Paris (France)

Visitor's Guide: 7 Things We Don't Want You to See When You Come to Houston

Last week, many were surprised -- some even perplexed -- to see our beloved city on the annual New York Times list of places to visit in 2013. Houston was number seven on a list of 46 that included Rio, Amsterdam, Singapore, Hawaii's Big Island, Oslo, Bangkok and Paris. Yes, we were on a "must visit ... More >>

Les Misérables

The follies of 1832

An American Artist

Henry Ossawa Tanner, who lived in Paris for years, wanted to be taken on his own terms.

C.I.T.Y.'s Top 6 Geographically-Based Rap Songs

The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place -- lots of times, you're even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good -- so once a week we're going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Something you always wanted to ask a rapper? E-mail sheaserrano@gmail.com. ... More >>

New York Vacation

Julie Delpy brings the Paris gang to the city.

Julie Delpy Rocks New York

Always more than an ingenue, she's taking on everything that's wrong with movies - and she's bringing Chris Rock.

7 Cool & Cheap Weekenders: Susan Alcorn, Steel Lounge Underground, Etc.

This ain't honky-tonk: Presented by They, Who Sound and Signal To Noise, Baltimore-based composer and avant-garde steel guitarist Susan Alcorn performs three sets starting 8 p.m. tonight at 14 Pews (800 Aurora): One solo, and two in trios with David Dove (trombone) and Damon Smith (bass), and Jo Bir ... More >>

Cara Black: Murder below Montparnasse

Polisse

The Food Lover's Guide to Paris has Gone High Tech: There's an App for That

The indispensable guidebook to Paris by French food authority Patricia Wells is The Food Lover's Guide to Paris. Wells knows exactly where to find the flakiest croissants, the essential bistros, the most knowledgeable wine merchants, the richest, darkest chocolates, the most sublime cheeses, the ear ... More >>

Go Way Out to Eat: 5 Favorite Dining Destinations

Food & Wine magazine recently featured a series of articles on culinary destinations, or "...the world's best food pilgrimages," as they put it. While it was indeed interesting, I must say that places like Bangkok, Rome and India are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to food travels. The ... More >>

Coast of Utopia: Salvage

The Coast of Utopia: An Extended Run and Revival of Part I -- Good News for Tom Stoppard Lovers

Gird your loins. Main Street Theater, which has experienced great success with Voyage, the first part of its The Coast of Utopia trilogy, has decided to extend its run and bring back the Voyage for two performances, "providing the chance to see all the parts of the trilogy over three consecutive day ... More >>

Top Five Fantasy Lunch Mates

Driving home from work the other day, I found myself making a mental list. I wondered: Who would I have lunch with if time, money and social standing got thrown out the window? Would I pick an actor, singer, artist, politician? I established a few rules: 1- It can be anyone in history (no fictio ... More >>

Moulin Rouge: The Ballet

100 Creatives 2012: Viswa Subbaraman

When Viswa Subbaraman was an undergraduate at Duke University, he had no idea where he would end up. He had played trombone and violin, but music as a career to him did not seem like an option. He had come from a family of doctors and was planning on becoming one himself -- that was, until his sopho ... More >>

“Go West I”

Occupy Paris

18th Century aristocrats surrounded themselves with beautiful art, and a certain amount of excess.

Wine of the Week: Extreme Value from the Loire Valley

Photos by Tracie and Jeremy Parzen.Little known appellations like this one -- Quincy AOC in the Loire Valley -- can deliver extreme value.​When people ask me about great value in wine today, I always point them to Spain, to Italy (and in particular, Southern Italy), and to the Loire Valley in ... More >>

Tasting Notes: This Week in Wine Blogs

​Vintage Texas: Ask any wine lover or wine professional and they'll tell you the very same thing: The greatest thing about wine is how it brings folks together. And that's exactly what happened when former All-American football player and NFL veteran Alphonse Daotson called up Russ Kane, the ... More >>

Dry Chicken Pho at Pho Thai Binh Duong: Best in the City

Photos by Mai PhamPho Ga Kho at Pho Thai Binh Duong ​Pho Thai Binh Duong (11528 Bellaire Blvd #G, Tel: 832-351-3451) is one of those under-the-radar pho places that is patronized primarily by Vietnamese. It's partially tucked behind a building in the back of a strip mall near the intersection ... More >>

Coffee and Quiche at Croissant Brioche

Espresso and a latte at Croissant Brioche​Last Saturday, my husband and I were caffeine-starved and hungry, but short on time. Needing a fast bite to eat, we cruised around Rice Village, choosing our destination by parking spot availability. When an open space presented itself in front of Cr ... More >>

Houston Is an International "City of Opportunity"

There's opportunity in them thar skyscrapers.​A big new report by PwC, which used to be PriceWaterhouseCoopers, says Houston is one of 26 "Cities of Opportunity" in the world today. The only other American cities: New York, LA, Chicago and San Francisco. Pretty classy company. We came in 11 ... More >>

Cage Match: Ted Nugent Vs. General Bye Bye

Not Ted Nugent. Hopefully you realized that.​Ladies and gentlemen, tonight a battle will be waged for the very musical soul of Houston. In this corner, from Detroit, wearing very little, heavily armed, and dragging the corpse of the Great White Buffalo behind him, the wild man of rock himself, ... More >>

The Wacky Adventures Of Frederic Chopin's Heart

Louis-Auguste Bisson​Today is Fredric Chopin's 201st birthday, although some sources claim he was actually born on February 22. Chopin's incredible nocturnes, pale complexion, consumption, and melancholy outlook have more than once prompted Rocks Off to christen him the Original Goth. He rema ... More >>

European Travel Tips For First-Time Bands

​Local favorites the Wild Moccasins embark on a six-week European tour this weekend. Rocks Off knows how daunting international travel can be, especially when you're on a multi-country blitzkrieg that exposes you to numerous languages and many differing cultural mores in a relatively short per ... More >>

Twenty Ways to Please Your Lover on Valentine's Day

​*17 - Alden Hotel (February 14) Chef Sam Beier has created a lust-worthy Valentine's Day menu featuring Sunchoke Veloute, Roasted Lobster Salad, Shrimp-Crusted Flounder, Cane Sugar Cured Duck Breast, Petite Filet with Favas and Lobster Ravioli, and Caramelized Halibut, among others. The mea ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 1: Rebecca Masson of Fluff Bake Bar

Masson's famous Fluffernutters and the main ingredient: Fluff.​Rebecca Masson is one of Houston's top pastry chefs and proprietor of Fluff Bake Bar, her online pastry shop. This petite woman's fiery energy and drive has taken her far and wide, from Wyoming to Paris to New York to Houston. This ... More >>

A French (Poodle) Street Wins the 3rd Annual Gingerbread Dog House Competition

Photos by GroovehouseSee more of the entries in the gingerbread dog house competition in our slideshow.​"I lived in Paris for two years; that's where I went to culinary school," explained pastry chef Rebecca Masson last night as she gestured to her entry in the 3rd annual Christmas Tail ginger ... More >>

CocoRosie's Strange Sisterly Journey To Creating Grey Oceans

Sub Pop Records​Sisters Bianca and Sierra Cassady collide in the celestial, moody musical collective known as CocoRosie, which stops in Houston tonight at the newly revamped Fitzgerald's. A combination of pop, blues, electronica, hip-hop, and even straight-up classical opera, CocoRosie creates ... More >>

Food Fight: Battle Éclair

Photos by Ruthie JohnsonThierry André Tellier Café's version on the left, French Riviera Bakery's on the right. ​Someone once said that an éclair is "a cake long in shape, but short in duration," and with him I have to agree. I have always loved this treat, with its pillowy pastry and smoot ... More >>

Cheer Up, Houston: Your Traffic Pain Is Way Better Than Moscow Or Madrid

There's an accident "in the clearing stage" somewhere​When IBM puts out a survey that features bar graphs and big circles somehow illustrating results, you can rest assured it is beyond reproach.So know this, Houston: Among 20 top international cities, your "traffic pain" is about as low as ... More >>

New Texas License Plates: The Burger Option

You want fries with that?​ Those ever-inventive folks who have the Texas vanity-plate franchise are rolling out a new bunch of plates for people to consider.Like this one, for Mighty Fine Burgers, which is in Austin. We suggest you get these plates on your Ford F-150 before you pull up to the vale ... More >>

New Texas License Plates: The Burger Option

You want fries with that?​ Those ever-inventive folks who have the Texas vanity-plate franchise are rolling out a new bunch of plates for people to consider.Like this one, for Mighty Fine Burgers, which is in Austin. We suggest you get these plates on your Ford F-150 before you pull up to the vale ... More >>

Director Lisa Spirling Talks Of Boeing-Boeing, Farce Amd Rascally Scamps

Boeing​Bernard is an American architect living in Paris. He has three fiances whom he keeps separate thanks to their varying schedules; they're all flight attendants. A friend comes to visit, schedules get rearranged and -- since this is not a Greek tragedy -- hilarity ensues.Boeing Boeing, the co ... More >>

An American (Stranded) In Paris

Hala Daher​Hala Daher is stuck in Paris. Sure, she's staying at her aunt's house in the 4th arrondissement, steps away from the Louvre and the Centre Pompidou. And it's a step up from Beirut, where she was previously stranded until she hustled her way onto a flight from Lebanon to France a few ... More >>

Parisian EVIL MOISTURE Mastermind Teaches Us Some Russian Prison Slang

We're not really sure what's going on here, but it looks like fun. And possibly illegal.​ Radar Eyes: State your name and purpose... AB: Andy Bolus... EVIL MOISTURE. I am an artist, musician, and builder of machines among other things. RE: Where are you currently located? AB: Paris France since ab ... More >>

The French Cultures Festival

Save your Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir? line for something else

Yippee Ki Yay, Fils de Putain

Cowboy diplomacy from our man in Paris, John Travolta.

Inquiring Minds: An Hour With The Red Krayola Mastermind Mayo Thompson

Chris Strong/ Drag City​ Last Friday, Rocks Off had the distinct pleasure of talking to Mayo Thompson, the man behind psychedelic (or not) art-rockers The Red Krayola, whose career spans the early days of Houston label International Artists, the art worlds of New York and Europe in the '70s, a sti ... More >>

What's Wrong with Wes Anderson?

A decade after Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, Generation Y's anointed auteur tries for a comeback with Fantastic Mr. Fox.

"Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea"

Art from another North/South border region

My Top Five Imported Mustards

​When I wrote about mustard recently, I got so many interesting recommendations that I went out and bought a bunch. Some of the tastiest mustards I tried were imported. Here are my current top five imported mustards: 5. Maille Dijon Originale (Canada) Good mustard seed, excellent vinegar, a ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day Two: Phoenix, Robyn Hitchcock and Them Crooked Vultures

Photo by Matthew Taplinger​The quality of the grass at ACL on Charles Attal's apparent birthday blow out (if projections for "Feliz Cumpleanos" were to be believed) was nothing to sniff at. The great lawn of Zilker Park was emerald and ready to absorb the dance steps of a sold-out crowd with h ... More >>

Pretty Vacant: The Trouble With Houston's (Newly Award-Winning) Skyline

Photo courtesy GHCVB​Forbes Traveler has a new list up -- called alternately "the 13 greatest urban silhouettes" and "the world's most stunning city skylines."Here is what makes a skyline great, according to the article: It has to be more than merely memorable, it must have some exceptional chara ... More >>

“The Grand Tour, Texas”

Omar Vera illustrates his trek to the Texas-style Paris, Florence and Rome

Brasserie Max and Julie

We love to see classic French food in Houston, but we complain bitterly if it isn't just like what we had in Paris

La Bonne Vie Outside the Loop

Bistro Le Cep offers up some very nice French cuisine in the Houston countryside.

Stirred and Shaken

La Colombe d'Or's French 75

The French Connection

Part 5 in the six-part history of Tex-Mex