Galveston Bay

The 5 Best Things to Eat or Drink This Weekend: Sips, Suds & Sliders & More

Sips, Suds & Sliders at The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Friday, 5:30-9:30 p.m. 1601 Lake Robbins Dr. Purchase tickets for the Sips, Suds & Sliders event at The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel & Convention Center for just $20 in advance and $30 at the door to feast on a variety of sliders from lo ... More >>

Surely Galveston Can Do Better Than "Galveston"

Notwithstanding the recent Galveston-based Carnival cruise liner whose faulty engines landed its passengers in a world of hurt (and national headlines), the island is again throwing its arms open for the upcoming summer season. Last week the Galveston Island Convention & Visitors Bureau announced th ... More >>

State Seeking To Close Rollover Pass After Almost 60 Years, To Residents' Regret

Back in the rum-smuggling days, runners used to head for the narrowest, shallowest spit of land blocking the Gulf of Mexico from entering Galveston Bay. They're roll their barrels over the land, which became known as Rollover Pass. In 1955 the state dredged the site in order to improve fishing and ... More >>

Upcoming Events: Commercial Free Cocktail and Oysters for Cause

Alex Gregg, bar manager at the upcoming Goro & Gun, is reviving his popular Commercial Free Cocktail series -- initially hosted at Grand Prize Bar -- for a limited, three-night run at Ambrosia. And this time, he's bringing along guest bartender Chris Frankel to help. Both bartenders got their start ... More >>

Annual AIA Sandcastle Competition

Galveston's Red Tide Appears to Have Dissipated, Oysters Recovering

Photo by mintprofusionOysters affected by red tide are toxic to humans.​On January 27, two small portions of Texas Gulf waters were conditionally opened to shellfish harvesting after a red tide epidemic forced the indefinite closure of oyster season in October. San Antonio and Espiritu Santo ... More >>

FantaSea Valentine's Day Cruise

No-Nonsense Sea Salt

Photo by John Kiely​"Why is there a date on the bottom of the box?" asked my son, as I self-scanned the Hain Sea Salt. It was one of those astute kid questions, from a mind uncluttered by logic. "I have no idea," I conceded. The salt had been flowing around the oceans for the last 250 milli ... More >>

The World's Largest Sprinkler

Sampler Plate: This Week in Food Blogs

Each week, we put together a sampler plate of the most interesting links from both local and national food blogs. Know a blog we should be paying particular attention to? Leave the address in the comments section below. Houston Food Adventures: Phaedra is back and blogging, and just in time to help ... More >>

Reporting from the Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium: The Gulf and the Spill

Robb WalshJim Gossen and oysterman Tracy Woody checking oyster leases in Galveston Bay.​At the Southern Foodways Alliance annual symposium this week, Brett Anderson of the New Orleans Times-Picayune moderated a panel discussion on "The Gulf and the Spill." Panelists were former Houston Press ... More >>

NOAH'S ARK BAR AND GRILL'S OYSTER SHOOTER

Stirred & Shaken: Noah's Ark Bar and Grill's Oyster Shooter

Troy Fields​Noah's Ark Bar and Grill (4438 Boulevard St., 281-339-2895) in Bacliff is salty as hell, in the best way possible. Downstairs, countless cigarettes have infused the walls with a smell we city drinkers aren't exposed to much anymore, thanks to Houston's indoor smoking ban. Area resi ... More >>

RealFilms Screening: Living with the Trinity

How the Trinity River made political history

Kemah Boardwalk Firework Extravaganza

Kemah lights up the sky over Galveston Bay for the 4th of July

Houston's 10 Best Beach Homes

Photo courtesy of HAR.com​See that lovely view above? That's Galveston Bay, and it's looking better than ever this summer thanks to skyrocketing travel costs (have you tried to book an airline ticket lately?) and the massive oil spill that's decimating the rest of the Gulf coast. What's more, rea ... More >>

Openings and Closings

Photo by Margaret Downing​Just in time for summer, a cool-sounding restaurant with an even cooler concept has come along. Oceans, the ceviche-only restaurant that took over the old Bistro Vino location, is officially open to the public. We took a first look at Oceans a few weeks ago and found ... More >>

The Colder the Water, the Sweeter the Oysters

​When the water gets cold, oysters put on glycogen to insulate themselves. That's why Northern oysters are sweeter than Gulf oysters in the fall. The colder the water, the sweeter the oysters -- up to a point. When the water temperature falls below 40 degrees, oysters stop feeding and shrivel ... More >>

Arguably the Best Oyster in the World

​When I compared a Totten Inlet Virginica (left), a Galveston Bay select (middle) and an Apalachicola oyster (right), I had to agree that the Totten Inlet oyster from Washington was the sweetest and saltiest of the three. Jon Rowley, the Washington State seafood marketing guru who masterminded ... More >>

Grab a Bag of Oysters

​I stopped by Louisiana Foods on Wednesday and bought a sack of oysters. I went for the giant-size super selects. These were harvested a couple of days ago in Matagorda Bay, and thanks to the sandy bottom, the oysters are much cleaner than the usual Galveston Bay catch. I served some on the ... More >>

Bacliff's 4th Street Players Gang Gets Hit With Federal Prison

As Hurricane Ike threatened the Upper Texas Coast, we went to press with the story of the 4th Street Players, a predominantly white Anglo street gang in the Galveston Bay town of Bacliff. Nine members of the gang, who wore red colors in emulation of LA's Blood gangs, had been arrested in May of last ... More >>

16th Annual River, Lakes, Bays ‘N Bayous Trash Bash

Web exclusive!

Oysters and Coffee

photo by Robb Walsh These petite-sized Galveston Bay oysters made a lovely breakfast. I ate them with some heavily buttered German sourdough rye toast from the HEB on Bunker Hill and a cup of Community Club coffee. A drop of lemon and a dash of Tabasco perked up the breakfast half shells nicely. Oy ... More >>

Houston Blows Up Real Good

Photo by foxtongueThe awesomely morbid folks at Carlos Labs have created a "Ground Zero" nightmare generator for every city on Earth. Using Java Script and some Google Map magic, anyone can pinpoint a location in the world, AND BLOW IT THE HELL UP. You can choose your own weapon of mass destruction ... More >>

Cheap Fat Oysters and Cold Shiner Bock

As I drove by Pappa's Brothers Seafood on Shepherd yesterday afternoon around four o'clock, I noticed that the sign advertising oysters for $3.95 a dozen wasn't up anymore. I pulled over anyway and went inside to ask if the promotion was still going on. "Let me see," said the bartender pushing a but ... More >>

Order your Holiday Oysters Now

The French eat more oysters per capita than anybody in the Western world. And 80% of the oysters in France are eaten during the holiday season--from a few days before Christmas until a little after New Year's Day. Why? Because oysters are at their peak this time of year. And they go so well with the ... More >>

The Effects of Hurricane Ike on the Oyster Industry

Can't Anyone Just Predict "Slightly Breezy And Seasonably Cool"?

Buxton: A Family Light

Sex, Death & Oysters: Texas Oysters at $46 a Dozen

Half Shell Face-Off

Compare East Coast oysters to Gulf Coast oysters and see what you think

He Does Have a Nice Glow to Him...

Hold the Salt

Too much of a good thing threatens the oysters in Galveston Bay

I Am the Walrus, Part 2

Oysters on the half shell aren't the only attraction at the old Magnolia

I Am the Walrus, Part 1

Winter is prime time at Willie G's oyster bar

Over the Limit?

PCBs may prompt a first-ever warning against bay speckled trout fishing

Draining the Swamp

A scorched-earth management philosophy is sucking the life out of our region's wetlands

Trip Art

Catch Mother Nature's drift at Christmas Bay

Sex, Death and Oysters

Beneath the muddy waters of Galveston Bay lies one of the greatest seafood treasure troves on earth

Best Seafood Restaurant

Goode Co. Texas Seafood

Best Place to Launch Fireworks

Crystal Beach

Mixed Messages

Casualties aren't easy to count in the continuing battle of Bayport

Not Worth A Dam

Clear Creek is on the rise, and local flood-protection methods have been helpless against it. Soggy residents, tired of being perpetual victims, are ready for a fight.

Green Port?

A Port suit accuses several companies of contaminating its land for decades

Raw Deal

Oysterman Joe Nelson says pollution is slowly killing Galveston Bay. But is anyone listening?

A Different Kind of Steak House

Chimi-Churris South American Grill has great steak and fabulous roasted potatoes

Besieged by the Bay

Beset by skyrocketing tax assessments and wary of encroaching development, property owners in San Leon-Bacliff wonder if their "poor man's Riviera" may soon go the way of other waterfront zones along Galveston Bay.

Static

Dead in the water

Bothered by shrinking catches, growing regulations and a sense of frustration, Galveston Bay's shrimpers say that they, not the shrimp, are the endangered species.

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