Houston Food Blog

​A plate of churros and a mug of hot chocolate is the best dessert on the menu at Hugo's, the upscale Mexican restaurant on Westheimer. A churro is a Mexican donut made by pushing dough through a nozzle into a deep fryer. The nozzle gives the long, stick-shaped donut pronounced ridges, which trap the cinnamon and sugar topping.

At Hugo's, the kitchen doesn't fry the churros until they are ordered, so they're served piping hot. Hugo's fills the hollow tube inside the donut with dulce de leche and serves it on a plate with a little scoop of mocha ice cream. But I can't afford to pay ten dollars every time I want a Mexican donut. So I had to find some alternate suppliers.

Today's seasonal Snackshot comes to us courtesy of mockbird and a pumpkin patch:

From the photographer's description:

"Pumpkins." (She's apparently a woman of few words.)

Today's steaming Snackshot comes to us courtesy of Erika Ray and last weekend's Houston Hot Sauce Festival.

​From the photographer's description:

"Crawfish sausage in a pita with sauteed onions. YUM."

This week's sweet Snackshot comes to us courtesy of mlsnp and the House of Blues:

From the photographer's description:

"Dessert table at a private event ~ House of Blues Houston"

This week's succulent Snackshot comes to us courtesy of Stone Burner and a delicious pig.

From the photographer's description:

"Carnitas on normal corn tortillas."

This week's snappy Snackshot comes to us courtesy of Gary R. Wise and a recent Caesar salad-making class hosted by Carla Cardini herself, the original Caesar Cardini's great-grand-niece.

​From the photographer's descrption:

"Carla Cardini held a Caesar salad class for Houston Chowhounds at the very hospitable Culinaire Catering Aug 24th 2009.

Carla is the granddaughter of Alex Cardini, brother of Caesar, after whom the salad is named. However, it was invented to give local pilots something to munch on while drinking, hence its original name, 'The Aviator Salad.'"

Today's sweet Snackshot comes to us courtesy of viva_victoria and the Discovery Green Farmer's Market:

​From the photographer's description: "Squashes and Melons and Puppies Oh My! Puppy checks out the farmers' market display, pondering an attack."

Today's fail-tastic Snackshot comes to us courtesy of my mother and her vast collection of embarrassing photos.

This is how not to frost a cake. My family refers to it as the Stroke Cake to this day.

This week's Snackshot comes to us courtesy of Erika Ray:

From the photographer's description:

"Peach tomato salad."

Today's sweet Snackshot is courtesy of Baby Loves Jellies and some Ball jars filled with joy:

From the photographer's description:

"Jalapeño-peach preserves."

This week's sugary Snackshot comes to us courtesy of Gary R. Wise and Maison Burdisso:

"Maison Burdisso Parisian Macarons
At Farmer's Market every Saturday
3701 Travis Street
Houston TX 77002"

This week's summery Snackshot comes to us courtesy of Erika Ray and Froberg Farm.

From the photographer's description:

"My friend Jon and I visited Froberg Farm in Alvin last weekend to pick up some goodies. It was so much fun and such a great Saturday-morning activity. I hope this is the first of many farm visits."

This week's old school Snackshot comes to us courtesy of Samantha Bales and the good folks at Lone Star Beer.

From the photographer's description:

"peace. love. & lone star."

This week's enormous Snackshot comes to us courtesy of Groovehouse and Beaver's Ice House.

From the photographer's description:

"Shrimp & Oyster Po-Boy with house made chips."

From the online menu:
Bad-Ass Po-Boy Sandwich
'Overflowing with cornmeal-fried oysters & Gulf shrimp, slaw, crispy onions & spicy tartar sauce.'"

This week's interesting Snackshot comes to us courtesy of Gary Wise and Filipiniana.

From the photographer's description:

"Pork cooked in blood, served on traditional cheese bread roll. Delicious, and not what you'd think!"

This week's Snackshot comes from wtfsamho and Tomo Sushi.

From the photographer's description:

"Sushi." (He's a man of few words.)

This week's peculiar Snackshot comes from Plinio Sandalio, also known as fuzzzycatt on Flickr.

From the photographer's description:

"Fried corncakes, hot dog ketchup, yellow American mustard ice cream."

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.

Today's thirst-quenching Snackshot comes to us from aynsavoy and Empire Café.

From the photographer's description:

"At Empire Cafe. I can never resist when we go there. So refreshing!"

Today's savory Snackshot comes to us from aynsavoy and Café Rabelais.

From the photographer's description:

"I don't remember the exact names of the cheeses, but one was like an Emmenthaler, one was like brie, and one was almost bleu in taste. Very good in all, and the fruit and nut mix was nice."

Today's savory Snackshot comes to us from shnewell and Indika.

From the photographer's description:

"The dahi poori appetizer at Indika on Westheimer. Each one is like a little puff of deliciousness!"

This week's Snackshot comes to us courtesy of Erika Ray and Hubcap Grill:

From the photographer's description:

"Now, Michael is from New Orleans and knows his muffalettas. He knows the difference between a great muffaletta burger, a mediocre muffaletta burger and a that's-for-people-who-don't-know-any-better muffaletta burger. This one was described as 'muffalicious' so I think that definitely falls into the first category."

This week's sweet Snackshot comes to us courtesy of groovehouse and Brasil.

From the photographer's description:

"$4 Waffle with Fruit from Brasil. Worth every penny. Olive and Feta Scone in the background with Fresh Squeezed OJ and Coffee. Good enough for a One Night Stand!"

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.

This morning's Snackshot comes to us courtesy of aynsavoy and Farrago:

From the photographer's description:

"Cioppino at Farrago, near my office in Midtown. Snapper, tillapia, mussels, and shrimp in a tomato bell pepper stew with chipotle. I would go back just to have this again, although I think I'd eat anything on their menu.

UPDATE: I went back twice in the following two weeks, and did in fact order this again."

While some fuss has been made over the new food at Minute Maid Park this year -- Aramark is now offering items such as "healthy" salads, fish tacos, various vegetarian items and a rather unappealing-sounding "tumbled Texas chicken" -- it's the classics that people will continue to turn to at ball games: hot dogs, crappy beer and nachos.

Today's Snackshot finds us gazing longingly into the oozing jumble of nachos seen below, a submission to the Houston Press Flickr Pool.  Each Monday, we'll feature the best food picture from the previous week here on Eating Our Words, so get out there and submit your photos!

Photo courtesy of Erika Ray

From the photographer's description: "Astros v. Cubs last night...it was kinda ugly, but the nachos were great!"

Boy, don't we know it.