Email Author Margaret L. Briggs

2000 Stories by Margaret L. Briggs

• Our Daily Bread... And More

  published June 1, 2000

  It's got to be one of the most relaxed gigs in the restaurant world: Chef/caterer Ann Swain, who owns the lunchroom at Autry House, is open... More >>

• Currying No Favor

  published May 25, 2000

  I can't decide if the first sign of trouble at The Classic Tandoor restaurant was the décor or the Musak. I suppose it... More >>

• Moving Up the Food Chain

  published May 18, 2000

  I never visited the original Ostioneria Puerto Vallarta on Lawndale, so I never mourned its passing the way some of my friends do.... More >>

• Eighth Wonder of the Cajun World

  published May 11, 2000

  Curved and turreted, the former nightclub that now houses Rodeaux Cajun Palace reminds me of a miniature Astrodome. Okay, maybe a cross... More >>

• Love at First Bite

  published May 4, 2000

  When I fall in love with a restaurant, I fall hard. I wake up thrilled like a kid on Christmas morning, only my first thought is, "Today I know... More >>

• An Ideal Place?

  published April 27, 2000

  In a city blessed with a vast horizontal expanse of excellent Vietnamese restaurants, I suppose there's only one way for a Saigon-style newcomer... More >>

• Hole Foods

  published April 20, 2000

  I first visited the Hobbit's new home last fall, about a month after brothers Raymond and Forrest Edmonds finally reopened in a half-timbered... More >>

• Big Meal on Campus

  published April 13, 2000

  I was skeptical when I heard that Eric's Restaurant had reopened on the University of Houston campus. This hands-on laboratory setting for... More >>

• 43 Skiddoo

  published April 6, 2000

  43 Brasserie, 4315 Montrose Boulevard, (713)874-0043. More >>

• Blue Highways

  published March 30, 2000

  Just past the San Luis Pass toll bridge that joins the western tip of Galveston Island to the mainland was a billboard for the Red Snapper... More >>

• All Joking Aside

  published March 23, 2000

  That compact commercial strip of Mid Lane between Westheimer and San Felipe makes me gnash my teeth in frustration. Could it get any shorter,... More >>

• Feeder Road Pho

  published March 16, 2000

  Too many Houston restaurants are in strip shopping centers, have you noticed? It's one of the quirks of our metropolitan dining experience I find... More >>

• Inner-City Suburban

  published March 9, 2000

  One of the many things I like about Montrose is its defiant rejection of cookie-cutter, franchised theme restaurants. It's a source of... More >>

• Eenie, Meenie, Minie...

  published March 2, 2000

  One of these days, I'd like to walk into Leibman's deli and ask for one of everything. That'd cause a stir. Imagine the genteel gasps of... More >>

• More Barking Room

  published February 17, 2000

  I must admit, I like Barnaby's bustling second home on Shepherd. I was afraid I wouldn't. Like so many Montrose denizens, I'd become accustomed to... More >>

• Dish

  published February 17, 2000

  When we saw it darkened, we thought Cafe Chino Pacific Rim [6100 Westheimer, (713)334-6688] had closed. It had, sort of.... More >>

• Hot Plate

  published February 17, 2000

  Yo' Mama Mia: Imagine our delight to discover turnip greens, of all things, in a recent special-of-the-day pasta dish ($12.95) at... More >>

• Deliverance

  published February 10, 2000

  To Yankees and other newcomers, sure, its very name is politically incorrect: The Confederate House, good Lord. It smacks of the embattled... More >>

• Dish

  published February 10, 2000

  Skeptics scoffed last summer when Mickey Kapoor, owner of the Khyber North Indian Grill [2510 Richmond, (713)942-9424], joined forces... More >>

• Hot Plate

  published February 10, 2000

  Righteous Ribs: Let us count the ways we've fallen in love with the rib plate ($7.95) at Baker's Ribs [2223 South Voss,... More >>

• Playing with Food

  published February 3, 2000

  Amazon Grill, More >>

• Hot Plate

  published February 3, 2000

  Name That Pâté: Blindfold your dinner mate, and the poor dear will never be able to guess the surprising ingredients of the... More >>

• Mexican Mystery

  published January 27, 2000

  It's hard to believe that two restaurants with precisely the same, faintly redundant name, Café Maria Mexican Taco Café, are not... More >>

• Dish

  published January 27, 2000

  Call me cynical, but I can't recall a single, solitary example of a good jazz room that served good food in this town. Not one. As a matter of... More >>

• Hot Plate

  published January 27, 2000

  When Is a Poor Boy Not a Poor Boy?: When it's a plate-swamping meal of sautéed jumbo shrimp, meaty strips of red and green peppers... More >>