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In her review of the new film Food Inc. which debuted on the East and West Coasts last weekend, Kim Severson of the New York Times sounded a little weary of whistle-blowing food movies. I haven't seen Food Inc. yet (it opens in Houston on June 26) but evidently the movie delivers a whole lot of scary information about our food supply, especially if you eat meat.

Photo by Olivia Flores Alvarez

Where: El Jardin, 7849 Harrisburg, 713-921-3633

What $13 gets you: enchiladas Mexicanas. Corn tortillas rolled in a tomato sauce, filled with white Mexican cheese, topped with more sauce, more cheese, cubed fried potatoes and grilled jalapeño slices, served with refried beans and a lettuce and tomato salad ($9.95).

This ornate dining room might look like something out of Arabian Nights, but it's actually straight out of Houston. Can you guess where we're eating this week?

Leave your guess in the comments section below.

Photo by Robb Walsh

Piculit Neri is an ancient grape varietal from Italy that was popular in Roman times but went out of favor. Progressive winemakers have recently revived the almost-forgotten grape, along with several others that were once popular in the Friuli Venezia-Giulia region, an area in the North of Italy that borders Austria. Piculit Neri yields a rounded, fruity red wine that is intensely aromatic -- one critic described it as the red wine equivalent to a floral Moscato.

It's painful to imagine how many wonderful old varieties of grapes have been torn out of the vineyards of the world to make way for the creeping proliferation of Cabernet and Merlot. You can find this bottle of Piculit Neri Modello Delle Venezie at Nundini Imported Food Store on North Shepherd for under $20.

Photos by Nikki Metzgar

First, there was whipped cream. Then, there was cheese. Now, it's pancake (or waffle) batter being sprayed out of aerosol cans. God-fearing people everywhere are trembling as technology pushes us ever closer to experiencing breakfast as nature never intended.

We tried Batter Blaster for ourselves. The batter was thick and slower to ooze out of the can than whipped cream, which increased the ick factor. As it cooked, a lot more bubbles rose to the top than with homemade batter. The finished pancakes weren't really fluffier since they were so thin, but they were very light. The flavor was a bit off - it was so salty, a generous portion of syrup couldn't cover the taste.

This week's petite Snackshot comes to us courtesy of garyrwise and Little Bitty Burger Barn:

From the photographer's description:

"Little Bitty Burger Barn candy."

An actual Little Bitty Burger Barn slider (a.k.a. a little bitty burger) is after the jump.

Photo by Robb Walsh

To use mesquite in the grill, I usually light some charcoal briquettes and add mesquite wood after a while. But I recently saw 20-pound bags of mesquite lump charcoal on sale at HEB for 12 bucks each. Starting the fire with mesquite charcoal and then adding mesquite wood seemed like an even better idea. So I bought a bag. When I got home, I loaded up my chimney starter and got ready to grill.

A couple of weeks ago, I burned the bottom of my foot when I stepped on a hot coal while grilling barefoot. This has happened so many times before, I promised myself to always wear shoes while grilling. So when I went outside to check on the new mesquite charcoal, I slipped on some loafers without socks.

The flames were shooting up over the charcoal, which meant it was time to dump them into the grill. When I picked the coals up, they settled a little and then something happened that I wasn't ready for. It sounded like somebody put a couple of firecrackers in the chimney--the charcoal exploded in loud pops and little pieces of the hot coals went whizzing around all over the place.

Where: Hank's Ice Cream, 9291 South Main, 713-665-5103

What $7 will get you: We tried to utilize the full expense allotment. We failed. The banana split comes in at $5.50, which includes tax and three toppings. We went for more toppings, but the girl behind the counter refused to charge for them. We threw in a can of root beer, listed on the menu as 75 cents. She insisted on making the bill an even $6.

Hank's has been serving its famous homemade ice cream out of the same small, cozy location for 24 years, and some of the patrons seem to have been coming that long. The most popular flavor by far is the butter pecan, so we went with that, strawberry and cookies-n-cream for our three scoops.

In addition to chocolate syrup, whipped cream and, of course, a split banana, the dish comes with pineapple and strawberry sauces -- the kind of sweet deliciousness that makes you sick in most cases but not, for some reason, at Hank's.

Katharine Shilcutt ate all this chicken and did not save any for you.

Welcome back to the weekly Eating Our Words round-up, where the food is well-prepared, plentiful and, more often than not, weird as all hell.

To start with, Robb Walsh introduced us to the concept of a Wal-Mart supermercado, which might not go over as well as Wal-Mart is hoping, because the main competitor to the Hispanic-style Wal-Mart is the regular Wal-Mart. After some quick tacos and a tall, frosty mojito limonada, J.C. Reid chronicled the triumphant return of Felix's chile con queso, a Houston staple that has been sorely missed since Felix closed, but is now available at El Patio.

Robb explored some German food in Fredericksburg, including some adorably tasty rabbit sausage. You bastards were once again able to guess Where We Were Eating without too much trouble (Sunflower Bakery), and Robb was lucky enough to be among the first to sample a new all-natural diet cola, which blows regular diet cola out of the water by somehow having an aftertaste that is even worse. Nikki Metzgar provided us with a home-grown recipe for Mom's Fuzzy Melon and Dried Mushroom Stir-fry, which was not only delicious, but also gave me the opportunity to talk to God for a couple of hours. He told me not to worry so much, which was a big relief.

Photos by Robb Walsh

This is the week that the "Dublin" signs on the highway are changed to read Dr Pepper, Texas.

The 118th Dublin Dr Pepper Birthday Festival climaxes this weekend with an exciting schedule of events, including live music by Layne Golden and the 10-2-4 Band.

There is a charity run and a kid's bike race on Saturday and free tours of the plant. Best of all, there's free Dr Pepper and birthday cake all day long. Saturday night's grand finale will feature a hot air balloon exhibition.