Cajun and Creole Food and Cooking

The 5 Best Things to Eat or Drink This Weekend: Zombie Crawls, Crawfish Boils and Kolaches -- All for Charity

Kolache Benefit for West, Texas Saturday, 8 a.m. Revival Market, 550 Heights Boulevard Revival Market will be selling its delicious, housemade kolaches and klobosneks for breakfast tomorrow morning starting at 8 a.m., with 50 percent of the proceeds going to benefit victims of the fertilizer plant ... More >>

The 5 Best Things to Eat or Drink This Weekend: Burger Bracket, Pearland Crawfish Festival, National Beer Day and RA Sushi Roll Eating Contest

While it may have been rainy and dreary for the last few days, the weather report for this weekend is warm and sunny. Get out of the house and grub down with five of the best things to eat or drink this weekend. 2013 Burger Bracket Grand Championship at The Refinery Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 702 ... More >>

In the Home Stretch for Menu of Menus: A Few Tickets Left

With just a few days left before this year's Houston Press Menu of Menus, coming this Tuesday night, fewer than 50 General Admission tickets and fewer than 100 VIP tickets remain. General admission tickets are $50 ($60 at the door) and VIP are $90. Menu of Menus kicks off at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, A ... More >>

Michiru Sushi, Nazif's Turkish Grill, Artisans and More Added to 2013 Menu of Menus Lineup

Menu of Menus is less than a week away, and we have a spread of new restaurants that have been added to the tasting line-up: Artisans Cuisine & Savior-Faire Green Seed Vegan Gumbo Express.com House of Blues Los Cucos Michiru Sushi Nazif's Turkish Grill Sorrel Urban Bistro If you haven't made it ou ... More >>

Top 10 Restaurants Near Hobby Airport

One of the questions I get most frequently from friends who travel is this: Why isn't there anywhere to eat around Hobby Airport? To which I say: There are lots of places. You're not looking hard enough. Hobby is one of those parts of town that requires a finer-toothed comb than, say, the Montrose ... More >>

Bigger Crawfish Are Here: A Roundup of Houston's 10 Best Mudbug Spots

We're at the part of the crawfish season when peeling becomes less laborious, where miniature-lobster-sized crustaceans replace the teensy mudbugs that filled your bucket just weeks ago. This is the perfect time to strap on a bib and stock up on moist towelettes for high-yield shell peeling. Since ... More >>

Openings & Closings: Time for El Tiempo's Big Debut and More Crawfish in Chinatown

Are you in this for the long-haul? Good, because this week was chock-full of restaurant news -- and most of it happy news. Grab a cup of coffee and settle in for a long post, starting with recaps of a few stories from earlier this week. Ryan Rouse and Brad Moore of Grand Prize Bar in Montrose and B ... More >>

Eating Our Hearts Out

100 Favorite dishes in the Bayou City

Uncommonly Keen

The 10 best restaurants in the Upper Kirby district.

100 Favorite Dishes 2012

No. 1, Korean Braised Goat and Dumplings at Underbelly.

Openings & Closings: September 2012, Plus Picking a New Name for Calliope's Po-Boy

After a supremely busy seven days for restaurant news last week, this week let up a little bit -- but not by much. Starting off the week was news that chef Erin Smith is leaving Plonk. Her last day will be October 13 and after a brief trip to visit family, Smith will be back in Houston looking for h ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 9, Crawfish at The Hideaway on Dunvale

This year leading up to our annual Best of Houston® issue, we're counting down our 100 favorite dishes in Houston. This list comprises our favorite dishes from the last year, dishes that are essential to Houston's cultural landscape and/or dishes that any visitor (or resident) should try at least o ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 13, Ribs at Gatlin's

This year leading up to our annual Best of Houston® issue, we're counting down our 100 favorite dishes in Houston. This list comprises our favorite dishes from the last year, dishes that are essential to Houston's cultural landscape and/or dishes that any visitor (or resident) should try at least o ... More >>

This Week In Food Blogs: Churro Porn and Houston as Mutt City

Robb Walsh: In his continuing series on where Texas cuisine is headed, Robb Walsh talks to Underbelly chef Chris Shepherd about Houston's role as a "new Creole city," citing a recent article by Southern food writer John T. Edge called "Savoring Mutt City." (Mutt City is us, by the way -- and it's a ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 25, Shrimp and Grits at Shade

This year leading up to our annual Best of Houston® issue, we're counting down our 100 favorite dishes in Houston. This list comprises our favorite dishes from the last year, dishes that are essential to Houston's cultural landscape and/or dishes that any visitor (or resident) should try at least o ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 28, Egusi at Finger Licking Bukateria

This year leading up to our annual Best of Houston® issue, we're counting down our 100 favorite dishes in Houston. This list comprises our favorite dishes from the last year, dishes that are essential to Houston's cultural landscape and/or dishes that any visitor (or resident) should try at least o ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 34, Whole-Fried Speckled Trout at Liberty Kitchen

This year leading up to our annual Best of Houston® issue, we're counting down our 100 favorite dishes in Houston. This list comprises our favorite dishes from the last year, dishes that are essential to Houston's cultural landscape and/or dishes that any visitor (or resident) should try at least o ... More >>

Heat? Check. Rain? Check. Hurricanes? Maybe Not. Summer in Houston, 2012

If you don't like Houston, probably at the top of your list of reasons why is the summer. For those not accustomed to the -- let's call it "sticky" -- weather the Bayou City offers from July through September each year, it can be a brutal three or four months. Of course, for people like me who have ... More >>

Stew on This: One Pot Meals From Around the World

Family-style dining is a universal trend in food. There are cultures whose every meal is shared, served in a communal pot with some sort of bread or grain as an accompaniment. With origins in leaner times, one-pot meals exist the world over, bringing families together in good times and in bad. G ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 81, Grilled Shrimp Po-boy at Pappadeaux

This year leading up to our annual Best of Houston® issue, we're counting down our 100 favorite dishes in Houston. This list comprises our favorite dishes from the last year, dishes that are essential to Houston's cultural landscape and/or dishes that any visitor (or resident) should try at least o ... More >>

The Perfect Soundtrack To Your Next Crawfish Boil

Crawfish boils have become a springtime ritual in Houston. At least once a season, it's an accepted necessity that we waste an entire day pinching tails, sucking heads and covering ourselves in spicy, stinky seafood slime. Finding the bugs typically isn't a problem -- you can hit up any number of r ... More >>

Mudbug Music: The Perfect Soundtrack for Your Next Crawfish Boil

Fat Pat's "Tops Drop" on the way to buy the crawfish in Kemah and UGK's "Wood Wheel" for the drive back. These are just two of the songs that Rocks Off's Nathan Smith recommends to start your day-long crawfish boiling festivities. If you think that zydeco music and only zydeco music is the right ac ... More >>

The Rest of the Best: Houston's Top 10 Crawfish Joints

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. Along wi ... More >>

Quality "Waffles" at Northwest-side Eatery

First off, let's get something out of the way. There is no evidence that I could find that chicken and waffles originated in New Orleans, or that the town even has a particularly strong claim on the dish. Chicken and waffles is a dish that has soul food roots that may have originated in Jefferson's ... More >>

Crawfish Across the World

Ground crawfish powder, one of the "mother" spices in Nigerian cooking.​Louisianans like to think they've got the world on a string when it comes to crawfish, with small towns like Breaux Bridge laying claim to titles such as "Crawfish Capital of the World." But there are a few people in Niger ... More >>

Tunnel Explorer: Flavors

I burned the roof of my mouth on this. Can irony be retroactive?​Have you ever burned the roof of your mouth, then spent the next week poking at that spot with your tongue, worrying it over and over despite the pain caused by touching the wound? I'm the type of person who does that. It's a mor ... More >>

Boiling at Big Star: What Goes Better With Beer Than Crawfish?

Bargas rolling out the crawfish at a recent boil.​If EOW blogger and Louisiana native Jason Bargas's posts on how to put together the perfect crawfish boil have made your mouth water and your jaw ache just thinking of those spicy little bugs, we've got a treat for you. Bargas is co-hosting a ... More >>

Bloody Marys and Blues at Danton's Sunday Brunch

You've never had a Bloody Mary like the one at Danton's.​I tend to like gospel brunches in theory. It's the execution that is often uneven. At the House of Blues, the show itself is usually fabulous, but the food is overpriced and weary. While at Stubbs in Austin, on the other hand, the food ... More >>

Fish Sandwich Fridays: Danton's Gulf Coast Seafood Kitchen

Joanna O'LearyCrab Cake Burger at Danton's​In honor of Lent and in an attempt to revive my own (lapsed) Catholicism, I have been reviewing a fish sandwich (loosely defined) each Friday from a local Houston restaurant. Here's the last one. The Crab Cake Burger at Danton's In this installment o ... More >>

Upcoming Events

Want to see someone carve Prince William's face in this cheese? Of course you do.​Yes, it's Easter weekend, which means -- for some of you -- an extra day off and making extravagant dining plans for Sunday which involve uncomfortable clothing and your aunt who wears too much perfume. If you do ... More >>

Fish Sandwich Fridays: BB's Cajun Café

Photo by Joanna O'Leary​In honor of Lent and in an attempt to revive my own (lapsed) Catholicism, I will be reviewing a fish sandwich (loosely defined) each Friday from a local Houston restaurant. Sorry, Mickey D's fans: no Filet-o-Fish. Feel free to send in your suggestions even if you're not ... More >>

Houston's Top 10 Crawfish Joints

Photo by Tony ChenYou must make the crawfish do a puppet dance for your amusement before eating it. Fact.​Yesterday, we showed you the proper way to eat crawfish. Today, armed with that knowledge, we're going to show you the best places to eat them in Houston. It may not officially be crawfis ... More >>

The Oddly Endearing Idiosyncrasies of MerCheri's

Photos by Troy Fields$3 ball of boudin, sir?​Back in January, I was so taken by the thrill of finding these amazing boudin balls at MerCheri's in Pearland Town Center -- the subject of this week's cafe review -- than I completely overlooked one important issue: The balls, while wonderful, were ... More >>

If Executed, What Are Your Last Words And Last Meal?

Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Every Monday, Rocks Off will have some of them here discussing issues relevant to their culture. Photo illustration by John Seaborn Gray​This Week's Panel: Bun B, Yung Redd, D-Risha, hasHBrown, Kyle Hubbard, Z-Ro, Kiotti Not Invited: ... More >>

Boucherie Reverie

The Louisiana Boucherie at Brennan's

Tex-Cajun Cuisine at BB's Cajun Cafe

This is the new late-night place to be if you like poor boys, grits and gravy, and breakfast in the middle of the night.

Gringo's Grill

Just Say Cheese

Amedeo's Italian Restaurant & Bar

Hot Dip

Split Personality

PK's Blue Water Grill has the soul of a funky fish house and the body of a fashionable seafood restaurant

Where You From?

Ça C'est Bon

Café Artiste

Franchise This

Cajun Greek Restaurant

Walker, Texas Ranger

Carl Walker, Brennan's of Houston

Chicken Run

Try the Third Ward Creole fried-chicken shack taste test for yourself

Bad Kitty

Red Cat Jazz Café doesn't live up its promises

Folk Art on Bread

Yes, we visited that Original New Orleans Po' Boy

Clash of Cultures

Carl Walker

Hot Plate

By Margaret L. Briggs

Houston Haggis