When did South Post Oak go Salvadorean? I counted three new pupucerias south of 90A, including this charming pupusa trailer near the intersection of Tidewater.
What $13 gets you: Some not-too-bad barbecue from the city’s biggest corporate chain of barbecue restaurants
I never much cared for Pappas Bar-B-Q. The barbecue sauce is thin, the links and ribs are nothing special and I still don’t get the appeal of sliced beef served atop a giant baked potato. Plus, the food there isn’t expensive but it isn’t cheap either. Add fries and a drink to that sandwich and you’re up to about ten bucks.
But there are things to like – it just took me a few visits to find them.
The fabulous rustic Alpino salami is $8.99 a pound, the Russian smoked ham is $6.49 a pound, and the ready-to-eat hunter’s sausage called kabanosy is $4.79 a pound. Pastry-filled meat pockets (pierohi) are $.70 each.
The book even recommends recipes based on the season, time of day, or stage of the relationship. Not sure if we're buying that last part, but bring on the oysters and, um, the libations/alcohol.And by the way, you can find many of those ingredients - fresher than fresh - at the Midtown Farmers Market at Monica Pope's t'afia each Saturday.
Mother's Day is right around the corner (May 11), and if you're looking for the ultimate food and wine experience for dear old Mom, don't miss this: the Dom Perignon Buffet Brunch at the Marriott Westchase (2900 Briarpark Drive).
The restaurant is offering limitless glasses of Dom Perignon champagne, served in gorgeous stemware with their own twin holders, for $99.95. (Have you priced a bottle of Dom recently?) Everything on the buffet is first class, from the three types of caviar to the incredible handmade desserts.
$99.95 too expensive? You can still get the same incredible food and limitless glasses of Chandon champagne for $35.95. After a couple glasses, she'll never notice the difference. -- Paul Galvani
¡Que irónico! The beloved taco truck culture of Los Angeles is under attack from an Hispanic politician.
District 1 County Supervisor Gloria Molina has asked the L.A. Board of Supervisors for new rules that threaten to put the city's taco trucks out of business. Under Supervisor Molina’s regulations, all mobile food operations, including taco trucks, would be required to change locations every hour, or face a misdemeanor charge carrying a $1,000 fine and/or jail. This would end the now common practice of each taco truck parking at the same spot every day.
Olivia Flores Alvarez
Where: Candelari’s Pizzeria, 6001 Washington Avenue, 832-200-1474
What $13 gets you: We tried the lunch special which includes soup, salad, pizza, pasta, dessert and a drink for $10.50 (available seven days a week). We also tried two by-the-slice slices of pizza, salad and a drink for just under $13.
I had the sausage pizza and pepperoni pizza from the buffet, while my partner had two slices with feta cheese and red peppers. We also taste-tested the cold pesto pasta salad and hot noodles with meat sauce, both of which were about the right temperature, but lacking in flavor.
Turns out it’s a franchise. The guy behind the counter told me they used an Old Hickory barbecue pit, which is one of those stainless steel virtual barbecue contraptions that cooks with gas or electric heat with a little bit of smoke.
I got a mushy brisket sandwich to go and ate it in my car. I couldn’t detect any smoke aroma or flavor. While I was sitting there eating my crappy sandwich, I stared into the adjacent parking lot. I watched a guy over there remove a blue plastic tarp from an outbuilding to reveal an honest-to-god Texas barbecue pit. He started loading it up as I watched.
The Houston International Festival is here, and it's not just about the music and performances either - don't forget the food. Sample the cuisines of Africa at the H-E-B Cultural Stage, where celebrity and local chefs will be doing cooking demonstrations several times a day. There will also be food from more than 50 of Houston's restaurants and caterers, offering a tempting array of international cuisines. For information, visit www.ifest.org.
Local purists might chose to celebrate this momentous holiday with dried root from Té House of Tea or a whip from The Chocolate Bar, but we're heading to the nearest corner store to get a wonderfully heavy tummy all over again. -- Keith Plocek
The Bayou City Farmers’ Market, in the parking lot behind 3000 Richmond, is my favorite Saturday morning hang-out. There's live music, Katz's coffee and free samples from Susan Holle, a cheesemaker from Sealy who goes by the name of Cheesygirl.
There's a craft table for kids — on a recent Saturday, the ankle-biters were potting free tomato plants. They also had some ducks and chickens to pet.
I always buy some yard eggs and a sack of fresh produce (sorrel, beets and chard, most recently). Strawberries looked good. Flowers and herbs are a bargain.
Click here for a slideshow. – Robb Walsh
Our latest find in the bi-cultural burger department is the soy and teriyaki barbecue sauce-flavored “Bulgoki Burger” at the Korean-owned Burger House on the Gulf Freeway near Hobby Airport.
Patrons describe the joint as the “poor man’s Fuddruckers” because they cook never-been-frozen burger patties to order and then offer a salad bar arrayed with condiments so you can dress the sandwich yourself. The regular burgers are tasty, but not worth a detour.
Kevin Munz doesnt do anything small. After making his fortune with his enormous pawn shops, he decided: Big it is. His new restaurant, Cullen's Upscale American Grill, (11500 Space Center Blvd., 713-481-3463), is 38,000 square feet. That's not a typo -- it's 38,000 square feet, ten times the size of your average restaurant. Munz has spent two-and-a-half years and more than $10 million on the place, and the result is extravagance previously unknown to the Bay Area. Think Vegas and then some. The main dining room seats 250; in total, the place can accommodate 700. It's got 11 banquet rooms and an all-glass private dining room suspended from the ceiling. There's a live music stage and a ballroom.
What $13 gets you: A giant slab of crispy fried chicken, a bowl of thick cream gravy and a stack of seasoned fries so tasty you and your little ones will be saying “mmmm” with every bite.
The Press has done much to celebrate chicken fried steak but has said little about the wonders of chicken fried chicken. As a midwesterner, I'd never seen either on a menu until moving to Texas. To me, CFC is the better of the two. And Jax Grill does CFC right. As my gal likes to say, it has all the essential yellow food groups.
