Subject: Fruits and Vegetables

• Onion strings at Brick House Tavern & Tap

  April 2, 2009

• Texas-Thai BBQ

  If there's anything I like as much as Texas BBQ, it's wacky only-in-Houston fusion cuisines. So imagine my glee when I noticed the sign in front of Mai Thai restaurant at 3819 Kirby advertising "Texas BBQ Thai Fusion." I pulled over immediately. The special BBQ menu listed beef, chicken, spicy pork and sausage. I asked for a beef and sausage sandwich, but they only had beef. The BBQ brisket sandwich I got came on toasted white bread with lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onions for $3.95. The beef

  January 6, 2009

• A Sweeter Sweet Potato

  That's a fine little yam, ma'am," I told Tara Smith, the LSU AgCenter's sweet potato extension specialist and coordinator of the Sweet Potato Reseach Station in Chase, Louisiana. I had just finished a taste test comparing Evangeline (left), a new variety of sweet potato developed by the LSU sweet potato folks with the Red Garnet yam (center) and the Beauregard sweet potato (right). Smith was shocked by my experiment since the Evangeline is still in the testing phase and not available to the pub

  January 8, 2009

• Peri-Peri Burger: It Seemed Like a Great Idea at the Time

  The peri-peri burger at Out of Africa, the new South African restaurant on Southwest Freeway in Sugar Land, is a hamburger topped with the legendary hot sauce made with African bird peppers. And since I love peri-peri chicken, peri-peri prawns and peri-peri everything else, I figured this one was a natural. Out of Africa cooks their hand-formed half pound hamburgers on a charcoal grill and serves them with your choice of several South African sauces. There's a trainsmash burger (sautéed onion

  January 13, 2009

• Down in the Root Cellar: Carrots and Turnips

  Turnips are cheap and bitter. Carrots are annoyingly sweet. But before you allow the unpleasant characteristics of these root vegetables to summon disturbing memories of your relatives, consider how brilliantly they balance each other out. Pair the bitter turnips with the saccharine carrots and you get a wonderfully complex marriage of flavors and a hearty, inexpensive winter dish. Mashing the roots up with a generous amount of butter or bacon grease makes them a lot more interesting. Some fo

  January 12, 2009

• Another Root Cellar Romp: Parsnips and Rutabagas

  Swedes are larger and denser than turnips. No, it's not an ethnic joke--swedes are what they call rutabagas in England. The rutabaga, or Swedish turnip, is often sold with a wax coating to protect the skin from discoloration. Rutabaga comes from the Swedish word rotabagge. Swedes are best roasted or boiled. In Finland and Sweden they are frequently mashed up with turnips and carrots in a dish called rotmos or "root mash." "Neeps and tatties," as rutabagas and potatoes are known in Scotland, ar

  January 15, 2009

• Beef and Barley Soup with Bovril

  Beef soup always tastes better with a dash of Bovril liquid beef bouillon added. So do beef stews and beef gravies. Legend has it that Bovril was invented because Napolean III needed to feed his army during the war with Prussia. So he ordered an enormous quantity of canned beef from a Scotsman named John Johnston. Evidently, the only way to fill the order was to cook the beef down into a thick brown sticky concentrate that could be easily transported and reconstituted with hot water. It was orig

  January 16, 2009

• Kale to the Rescue

  Times like these call for food superheroes: foods that are tasty, healthy, easy to fix and -- most of all -- cheap. And, if it's your thing, easy to grow, too. And that's where kale comes in. Kale is one of the more unappreciated leafy greens, playing second fiddle to its more well-known cousins like spinach and cabbage. And that's a shame, really. Kale is not only far cheaper, but it's just as simple to fix and delicious to boot.

  January 22, 2009

• Ra Sushi Scrambles Menu, Adds to Happy Hours

  Shrimp Shumai We started with the kind of sake most people use to drink shooters and beer. It was warm, clear in color, dryly medicinal in flavor and called Hananomai Katana. Okay, adventures in drinking phase one. Actually, it wasn't that bad at all and as it made its way down, it created a warm and friendly buzz feeling in the middle of your chest. Thus fortified, the assembled journalists got down to their first course at a sake and sushi pairing event at Ra Sushi (3908 Westheimer in Highlan

  January 29, 2009

• Viet-Tex-Mex: Fried Avocado Lettuce Wraps

  "Fried Avocado Lettuce Wraps" is the name of popular new appetizer on the menu of Matt's Rancho Martinez in Dallas. Invented by fourth-generation Tex-Mex chef Marco Martinez, the dish features chicken-fried avocado slices served with Vietnamese-style lettuce wraps and condiments along with a monkey bowl of ranch dressing for dipping. "Why not?" Marco Martinez said. Everybody loves the lettuce wraps served in Texas Vietnamese restaurants, he observed, so why not put the popular lettuce tacos o

  February 18, 2009

• A Taste of the Tasting Room

  Photos by Jeff Balke Chef Steve Super, executive chef at The Tasting Room. Chef Steve Super has Gulf Coast cuisine honed to a fine art, surprising for someone who hails from Vermont and only recently made Texas his home. This time last year, Super was the executive chef at Steve and Erika's, the restaurant at Ten Acres Lodge in Stowe, VT, where he'd taken the restaurant from a sleepy little inn to a bustling showcase for his creative talents.  Steve and Erika's quickly became one

  March 4, 2009

• Dragonfruit at the Keauhou Farmer's Market

  Photos by Robb WalshYellow Dragonfruit Going to the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning is one of those habits that's fun to engage in while you're on the road. And since I am staying in a condo with a kitchen this week in Kailua-Kona, it was great to buy some fresh local produce. The vegetables looked pretty much the same as home--there were some purple sweet potatoes and teeny weeny tomatoes that looked a little exotic. But the fruit was interplanetary. I saw lulo, lilikoi, breadfruit, starfr

  March 7, 2009

• Crave Sushi

  March 19, 2009

• Downtown Attraction The Grove

  March 19, 2009

• Trainsmash and Bobotie at Out of Africa

  March 5, 2009

• Cafe Rita

  January 22, 2009

• On a Budget at Bistro des Amis

  January 15, 2009

• Flea Market French

  Georges Guy is back in a big way with La Brocante Cafe.

  April 16, 2009

• The United Nations of Food at Phoenicia Specialty Foods

  December 25, 2008

• A Long Way to Mango

  Photos by Katharine ShilcuttThe Burger at Mango'sIn the mood for something light, I made a trip over to the newly-reopened Mango's at lunch to try their new all-vegetarian menu firsthand.The freshly-painted exterior with its charming patio and the sunny interior seemed like they'd be the perfect day-brightener.  Sadly, the food at Mango's has a ways to go before it charms as well.To be fair, Mango's is still in its reopening infancy. It was the waitress' first day on the job, so she was unf

  April 16, 2009

• Snackshot: Sunday Feast

  Today's luscious Snackshot comes to us courtesy of Pixeltopia and Feast: From the photographer's description: "Sunday Brunch at Feast, on Westheimer" that included roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roasted parsnips, potatoes, rutabagas and carrots, grilled Brussels sprouts and bread pudding with raisins and marmalade.

  April 27, 2009

• Surprise!

  Pink's Pizza's Santa Monica has a hidden, delicious ingredient.

  May 7, 2009

• Manena's Magic

  May 7, 2009

• Cielo High

  A new Mexican bistro downtown serves up strong cocktails and tasty tapas for low prices.

  April 30, 2009

• The Steam Table Special at Country Kitchen

  Photos by Katharine Shilcutt Liver and onions with cabbage and stewed okraPassing by Country Kitchen on 11th Street in Timbergrove Manor, you could be forgiven for thinking that it's closed and long-abandoned.  The paint is peeling off the 1960s-era sign out front; the lawn plays host to an assortment of wildflowers and weeds; a horde of corrugated metal warehouses makes the small A-frame building seem out of place and time. But Country Kitchen comes alive at lunchtime during the we

  May 7, 2009

• Cooked Oyster Season: Big Easy Erster and Artichoke Soup

  The weather has turned warm and I have stopped eating raw oysters. But the oyster season isn't over yet. I bought a gallon of shucked oysters from Croatian oysterman Misho Ivic down in San Leon and I am cooking up a storm with them. Go buy yourself a couple of pints of shucked oysters and see for yourself. Just make sure you know what kind of oysters you are buying. Some grocery stores in Texas sell shucked Pacific oysters and some sell Gulf oysters. Pacific oysters are fine, but Gulf oysters

  May 12, 2009

• Peli-Peli

  May 14, 2009

• Pork and Beans on a Bun

  May 14, 2009

• Recession Lunching at Feast

  Photos by Katharine ShilcuttCalf's liver and bacon with mashed potatoes and spinach Feast's abundant lunch specials put other recession dining features to shame. Every weekday at lunch, Feast puts together a menu with two courses for $12.95 or three courses for $15.95. Last Wednesday, the appetizer list offered choices like spiced red lentil soup, Welsh rarebit and a salad with romaine, cucumber, radish and celery. The entrees were a choice of pork chop with bubble and squeak; calf's liver an

  May 14, 2009

• Shanghainese, If You Please

  May 21, 2009

• Farm Stand Junkie: Watermelons and Field Peas

  Photo by Robb WalshThe old split watermelon trick -- works every time. On me, anyway. On the way home from a Memorial Day car trip yesterday, I saw a wagon full of watermelons out on Highway 6, just before the entrance to 290, and I pulled the car over I hate to pass a well-stocked produce stand. I'm gripped by the fear that I might be missing something --like ripe mayhaws or fresh dewberries or something. And I especially hate to pass the stand from Dilorio Farms, because it's a working farm a

  May 26, 2009

• Curry in a Hurry

  May 28, 2009

• The Do-It-Yourself Bloody Mary Bar at the Cadillac Sunday Brunch

  Photo by Robb WalshWhen considering where to go for Sunday brunch, we too often allow meaningless considerations like the fluffiness of the pancakes or the quality of the smoked salmon to interfere with sound decision-making. Stop and think about it. What's really important on Sunday morning-- I mean, besides church. I am saying it's the quality of the bloody Mary that makes all the difference. And it's hard to beat the Bloody Marys at the Cadillac Bar on Shepherd -- that's because you make them

  June 5, 2009

• Hollister Hospitality

  June 18, 2009

• Texas Traveler: Luvianos in Kyle

  Photos by Mike GiglioOn a recent tail-between-legs retreat from a rough weekend in Austin -- sunburnt from a long float down the river, broke and dehydrated -- the Texas Traveler wanted only two things: free water and cheap sustenance.Luvianos in Kyle had plenty of both. Water-filled bags hung around the comfortable patio, supposedly to keep the flies away, and the glasses were both tall and wide, and constantly refilled despite the Sunday-brunch crowd.One regular described the fare as "real Mex

  July 23, 2009

• Keep on Trucking

  August 13, 2009

• Heirloom Melons: Swan Lake

  Photos by Robb Walsh​Swan Lake is an heirloom melon with a sensational honey-like flavor and a custardy texture. It's my new favorite melon. I had never even heard of heirloom melons until last weekend when I ran into this guy selling them at the Bayou City Farmer's market on Richmond. Garth Travis grows several kinds of heirloom melons. He had three varieties left when I stopped by his booth at the farmer's market. I bought one of each. The most alluring-looking was one called a Jenny L

  August 24, 2009

• Feasting at Arco Seafood Restaurant

  Photos by Nikki MetzgarPeking duck with white buns, shredded green onions and plum sauce​With his drink- and food-induced gout, King Henry VIII was a master of feasting. Sure, we overeat in the 21st century, but do we feast? Feasting involves multiple courses, a big table, and some grandiosity. The so-called "Big" Mac achieves none of this. Luckily, at Arco Seafood Restaurant at 9896 Bellaire in Chinatown, you too can eat lobster as Henry VIII did - as only one small portion of your meal.

  September 3, 2009

• Cooking Up a Storm: Shrimp and Corn Chowder

  ​ When I fell in love with the shrimp soup at Mama's Cajun Cuisine, I knew just where to go to get a recipe. Cooking up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans is one of the most well-thumbed cookbooks on my bookshelf. This instant classic, written by Times-Picayune food editor Judy Walker and veteran cookbook author Marcelle Bienvenu, was nominated for a James Beard cookbook award last year. The book got started after Katrina when Judy Walker found hersel

  September 10, 2009

• Lingering Over the Linguine

  October 1, 2009

• Overripe Mango Wrestling

  Photos by Robb Walsh​Giant mangos are $11 for a box of six at the Airline Farmer's Marketing Association. But you can pick up a box of overripe mangos for a mere five bucks. I took two boxes of the nasty-looking fruit home last weekend and showed my assistants how to cut them up. The 12 mangos yielded almost five quarts of very soft flesh, which my assistants and I combined with habañero chiles, raisins, ginger, garlic and cider vinegar in a huge batch of old-fashioned English-style man

  October 6, 2009

• From Rice to Potatoes: How to Switch Gears and Become a Cooking Contest Winner

  Photo courtesy of the U.S. Potato BoardCheesy Southwestern Potato Crisps​Okay, so William "Trey" Smith went to Rice University, where he graduated in 2006 with a degree in economics. Following a not-unexpected career path, he enrolled in law school at the University of Oklahoma. Along the way, however, he found he liked his avocation better than his planned life's work. The son and grandson of accomplished cooks (his grandmother Vita Espinosa introduced him to Santa Fe flavors) and a coo

  October 7, 2009

• Crisper Drawer Cast-Offs: Stuffed Artichokes

  ​If you love artichokes, but want to cut down on the nutritional benefits, you can dip them in mayonnaise or melted butter. That's what I used to do -- until I encountered the artichokes at Mint Café, a hip little Lebanese restaurant that went out of business last summer. The artichokes there were covered with an olive oil, garlic, parsley and lemon juice dressing that made the vegetable taste spectacular. I reluctantly abandoned my beloved mayo and started using the olive oil garlic dre

  October 23, 2009

• How To Make The Perfect: Marinara Sauce

  Photos by Katharine Shilcutt​If you're looking for an authentic marinara sauce recipe, or one that only requires a few minutes of your time, you should probably stop reading right now. The following recipe is neither authentic nor is it a time-saver. It is, however, very simple to cook, uses ingredients that are (most likely) already in your pantry, nutritious and -- most importantly -- delicious. Over the course of an afternoon, it will fill your house with the rich scent of simmering tomatoe

  October 26, 2009

• A Vegan Dinner at a Meatatarium

  Photos by Katharine ShilcuttAppetizers: sweet potato chips and truffled carrots, radishes and turnips​Vegans may take our cheese (and milk and meat and butter and even honey), but they may never take...our truffles. This seemed to be the rallying cry on Monday night at Beaver's Ice House as seven of Houston's most intrepid chefs embarked upon an ambitious 12-course meal (full menu here) made entirely of vegan ingredients. It can be difficult for even the most creative chef to suddenly be

  October 27, 2009

• BBQ Buffet

  October 29, 2009

• In the Little Stalls Behind Caninos: Got Guayaba?

  ​The first guavas of the season are starting to appear in the stalls behind Canino's. Guayaba is the Spanish word for guava. The fruit is native to North America, and the word derives from the Arawak tribe of the Caribbean, who called a guava tree a "guayabo." The green-skinned, white-fleshed kind they are selling now at the produce stalls are called apple guavas. The more exotic red guavas and strawberry guavas are more highly prized. I bought a dollar's worth, which amounted to six guav

  October 30, 2009

• Star Snow Ice Part 2: Sweet Vanilla Ice

  ​Yesterday we talked about the soup at Star Snow Ice, the amazing restaurant tucked away in the corner of a plaza off Bellaire and Beltway 8; today we take on its sweet offerings. Snow ice, a common dessert in Asia, has gained in popularity here. It's served two different ways. One version comes with fresh fruit, shaved ice, condensed milk and, sometimes, salty plum syrup; the other is a savory dessert-snack hybrid consisting of various beans, egg puddings and other odd ingredients that mi

  November 3, 2009

• Chicken Soup in Less than 30 Minutes

  Photo by Jane Catherine Collins​This is not a Rachel Ray recipe, so just wipe that thought out of your mind. We can't stand Rachel Ray and have banned her show from our house. We do all like a fast meal, though. So here's our version of a 30-minute dish: chicken soup:

  November 5, 2009

• Fiending for Berripop

  ​Berripop is the current designer drug in a long line of addictive frozen yogurts. The consistency is smooth and creamy, with surprisingly few calories. The locations at Greenway and Uptown Park rotate flavors rather haphazardly, keeping customers on their toes and checking in regularly for the occasional surprise. Staples include blueberry, raspberry pomegranate, mango, peach, black cherry and acai berry. On rare occasions, there's green tea.

  November 5, 2009