’ garages, banging out earnest rock songs on cheap equipment and hoping to hit it big at the local skating rink or VFW post. For some, those dreams won’t fade away.
The Wanderer
September 6, 2012
Choose Your Own Texas Adventure
When it comes to traveling around the state, it's easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of destinations to choose from. One of the things I love most about Texas is that you can drive a few hours (or more than…
Sports
March 4, 2012
A Bittersweet End for Beren Academy
The Beren Stars fell to the Abilene Christian Panthers, 46-42, in Saturday night's TAPPS 2A final, but people are still talking about how the Houston Orthodox Jewish day school got there. …
The Culture
December 15, 2011
Abilene Strippers Suing Over Backpay
Four strippers from Abilene are suing their employer in hopes of recouping overtime and unpaid wages they would have been entitled to if they were considered employees instead of contractors.
December 6, 2011
Texas Has More Snow Than Chicago
From Abilene to El Paso to Amarillo, see photos of the snow that lightly coated North and West Texas. …
Sports
December 4, 2011
Fightin’ Words: Hal Mumme Lays Into Craig James
The football coach at Abilene’s McMurry University, and pal to Mike Leach, had a few less-than-Christian words for Craig James and his son, Adam.
In the Chute
December 1, 2008
The Show Goes On
The Texas Ballet Theater; Olafur Eliasson; Art Guys in Abilene.
Media
March 1, 1999
Urban Cowboy
Peter Jennings. Liz Smith. Barbara Walters. Joe Armstrong? You may not know the name, but New York publishing’s most famous ex-Abilenian is at home among the stars—and is a star in his own right.
On Location
June 30, 1998
Ernest Goes to Texas
Borgnine: The word itself is barrel-chested, glaring, grotesque. And has a name ever been so suggestive of a face? Known for cinematic classics like From Here to Eternity and Marty (for which he won an Academy award in 1955), Ernest Borgnine last worked in Texas in the mid-fifties, when he…
Feature
June 30, 1997
Happy Doomsday
In the wake of Heaven’s Gate, the media marched en masse to Abilene, the home base of the House of Yahweh, whose charismatic leader, Yisrayl Hawkins, was supposed to be the next David Koresh. Not even close.
The Inside Story
June 30, 1997
Hail, Mary Ellen
For thirty years Mary Ellen Mark has made her name as a documentary photographer by not shying away from tough assignments, whether that means traveling for six months in India to shoot circus folk or infiltrating the world of runaway kids in Seattle. Chronicling life at Abilene’s House of Yahweh…
Sports
July 31, 1984
The Fastest Nice Christian Boy in the World
Bobby Morrow was America’s most celebrated Olympic athlete in 1956. Today he wishes he’d never left the starting blocks.