Central America

Dynamo Learn, 'You Can't Win Them All'

Have you ever been traveling, and you just have this sneaky suspension that you left something in the hotel room? The lads in Orange over at BBVA Compass Stadium might be having that same feeling right about now. Just two weeks ago, they were the proud owners of a 36 home match unbeaten streak. The ... More >>

Coffee Beans Could Be Extinct In 60 Years; Then What?

If you believe the news from over the weekend that coffee beans are in danger of extinction, you're probably hoarding all the Arabica you can find today and envisioning a future in which coffee -- already liquid gold for many of us caffeine addicts -- can be used as delicious, fragrant currency. No ... More >>

Unarmed Man, Kenneth Brian Releford, Fatally Shot After Charging Police, HPD Says

Police fatally shot an unarmed man, Kenneth Brian Releford, early Thursday morning near downtown, following a confrontation when he approached officers with a hand tucked behind his back, police said. This was the second time in three weeks that police gunned down a person who had a suspected ment ... More >>

Last Night: OFF! & Negative Approach at Warehouse Live

OFF!, Negative Approach, Power Trip Warehouse Live September 20, 2012 Thursday night, East Downtown was hoppin.' The streets were filled with orange-clad soccer fans ready to watch the Dynamo whip up on El Salvador's C.D. FAS, and the bars on St. Emmanuel St. were doing brisk business. Rewind: Ke ... More >>

Sex Expert Rachel Khona's Steamy Road-Sex Soundtrack

Nevermind the bushes, the parking garage, the vacant tollbooth, the Wendy's bathroom, the Walmart gardening center. I guess we've all been there, when the urge and vapors and blood flow gets to be so troublesome that we just gotta have sex in the car. It has to happen in the car. No exceptions. Th ... More >>

The Undocumented and Chivalry

Last Night: Van Halen and Kool & the Gang at Toyota Center

Van Halen, Kool & the Gang Toyota Center June 24, 2012 We're two songs into last night's sold-out Van Halen show at the Toyota Center when lead singer David Lee Roth spots three comely ladies in the front row of the house with cameras. In the span of three seconds, he turns into the Diamond Dave we ... More >>

Great GIFs of Van Halen & David Lee Roth

Van Halen's first new set of material in 14 years, A Different Kind of Truth, is better than it should be. The guys could have slacked off on this and coasted on their legend -- however tarnished it may be in the eyes of fair-weather fans -- but Truth is no cash-in lightweight or mere excuse to sell ... More >>

This Week in Deliciousness

Welcome back to the weekly roundup, where yours truly is currently racing against an incoming hellstorm-raingasm, and hoping to get this thing completed before the bottom falls out. Will I succeed? The only way to know is to read on. We started the week off right with sushi, sushi, sushi, sushi. Do ... More >>

East Side Vacation at El Petate: A Guide to Salvadoran Cuisine

If you're anything like me, pupusas are the first thing that spring to mind when thinking of Salvadoran food. And why not: The fat, round pockets of cheese, beans, meat (and sometimes all three) are like the divine offspring of Mexican quesadillas and gorditas. They're portable and easy to consume, ... More >>

Cowboy Diaries: Clint Cannon -- Surfer Dude

True cowboys are hard to find, but not at the Houston Rodeo. Life on the road leads them here this time every year for the biggest rodeo in the world, where they'll ride and wrangle livestock for cash and glory. Each day, Hair Balls will spotlight one person with enough dirt on his boots to call him ... More >>

7 Little-Known (And Completely Unverified) Facts About U.S. Presidents

Today, the nation celebrates Presidents' Day, the most important holiday of all time. No other national holiday has such a clear purpose or overall popularity. Therefore, why not recognize this momentous occasion with a look back at some of our greatest presidents, and learn some facets of their bio ... More >>

The 7 Deadly Queues: Restaurants Where You'll Always Have to Wait in Line

Photo by Ronald WoanThe longest line of them all...​I greeted last week's news of a second Banana Leaf with a bittersweet kind of joy. It's sad to lose the only good Chinese halal restaurant in Chinatown, but if the trade-off is getting another Banana Leaf location...then I guess it's almost a ... More >>

Van Halen, the New Walter's and Radiohead: Things We're Looking Forward to in 2012

Photo by Mark C. AustinRadiohead returns and we're stoked. Do people say "stoked" anymore?​There was a lot to be thankful for in 2011 in the world of music, but, in some ways, it was also a pretty tough year. We lost some great people and almost lost one of our own. It's a crazy, topsy turvy w ... More >>

Van Halen Announces 2012 Tour On Twitter, Official Site

Here it is folks, your first stirrings of Van Halen's 2012 tour, long rumored, but now a sweet reality. OK, we won't believe it until we have a tour tee in our hands outside Toyota Center and a sweaty, torn ticket stub in our wallet. Late Sunday night on Twitter, David Lee Roth tweeted a Vimeo and ... More >>

Carlos Lee May Retire...

...after his contract is up next year! There, now you know how I felt yesterday when I read that headline. In this day and age where there are so many different places to swallow up news, we see tweets or vague headlines and the human tendency is to fill in the blanks. So when I saw one of the t ... More >>

National Illegal Immigrant Sting Nets Over 2,900 Convicted Criminals, 125 in Houston

On Wednesday, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the results of its "Cross Check" enforcement operation targeting convicted criminals who are also illegal immigrants. The sting conducted in all 50 states netted 2,901 criminals, including 125 in the Houston area. The seven- ... More >>

Spindletop: Champagne and a View

Anamaris Cousins PriceChampagne cocktails​I've lived in Houston for just over 20 years now and I still remember my first visit to Spindletop fondly. A friend took my sister and I out for drinks and dessert downtown. It was winter in Houston, which isn't all that cold unless you're visiting fr ... More >>

Houston's Best Patios: The 10 Best to Pretend You're On Vacation

Photo by Taylor LaShaeEl Pueblito, home of Houston's best cabanas.​With patio weather season in full swing, Houstonians are absolutely spoiled for places to enjoy the day outside. And sometimes all you know is that you're in the mood for a patio, but can't figure out where to go. So how do you ... More >>

Terry Grier Girds His Loins And Wants You to Do the Same

Photos by Margaret DowningFormer Governor Mark White with Terry Grier​Declaring "we can't afford to press the pause button on our children's education," Houston ISD Superintendent Terry Grier vowed to continue doing the things he believes have to be done, even if the Texas economy is in the cr ... More >>

Victoria Human-Smuggling Deaths Spur Another Lawsuit -- This Time Against The Truck's Manufacturer

The semi should have had airholes, suit says​It's been seven years since the human-smuggling tragedy in Victoria, in which 19 undocumented immigrants died and around 100 people suffered brutal conditions, trapped inside a tractor-trailer transporting them across Texas.Late last week, however, the ... More >>

Health Dept. Roundup

​City health inspectors appeared to focus mainly on taco trucks last week. Here's the lowdown: Antojitos Las Catrachas (6026 Dashwood) was closed temporarily after an October 15 visit found six violations, including some paperwork troubles and potentially hazardous foods being stored at an un ... More >>

Summer AND Hurricane Season Over For Houston (Unofficially, But We're Going With It)

We are NOT jinxing anything​Not to jinx anything, but it looks very much like Houston has avoided any real tropical storm experience in what was/is supposed to be the hyperactive hurricane season of 2010.When Eric Berger of the Houston Chronicle says so, that's good enough for us. And if we're ove ... More >>

TRUly Good Booze

​Although I have been eating organic for many years, the idea of drinking organic had not really permeated my brain until maybe a year ago. Even then, finding organic spirits was somewhat of a hassle, especially if I wanted something that was actually drinkable and affordable. After visiting w ... More >>

Carlos Lee Goes AWOL: At Least Someone Noticed

Carlos Lee: Bats right, throws right, jogs all the time​So the Astros were upset that Carlos Lee missed a voluntary workout in Pittsburgh on Thursday, and as a result, he was benched on Friday night.The puzzling thing is trying to figure out just why it is the Astros were upset. The workout ... More >>

Palma Garcia Marlen-Beatrice, 30, Bayou Body Count No. 181

Photo courtesy HCSOWeird, but surprisingly successful, way to kill your wife​Back on May 13, 48-year-old Pedro Cueva-Ferman thought he had come up with the perfect way to get rid of his wife and get clean away with the crime, according to allegations in a probable cause warrant on file at the Harr ... More >>

This Week in Deliciousness

BBQ pit rustlin', eh? Here in Texas, that there's a hangin' offense.​Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we're currently trying to engineer a type of sausage that looks like, tastes like, and has the consistency of soy. Ha ha, wouldn't that be crazy? Nobody says ... More >>

An Immigrant's Heart

To survive the ordeal of escaping Guatemala, Julia needed a big Heart. But not this big.

Mariah Carey's Many Knuckle Children, Or The Self-Gratification Of Mimi

[Ed. Note: You know us... always taking the high road.] mariahcarey.com"Craig! Put your hands where I can see them!"​Thanks to this new thing on YouTube called VEVO, we can watch crisp versions of our favorite music videos, young and old, without worrying about shoddy quality or mislabeling. This ... More >>

Crash Reports

Running a red light and killing someone does not automatically mean you're in trouble in Harris County.

The T Visa Program And A Fatal Crash

​In this week's feature, a man named Steve Morrison was hit in his car and killed by Rosa Villegas-Vatres, a legal immigrant from El Salvador. Villegas-Vatres was allowed to stay here through the T visa program, which was founded about nine years ago by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft as a too ... More >>

City of Coffee

Is Houston about to become America's coffee capital?

Salvadorans and Murals

Talking Skirt Steak with Mark Mavrantonis

Mark Mavrantonis, Director of Culinary Development for Legacy Restaurants, which owns the Original Ninfa's, buys Certified Hereford outside skirt steak for the famous fajitas there. He doesn't hold back in his opinions about fajita meat. "Using inner skirt steak for fajitas is probably okay," he wr ... More >>

"North Looks South: Building the Latin American Art Collection"

Get a glimpse into the' growing cache of work from south of the border

Oscar Romero’s Legacy

Sister Dianna Ortiz and Bishop Medardo E. Gomez Soto discuss the effect winning the Rothko Chapel’s human rights award had on their lives

Seco's Latin Cuisine

The Refuge

Houston’s immigrant community is given a voice in the world premiere of a groundbreaking opera

Edgar Bustillos

Painter draws on past experiences from travel, sports and politics

Luis Fernando Roldan

Sicardi Gallery presents “Drawings”

Swift Meatpacking Plant and Illegal Immigrants

Swift & Company pitted employee against employee when it replaced injured workers with illegal immigrants

Capsule Reviews

A picture of our opinions on local exhibitions

Capsule Reviews

ARTBEAT

Best Museum

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Reel Guilty

The military thriller High Crimes sets a new low for Ashley Judd

Child Trek

The devastation of Hurricane Mitch propelled thousands across our southern border in search of new lives in America. And those were just the kids.