Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ
-
Tortillas: The Other White Bread
Standing at the counter at Kreuz Market in Lockhart last week, I was asked, “Bread or crackers?” I thought about it for a moment, but all I wanted to say was, “How about some tortillas?” Instead, the large group I was with opted for a half sleeve of saltines (filling up on bread was not part …
-
Smoking With Mesquite
Before the phrase “mesquite-grilled” became a common descriptor on hoity-toity menus of restaurants trying to prove their Texas bona fides, and before backyard cooks bought mesquite chips by the pound to add an “authentic smokehouse” flavor to their meat, the mesquite was a scraggly tree that people in the Southwest considered a nuisance. And while many ranchers …
-
Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ
My first trip to Valentina’s was on a whim. I stopped at the trailer behind the Star Bar on Sixth Street in Austin on my way out of town. A friend was writing a story on taco variations, and I thought I might be able to add a novelty to his story – Texas barbecue …