Chili con carne was introduced to America by the "Chili Queens," women who served food in San Antonio's Military Plaza as early as the 1860s. Chili stands were also common in Galveston and Houston; they were the taco trucks of the 1800s. Tamales with chili was the most common order--beans were often added. Laborers counted on the chili vendors for a quick meal. Adventurous eaters loved them. And the upper classes tried to chase them away or get them shut down.
Chili con carne is not an impo
Photos by J.C. ReidHaute cuisine?
For people who did not grow up in Texas, and for the occasional Texan who did not spend time in public school lunch rooms or patronize the concession stands at Friday night high school football games, a Frito pie is a dish containing three ingredients: Fritos corn chips, chili, and cheese.
I make this rather simplistic statement because since its invention by Daisy Dean Doolin of San Antonio many years ago, the recipe for Frito pie has been tweaked, tested, mo
In theory, Frito pie should be a relatively difficult thing to screw up. It's just a bag of Fritos and some chili with shredded cheese on top (and onions, if you're not one of those obnoxiously fussy eaters). But in reality, the Frito pie is greater than the sum of its parts: It's an iconic dish made out of simple kitchen scraps that recaptures the memories of Little League games and school carnivals past. And no one wants to screw with icons or nostalgia. That's how wars get
Oh, 2006. Long lost 2006. The Golden Age of MySpace.
Remember MySpace?
That social networking site you logged into obsessively before the advent of Facebook and after Friendster's demise? Where Microsoft Paint made a fourth-quarter comeback in the image editing (and annotating) arena? Where bloody-souled emo ingrates and their bathroom mirror reflection shots laid the foundation for the hipster indifference movement? Where choosing a perfect page background was the biggest decision you ma
Photos by J.C. ReidRicky CraigIn a previous post about taco burgers, I mentioned I had struck up a conversation with Ricky Craig, owner of Hubcap Grill, and offered my services as a taste-tester for any new burgers he might be working on. This week I got the call. Craig invited me and several other Houston food adventurers to join him for a complimentary sampling of his newest burger creations.
If you are not familiar with Hubcap Grill, it's a hole-in-the-wall burger joint right in the middle o
How in the world can you mess up a Frito Pie? All you have to do is dump a ladle of chili in a bag of Fritos and maybe garnish it with some chopped onions. Somehow Ritter's Frozen Custard stand on Fry Road in Katy managed to turn this simple idea into a wad of white cheese and pickled jalapeño slices with not enough corn chips and hardly any chili. I'll never make that mistake again.
