Kemah

Cinco de Mayo

Celebrating Mexican culture with family-friendly events and lots of parties.

Upcoming Events: A Five-Year Feast at Feast

It won't be much longer before Lower Westheimer restaurant Feast closes for good. But first, it's celebrating its five-year anniversary to really drive the point home that goddammit we're going to miss the place. Its upcoming 5th Birthday Celebration dinner will take place on Tuesday, April 23 at 6 ... More >>

Your Ultimate Mardi Gras Guide: Get Fat on Fat Tuesday

First, get geared up with photos from the Mardi Gras celebration in Kemah... ...and the one in Galveston.

This Week In Food Blogs: Torchy's Second Spot in the Heights and Auto-Cannibalism

Arbitrary Criticism: Go ahead and start the Wednesday with a laugh: Catherine Martin visits Joe's Crab Shack in Kemah, where she "immediately fell in love." Why? "Do you know what they have in the middle of the tables there? Buckets for you to put your trash in. Just sunk into the table." That's why ... More >>

Hot Spots for Cool Treats: Where To Get Great Gelato, Ice Cream and Snowcones in Houston

I spent the morning over at KHOU's studios this past Tuesday discussing ice cream and other cool treats with Debra Duncan on Great Day Houston (all pandering aside, a really great crew of people to work with and always a very fun time) and special guests Matt Marcus and Ryan Soroka from the Eatsie B ... More >>

Joseph Farley: What, It's a Crime to Unicycle in the Nude?

If you had "unicycle in the nude across a big bridge" on your bucket list, be warned that the police frown on that activity. At least in Kemah. Joseph Farley, 45, found that out yesterday when police arrested him for doing just that and charged him with indecent exposure. He was riding across the ... More >>

Where to Party This Cinco de Mayo

Salt, tequila and lime

7 Cool & Cheap Things To Do This Weekend: Crawfish, Scott H. Biram, Blaggards, Etc.

It's crawfish season, as Rocks Off may have mentioned recently. All weekend - today through Sunday, in other words - the Houston Blues Society is sponsoring the stage at the Kemah Crawfish Festival, featuring dependable locals such as Mojofromopolis, the Paul Ramirez Band, Texas Johnny Brown, Don Ke ... More >>

Bonna-What?: How 7 U.S. Music Festivals Got Their Names

This whole week, the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, featuring the Black Keys, Radiohead, Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg, Pulp, At the Drive-In, the Shins, AVICII, David Guetta and maybe one or two others, will be all anyone who follows music these days will be talking about. Then early next week, it' ... More >>

Focus on FotoFest 2012

Snapshots from the photography biennial.

The Perfect Soundtrack To Your Next Crawfish Boil

Crawfish boils have become a springtime ritual in Houston. At least once a season, it's an accepted necessity that we waste an entire day pinching tails, sucking heads and covering ourselves in spicy, stinky seafood slime. Finding the bugs typically isn't a problem -- you can hit up any number of r ... More >>

Mudbug Music: The Perfect Soundtrack for Your Next Crawfish Boil

Fat Pat's "Tops Drop" on the way to buy the crawfish in Kemah and UGK's "Wood Wheel" for the drive back. These are just two of the songs that Rocks Off's Nathan Smith recommends to start your day-long crawfish boiling festivities. If you think that zydeco music and only zydeco music is the right ac ... More >>

Jordy Tollett, Former "Mister Downtown," Charged With DWI, Again

Former Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau honcho Gerard Jay "Jordy" Tollett, currently the Pasadena Convention Center general manager, has had yet another alcohol-related setback. This time, it's a DWI bust, courtesy of the police in the sharp-dressed political wheeler-dealer's hometow ... More >>

National Margarita Day Is Today, Ash Wednesday, for Some Reason

The people at the National Council for Naming National Days need to get together with the Roman Catholic church, because this seriously isn't going to work out. National Margarita Day on the first day of Lent? Surely you jest, National Margarita Council of Margaritas, National Chapter. But it's not ... More >>

Romance Under-the-Sea Five-Course Valentine's Dinner

Chef Chat, Part 1: Kevin Bryant of The Capitol at St. Germain

Photo by Mai PhamKevin Bryant, Executive Chef at The Capitol at St. Germain​Kevin Bryant epitomizes Southern charm. There's just something about him that puts you at ease immediately, so for our chat, I felt like I catching up with an old friend. Maybe it's the fact that he loves dogs. Alth ... More >>

Openings & Closings: November 2011

Photo by Amber AmbroseEl Rey closed this week -- but which one?​Remember how busy of a month October was for openings and closings? November was a little slower, but not by much. In upcoming restaurants, one of our favorite bloggers reports that Calliope's is opening a second location of its ... More >>

Print Industry Troubles, As Analyzed by Chronicle Street Vendors

The newspaper industry hasn't been in the best of shape for a while now, and layoffs and buyouts and declining subscriptions are common. Besides the employees directly affected, hard times have also hit the people who will sell you the Houston Chronicle while you're waiting at intersections across ... More >>

Upcoming Events

​First and foremost, mark your calendar now for June 30, the night of our first annual Houston Web Awards with special guest Fat Tony among other presenters such as the crew of Technology Bytes and the fabulous Houston Roller Derby girls. Nominations are closed, but we will be presenting awar ... More >>

Upcoming Events

Get cheesy at Urban Harvest on April 30.​If all goes to plan, the "Battle of the Heights" Pie-Eating Contest this Saturday at Pie in the Sky (632 West 19th) will look nothing like Stephen King's Great Tri-County Pie Eat. But wouldn't you rather go watch just in case? Four of the Heights' "civi ... More >>

Kemah Crawfish Festival

Upcoming Events

​As you may have read and seen around the Internet, this Sunday is Linda's Block Party at 1834 Westheimer, a fundraising event to help defray medical costs for Linda Salinas. Salinas, a local bartender and sommelier, was injured in a scooter accident on Sunday night, and the Houston restaurant ... More >>

Arun Sharma, Pill Mill Doctor Found With $1.5 Million in Cash, Gets 15 Years

Few questions asked​Arun Sharma, the Kemah doctor who ran wildly successful if not exactly overly supervised pain clinics -- and who had $1.5 million in cash in his house and safety deposit boxes when arrested -- got sentenced to 15 years in prison today. Sharma was also ordered to forfeit $4 ... More >>

This Is the World's Greatest Swindler (Walmart Div.)

Crime StoppersThis is one talented guy, Crime Stoppers says​This livin'-large guy to the right is The World's Greatest Swindler, as far as guys who hustle Walmart cashiers go, if Crime Stoppers is to be believed. The dude goes around to various stores, finds a young cashier, buys a magazine w ... More >>

Houston, Greet Your Floating Condo Complex

Illustration via River CitiesThe early bird special is great​What Houston has been missing: A floating condo city that cruises the nation's rivers and coastal waterways. What Houston is no longer missing: That. River Cities is in Kemah, we learn from the Houston Chronicle, looking for adventu ... More >>

Tilman Fertitta: ATMs for Gold Bars Are Genius

Tilman Fertitta knows a hot trend when he sees one​Most people, when they read about the Florida ATM that disbursed bars of gold instead of cash, thought, "Good Lord, that is possibly the most idiotic thing I've ever heard in my life. And that includes the Matrix sequels." Tilman Fertitta, th ... More >>

R.I.P.: A Toast to the Restaurants We'll Miss the Most

Photo by Robb WalshAlas! No more salchi-burgers from Brisa Cocina Mexicana.​While toasts are usually reserved for happier events or for New Year's Eve, we thought it appropriate to toast the dearly departed restaurants which closed this past year, wishing those who had to close them future suc ... More >>

Openings & Closings

No more orichiette at Sabetta Cafe.​Two unexpected closings took the city by surprise this week, starting with the unceremonious shuttering of Bailey's American Grille (2320 NASA Parkway) in Seabrook. Although former owner Brad Bailey blamed a poor economy and struggles to recover from Hurrica ... 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. Feeding Curiosity: The main reason for following Chef Randy Rucker's blog? Anno ... More >>

Kemah Boardwalk Firework Extravaganza

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

Guy Fieri Leaves His Mark

​I was recently at T-Bone Tom's in Kemah eating the amazing house-made smoked sausage and those awesome armadillo eggs, when I noticed that on the wall by our table was a spray-painted stencil of Guy Fieri's signature, along with a picture of him shaking the owner's hand. It was funny, and so ... 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 >>

Congratulations, Kemah Smokers: You're 20 Feet Closer To The Front Door

Hey you two!! Take it outside!! At least you won't have to walk far​The Kemah city council couldn't agree on a smoking ban in bars and restaurant bars at their meeting last night, but they did agree on one thing: Those desperate, addicted puffers forced outside in rain, cold and heat can be a litt ... More >>

We Have An Air Date For Kemah's Extreme Makeover

Photo by Lee Riner​In January workers descended on a Kemah home hard hit by Ike, a place where Larry and Melissa Beach have raised a passel of foster kids and quite a few of their own.The CenterPoint lineman's salary was stretched thin enough without paying for home repairs, but in this case he di ... More >>

Fresh Fish Available Under the Bridge

​Pier 8 Seafood (409 Todville Rd., Seabrook) under the famous Kemah bridge is hands-down our favorite place to get an affordable "you buy, we fry" seafood lunch. This Filipino family-owned business offers fresh, quality seafood at reasonable prices, preparing deep-fried fish the way it is done ... More >>

Cheerleader Calendar Season Begins: Do's And Don'ts

If it's November, it must be time for professional sports teams to start pimping cheerleader calendars.The Houston Texans cheerleaders are doing a promo tonight to launch sales of the 2010 calendar. The Texans calendars are not exactly known for their raciness, as befits the "good guy" philosophy of ... More >>

Ghost Riders: Easy Come, Easy No

CenterPoint Energy's power line easements would make ideal bike highways. Too bad they won't let us use them.

What The Hell? Kemah Is One Of The Top Ten Boardwalks In The U.S.?

Photo by mhowry​We didn't notice this until KPRC pointed it out recently, but the website Forbes Traveler recently published an article entitled "We Don't Know Anything About Boardwalks."That wasn't the actual headline on the article, but it should have been. Unless you believe that the pre-fab sc ... More >>

Kemah Still Being Pretty Damn Casual About Its Future

Photo by Daniel Kramer​Kemah is at a crossroads where some residents want to keep the city an eclectic, fishing-village-type place, and others want to turn the town into a mini South Beach, with high-rise condos lined up along the shore. That's what Robin Collins, a city councilwoman, told us at t ... More >>

Kemah Cops Are Finding Out About Fighting City Hall

Photo by Daniel Kramer​It's been about one month since we reported on the four Kemah police officers who were laid off and filed grievances with the city because the officers weren't buying the story that they were simply victims of the economic downturn and Hurricane Ike. Attorney Greg Cagle, who ... More >>

Trails to Terror

2008 Halloween Guide

Trails to Terror

2008 Halloween Guide

Jose Miguel Yamal Latin Jazz Quartet

Da Camera opens its daytime concert series

La Tapa Tapa Restaurant & Lounge

T-BONE TOM'S SUNSET SHOT

T-Bone Tom's Steakhouse Restaurant

Visit T-Bone Tom's and help keep Kemah weird

I Love CFS: 25 Lovable Chicken-Fried Steaks

Who invented the CFS? There are a lot of competing theories. Whose do you love? Better try them all to be sure.

Fertitta's Dynasty of Dining

Love him or hate him, Tilman has turned the region into the land of Landry's

Osso Buco Me? Osso Buco You!

Our food critic gets tossed out of another restaurant

Island Comfort

Reggae Hut starts good and gets butter. (Er, better.)