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Felix Chairs Restored

When Felix Mexican Restaurant moved out of their home on Westheimer, El Real bought some of the fixtures and furnishings from owner Felix Jr. to preserve the memory of the beloved Tex-Mex institution. Along with a lot of old photos and menus, we ended up with about 70 of the restaurant’s old chairs.

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Tex-Mex is not Dallas' Strong Suit?

D Magazine took exception to these comments about Tex-Mex from the Dallas Morning News restaurant critic.

If you’re looking for a place with another kind of serious Texas flavor, charge right past the Tex-Mex spots you’ll see all over town; Tex-Mex is not Dallas’ strong suit.” -Leslie Brenner, Dallas Morning News

Makes [...]

Foodways Texas in Fort Worth

The Fort Worth Culinary Charreada will take place from 4 until 8 p.m. Sunday February 20th at Clear Fork Station, 4971 East I-20, Willow Park, Texas, just west of Fort Worth. Tickets are $45 per person or $80 per couple; kids 12 and under get in free. Click to purchase tickets.

Terry Chandler [...]

Underbelly and El Real

Chris Shepherd

Chef Chris Shepherd’s new restaurant, Underbelly, will be next door to the Hay Merchant Craft Beer Bar in the old Chances building–across the street from our very own Tex-Mex joint, El Real! I ran into Shepherd at the Farmer’s Market last weekend. Alison Cook had just reported the news. Underbelly will [...]

Brain is a Terrible Thing to Waste

We had some excellent barbacoa y sesos tacos at Gerardo’s on Saturday morning. You don’t see brain in the tacos much anymore. Meat packers stopped shipping brains after mad cow disease made everybody so nervioso about eating them. The only place you see them anymore is in carnecerias where they make old fashioned [...]

Tex-Mex Cooking Classes at My House

“Why don’t you give a class about how to make Tex-Mex cheese enchiladas?” Mike, my physical therapist said as he twisted my arm into a pretzel shape. Mike moved here from New York. He observed that there are lots of cooking classes in Houston, but he couldn’t find any about Tex-Mex. And since he [...]

Queen City Tex-Mex Fiesta

UPDATE: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR EARLY FEBRUARY! Come join me in Charlotte, North Carolina on Thursday January 20th for a cocktail party and dinner at Paco’s Tacos & Tequila. I’ll be showing off some new recipes and autographing cookbooks for Tex-Mex-loving Tarheels. Proceeds of the dinner tix benefit a scholarship fund [...]

Tex-Mex Menu Doctor

Have Recipes. Will Travel.

In my latest career twist, I find myself working as a Tex-Mex restaurant consultant. First I showed the owner of Paco’s Tacos and his crew around the Houston Tex-Mex scene–and then once they got the place open in Charlotte, North Carolina, I went out there and sampled the whole menu.

Lord knows, I am used to being a restaurant critic. But I can’t say I have ever been called on to put my money where my mouth is quite like this before. After I pointed out the problems, I put on chef’s whites, marched into the kitchen and joined the chefs in trying to fix what was wrong. Step one was ordering some yellow corn tortillas, step two was making some old-fashioned chili gravy.  If was a lot of fun–and we made a vast improvement in the enchiladas at Paco’s Tacos and Tequila, if I do say so myself.
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Washington Post Lauds The Tex-Mex Grill

Fidel Castro Eating BBQ in Houston, 1959 (from The Tex-Mex Grill)

Just in time for the Christmas shopping season, The Washington Post has named The Tex-Mex Grill, one of the Top Cookbooks of 2010. Listed under Ethnic/Regional, the book was described as: “Full of personality and great ideas; a must for carnivores.”

Many [...]

S.A. Puffy Tacos vs. H-town Puffy Tacos

“Everybody in San Antonio makes puffy tacos the same way,” Ray Lopez at Henry’s Puffy Tacos told me. You make tortillas out of raw masa and throw them in the deep fryer in a form to keep their shape. The resulting taco shell has a bubbly, crispy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside texture that Tex-Mex fans in the Alamo City love. Puffy tacos are also popular in the Valley, in Austin, and elsewhere. But in Houston, puffy tacos are something entirely different.
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