Iron Chef

Big State, Big Ideas

Pigeon with a Fine Pinot

Chris Olbekson

Follow Friday for Foodies

The group collective on Twitter, the increasingly popular micro-blogging and social networking platform, has developed a recent tradition called Follow Friday.  Follow Friday is part circle jerk, part honest and helpful advice from your Twitter friends on who to follow if you're new or simply l ... More >>

Houston's Best Recipe for Success

Chef Monica Pope at MacGregor Elementary School. Photos by Carlos Meltzer There's alot of talk these days about problems and solutions. The economy, the environment, healthcare, education. But as we all know there appears to be a lot more problems than there are solutions. And alot more talk th ... More >>

Dawn of the Dead

Sci Fi's brilliant good vs. evil is a corpse in search of a burial

Losing It

Our intrepid columnist goes camping and finds it a bare-bones affair

Food Fight

The Benihana-themed Cookin' is a real whack job

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

The Benihana-themed Cookin' is a real whack job

Size Matters

Fan Factory's "Squeeze Plays" are short in length and long on laughs

Playbill

Fan Factory's "Squeeze Plays" are short in length and long on laughs

Mac Attack

A cancer patient sues McDonald's, contending a peppered burrito caused his nosebleed

Injecting Fun into Death Row

If your condemned convicts survive, you thrive in this game

The Battle Rages On: Fried Chicken Throwdown at Beaver's

Photos by Katharine ShilcuttRonnie Killen's skillet fried chickenSome had come for the spectacle of it all: 17 different fried chicken dishes, 9 enormous casseroles filled with various macaroni and cheeses, salads and side dishes and desserts enough to feed Alexander's own army. Some had come to obs ... More >>

The Scoop

We all scream for Houston's best ice cream

Dancing With the Stars: Gridiron or Iron Chef, Your Times Have Come

Last night was the seventh elimination round of this season's Dancing With the Stars, and the second one to see two people go home. I guess at this point in the season the gimmick is starting to wear off? In which case, why not just have fewer contestants to start? Then again, when 16.4 million pe ... More >>

Michelle Obama on Iron Chef

​Michelle Obama appeared on Iron Chef America last Sunday to promote healthy eating. Ever since she planted that organic garden last year, she has become a spokesperson for eating your vegetables and therefore a lightning rod for controversy. The White House communications office reached out t ... More >>

An Unlikely Winner at the Mushroom Throwdown

Photo by Katharine ShilcuttThrowdown judge Gracie Cavnar prepares to sample an entry.​The big guns were brought out last night for the fourth -- and largest to date -- throwdown organized by Jenny Wang and the Houston Chowhounds: the Mushroom Throwdown at Vic & Anthony's. From the judging pane ... More >>

The Basics: Cookbooks

​We recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal on Alton Brown's top five favorite cookbooks. You remember Brown. He's the quirky chemistry geek on Good Eats and one of the commentators on Iron Chef. If you're one of the few non-Food Network junkies, you might recognize him from Welch' ... More >>

Human Breast Milk - Not Just For Babies Anymore?

​To all of you who think you're up for eating anything, we have one question for you: Would you dare eat breast-milk cheese? Austrian-born chef Daniel Angerer runs the Klee Brasserie in Manhattan. He was already considered a somewhat daring culinary talent who was best known for defeating Bob ... More >>

Teen Iron Chef: The Secret Ingredient Is Shrimp

​The Teen Iron Chef Competition came to Houston this week at Sharpstown High School. Enterprising adolescents who had been training for seven weeks had their final showdown on Wednesday to see which team had made the most advancement in the kitchen. With Chef Monica Pope of T'afia serving as g ... More >>

This Week in Deliciousness

Sadly, that cooler is filled with Listerine, and not Exxxtreme Blue Thunder Capri Sun.​ Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we've borrowed six or seven fondue pots but have yet to return a single one. We started off the week with an adventure into the world of ne ... More >>

Raising the Bar at the Bourbon Throwdown

Photos by GroovehouseAdam Bryan finishes up his No Bogey Fizz cocktails.​Last night's Bourbon Throwdown at Branchwater Tavern was the fifth throwdown -- a casual, Iron Chef-style competition between local chefs -- that the Houston Chowhounds have thrown since June 2009. But far from being a re ... More >>

Battle Celebrity Chef: Cat Cora v. Rachael Ray

​One is a bona fide chef, while the other is a self-described cook. One has made headlines because of her unique method of getting pregnant; the other appears on the pages of the supermarket rags because she is apparently about to get a divorce once a week. One is friends with that creepy "cha ... More >>

Food Network's The Great Food Truck Race

​, Food Network, as we all know, has edged away from actual cooking shows and toward entertaining shows having something to do with food--Iron Chef America, Cupcake Wars, Chopped and, now, The Great Food Truck Race. GFTRwhich premiered Sunday night, seems promisingly unique in two ways: It bui ... More >>

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. Aghastronome: That's right, Houston's own Bryan Caswell will be competing on th ... More >>

Openings & Closings

No more ceviche at the Midtown outpost of Lemon Tree.​A reader alerted us via Twitter to the fact that the Lemon Tree (207 West Gray) had closed its doors sometime in the past week. We went by to check it out and it is, indeed, closed. A call to Lemon Tree's original location on Whittington re ... More >>

Food Fight: Battle Peking Duck

Peking Cuisine.​I'll refrain from making any "lame duck" or "peeking duck" jokes here because that would be fairly banal on my part. And it would also dumb down a dish that I've come to crave. Although Peking Duck has been a storied commodity since Imperial times in China, it has only been in ... More >>

Upcoming Events

The patron saint of food nerds come to Houston.​Do you have your tickets ready to see Anthony Bourdain this Monday night at Jones Hall? I certainly hope so, because the event is sold out. But don't fret; more celebrity chefs are on their way to Houston in coming months. Alton Brown, the origi ... More >>

Chef Kent Rathbun's Amazing Bell Pepper Trick

Pan Roasted Striped Bass with Texas Peach Barbeque Sauce and Blonde Beer Braised Cream Corn​ Eating Our Words had the opportunity to attend Central Market's "From Pint to Plate with Kent Rathbun" class on Monday, just one of many events surrounding Central Market's "Discover Brewtopia" celebra ... More >>

This Week in Deliciousness

Some restaurants helpfully split up their menus into Good and Evil dishes.​Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we've almost finished constructing our 1700-layer cake in MineCraft. We started this week off right with some fried chicken coated in a buttery Cap'N Cr ... More >>

Bryan Caswell: No Pity

​Last night, half of Houston tuned in to watch Chef Bryan Caswell of REEF and Little Big's represent the Bayou City on the Food Network's newest show: Next Iron Chef. I didn't watch it. I was catcalling people from the back of a banquet room at the Hilton during the otherwise classy My Table ... More >>

Recap: Episode Two of The Next Iron Chef

​Here's my chronological running diary of the random thoughts I had while watching episode two of The Next Iron Chef. We are reminded that in the first installment, Andrew Kirschner was sent packing. He has a soul patch. For the first challenge, the contestants are asked to put two breakfast ... More >>

Recap: Episode 4 of The Next Iron Chef

​Welcome to another exciting episode of The Next Iron Chef, where the Houston food community gathers, hoping for a win for an Iron Chef who has a real passion for this sometimes underdog Texas city. And where Ming Tsai acts like a tool. By the way, did you hear when "Ming" called into 1560 The ... More >>

Top 5 Food-Related Arcade Games

You might have heard that October is Truck Month. You're right, of course - as if you could forget with those Chevy ads on heavy rotation -- but as a designation it's irrelevant. Everyone knows that in Houston, every month is truck month. You might also have heard that October is Texas Wine Month. ... More >>

Recap: Episode 5 of The Next Iron Chef

​Last time out, Duskie Estes and Maneet Chauhan were both on the bottom, and that is a position that, as Chauhan said, "sucked big time." It sucked more for Estes, as she was booted from The Next Iron Chef. Forget about whom the Next Iron Chef will be -- I gotta see what kind of retro garb A ... More >>

Recap: Final Episode of The Next Iron Chef

​We enter the final chapter of this season of The Next Iron Chef, and I am torn. On one hand the finalists, Marco Canora and Marc Forgione, are the two that should be here. They have consistently been the best from start to finish and won a majority of the challenges. They deserve to be called ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 1: Mike Potowski of benjy's on Washington

​Competition in the restaurant scene on Washington Avenue is fierce. This week, we catch up with one of the main players, Chef Mike Potowski of benjy's on Washington. EOW: When did this benjy's on Washington open? MP: It opened up on December 27, 2008. EOW: Where was your previous stop? M ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 2: Mike Potowski of benjy's on Washington

​Yesterday, we caught of up with Executive Chef Mike Potowski of benjy's on Washington. We discussed a little of his past and his experience on Iron Chef America. Today, we talk benjy's. EOW: Could you describe the menu for someone who has never been to benjy's on Washington? MP: It is Ame ... More >>

Guess Those Hands: The Real Food Network Challenge

These look more like real chefs' hands, but that's a topic of discussion for another day.​It's Memorial Day. You've eaten too much today and gotten too much sun, so you've retreated back indoors to the cold comfort of your computer screen. We understand. Believe me, we understand. And to that ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 1: Domenica Catelli of Catelli's

Photo by Matthew DresdenDomenica Catelli, outside her family's eponymous restaurant in Geyserville, CA​This week on a very special Chef Chat: the California wine country edition! Domenica Catelli might be the most prolific chef you've never heard of, with a hand in nearly every aspect of the ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 2: Domenica Catelli of Catelli's

Photo by Matthew DresdenDomenica Catelli, outside her family restaurant in Geyserville, CA.​Yesterday on part one of our chat with Domenica Catelli, we discussed how she left Houston to reopen her family restaurant in Geyserville, California. Today, we discuss her work as a Food Network person ... More >>

Do the Food Truck Crawl

Photo by John SuhFood Truck Friday at the Boneyard​It sounds like the name of a new dance craze. And while you can certainly show off your skills to the music spinning from the live DJ booth, the Food Truck Crawl is much more than that. Hillary Hayden founded the event after watching a show ... More >>

Upcoming Events: Welcome Back, Brownstone Cafe and An Historic Pub Crawl

Photo by Alex GreggChris Frankel will be shaking things up once again at Giacomo's.​Ghost hunters and professional drinkers, you'll want to sign up for tonight's Historic Pub Crawl starting at the Lancaster Hotel. The tour will take you through five area pubs (with half-off happy hour fare at ... More >>

5 Intriguing Cocktails I Saw on TV

www.cookingchanneltv.comBeer in a Ball. ​The Food Network and Cooking Channel have turned me into a couch potato. I wouldn't get up at 4 a.m. to watch the royal wedding, but I'll burn the midnight oil watching episode after episode of Iron Chef America and Unique Eats. Imagine my delight when ... More >>

5 Food Celebrities We'd Rather See Naked Than Anthony Bourdain (and 5 We Wouldn't)

Stars and hearts over the naughty bits, so this is almost 100 percent safe for work. Almost.​In case you hadn't heard -- especially since the man himself Tweeted the pic -- a nude photo of Anthony Bourdain surfaced yesterday, taken 12 years prior while on vacation. To quote Bourdain on the pho ... More >>

6 Great Gifts For An Iron Chef Wannabe

As seen in ScienceSlashFoodThe wonders of sous vide cooking​Are you the next Iron Chef? Are you bedding a Master Chef wannabe? Do you or someone you know take cooking very seriously? Here are a few must-haves sure to tickle the fancy of the Iron Chef in, or near, you. 6. Sous vide circulators ... More >>

5 Gifts for the Coffee Snob

Chuck Cook Photography​As a coffee snob myself, I am here to advocate for my people. Please, don't break our hearts. You know how much we love coffee, but since you're not a coffee snob yourself, you might think we'd appreciate one of those machines that make coffee by squirting hot water into ... More >>

Top 5 Champagnes Under $60 for the Holidays

Photos by Jeremy Parzen.Remember: Champagne doesn't have to be white. Rosé Champagne is often considered the more "muscular" expression of the appellation. Look for Bollinger Rosé, Ruinart Rosé, and our favorite, Billecart Salmon Rosé.​Okay, folks. There's good news and there's bad news. ... More >>

This Week in Deliciousness

Eight shopping days left 'til Christmas. Drink up.​Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we're honoring the spiritual and religious roots of the holiday season by keeping the "Saturn" in "Saturnalia!" We hope you'll join us in serving the traditional Christmas goos ... More >>