For the next 20 weeks, we'll be rounding up the runners-up to our 2011 Best of Houston® winners. In many categories, picking each year's winner is no easy task. We'll be spotlighting 20 of those categories, in which the winner had hefty competition from other Houston bars and restaurants.
Photo by Groovehouse As seen at our Cupcake Smackdown, people go nuts over tiny cakes.
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Leading up to this Sunday's showdown between the Giants and the Patriots (go Big Blue!), we've been offering up recipes and ideas for those of you brave souls who are hosting Super Bowl parties at home. And if you've decided that you don't want to take the easy way out by ordering a party pack of barbecue, here are some tips to keep in mind this Sunday.
Photo by Ed T. It doesn't have to look like the old Felix stuff, but you'd better guaran-goddamn-tee that you've got some queso at your Super Bowl party.
According to my wonderful Facebook friends, all of the things below are must-haves for any Super Bowl viewing party. Although I've successfully managed to avoid attending most Super Bowl parties throughout my 31 years (too much yelling, and far too much forced fraternization with the often-boring significant others of acquaintances or co-workers), these are all foods and beverages which I can attest to having seen at every Super Bowl function I've attended. (Many of these standards can also be seen at other important Texas gatherings: church potlucks, funerals, graduation parties, quinceñearas, etc.) Your mileage may vary.
10. Tortilla pinwheels
I think these are the pimento cheese sandwiches of Texas. You see them everywhere and no one can actually remember who brought them to the party. They just appear mysteriously, like Brigadoon, before fading back into the post-game mist. But not before you've polished most of them off, because they're actually crazy delicious.
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For the next 20 weeks, we'll be rounding up the runners-up to our 2011 Best of Houston® winners. In many categories, picking each year's winner is no easy task. We'll be spotlighting 20 of those categories, in which the winner had hefty competition from other Houston bars and restaurants.
Does that burger have Fritos and refried beans on top? Yes. Welcome to Texas.
Houston has a lot of burgers. A lot. We could do a dozen different Top 10 posts on just the different styles: gourmet, steakhouse, fast-food, burger stand, veggie, old-fashioned -- you get the drift.
Instead of that, we've picked 10 of our favorites from around the city that all represent the many different styles you can find in Houston. If you like burgers, you're guaranteed to find at least one burger that's "your type" on the list.
If not, you know the drill: Yell at us in the comments section until you feel better.
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Tuesday's news that a homeless woman had been arrested for "offering BJs" in exchange for Chicken McNuggets at an L.A.-area McDonald's sunk the whole fast food-crime genre to a new low. For years, there have been an increasing number of weird and silly fast food-related crimes, but this latest one was just sad.
We're still not sure if Cheeseburger Josh is real...
"Khadijah Baseer, 31, was reportedly going car to car, asking drive-thru customers if they'd buy her some McNuggets in exchange for a blowjob," said the LA Weekly in its write-up of the incident.
"She used to go out there in the past asking for money, but this time..." said LAPD Lieutenant John Dilibert of Baseer's activities. The poor woman was starving. All that she had to offer the world was oral sex, and all that the world had to offer her at that moment was a 10-piece box of pre-fabbed chicken nuggets. Like I said, it's a genuinely sad story.
But there are plenty of fast food-related crimes that aren't as sad; crimes that are gleefully amusing in their stupidity and that don't make you weep for humanity quite as much. Here are our top 10.
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For the next 20 weeks, we'll be rounding up the runners-up to our 2011 Best of Houston® winners. In many categories, picking each year's winner is no easy task. We'll be spotlighting 20 of those categories, in which the winner had hefty competition from other Houston bars and restaurants.
My own personal version of heaven, served up at our No. 1 pick.
Houston has two world-class sushi restaurants headed its way in 2012: Uchi, to open in the old Felix space at Montrose and Westheimer, and Katsuya by Starck, which will become another tenant in the tony West Ave development. Our sushi landscape will undoubtedly change dramatically with these two heavy-hitters, which could render this entire list moot shortly.
But for now, here are our top picks for when you get the raw fish jones.
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For the next 20 weeks, we'll be rounding up the runners-up to our 2011 Best of Houston® winners. In many categories, picking each year's winner is no easy task. We'll be spotlighting 20 of those categories, in which the winner had hefty competition from other Houston bars and restaurants.
KIDDING. But seriously, the fried chicken here is outstanding. Get that.
For the next 20 weeks, we'll be rounding up the runners-up to our 2011 Best of Houston® winners. In many categories, picking each year's winner is no easy task. We'll be spotlighting 20 of those categories, in which the winner had hefty competition from other Houston bars and restaurants.
No.
For the next 20 weeks, we'll be rounding up the runners-up to our 2011 Best of Houston® winners. In many categories, picking each year's winner is no easy task. We'll be spotlighting 20 of those categories, in which the winner had hefty competition from other Houston bars and restaurants.
Fried oysters even come on the brunch plates at our No. 1 pick.
D&W Lounge.
"I know it when I see it." - Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, on correctly identifying pornography. Also applies to dive bars.
The dive distinction is complicated. Used to be you could stick a bar in the non-dive phylum if a web jukebox were present. But nowadays there are dives that still feel like coming down in a Greyhound station (in a good way?) even though you can download the Carpenters on the jukebox, if you're so inclined.
Dirt doesn't make a dive. Every bar is dirty. I'm not going to lick the floor at Red Lion, not unless I spill something really expensive, but that doesn't mean it's a dive. No matter what Guy Fieri says.
As for patrons, the West Alabama Ice House has a rode-hard crew of regulars, but since the place started dressing nicer (and flying a Greek flag, for some reason) it hasn't felt the same. A great neighborhood place - or a semblance of its former, grittier self, depending on who you ask - but not so much a dive any longer.
Then there are bars that give me particular trouble. La Carafe and Warren's - if they were college football recruits, I'd give them the amorphous "athlete" distinction and slap a rare five-star ranking next to their names. Despite the rating, I didn't include either on this list, and it's difficult to explain why. They have a timeless quality that doesn't make pigeonholing them impossible, but it does feel sacrilegious. Is Blood on the Tracks a rock and roll album? Stop typing, music geeks, that was rhetorical.
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For the next 20 weeks, we'll be rounding up the runners-up to our 2011 Best of Houston® winners. In many categories, picking each year's winner is no easy task. We'll be spotlighting 20 of those categories, in which the winner had hefty competition from other Houston bars and restaurants.
Photo by Troy Fields Two scoops from our No. 4 pick.
But Katharine, you may be saying. It's December. I don't want ice cream right now.
To which I say: Tough. Here are some ice cream places for you anyway. Because I just ate four Snickers ice cream bars last night and a pint of Graeter's black raspberry last week and I am here to tell you that it is never too cold for ice cream. Especially in Houston. Especially this year. It's December! is never an excuse.
And you know what? I bet you anything you'll want some ice cream too when this is all said and done. If it makes you feel better, winter your scoops up by pouring hot fudge on top. You're welcome.
[Note: For purposes of this list, I included only ice cream and frozen custard. There is now enough great gelato in Houston to merit a list of its own one day...]
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