Photos by Katharine Shilcutt

I had a lot of questions on my first visit to the new Kublai Khan Crazy Mongolian Stir-Fry on Milam: Why is there a weird indoor-outdoor bar greeting customers when they first walk into the heavy double doors? Why did a waitress take our drink orders and then claim that she didn't? How can having so much raw meat piled up on a buffet be a good thing?

But one question troubled me most, and it was this: What if I love the stir-fry dish I come up with but forget the ingredients I chose? I'll never be able to recreate that dish again.

Indeed, there are thousands upon thousands of possible recipes one could create by walking his tray down the cafeteria-style line, filling his stainless steel bowl with everything from raw octopus and cabbage to Thai curry powder and rosemary. It feels a little like an episode of Chopped, in which you're both creator and judge of your final dish.

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Justin Vann has a PSA.

Open the Taps: The big news this week is the passage of a few beer-related bills in the Texas Senate. Open the Taps has the rundown on what it means now that brewpubs' annual production limit has been raised to 10,000 barrels and breweries can sell beer directly to consumers for on-premise consumption.

29-95: If you've been wondering what former Oxheart sommelier Justin Vann has been up to since parting ways with the Warehouse District restaurant, Alison Cook has the scoop. Vann has started his own wine consulting company, PSA, with a line-up of small mom-and-pop spots that includes craft beer favorite D&Q in Montrose.

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Eric Junker

After food finished killing rock and roll, it apparently stole the genre's poster artists too.

It could be said that the Age of the Foodie has arrived.

Food is the topic of interest across more conversations than simply what the current fad diet is or what restaurant you ate at for your anniversary. Food is everything these days.

Hell, it's even being blamed for killing rock and roll.

Food is politics, from arguments for federal labeling of genetically modified foods to the Supreme Court siding with agricultural juggernaut Monsanto, from government subsidies of corn producers to state laws regulating the labeling and sale of foods and beverages.

Food is health, from concerns over high-fructose corn syrup and the recently questioned benefits of organic produce to the national (and often comorbid) epidemics of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and high cholesterol, from the proliferation of vegan and paleo diets to the discovery that every kid you know is allergic to gluten, dairy, peanuts or some combination thereof.

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Photos by Christina Uticone

Plastic tubs of joy.

A couple of months ago I was waxing nostalgic about some of my favorite forbidden foods. Everyone has them -- items you can't keep in the house because you just eat them, all in one sitting, until the bag/jar/box is empty. About a month after I made that list, I went home to visit my parents in New York, and a new item was added to my list.

Cool Whip Frosting.

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Photo by jinxmcc

I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don't make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredient's I've bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter What's Cooking This Week - my weekly meal plan and grocery guide. This way, I can make the most of my ingredients and my leftovers.

Last week, tomato, corn & black bean salsa topped Breakfast Tacos and was served alongside Broiled Tilapia. This week, a grilled eggplant is paired with Pork Tenderloin and remade into a Eggplant Caprese Salad.

Here's the rest of the plan:

Turkey Sausage Subs w/ Basil Mayo

Orecchiete w/ Broccoli Rabe & Sausage

Pork Tenderloin with Spicy Seared Eggplant

Grilled Eggplant Caprese Salad

Pork, Rappini & Mozzarella Panini

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Photo by Troy Fields

Triniti.

29-95: Can a national media outlet really name the "top" restaurants across the country without putting in the legwork that people such as barbecue blogger Daniel Vaughn do, driving over 10,000 miles to visit 'cue joints for his book Prophets of Smoked Meat? That's the question Syd Kearney asks in a post that addresses "why some barbecue 'best of' lists are suspect."

Chow Bella: You may remember a story out of Arizona three years ago in which a bakery owner -- quickly nicknamed "Crazy Amy" for reasons which will be made clear in a moment -- went on an Internet rage spree after receiving a negative Yelp review of her business, Amy's Baking Company. Owner Amy Bouzaglo is in the news again, this time with husband Samy, after appearing on a recently-aired episode of Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares. After deciding that Amy's Baking Company was too far gone to save, Ramsey quit -- the first time he's ever done so -- and left the Bouzaglos to rage harder against the Internet than ever before, mostly on their very own business Facebook page. Caution: Caps lock ahead.

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A California restaurant chain does deserve credit for being one badass mother.

So you managed to take your mother somewhere halfway nice for Mother's Day this past Sunday. Congratulations. I'm sure she's happy just to spend time with you.

But what's this? You've forgotten to pick up a card? All this planning will be for nothing! Except if you were dining at the Lazy Dog Cafe in Huntington Beach, California, this last weekend. Because the Lazy Dog Cafe has your back.

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My grandmother, her grandchild and her kitchen, 30 years ago.

"It's hog killin' weather," my grandmother announced in weary voice, her East Texas twang hobbling the words as they spilled out. It's hawg killun waythuh. She sat her purse down on the kitchen counter and shuffled into the living room as my mother closed the garage door behind us with a sigh. No one seemed to care that I'd run over the lawn mower with my grandmother's silver Buick as we were parking.

We had just returned from an existentially exhausting dinner at Cheddar's. It's one of the less depressing chains to emerge from Dallas, among its more offensive North Texas counterparts such as On the Border or Chili's. Cheddar's has stacked limestone walls and gently rotating wicker fans that circulate the air over fishbowl-sized margaritas and bug-eyed waiters near the frayed edge of patience amid the nighly chaos. Cheddar's makes its food from scratch. This is an important point. Many mid-range table-service chains such as these toss vacuum-sealed bags into vats of boiling water and pass pre-fab entrées under conveyor-belt equipped broilers. I know a guy who once got smacked square in the face with a frozen block of queso while working as a line cook at one such joint. So, fresh is better.

But as I could see it that evening, this is all that Cheddar's had going for it. My grandmother seemed about as impressed with her dinner as I'd been with mine. And that was the most curious part of all.

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Photo by Andrea_Nguyen

I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don't make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredient's I've bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter What's Cooking This Week - my weekly meal plan and grocery guide. This way, I can make the most of my ingredients and my leftovers.

Last week, chopped rib-eye filled a hot-giardiniera-topped Philly Cheese Steak and was remade into Creamy Steak Taquitos. This week, Buttermilk Fried Chicken is served hot one night, then served again "picnic style" alongside a lightened Creamy Coleslaw.

Here's the rest of the plan:

Buttermilk Fried Chicken with Corn on the Cob & Tomato Salad

Tilapia with Grilled Corn, Tomato & Black Bean Salsa

Picnic Drumsticks & Thighs with Lighter Creamy Coleslaw

Potato & Bacon Breakfast Tacos

Bacon, Swiss & Tomato Melts with Creamy Slaw

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Boheme: a safe haven in Montrose.

B4ttlesong: "I was lecturing John Letoto about the virtues of getting completely wasted, every once in a while," begins sommelier Justin Vann in his latest philosophical post on B4ttlesong. "The minimum number I threw out was once a year." I'll just let you read on from there...

Eater Houston: If you didn't get a chance to drop into the brand-new Eleven XI when it opened its doors to the public last night, check out the photos and first look at chef Kevin Bryant's new restaurant at Eater.

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