Morocco

Colbert Bumps Campbell's Go Soups into My Shopping Cart

I am always on the lookout for cool little treats I can stash in the pantry. "Shelf stable" are dirty words to some, but I don't mind the occasional canned soup or quick, just-add-hot-water snack. When my husband -- who shoulders most of the cooking duties -- is out of town, or working late, these i ... More >>

Your Stress-Free Holiday Dining Guide: Where to Eat on Christmas Day 2012

The presents are unwrapped, the place is destroyed and the pine needles from the Christmas tree have formed a fine carpet throughout the house. The last thing you want to do is dirty up a bunch of dishes cooking after all that. So why not let one of the many Houston restaurants open on Christmas Day ... More >>

Your Stress-Free Holiday Dining Guide: Where to Eat on Christmas Eve 2012

Shopping for family, sending gifts to loved ones afar and decorating the house with an obnoxious amount of holiday decor tends to build quite a lot of stress each Christmas. So, we all love anything that eliminates some of the holiday stress. Let some of your favorite restaurants around Houston do t ... More >>

Your Stress-Free Holiday Dining Guide: Where to Eat on Christmas Day 2012

The presents are unwrapped, the place is destroyed and the pine needles from the Christmas tree have formed a fine carpet throughout the house. The last thing you want to do is dirty up a bunch of dishes cooking after all that. So why not let one of the many Houston restaurants open on Christmas Day ... More >>

Your Stress-Free Holiday Dining Guide: Where to Eat on Christmas Eve 2012

Shopping for family, sending gifts to loved ones afar and decorating the house with an obnoxious amount of holiday decor tends to build quite a lot of stress each Christmas. So, we all love anything that eliminates some of the holiday stress. Let some of your favorite restaurants around Houston do t ... More >>

Your Stress-Free Holiday Dining Guide: Where to Eat on Christmas Day 2012

The presents are unwrapped, the place is destroyed and the pine needles from the Christmas tree have formed a fine carpet throughout the house. The last thing you want to do is dirty up a bunch of dishes cooking after all that. So why not let one of the many Houston restaurants open on Christmas Day ... More >>

Got a Light?

Perhaps a little more reinvention is needed for Monica Pope's Sparrow Bar + Kitchen.

Top 10 Restaurants in Rice Village

We're tackling the city's neighborhoods one by one now that the Best of Houston issue is out. First was Montrose, then the Heights and now Rice Village, an area that's absolutely saturated with great restaurants. One of the best things about the saturation in Rice Village is how easy it is to park ... More >>

What's Cooking This Week? Grilled Eggplant Panini, Chicken Parmigiana & More

I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don't make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredients I've bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter What's Cooking This Week - my weekly meal ... More >>

What's Cooking This Week? Seared Skirt Steak, Sweet Potato Skins & More

I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don't make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredients I've bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter What's Cooking This Week - my weekly meal ... More >>

My Trip to Napa Valley: Part I

I'm pretty sure I fell in love with Napa. It's like an alcoholic's wine lover's Disneyworld; a dream land filled with picturesque landscape, a fantastic crisp breeze and some of the world's best wine at your fingertips, ripe for the taking. And the food scene; well, it's TDF. I was lucky enough t ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 95, Farmer's MKT Pizza at Phoenicia's MKT Bar

This year leading up to our annual Best of Houston® issue, we're counting down our 100 favorite dishes in Houston. This list comprises our favorite dishes from the last year, dishes that are essential to Houston's cultural landscape and/or dishes that any visitor (or resident) should try at least o ... More >>

What's Cooking This Week?

Last week I spiced up the menu with Moroccan Inspired Burgers & Wasabi Salmon. With the weather warming up, I want to use my oven before it's too late. So this week, I'm making a roasted chicken and going back to my roots with some more of my Italian favorites. Here's what I'm making: Lemon Roast ... More >>

What's Cooking This Week?

Photo by FotoosVanRobinCooking low and slow can make the Moroccan Spiced Stew that much better. If you have extra time and a tagine, go for it.​Romantic seafood dinner. Check. Chocolate. Check. Roses. Check. Chocolate mousse. Check. Champagne. Check. Eating leftover chocolate all freaking week ... More >>

Lebanese Queso and More at the Fabulous New Phoenicia Downtown

No, seriously. I want to live inside that bowl.​I feel almost obligated to turn in my Texan card for saying this, but the "queso" I enjoyed at the MKT Bar (1001 Austin) inside the new downtown Phoenicia grocery store earlier this week was better than any Tex-Mex queso I've ever had. This has ... More >>

Zouhair Zairi: Moorish Fusion Cuisine: Conquering the New World

Openings & Closings: October 2011

Coming soon: Free bitch-slaps for anyone who says, "Meet me at the Finn."​It's been a busy month for restaurant openings, closings, name changes and remodels. Hang onto your coffee cups -- we've got a lot of restaurant news to get through in one post. Openings: BlackFinn American Grille is c ... More >>

Merguez in Midtown

Majorca Bistro & Tapas offers good food, great sangria and plenty of people-watching.

Openings & Closings: September 2011

Mezzanotte owner Gerry Sarmiento released the above video on his website late last month to give diners a preview of his new restaurant, Piqueo, which is scheduled to open in the middle of next month. Like Mezzanotte, Piqueo will also be in Cypress -- right next door, in fact. "It's going to make i ... More >>

Desert Couscous

Casablanca worth a visit in a city with so little Moroccan food.

Oasis in the Desert: Casablanca Brings Moroccan Food to Houston

Photos by Troy FieldsSee more photos from Casablanca in our slideshow.​When it opened late last year, Casablanca Couscous & Grill became only the second Moroccan restaurant in Houston. And the truth is, for a city that prides itself on being such a melting pot of ethnicities and cuisines, ther ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 3: Hicham Nafaa of Majorca Bistro & Tapas

Let the tapas begin... Photo by Mandy Oaklander​After our chef chat (see parts one and two), Hicham Nafaa of Majorca Bistro & Tapas first whips up a mix of Majorcan tapas -- warm, open-faced baguettes topped with vegetables (left), Moroccan sausage, and shrimp (right). The vegetarian slice i ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 1: Hicham Nafaa of Majorca Bistro & Tapas

Photo by Mandy OaklanderHicham Nafaa, owner/chef of Majorca Bistro & Tapas​The walls of Majorca Bistro & Tapas are deep red, accented with hand-painted bullfighting frescoes. Soft flamenco music pulses through the low-lit dining room. Majorca is Midtown's brand-new tapas restaurant, and from t ... More >>

Abderrahim Elmaghraoui: Stabs Wife 17 Times; Murder Conviction Tossed Because He Wasn't Warned He Might Be Deported

Do it again, and get it right this time, court rules.​Those wild-eyed liberals at the 14th Court of Appeals have tossed out the murder conviction of a man who stabbed his wife 17 times, because he had not been warned his guilty plea might result in deportation. His guilty plea did result in a ... More >>

Cafe Moustache: Not the Place for Crepes. But These Places Are

This fig and goat cheese crepe did not come from Cafe Moustache; it came from Melange Creperie, just down the street.​It's safe to say that outside of being able to drink a lot of wine on the cheap during happy hour, I don't understand the allure of Cafe Moustache, the subject of this week's c ... More >>

Top 5 Everyday Exotic Dinners

Jules:stonesoup​Unless I'm feeling particularly inspired, throwing a party or testing out recipes for a blog post, on a daily basis I often fall into the same old pasta, chicken, whatever rotation. There's only so many nights, however, that a person can stand the same old boring thing before o ... More >>

Pre-Concert Eating at Hubbell & Hudson

Photo by Katharine ShilcuttPre-concert picnic from Hubbell & Hudson.​Finding a good place to eat in The Woodlands prior to a concert at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion can be a struggle if you're on a budget and tight for time. No one wants to battle the circling cars around The Woodlands Mall ... More >>

Shiftwork Bites: Tagine

Photo by Nicholas L. HallPork sausage tagine with dried apricots and pistachios​I love dishes that do double duty. I'm not talking about something you make once and eat twice, repurposing left-overs into an entirely new dish. I'm talking about dishes that are also dishes. You know, like how "c ... More >>

For Richer or Poorer

The po-boys at Zimm's Little Deck come up short.

Upcoming Events

Photo courtesy of Paula MurphyCome prepared to the fruit tree sale and don't say you weren't warned.​Don't forget! Urban Harvest's annual fruit tree sale is kind of a big deal, and it's happening this weekend at Robertson Stadium on the University of Houston campus. From the press release: Th ... More >>

An Evening in Marrakech at Boheme

​Boheme Café and Wine Bar will be hosting a Moroccan-themed dinner next Wednesday, December 8, at 7:30 p.m. Chef Heather Vaughan is preparing a four-course meal featuring one of her favorite cuisines for $25 per person. The dinner will begin with a dip sampler, including muhammara (a red pe ... More >>

Casablanca Couscous & Grill

Chef Jeramie Robison Plays Around With Gumbo and More at Zimm's Little Deck

Photos by Margaret DowningOutside deck area with petanque court behind it (French version of Italian bocce).​We stopped in at the just-opened Zimm's Little Deck the other night for a tasting session - zoomed right past the place at first and had to reverse course, it being just a left hand tur ... More >>

Openings & Closings

​After an extended hiatus, Las Alamedas (23501 Cinco Ranch Boulevard, Suite F410) has finally reopened -- but not in its former location on Katy Freeway. Instead, the old-school Mexican restaurant known as the site of many a special occasion dinner has moved west to Katy's La Centerra developm ... More >>

Planet Houston: Country Cooking

An around-the-world guide to the foods of Planet Houston

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. The Mighty Rib: Kevin's been on the road lately and reviewing restaurant far ou ... More >>

Sufi Soul: The Mystic Music of Islam

William Dalrymple explores the music at the heart of Sufism

"Light of the Sufis: The Mystical Arts of Islam"

The MFAH deepens its commitment to Islamic art

Andalucia Tapas and Taverna

Touring Taste of Dance Salad

Relive last year's triumph while you wait for next year's performance

Classic Rock Corner: Ian Gillan's Deeper Shade of Purple

www.gillan.comThough best known as the talented tonsils behind British hard-rock legends Deep Purple, Ian Gillan has also found the chance to log in some serious studio and road time both fronting his own bands and as a solo artist. Gillan's new CD, One Eye to Morocco (Eagle Records) finds th ... More >>

History of Texas Chili--Without Beans

Chili con carne was introduced to America by the "Chili Queens," women who served food in San Antonio's Military Plaza as early as the 1860s. Chili stands were also common in Galveston and Houston; they were the taco trucks of the 1800s. Tamales with chili was the most common order--beans were oft ... More >>

Indie Rock Rediscovers the Motherland

Kinky Afro

Veh-Ree Theen Pancakes

Don't be self-conscious — enjoy a crepe or two at CoCo's

Pungent Pizza

Cava Bistro

Sweet 17

The Sam Houston Hotel unites shrimp curry, king salmon with Moroccan spices, and mac 'n' cheese

Dancing Delicacies

Saffron's delicacy pie -- made with lamb livers, sweetbreads and mountain oysters -- is divine

Fantastic Fusion

Mantra's Mike Potowski seems to delight in turning culture clashes into culinary fashion statements

Border Crossings

Youssef Nafaa

The Importance of Being Elouise