Napa

In Honor of Spamalot Coming to Houston, Here Are 5 Ways to Use Spam

Monty Python's Spamalot will be coming to Houston's Theatre Under The Stars soon, running from May 14 through May 26. To pay homage to the musical, we've compiled 5 Spamtastic Recipes for y'all to try. Time to "eat ham, and jam and Spam a lot."

So Delicious, a Caveman Could Eat It

Paleo-friendly restaurant menus abound in Houston.

Jordan, a California Chardonnay with Restraint

A few years ago, a holiday weekend drive to Palm Springs from my native San Diego delivered me at the doorstep of Chardonnay Hills, an upscale homeowners association in Temecula. In this day and age, it's not surprising that a community would name itself after a grape. After all, ampelonyms (that's ... More >>

How to Send Back a Bottle of Wine You Don't Like

Yesterday we addressed the delicate subject of how to send back a bottle of flawed wine in a restaurant. If you are served a "corked" or otherwise defective bottle (perhaps "cooked" due to heat exposure or "oxidized" due to a clean but nonetheless faulty cork, for example), you have every right to s ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 2: Bobby Matos of Ciao Bello, On Learning on the Fly in the Kitchen

Bobby Matos Ciao Bello 5161 San Felipe 713-960-0333 ciaobellohouston.com This is the second part of a three-part chef chat series. Read Part 1 here and look for Part 3 in this same space Friday. Yesterday, we chatted with Chef Bobby Matos about why he became a chef, and why he chose culinary sch ... More >>

How to Ship Wine Legally to Texas

In the wake of my post Wednesday, "Texas Wine Shipping Prohibition Is Morally Indefensible (and Bad for Business)," I wanted to follow up with some tips on how to ship wine legally to Texas. Although it hasn't been updated for more than two years, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission does have a ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes 2012

No. 1, Korean Braised Goat and Dumplings at Underbelly.

Culinary School Matriarch Marie Lenôtre Awarded Chevalier Award by Daniel Boulud

It's not every day that legendary chefs come to Houston. In fact, the last time Thomas Keller visited Houston, it was 1986. For one whirlwind weekend, however, Keller, Daniel Boulud, Jerome Bocuse, and the Bocuse d'Or USA team of chefs graced Houston with their presence. First on their agenda was ... More >>

Aggressive Pricing Makes Wine Go Down Easier in Houston

As a Texan transplant (by way of southern California and New York City), I have always been impressed by the Houston's across-the-board aggressive wine pricing in restaurants. A few weeks ago, when I visited Osteria Mozza, the swank Los Angeles outpost of the Bastianich empire, one of the wine buye ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 1: Matt Marcus of Eatsie Boys Food Truck, on Selling Food out of His Dorm Room in Military School and Landing an Internship at The Fat Duck

Matt Marcus Eatsie Boys Food Truck 845-430-8479 www.eatsieboys.com This is Part 1 of a three-part chef chat series. Parts 2 and 3 will run in this same space on Thursday and Friday. The Eatsie Boys have one of the most popular food trucks in Houston right now. Known for their pork snuggies, fanc ... More >>

My Trip to Napa Valley: Part II

I'm pretty sure I fell in love with Napa. It's like an alcoholic's wine lover's Disneyland; a land with a picturesque landscape and fantastic crisp breeze, with some of the world's best wine at your fingertips, just ripe for the taking. And the food scene: TDF. I was lucky enough to enjoy two incr ... 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 >>

Middle Eastern Wine for Xenophobic Times

Let's face it: Texas is often the butt of our nation's jokes. Nearly every day, The New York Times shares some of our less savory idiosyncrasies with readers across the country. Today it's voter discrimination by our state's legislature. Yesterday it was Lubbock County Judge Tom Head's plans to rise ... More >>

Fear of Wine: Oenophobia = Xenophobia

In this week's New York Times dining section, wine writer Eric Asimov -- the Solomon of wine writing, as I like to call him -- asks: "Should a Wine List Educate or Merely Flatter You? [and] How Adventurous Should a Wine List Be?" His op-ed came in response to a flurry of blog posts that followed a ... More >>

Low-Alcohol Vermentino from California Makes Me Happy

The winemakers behind Uvaggio Vermentino from Lodi have a theory. "If we grow the right grape in the right place," they write on their website, "we can manage to get by with our respective degrees in psychology and geography. (If one of us gets lost then other can figure out why.) However, when you ... More >>

The Top 5 Wines for Summer

One of the things I love the most about summers in Texas is pool parties. When the heat is on, we tend to congregate with our friends around the pool, the grill, and our favorite wines. There's no better time -- in my experience -- to break out all those under-$25, easy-drinking, low-alcohol wines t ... More >>

Texas Wines: Behind the Cellar Door

Not all the Texas wine you buy is made from grapes grown in our state. In fact, most of it isn’t.

What's the Deal With "Old" Wine?

So, what's the deal with old wine anyway? Wednesday's post on What are "Tannins" in Wine? got me thinking about the widely divergent ways Europeans and Americans perceive and approach the consumption of "old wine." Tannins and "tannic structure," after all, are part of what gives wine its longevity ... More >>

Wine of the Week: Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Noir (Willamette)

Of all the wine-growing regions in the U.S., none seems to make more sense to me than the Willamette Valley, Oregon (although the Finger Lakes in New York state comes in at a close second). When rich white dudes were inspired to plant French varieties in Napa like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Ch ... More >>

Tasting Notes: This Week in Wine Blogs

TX Wine Lover: As the still youthful Texas wine industry continues to grow and find its footing (shifting away from the California Chardonnay-Cabernet-Sauvignon-Merlot paradigm), a handful of European grape varieties (beyond the classics of Bordeaux and Burgundy) have emerged as winners. Their succe ... More >>

Odd Pair: Sushi and Wine (a Preview of Uchi's Wine List)

There's a lot riding on the launch of the new Uchi in Houston. Tyson Cole's Austin outposts -- Uchi and Uchiko -- stand apart as "destination" restaurants in Texas, venues that have attained national recognition in part because of Cole's success as a competitive chef on television and in part becau ... More >>

Ingredient of the Week: Korean Seasoned Soy Bean Paste

Photo by John SuhBibigo's ssamjang: ready-to-eat​Last week, we brought you gochujang, a red pepper paste used in Korean cuisine. This week, we give you ssamjang, a Korean seasoned dipping paste that uses gochujang as an ingredient. What is it? Ssamjang is a thick and spicy dipping paste tha ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 1: Grant Gordon of Tony's

Mai PhamExecutive Chef Grant Gordon of Tony's​There's been a lot of buzz lately about young Executive Chef Grant Gordon of Tony's. Last month, he collaborated on a hugely successful Les Sauvages pop-up dinner with Chefs Justin Basye and Peter Jahnke. Gordon was also among the youngest of the ... More >>

Killer Dragon

A new chef and a revamped space breathe new fire into Dragon Bowl.

Greatfully Delicious

The owner is eccentric and the tacos fabulous at this laid-back new spot.

Odd Pair: Chicken Spaghetti and Zinfandel

​There is pleasure in life... and then there is guilty pleasure. You know the kind. The type of indulgence that you are embarrassed to admit to your friends and colleagues... certain forms of gratification best enjoyed -- ahem, how shall I put this? -- whilst alone. For me one such delight ... More >>

Top 5: Sandwiches

Cedar Creek.​Narrowing down a list of five, top-notch sandwiches proved to be a difficult task, but one I was up for. 5. The Club from Cedar Creek A friend recently introduced me to this glorious sandwich. This isn't your typical Club. Gone is the sliced processed deli meat. In its place, ... More >>

Vintners Own Winery: Wine (in a Freaking Keg!) in the Heights

Happiness is eight different wines on tap.​I called my most wine-savvy friend upon receiving the invitation to the event. "Did you know there's a freaking winery in the Heights, just a few blocks from your house?" This was followed by a string of expletives (apparently she was not aware). I co ... More >>

Top 5 Must-Haves in a Killer Wine Bar

boo_licious​Call it my wine bar intuition. Sometimes, a place just doesn't sit right with me. Lately I've been thinking about why that is. Generating a successful wine bar means much more than meeting the general requirements of wine service, such as knowledgeable staff and proper storage. Qu ... More >>

No Corkscrew Needed: Tap into Wine at Ruggles Green at CityCentre

Wino Brothers​You might have never thought to describe what's inside a keg as displaying "well-balanced tannins," "stewed raspberries" or a "grassy nose." Think again; kegs are not just for beer swillers anymore, you can now find vino on tap. Eateries across the nation have begun pouring wine ... More >>

A Twist on Tailgating

​There's no denying that Texas stands out from the rest of the 50 states in size, shape and personality. We're an inherently proud and individualistic people. I often demonstrated this during a time when I worked with a group of people from more than 22 countries. In a simplistic way of catego ... More >>

Ingredient of the Week: Napa Cabbage

Laurel Fan​What is it? Napa cabbage is a delicate form of cabbage that grows in elongated formations rather than the tightly packed sphere shapes. The leaves are much thinner, with a thick stem running down the middle of each with curly, ruffle-like ends. Napa cabbage is slightly sweet with th ... More >>

Special Regional Anti-Mexican Slur Edition

Upcoming Events

​Buy your tickets now for our annual Menu of Menus food and wine extravaganza on Tuesday, April 13! Trust us on this one: The tickets sell out fast, and you're doing a good thing for two worthy charities in Houston, as proceeds benefit the Center for Hearing and Speech as well as Discovery Gre ... More >>

A Cafe Bites Nibble

Jim Ginger, a 35-year veteran of the hospitality industry, opened Napa Grille Urban Wine Bar last year; and it's now very well established. He recently opened Bullpen Pizza & Sports Bar (14019 Southwest Freeway, 281-242-0190) three doors down from Napa, after Out Of Africa decided to shut its doors ... More >>

Texas Traveler: Food in Frederickburg

Photos by Robb WalshJames DeWolf and rabbit sausageThe Hill Country town of Frederickburg is the capital of the Texas German Belt. You can pretty much tour the whole town by driving up and down Main Street. The coolest restaurant in town is Rebecca's Table next door to the Rather Sweet Bakery and Ca ... More >>

Upcoming Events

Whether your beverage of choice is wine, coffee or beer, we've got you covered in this week's upcoming events. The French Open takes place this weekend, and if you're looking for a spot to watch, then Coffee Groundz is the place for you. The coffee shop-cum-gelateria in Midtown is offering specials ... More >>

Remembering Lux: The Cramps' Gravest Hits

Poster by Uncle CharlieA few more details are starting to emerge in the death of Cramps frontman Lux Interior. The Los Angeles Times says Interior, 60, passed away Wednesday from a preexisting heart condition at Glendale Memorial Hospital in Southern California. He is survived by his wife and ... More >>

5 Wines That Will Blow Your Mind

Wines

Five That'll Blow Your Mind

It's Shepard Ross's Turn to Blow Your Mind

It's Shepard Ross's Turn to Blow Your Mind

That's a Nice Wine, Shucker

That's a Nice Wine, Shucker

Smiles to Go

Felicity Huffman is desperately engaging in an off-kilter road movie

Best Indian Restaurant

Dizzee Miss Lizzee

The Boy in Da Corner comes out swinging

Best Indian Restaurant

Restaurant Indika

Pig in the City

A foodie saint is tainted by fast food's evil empire