The Best Brisket in the State?
Aaron Franklin grew up around barbecue and country music. His parents owned a barbecue joint in Bryan and his grandfather once played steel guitar for Bob Wills. After high school, …
News Flash: Mandola Winery Sold
Dave Reilly, head of winery operations at Mandola Estate Winery in Driftwood, poured me a glass of the winery’s spectacular 2008 Montepulciano–and then he dropped a bomb. He told me …
Chef Ray's BBQ Stand
A smoking barbecue trailer was drawing a crowd to a convenience store parking lot in north Houston. It was Friday evening around six and people were ready to party. Some …
Tomatoes Coming Out of Our Ears
Alan Lazarus, the executive chef and co-owner of Vespaio and Enoteca Vespaio on South Congress Avenue in Austin, had 20-some pounds of tomatoes sitting on his kitchen table when I …
Get You Some of These Crab Grits
The fried softshell crab and grits I had for lunch at Brennan’s of Houston the other day raises the bar in the seafood and grits competition. The softshell crab was …
Crazy 'bout a Mercury
Ford announced it will discontinue the Mercury line of automobiles today. This doesn’t have much to do with food unless your parents took the family out for burgers in a …
A BBQ Disaster Narrowly Averted
On Sunday I blogged and tweeted about smoking a Kobe brisket with Bellville Meat Market rub. @BBQsnob, the guy behind the Full Custom Gospel BBQ website tweeted about how good …
Memorial Day Smoke Signals
Update: Here’s what our Memorial Day barbecue looks like after five and a half hours of smoking. I think the pork is done, but I’m going to hit it with …
The Tex-Mex Hip Hop of Chingo Bling
Okay so maybe my old favorite Freddy Fender is a little dated. I like Los Lonely Boys alright. But the cutting edge in Tex-Mex music has got to be H-town’s …
Authentic Mexican and Tex-Mex
The other day I twittered a smartass remark: Authentic Mexican is to Tex-Mex as the Ballet Folklorico is to Freddy Fender. My fellow food writer Colman Andrews asked if I …