Subject: Fruits and Vegetables

• $13 at Rizzi’s Pizzeria in Missouri City

  September 8, 2008

• Hurricane Ike Cuisine: Gourmet Canned Goods

  September 11, 2008

• Onion strings at Brick House Tavern & Tap

  April 2, 2009

• Purslane: Eating Weeds

  November 11, 2008

• A Short History of Shrimp Grits

  Shrimp grits started out as a seasonal fisherman’s dish of shrimp cooked in bacon grease served over creamy grits in the Low Country where they were also known as “breakfast shrimp.” The simple seafood breakfast became an iconic Southern dish after Craig Claiborne wrote about it in the New York Times in 1985. The shrimp grits that fired Clairborne’s imagination came from Crook’s Corner restaurant in North Carolina. The chef there, Bill Neal, started out with a French restaurant, but

  November 16, 2008

• Thanksgiving Slumming with Cream of Mushroom Soup

  Thanksgiving and the annual debate over that damn green bean casserole with the Durkee’s fried onions on top is coming up fast. Will you offer an urbane alternative like green beans with prosciutto and pine nuts to your recalcitrant relatives, or break down and make it according to the back-of-the-can recipe with Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup this year? Some time back, when I was a more earnest foodie, cream of mushroom soup was anathama to me. I had eaten gallons of the stuff in m

  November 20, 2008

• Recession Recipes: Bread and Butter Jalapeños

  Our pickled pequin post drew a comment from Jim Sherman, a regular reader who said: "I don't bother with heat when pickling peppers. When I pickle just about anything except radish or carrot, I do soak the veggies overnight in a Kosher brine to draw out as much water as possible, and then dump them in whichever vinegar I'm using. "Since the seasons (both pepper harvest and Christmas) are upon us, those cute little shaker bottles of Pompeii red wine vinegar filled with small hot peppers make re

  November 25, 2008

• Hanukkah Latkes: Increasing Our Dependence on Oil?

  The fried potato pancakes called latkes are the traditional food of Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday which begins this year on the night of December 21. Explanations about the connection between the Eastern European potato pancakes and the commemoration of a battle against the ancient Assyrians generally involve a comparison of cooking oil and lamp fuel. An equally tenuous association between the triangular cookies called hamentashen and the tri-cornered hat of the biblical villain Haman are part o

  December 3, 2008

• Hot Squash Soup

  On cold mornings, I like to turn on the oven to warm up the kitchen. I know you're not supposed to heat your house with the oven. That's why I try to stick something in there so I can claim I'm actually cooking. Roasting a couple of heads of garlic is a good idea--you can always use roasted garlic for salad dressing or something. It's easy to do. You cut off the top ends of the garlic heads, put them in an ovenproof dish, pour a spoonful of olive oil over them, then roast them until they're br

  December 4, 2008

• History of Texas Chili--Without Beans

  Chili con carne was introduced to America by the "Chili Queens," women who served food in San Antonio's Military Plaza as early as the 1860s. Chili stands were also common in Galveston and Houston; they were the taco trucks of the 1800s. Tamales with chili was the most common order--beans were often added. Laborers counted on the chili vendors for a quick meal. Adventurous eaters loved them. And the upper classes tried to chase them away or get them shut down. Chili con carne is not an impo

  December 10, 2008

• Texas-Thai BBQ

  If there's anything I like as much as Texas BBQ, it's wacky only-in-Houston fusion cuisines. So imagine my glee when I noticed the sign in front of Mai Thai restaurant at 3819 Kirby advertising "Texas BBQ Thai Fusion." I pulled over immediately. The special BBQ menu listed beef, chicken, spicy pork and sausage. I asked for a beef and sausage sandwich, but they only had beef. The BBQ brisket sandwich I got came on toasted white bread with lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onions for $3.95. The beef

  January 6, 2009

• A Sweeter Sweet Potato

  That's a fine little yam, ma'am," I told Tara Smith, the LSU AgCenter's sweet potato extension specialist and coordinator of the Sweet Potato Reseach Station in Chase, Louisiana. I had just finished a taste test comparing Evangeline (left), a new variety of sweet potato developed by the LSU sweet potato folks with the Red Garnet yam (center) and the Beauregard sweet potato (right). Smith was shocked by my experiment since the Evangeline is still in the testing phase and not available to the pub

  January 8, 2009

• Peri-Peri Burger: It Seemed Like a Great Idea at the Time

  The peri-peri burger at Out of Africa, the new South African restaurant on Southwest Freeway in Sugar Land, is a hamburger topped with the legendary hot sauce made with African bird peppers. And since I love peri-peri chicken, peri-peri prawns and peri-peri everything else, I figured this one was a natural. Out of Africa cooks their hand-formed half pound hamburgers on a charcoal grill and serves them with your choice of several South African sauces. There's a trainsmash burger (sautéed onion

  January 13, 2009

• Down in the Root Cellar: Carrots and Turnips

  Turnips are cheap and bitter. Carrots are annoyingly sweet. But before you allow the unpleasant characteristics of these root vegetables to summon disturbing memories of your relatives, consider how brilliantly they balance each other out. Pair the bitter turnips with the saccharine carrots and you get a wonderfully complex marriage of flavors and a hearty, inexpensive winter dish. Mashing the roots up with a generous amount of butter or bacon grease makes them a lot more interesting. Some fo

  January 12, 2009

• Another Root Cellar Romp: Parsnips and Rutabagas

  Swedes are larger and denser than turnips. No, it's not an ethnic joke--swedes are what they call rutabagas in England. The rutabaga, or Swedish turnip, is often sold with a wax coating to protect the skin from discoloration. Rutabaga comes from the Swedish word rotabagge. Swedes are best roasted or boiled. In Finland and Sweden they are frequently mashed up with turnips and carrots in a dish called rotmos or "root mash." "Neeps and tatties," as rutabagas and potatoes are known in Scotland, ar

  January 15, 2009

• Beef and Barley Soup with Bovril

  Beef soup always tastes better with a dash of Bovril liquid beef bouillon added. So do beef stews and beef gravies. Legend has it that Bovril was invented because Napolean III needed to feed his army during the war with Prussia. So he ordered an enormous quantity of canned beef from a Scotsman named John Johnston. Evidently, the only way to fill the order was to cook the beef down into a thick brown sticky concentrate that could be easily transported and reconstituted with hot water. It was orig

  January 16, 2009

• Kale to the Rescue

  Times like these call for food superheroes: foods that are tasty, healthy, easy to fix and -- most of all -- cheap. And, if it's your thing, easy to grow, too. And that's where kale comes in. Kale is one of the more unappreciated leafy greens, playing second fiddle to its more well-known cousins like spinach and cabbage. And that's a shame, really. Kale is not only far cheaper, but it's just as simple to fix and delicious to boot.

  January 22, 2009

• Ra Sushi Scrambles Menu, Adds to Happy Hours

  Shrimp Shumai We started with the kind of sake most people use to drink shooters and beer. It was warm, clear in color, dryly medicinal in flavor and called Hananomai Katana. Okay, adventures in drinking phase one. Actually, it wasn't that bad at all and as it made its way down, it created a warm and friendly buzz feeling in the middle of your chest. Thus fortified, the assembled journalists got down to their first course at a sake and sushi pairing event at Ra Sushi (3908 Westheimer in Highlan

  January 29, 2009

• Viet-Tex-Mex: Fried Avocado Lettuce Wraps

  "Fried Avocado Lettuce Wraps" is the name of popular new appetizer on the menu of Matt's Rancho Martinez in Dallas. Invented by fourth-generation Tex-Mex chef Marco Martinez, the dish features chicken-fried avocado slices served with Vietnamese-style lettuce wraps and condiments along with a monkey bowl of ranch dressing for dipping. "Why not?" Marco Martinez said. Everybody loves the lettuce wraps served in Texas Vietnamese restaurants, he observed, so why not put the popular lettuce tacos o

  February 18, 2009

• A Taste of the Tasting Room

  Photos by Jeff Balke Chef Steve Super, executive chef at The Tasting Room. Chef Steve Super has Gulf Coast cuisine honed to a fine art, surprising for someone who hails from Vermont and only recently made Texas his home. This time last year, Super was the executive chef at Steve and Erika's, the restaurant at Ten Acres Lodge in Stowe, VT, where he'd taken the restaurant from a sleepy little inn to a bustling showcase for his creative talents.  Steve and Erika's quickly became one

  March 4, 2009

• Dragonfruit at the Keauhou Farmer's Market

  Photos by Robb WalshYellow Dragonfruit Going to the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning is one of those habits that's fun to engage in while you're on the road. And since I am staying in a condo with a kitchen this week in Kailua-Kona, it was great to buy some fresh local produce. The vegetables looked pretty much the same as home--there were some purple sweet potatoes and teeny weeny tomatoes that looked a little exotic. But the fruit was interplanetary. I saw lulo, lilikoi, breadfruit, starfr

  March 7, 2009

• Crave Sushi

  March 19, 2009

• Downtown Attraction The Grove

  March 19, 2009

• Trainsmash and Bobotie at Out of Africa

  March 5, 2009

• Cafe Rita

  January 22, 2009

• On a Budget at Bistro des Amis

  January 15, 2009

• Flea Market French

  Georges Guy is back in a big way with La Brocante Cafe.

  April 16, 2009

• The United Nations of Food at Phoenicia Specialty Foods

  December 25, 2008

• Nuevos Huevos at La Guadalupana Bakery and Café

  November 27, 2008

• Feast Is Bloody Brilliant

  November 20, 2008

• Busy Beaver's

  November 6, 2008

• Meat Lovers' Swordfight at Fuegovivo Churrascaria

  October 23, 2008

• Steak, Wine and Pie at Dharma Cafe

  September 11, 2008

• Great Jellyfish at East Wall Chinese Restaurant

  In the trendy Dun Huang Plaza, there's a new pretender to the Cantonese crown

  September 4, 2008

• A Long Way to Mango

  Photos by Katharine ShilcuttThe Burger at Mango'sIn the mood for something light, I made a trip over to the newly-reopened Mango's at lunch to try their new all-vegetarian menu firsthand.The freshly-painted exterior with its charming patio and the sunny interior seemed like they'd be the perfect day-brightener.  Sadly, the food at Mango's has a ways to go before it charms as well.To be fair, Mango's is still in its reopening infancy. It was the waitress' first day on the job, so she was unf

  April 16, 2009

• Snackshot: Sunday Feast

  Today's luscious Snackshot comes to us courtesy of Pixeltopia and Feast: From the photographer's description: "Sunday Brunch at Feast, on Westheimer" that included roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roasted parsnips, potatoes, rutabagas and carrots, grilled Brussels sprouts and bread pudding with raisins and marmalade.

  April 27, 2009

• Surprise!

  Pink's Pizza's Santa Monica has a hidden, delicious ingredient.

  May 7, 2009

• Manena's Magic

  May 7, 2009

• Cielo High

  A new Mexican bistro downtown serves up strong cocktails and tasty tapas for low prices.

  April 30, 2009

• The Steam Table Special at Country Kitchen

  Photos by Katharine Shilcutt Liver and onions with cabbage and stewed okraPassing by Country Kitchen on 11th Street in Timbergrove Manor, you could be forgiven for thinking that it's closed and long-abandoned.  The paint is peeling off the 1960s-era sign out front; the lawn plays host to an assortment of wildflowers and weeds; a horde of corrugated metal warehouses makes the small A-frame building seem out of place and time. But Country Kitchen comes alive at lunchtime during the we

  May 7, 2009

• Cooked Oyster Season: Big Easy Erster and Artichoke Soup

  The weather has turned warm and I have stopped eating raw oysters. But the oyster season isn't over yet. I bought a gallon of shucked oysters from Croatian oysterman Misho Ivic down in San Leon and I am cooking up a storm with them. Go buy yourself a couple of pints of shucked oysters and see for yourself. Just make sure you know what kind of oysters you are buying. Some grocery stores in Texas sell shucked Pacific oysters and some sell Gulf oysters. Pacific oysters are fine, but Gulf oysters

  May 12, 2009

• Peli-Peli

  May 14, 2009

• Pork and Beans on a Bun

  May 14, 2009

• Recession Lunching at Feast

  Photos by Katharine ShilcuttCalf's liver and bacon with mashed potatoes and spinach Feast's abundant lunch specials put other recession dining features to shame. Every weekday at lunch, Feast puts together a menu with two courses for $12.95 or three courses for $15.95. Last Wednesday, the appetizer list offered choices like spiced red lentil soup, Welsh rarebit and a salad with romaine, cucumber, radish and celery. The entrees were a choice of pork chop with bubble and squeak; calf's liver an

  May 14, 2009

• Shanghainese, If You Please

  May 21, 2009

• Farm Stand Junkie: Watermelons and Field Peas

  Photo by Robb WalshThe old split watermelon trick -- works every time. On me, anyway. On the way home from a Memorial Day car trip yesterday, I saw a wagon full of watermelons out on Highway 6, just before the entrance to 290, and I pulled the car over I hate to pass a well-stocked produce stand. I'm gripped by the fear that I might be missing something --like ripe mayhaws or fresh dewberries or something. And I especially hate to pass the stand from Dilorio Farms, because it's a working farm a

  May 26, 2009

• Curry in a Hurry

  May 28, 2009

• The Do-It-Yourself Bloody Mary Bar at the Cadillac Sunday Brunch

  Photo by Robb WalshWhen considering where to go for Sunday brunch, we too often allow meaningless considerations like the fluffiness of the pancakes or the quality of the smoked salmon to interfere with sound decision-making. Stop and think about it. What's really important on Sunday morning-- I mean, besides church. I am saying it's the quality of the bloody Mary that makes all the difference. And it's hard to beat the Bloody Marys at the Cadillac Bar on Shepherd -- that's because you make them

  June 5, 2009

• Hollister Hospitality

  June 18, 2009

• Texas Traveler: Luvianos in Kyle

  Photos by Mike GiglioOn a recent tail-between-legs retreat from a rough weekend in Austin -- sunburnt from a long float down the river, broke and dehydrated -- the Texas Traveler wanted only two things: free water and cheap sustenance.Luvianos in Kyle had plenty of both. Water-filled bags hung around the comfortable patio, supposedly to keep the flies away, and the glasses were both tall and wide, and constantly refilled despite the Sunday-brunch crowd.One regular described the fare as "real Mex

  July 23, 2009