Maine

The Doctors Office: One More Live-Music Remedy In Emerging Warehouse District

Walters and House of Creeps have relocated there. It's home to venues, businesses and homes. And now, the northeastern edge of Downtown near Nance Street -- an area coming to be known as the "Warehouse District" -- is home to the Doctor's Office, Houston's newest DIY house venue. Named for its form ... More >>

Maine-ly Delicious at Maine-ly Sandwiches

The lobster roll is the main attraction at Maine-ly Sandwiches.

Lobster Rolls Are the Main Attraction at Maine-ly Sandwiches

One of the first known recipes for lobster comes from Apicius, a Roman cookbook dating to around 400 A.D. that's organized quite like a modern cookbook into ten chapters. In "Thalassa," the chapter on the sea, Apicius provides recipes for dishes including boiled lobster with cumin sauce, lobster wit ... More >>

Ten Years Later, and How Iraq Can Change a Generation's Trajectory

Every day after baseball practice, my Dad picked me up. Still clad in my dirt-stained pants, still too young to have a full appreciation for deodorant, I would toss my bookbags and gear in the back of our Volvo and jump in the front seat with him. He'd ask how practice was, and I'd tell him about th ... More >>

Know What You're Getting in This Box of Chocolates: A 12-Ounce Whitman's Sampler, Analyzed

Forrest Gump wasn't quite right. Life isn't like a box of chocolates when that box is a twelve-ounce Whitman's Sampler because you pretty much always know what you're gonna get. Although the sampler is billed as a group of "assortment," this confection collection inevitably includes, for better ... More >>

What Does "Comfort Food" Mean Across the World?

"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are." -- Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin A lot of people have a problem with the term "comfort food." It's far too arbitrary, they argue. It changes from one part of the world to the next. Ice cream and brownies aren't nearly as popular in China as ... More >>

10 Lobster Dishes to Try in Houston: No. 6, Lobster Tacos at Jonathan's The Rub

One of the many things that intrigues me about the Victorian era was how the general overabundance of shellfish meant foods like lobster were more fare for the hoi polloi than the aristocratic minority. This year, a bumper crop in the Northeast has once again made lobster cheaper for the masses. And ... More >>

The Joy Formidable

5 Reasons Why Texas Will Never Win "Most Peaceful State" (and Good Riddance)

Maine has won the latest version of the United States Peace Index's "Most Peaceful State" competition. Texas? Forty-sixth most peaceful. This result simply means that Maine is a big pile of bo-ring while Texas is still holding it down with do-whatever-we-please citizens and outrageous criminals ( ... More >>

In Memoriam: Musicians And Industry Giants We Lost In 2011

For Rocks Off, one of the creepiest parts of our job is to report on deaths in the industry. Now matter how old or young the musician or mogul is, it's hard to try to quantify a person's life over the course of a few hundred words. How can you? Professional obit writers must be touched by the hand o ... More >>

The Top 10 Eating Our Words Posts of 2011

Ahh, the year in eating. In 2011 we saw food trucks find critical mass all over town, beer lovers rejoice over the influx of microbrews in Houston, Paula Deen become her very own meme, and international attention on our restaurant scene thanks to a strange little social media snafu. Without further ... More >>

Bartender Chat: Ava of The Fairview

​ The Fairview, formerly Dean's Credit Clothing in Montrose, is a great all-are-welcome kind of neighborhood bar that actually supports the neighborhood. On any given night, you could happen upon an art exhibition, a film screening, a DJ spinning, a belly dance show or a live music performance ... More >>

Leroy Thomas & the Zydeco Roadrunners

Comment of the Day: George W. Bush, Texan?

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

Upcoming: Billy Joe Shaver, Def Leppard, Stephen Marley, Etc.

​"20th Annual KTRU Outdoor Show" With Washed Out, Real Estate, Fat Tony, Young Mammals, Grandfather Child, The Tontons: Sat., April 9. Rice University. Billy Joe Shaver: Sat., June 18. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. Chingo Bling, DJ Ebonix: Fri., April 8. Bronze Peacock Room @ House of Blues. C ... More >>

Food Nostalgia: Lobster Fest at Red Lobster

​Every now and then, I'm reminded of a restaurant that I used to eat at, but haven't been to in a long time. Last weekend, I went to Red Lobster with my mother. As we walked through the entrance, I had a feeling of warm nostalgia flood through me. We used to eat here all the time when I was ... More >>

Sick Of It All

The United States of Soft Drinks

Full-size image below.​In 1998, Nebraska set a precedent for all other U.S. states when it formally declared Kool-Aid to be the state soft drink. Sure, plenty of other states have state foods or state dishes, but a state soft drink? The popular children's beverage was developed in Hastings, N ... More >>

Unidentified Male, Bayou Body Count No. 276

Shot in the chest​Houston Police are investigating a fatal shooting by three unknown suspects who kicked in the door of a residence Sunday morning. The unknown victim, a man in his 30's, was shot in the chest as the suspect fled the scene. He was taken to Ben Taub General Hospital where he wa ... More >>

Two Door Cinema Club: More Than Just A Sandwich

It's a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off, we're trying hard to decode Houston's oddest monikers in order to find a little meaning. Jamie Adamson/myspace.com/twodoorcinemaclub​Two Door Cinema Club is one of those bands that when you spend ... More >>

Anachronistic Chef: Sasparilla

Sasparilla, not sarsaparilla or sassafras or some other word that starts with 's.'​My recent post on birch beer got me rather excited about other antiquated soft drinks and, in keeping with the theme of root beverages, I decided to buy some sasparilla. Sasparilla has a rather tangled history ... More >>

The Best Roadfood of All...

​This past weekend a few of us took to the streets to savor the Roadfood Festival over in New Orleans. What is it? Roadfood spotlights the fantastic regional dishes found along our American roads and highways -- in small towns, along railroad tracks, and in our neighborhoods. The festival brou ... More >>

SPECIAL SAN DIEGO EDITION

Almost, Maine

A new theater company presents a Houston debut

Gettin' Kinda Crowded -- Texas Grows More Than Any Other State In Past Year

​Further proof that we're not being hit as hard in the Great Recession as some -- Texas added more residents in the past 12 months than any state in the union, the Census Bureau reported today.Texas added 478,000 residents in the previous 12 months, beating out California, which added almost 100,0 ... More >>

Viewer Request Program

Cinema Bomar takes suggestions for its latest program of obscure 16mm films

Metro Also Getting Some Of That Stimulus Funding That HPD Missed

Courtesy Cushing Memorial Library & Archives​Last week we told you how the police force of Milo, Maine (Motto: "Such As It Is") was receiving more stimulus funds than HPD. Admittedly easy to do, since HPD was getting zero stimulus funds.Now the snub gets worse: Metro will be feeding at the tro ... More >>

Milo, Maine Gets More Federal Stimulus Cash For Cops Than Houston

Photo courtesy MiloMilo Town Hall​We've been reading all day about how Houston got stiffed on the latest handout of federal stimulus money for cops and were kinda blase about it.Houston, after all, has gotten its fair share of Homeland Security cash because of the port and our target-rich refineri ... More >>

Capsule Stage Reviews: Altar Boyz, A Fertle Holiday

Capsule Stage Reviews: Altar Boyz, A Fertle Holiday

Going Coastal

Playbill: Deerhoof

Can Ya Spare a Nickel?

Get the Wheel Story

Hacienda Brothers

Self-Titled

Best Steak House

Welcome to Fire Island

While communities across the country block LNG terminals, Quintana just shrugs

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Don't Call the Cops!

William Pope.L's "eRacism" crawls into town

The Unthinkable

In the Bedroom, a couple's anguish turns to rage and then rational madness

Best Mussels

Cafe Montrose

Mornings with Woody

Slaid Cleaves "collaborates" with the father of folk music, while blazing his own trail

Stick a Fork in It

Resurrecting fondue: The Melting Pot makes playing with food acceptable once more

News of the Weird

News of the Weird

Trench Warfare

There's a hole carved out of the earth 32 feet deep, 210 feet wide, and 400 feet long near the Texas-Mexico border.

Traveling Waste

On their way to West Texas, trucks carrying nuclear waste may be routed through your community

Static

Hook, Line and Stinker

King Fish Market is bright, glitzy, seafood savvy -- and cigar friendly

Press Picks