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One of the things I look forward to all year is the Super Bowl. This is not because I care about what steroid-injected hard body is running toward what end zone; it is simply because of the impressive display of food, specifically the big sandwich. All year I dream of the big sandwich, waiting until it once again winds its way across my house, leaving crumbs of cheap Italian bread caked into my carpet.

Austin came to Houston last week on a rolling food and beverage tour promoting the upcoming Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival.

The biggest news? “Now you can drink from morning way into morning again,” announced Stephanie Bailey, who is handling the sponsorships for the April 10-13 event. In order to attract a younger crowd to the merits of fine wine and dining, they’re planning on piling on more late night events than ever before. Those should go especially well when followed up by a Hair of the Chihuahua breakfast (with drinks of course) on that Saturday.

Held at a luncheon at Reef (Travis and McGowen), the preview event had Houston chefs pitching in to show what they will be taking to the Austin festival, which usually attracts between 9,000 and 11,000 visitors. Jason Gould of Gravitas used native ingredients to make a Texas Goat Cheese Strudel and pickled mushroom salad. Mark Cox of Mark’s presented Texas quail stuffed with forest mushrooms, foie gras, and squash. Bryan Caswell of Reef provided the Grand Ilse Sheepshead in an oyster broth and Maria Ela of Reef cooked up a roasted pear bruschetta and gelato. (Of course, they’ll cook up this stuff for you here if you don’t want to travel to Austin.)

Benton’s is the “bacon of the month” around my house. You can smell the hickory smoke right through the plastic wrapper.

Maybe you’ve heard of the Grateful Palate’s Bacon of the Month Club? It’s a clever idea for bacon lovers, but the prices are a little ridiculous – $150 for twelve packages of bacon?

One of the Grateful Palate’s “platinum premium bacons” is from Benton’s in Tennessee. I sampled some of Benton’s bacon and country ham after Allan Benton was featured at a Southern Foodways Alliance gathering.

Where: Sabor!, 5712 Bellaire, 713-667-6001

What $13 gets you: Delicious authentically prepared Central American specialties.

Sabor! is best known for its fajitas ($11.95) and seafood entrees, such as whole fried tilapia ($8.95) and black clams ($8.50). But I go for the simple, traditional fare – pupusas, plantains, tamales.

I don’t usually like tamales since they’re too often mushy and bland. The tamales you see in local markets come in scary fluorescent-orange husks that look greasy and gross. The tamales at Sabor! are nothing like these. They’re delicate and sweet, like moist cake.

I use the largest size oyster knife, which is known as a “Galveston knife.” It has a very sturdy four-inch blade. Dexter/Russell makes a version with a white plastic handle which is available in any Houston restaurant supply store for ten bucks or so. Or you can order one online.

The Galveston Knife is one of many styles of oyster knife that became popular in the heyday of the oyster. Here’s a great online guide to oyster knives for aficionados.

The cheapest place to eat oysters is in your backyard. Don't forget the Meyer lemons!

Thanks to the cold weather, the local oysters are putting on an extra coat of fat and they are sweeter than ever. So where’s the best place to eat them?

Unfortunately, the oyster happy hour at Danton’s on Montrose has come to an end. A reader named Mike Copenhaver told me in an e-mail that he found out about the change in price when got the bill for four dozen at $9.50 per dozen.

That’s kind of high. A couple of calls around town reveals that the new Jimmy Wilson’s Seafood and Chop House at 5161 San Felipe is charging $7 a dozen. Valentino’s at 20801 Gulf Freeway in Webster is getting $6 a dozen. Pappa’s Brothers Seafood House on the Gulf Freeway at Woodbridge has some really cheap oyster specials on the weekends. (Call 713-641-0318 for details.)

Personally, I buy a hundred count sack and shuck them myself. If you call Steve Berreth at Airline Seafood on Richmond at 713-526-2351 one day in advance, he’ll order a sack for you. It’s $30, which comes out to 30 cents each or $3.60 a dozen. You have to scrub them first, since they’re usually quite muddy, but it’s worth the effort.

As you may have gathered from that Sex and the City marathon you caught over Christmas, it has recently become socially acceptable – even trendy – for grownups to eat cupcakes. Although the nationwide trend seems to have died down somewhat (I’m pretty sure having a wedding cake made entirely of cupcakes on the Today Show helped with that), Houston’s cupcake spots are still popping up and better be ready to hang in for the long haul.

For those looking for the mature version of their childhood treat, there’s Sugarbaby’s (3310 South Shepherd). The bright pink walls of this Shepherd cupcake boutique are almost as sugary sweet as the smell that surrounds you when you enter.

As a grown-up, I am supposed to be delighted by things like renaming red velvet cake “Velvet Rouge.” Saying things in French makes them taste more delicious, right? Clearly I am the only one put off by this title, since I am told that this particular flavor is a bestseller. I decide to get over myself long enough to order one. I also go with the preciously pink strawberry, topped off with an even lighter pink strawberry icing. My friend opts for the carrot cake and a simple vanilla.

Chicharron de barriga tastes like crispy fried bacon

Searching for a late night snack after a night out, I found myself at La Michoacana Meat Market # 10 at Gessner near the West Park Toll Road. Unfortunately, the kitchen was closing up when I walked in, so I couldn’t get a taco. I wandered over to the meat counter in the back of the store to see what they had ready to eat. There were a lot of chicharrones, but not much else.

As I have complained here before, I love the bacon-like chicharrones you get in the carnicerias of Monterrey, Mexico, but I hate the crumbly fat puffs that pass for chicharrones around here. I was about to give up and go get some fried chicken, when I noticed the bin that said “chicharron de barriga.” It looked a lot meatier than the other kind, so I asked for a tiny sample. It turned out to be a meaty, bacon-flavored fried pork strip of exactly the kind I’ve been looking for.

Where: Mama’s Cafe, 6019 Westheimer, 713-266-8514

What $13 gets you: A sort-of hangover – cotton-mouth thirsty, red-faced tired, a little nauseous and a lot irritable.

I’m a sucker for comfort food. And the fact that I’ve been to Mama’s Cafe three times in the last several months shows I’m also a sucker for places that falsely advertise comfort food. Mama’s Cafe – which boasts several San Antonio locations – is kinda like Denny’s, I think. It’s got the whole diner-theme going on, though it’s all so neatly packaged that it’s anything but.

$13 will buy you pretty much anything on the menu – except for the shrimp and steak entrees. There’s the chicken fried chicken salad ($7.99) and a long lineup of specialty burgers such as the Texas Twister, which includes cheddar, bacon, fried jalapeno strips and chipotle ranch ($7.99). There are also a few Tex-Mex specialties, including the just-awful-sounding Sancho Panza, a chopped sirloin steak stuffed with jalapenos and cheddar then topped with chili and queso. Just thinking about it makes my forehead sweat.

If you’re like me, you’ll go for oddball comfort food such as liver and onions ($7.49) or meatloaf ($8.49). The stuff mama used to make. Well, not my mama. But somebody’s mama, right?

Matamoros Meat Market No. 4 on Washington Ave. was once my favorite carniceria. It was simply a meat market that sold tacos, and it was part of the inspiration for this series.

The first time I lined up to buy tacos there seven years ago (“The Authenticity Myth,” October 26, 2000), I wrote: “At Matamoros Meat Market No. 4 on Washington Avenue, I stand before a glass case filled with glistening pieces of roasted buche (pork stomach), deep-fried chicharrones (crunchy fat) and several choices of stewed meats in long trays.”

When I went back six years later, the meat case had been removed. Now there was a taqueria with stainless-steel counters and stools where the butcher shop used to be. In an article about the gentrification of Washington Ave., (“Where Carnitas Meet Foie Gras,” March 16, 2006) I compared the $4 fajita plate at the newly revamped Matamoros Meat Market No. 4 with the $18 fajita plate at El Tiempo, the expansive new Tex-Mex eatery that had recently opened next door.

Where: Pollo Riko, 7229 Fondren, 713-271-4321

What $13 gets you: Enough food to feed a family, and then some.

One visit to Pollo Riko and you’ll never buy another dried-out bird from the grocery. Here, the chicken skin is crisp and the meat is moist, if a little salty. By itself, a whole roast chicken is $8.29; a half goes for $5.09.

My family prefers the whole roast chicken combo for $10.89, which includes a stack of warm corn tortillas and a choice of two sides, including red beans and rice, roasted red potatoes, fries, corn on the cob, fried yucca, Cole slaw and a Caesar salad. Add a large Dr. Pepper for $.93 and – poof! – supper is served.

Where: Café Montrose, 1609 Westheimer, 713-523-1201

What $13 gets you: An array of fine-dining options in an upscale but unpretentious environment.

The Belgian restaurant Café Montrose is best known for its moules frites – mussels and hand-cut French fries accompanied by homemade mayo for dipping. It has twice won in the “Best Mussels” category of our annual “Best of Houston” issue, and deservedly so. Mussels at Café Montrose are prepared seven ways, including with escargot butter, curry sauce and parmesan. A large order, which comes with fries, breaks our bank at $18; a small order, which includes about two dozen bivalves but sadly no fries, is $8.

Where: D’Amico’s Italian Lunch Market Café, 5510 Morningside, 713-526-3400

What $13 gets you: A dream come true

This Rice Village trattoria has such an adorably clichéd décor, it feels like something out of Epcot’s Italian Pavilion. Complete with Lady & the Tramp style red & white gingham tablecloths, plates on the walls, and olive oil and grated parmesan on every table, you’ll be happy to walk out with a full belly and no (Mickey) mouse-sightings.

Although there is an extensive menu with a variety of tempting low-cost items including paninis with smoked mozzarella or prosciutto di Parma ($5.95 to $7.50) and ten-inch thin crust pizzas with similar toppings ($6.95 to $10.95), for a mere $6.95 (weekdays only) you can choose any three items from the “Steam Table Special.” All of the dishes on this list change daily, excluding the house salad, meatballs and Italian sausage. It should be noted that although they are sectioned off TV-dinner style, all three items are served on one plate, so as tempting as that flan may sound, you may re-think it when it starts to slide towards your snapper Milanese. I was surprised to see so many of my fellow patrons going for the house salad (clearly not getting full-value), and opted instead for a trio consisting of meatball, pasta pesto, and, since there was no more chicken Vesuvio, crab cake.

The largest section of my plate held a heaping portion of the bowtie-style pasta pesto decorated generously with pine nuts. I was also pleasantly surprised to find pieces of chicken breast scattered throughout (though I will give a quick warning to vegetarians, ask before you order). Presented with a simple wedge of lemon, the lightly battered crab cake was simple and delicious. Next to the crab sat the hearty and flavorful meatball in a tangy red-sauce with a sprinkling of parmesan on top. After one bite, it was easy to see why this remains a house staple. Considering the amount of food D’Amico’s offers up, half way through my meal I realized the house salad option probably would have been a nice break.