Subject: Jay Francis

• Jay Francis, Food Explorer: El Angel’s Gigante Tortaburger

  October 23, 2007

• Jay Francis, Food Explorer: Ethiopian Chili Tacos at Nazareth Cafe on Chimney Rock

  November 12, 2007

• Jay Francis, Food Explorer: Afghani Nan at Kings Chicken

  February 15, 2008

• Where’s the Great Espresso?

  June 12, 2008

• Over the Weekend: Mugsy's, Big Easy, SW Foodservice Expo, Tom Waits and Astros

  June 23, 2008

• Over the Weekend: Pearl Bar, Los Tios, Escalante's and Houston Aeros

  October 12, 2008

• The Aroma of Authenticity

  El Hidalguense makes its Long Point neighbor seem downright American

  May 10, 2001

• Be Thankful for Mole

    The photo here is of a tortilla enmolada at Otilia's, one of several restaurants in town that make mole from scratch. The mole of Mexico is a rich gravy, made of combining chile puree (reconstituted dried chiles), fruits, toasted bread, nuts, herbs and, in some cases, chocolate. The gravy is simmered in lard until it develops a surface sheen. Chicken broth is added to thin the gravy a little bit before serving.

  November 26, 2008

• Port for the Holidays

  I was at Spec's the other evening and ended up in the Port section.  I struck up a conversation with a guy who looked a little overwhelmed by all of the different choices and we ended up having a nice conversation about port.  Here's some basic information that I hope will help you with your own Port shopping this holiday season. First off, Port is a fortified wine, meaning that the wine has been topped off with brandy.  Originally done to prevent "souring" of the wine that

  December 24, 2008

• Greek 101

  Robb Walsh wrote about Ekko's this week in the Press. A couple of days ago, someone asked me whether "gyros" was singular or plural and I thought I'd share this with you so that you can dazzle the Greek guy behind the counter the next time you're out and about. Like many words that come from foreign sources, singular and plural forms of the word get confused when they are used here in the States. "Kolache" and "tamale" come to mind, as the singulars are actually kolach and tamal and the plur

  January 9, 2009

• Football Watching Food (No, Really)

  Okay, nice joke J.C., you totally had me. Although I should have known something was up since nobody makes their own corny dogs (except maybe Jay Francis). Don't look for any Super Bowl recipes from me. The spirit has gone out of our great national guacamole-eating holiday since the NFL started suing everybody for infringing on their trademark. Bars and restaurants can't have Super Bowl promotions without paying a fee to use the name. That's like Hallmark demanding a cut of your Mother's Day B

  January 30, 2009

• Letters

  March 16, 2000

• Who's Crying Now?

  October 23, 2008

• Flounder Fanmail for Jimmy Wilson's Seafood & Chop House

  October 16, 2008

• Pork Ribs Taste Like Candy at Midway BBQ

  October 2, 2008

• Keep Houston Weird: Dry Creek Café

  January 24, 2008

• Anthony Bourdain, Illegal Immigrants and Sylvia's Enchilada Kitchen

  January 3, 2008

• Turquoise Grill Brick Oven Bistro

  January 3, 2008

• Poor Boys, Ethiopian Tacos and Dynamo Fans

  November 29, 2007

• Chipinque Cuisine

  You can't go wrong with margaritas and crab quesadillas at Santos The Taste of Mexico

  November 30, 2006

• Comida sin Fronteras

  In 21st-century Houston, it's getting hard to tell the difference between Mexican and Tex-Mex

  June 22, 2006

• Blaze of Glory

  Jarro Cafe's salsas are set-your-face-on-fire picante

  April 29, 2004

• Globalization's McBacklash

  Guatemala’s Pollo Campero has American fast-food franchises running scared

  January 16, 2003

• Short Courtship

  A whirlwind romance with The Little Havana

  April 18, 2002

• The Best Dim Sum in Guangzhouston

  A new champion is crowned

  November 2, 2000

• Trend-scendent

  Lunch with: Melissa Noble

  September 7, 2000

• Ethnic Explorer

  August 3, 2000

• This Cinco de Mayo, Take a Break From the Margarita

  Photo by Jay Francis Viva rompope! Theodore Roosevelt once remarked that the American grizzly should have been our national symbol instead of the American eagle, which he described as "just a dandified vulture." For me, the margarita is just a dandified tequila sour. My Cinco de Mayo drink of choice is rompope. During the colonial era, when churches were being constructed all over Mexico, there was an abundance of egg yolks, as the egg whites were being used to bind the gold leaf to the c

  May 1, 2009

• If I Could Wine and Dine Guy Fieri

  If I could take Guy Fieri out for a taste of Houston I'd do the following in this order (all on the same day...we'd have to start early): First stop: Crispy puffy tacos at Loma Linda and Los Tios. Photos by Jay FrancisPuffy tacos at Loma Linda Puffy tacos at Los Tios

  May 6, 2009

• This Week In Deliciousness

  Photo by Katharine ShilcuttPictured: Damn fine pie. Not pictured: Laura Palmer, Log Lady, backwards-talking jazz dwarf Welcome back to the weekly Eating Our Words round-up! This week started out with more Cinco de Mayo fare and the triumphant return of Robb Walsh with his Top 5 Cinco de Mayo Mariachi Requests which, intentionally or not, pretty accurately take you through the five stages of getting truly shitfaced. The article is marred only slightly by some very mild Willie-bashing in the comme

  May 8, 2009

• Fresh Pinto Beans J'Arrivee!

  Photos by Jay Francis Pinto beans have a very short season, which is why you hardly ever see them fresh. But fresh pinto beans, when boiled with a little cilantro, salt, butter and onion, are absolutely delicious. The center is creamy, with the consistency of a chocolate truffle. Dried pintos can be gritty.Ray himself with fresh pintos Ray's Produce will have fresh pinto beans this week and possibly next weekend. They are $4 a pound. Ray's is a wholesale/retail venue near the farmers' market a

  May 12, 2009

• Las Delicias Mexicanas

  Photos by Jay Francis Las Delicias, a new wholesale/retail store on Airline Boulevard just up from Teotihuacan, is selling traditional Mexican candies. There's the variety made by cooking fresh fruits and vegetables (pumpkin, for example) in sugar syrup, and also ate, a fresh-fruit puree in bar form, hard candies, chocolate-covered peanut marzipan, and the famous goat's-milk dulce de leche known as cajeta. The word "cajeta" is interesting -- it actually means "little box." Made in Celaya, caj

  May 13, 2009

• This Week In Deliciousness

  Treacle sponge and custard at the suspiciously low-priced Feast Well, I never. Last week, a couple of truants snuck in a pair of articles after This Week In Deliciousness went to press, so even though they were tardy, go read about Spec's cheese-less Wine & Cheese festival, and make sure you send the link to Robb Walsh's article on How To Cook a Cow Head to all your vegan friends. But only if you're the kind of person who finds making your friends vomit hilarious. (We're guessing most of you.)

  May 15, 2009

• Shanghainese, If You Please

  May 21, 2009

• Kiko's Mexican Cafe

  Photos by J.C. ReidKiko'sJust like mom used to make it. When was the last time you ate at a restaurant and said that to yourself? Probably not very recently. Lots of restaurants advertise "authentic, home-cooked" meals because they use the original recipes from the owner's family, but they're still usually cooked by a battalion of for-hire cooks. Something inevitably gets lost in the translation. But as I recently discovered when Jay Francis tipped me to a restaurant called Kiko's Mexican Cafe

  May 21, 2009

• Mongolian Hot Pot

  Photos by Jay FrancisIt's so refreshing to find a place that isn't afraid to keep the heat in their Mongolian hot pot, spicy version. Here are two excellent places where you can test your tolerance. I had Mongolian hot pot with a group of Houston Chowhounds at the wonderful Sichuan Cuisine (9114 Bellaire Boulevard). For a fixed price of around $15 a person, the table gets a big pot of broth with several cups of chiles, Sichuan peppers and other spices floating in it (refills are free). You pic

  May 22, 2009

• This Week In Deliciousness

  Photo by Jay FrancisJapanese peppers: God's own napalmWelcome back to our weekly food blog round-up. This has been an unusually delicious week for all of you, because, like the universe, it begins and ends with me. Yes, Monday kicked off with my in-depth investigation into the roll-slowing prowess of various extreme relaxation beverages, with the conclusions that a) none are quite as effective as alcohol, and b) I should probably start seeking help. After a quick dahi poori Snackshot, Robb Wals

  May 22, 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

• 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 observe the madness. And some came, bloodthirsty and ravenous to win, for the pure competition. The Fried Chicken Throwdown at Beaver's Ice House Monday night satisfied all parties: People shoved enough

  June 10, 2009

• New Burgers at Hubcap Grill

  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

  July 14, 2009

• Loaves and Fishes

  July 23, 2009

• Noodles You Need to Know About

  Photos by Robb Walsh​I got a medium pho with steak and brisket at Pho Binh at 10815 Beechnut for lunch the other day. I was coming down with a cold and it worked at least as well as chicken soup. Pho Binh on Beechnut is located in a shopping center. It was the winner of Best Pho in the 2007 Houston Press Best of Houston® edition. But pho fanatics generally prefer the original Pho Binh location in a ramshackle trailer at 10928 Beamer in South Houston. Here's Jay Francis's video tour. There

  August 18, 2009

• Photos from Laredo Taqueria

  The Laredo Taqueria location on Cavalcade is the subject of this week's Café review. Here are some photos of our last breakfast outing there. ​These four tacos are stuffed with calabacitas con puerco, huevos con chorizo, huevos con nopales and barbacoa. They cost $2 each.

  September 2, 2009

• Laredo Cavalcade

  September 3, 2009

• Just-Off-the-Griddle Tortillas at Laredo Taqueria

  Photo by Robb Walsh​In this week's Café review, we visit Laredo Taqueria on Cavalcade, where breakfast is a wondrous experience. When you get in line to order your breakfast tacos, you find yourself standing in front of the griddle where the flour tortillas are being prepared. If you watch carefully, you will see the very tortillas you are about to eat being hand-formed, cooked and passed along to the steam table. The ladies at the griddle turn out a couple of dozen tortillas every few

  September 2, 2009

• Breakfast in BissBeechistan

  Photos by Robb Walsh​My friend Jay Francis refers to the neighborhood west of Beltway 8 between Bissonnet and Beechnut as BissBeechistan because of the excellent Pakistani restaurants found in the area. La Sani is the most famous of the bunch. But Francis is extremely fond of King's Chicken on Beechnut for the fried chicken, excellent Afghani-style naan and wacky pizza.

  October 1, 2009

• Big House on the Hill

  October 15, 2009

• How to Review a Restaurant When You're Quarantined

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  October 14, 2009

• This Week In Deliciousness

  Smallpox vaccination scars are sexy as hell.​Welcome back to the weekly roundup at Eating Our Words, where we never roll less than three sous-chefs deep, y'all. Paul Knight started off the week by attending the Grand Opening of Lucky Strike Lanes and sampling their grub. We'll spare you the inevitable bowling puns. Get it? "Spare"? No, come back. That's it, we promise. All further bowling puns will be stricken from the record. (Get it?) Olivia Flores Alvarez spent $13 at Kojak's Timberbro

  October 16, 2009

• Beef Cheeks at Gerardo's Drive-in

  ​A surprising number of people don't know what beef cheek is. Several times I've been in a fancy restaurant with "braised beef cheeks" on the menu and someone will ask, "Those are the cheeks from the rump of the cow, right?" Wrong. Beef cheek comes from the head of a cow, specifically the muscles around the jaw. All that cud chewing makes for an initially tough and sinewy cut of beef, but with the proper slow-cooking technique, it will turn fork-tender. The idea that meat can come from th

  October 27, 2009