South Texas

The State Water Plan May Not Be Dead (The Unkillable Zombie of Legislation?)

Going into the 83rd state legislative session, it seemed as if the state water plan would swim on through the legislative plumbing faster than Nemo went down that sink drain and onward to freedom and hanging out with some tubular sea turtles in Finding Nemo. Well, that's just not how things went do ... More >>

30 Essential Texas Restaurants

Eat here before you die.

The 30 Essential Texas Restaurants: The List Is Live

Sorry about that teaser earlier this week. No fooling around this time, though: Our list is live. Go check out this week's feature -- "Eat Here: 30 Essential Texas Restaurants to Visit Before You Die" -- before reading on. We don't want to spoil any surprises for you. *** Read it yet? Are you sure ... More >>

Guess the Country Star by Only His Cowboy Hat

You'll ride a black tornado cross't the western skies Rope an ole blue norther, milk it till it's dry Bull dawg the Mississippi, pin it's ears down flat Long before you take this cowboy's hat. -- Chris Ledoux, "This Cowboy's Hat" A popular saying in Texas goes that a man who talks a good game but ... More >>

Comment of the Day: The Shots Fired At Mollie Olgin & Mary Chapa

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 or afternoon from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula i ... More >>

Today's VOICE Daily Deal: $12 for $25 at Sylvia's Enchilada Kitchen

Photos by Troy Fields​ The bright colors of the food and the decor at Sylvia's Enchilada Kitchen are awfully festive, perfect for a holiday meal, or the gift of one, so today's VOICE Daily Deal is great for the season. For $12, you can get $25 worth of Sylvia Casares's famous enchiladas, a 201 ... More >>

More Than 20,000 Deported from South Texas in 2011, Feds Say

La Migra piles up the numbers.​The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency announced its deportation numbers today for fiscal 2011, which ended in September. Nationwide almost 400,000 were deported -- an ICE record -- and more than 20,000 were deported from South Texas, the agency ... More >>

The Enchilada Empress

Sylvia Casares keeps the crowds happy with her Tex-Mex classics.

Expansion of Bay City Nuke Plant Abandoned

Josh HarkinsonNo expansion at Bay City.​The ambitious plan to double the size of the South Texas Nuclear Project, already in trouble over cost concerns, has been abandoned "as a result of the ongoing nuclear incident in Japan," its owner announced today. NRG Energy, owner of the plant, said " ... 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. Houston Entree: If you're still hungry for follow-up about the Houston Restaura ... More >>

Japanese Nuke Disaster Might Stop Texas Expansion

STNP, with a rainbow​Financial analysts are predicting that the series of nuclear accidents resulting from the Japanese earthquake will put an end to plans to expand the South Texas Nuclear Plant in Bay City, 90 miles southwest of town. The energy company NRG had ambitious plans to double STN ... More >>

Harry Potter Fans Take on Bullying

Is this a wizard-movie poster or an indie-rock publicity shot?​Say what you will about fervent Harry Potter fans who are above legal drinking age, but many of them want to use the characters and plotlines in JK Rowling's series to make the world a better place.While they're counting down the month ... More >>

Recipe: South Texas Asian Pesto

​One of the most important things in cooking is learning to let ingredients speak for themselves. Too often, we as cooks take the position of alchemists, laboring under the false belief that we must be transformative, to make things other than what they are, better in some way. When gifted w ... More >>

PSA: Board Games And Loaded Guns Don't Mix

Did he go to the St. James Place Infirmary?​By now everybody's heard of the Keep Austin Weird campaign, and most of us are probably also aware of the copycat campaigns in other Texas cities, like Keep Dallas Pretentious and Keep Houston Crunk, or Trill, or Ugly, or whatever. (We can't seem to ... More >>

Top 10 Honorary Texas Musicians

West Vita​Right here, right now, and in print all damn week, you can read the Houston Press' interview with perhaps the hottest new band on the South 40, San Antonio's Hacienda (above). Whether or not they go on to become a South Texas Kings of Leon - Hacienda is also three brothers and a cous ... More >>

Rio Grande Mud: Cops, Mayors and Judges Busted For Corruption, DWI And Whoring All Over Valley

Froget it, Jake. It's just the Valley​On moving to Miami during that city's Cocaine Cowboy heyday, a friend once described the place thusly: "You are nobody here until you are under indictment."As the frontline for the drug war has shifted from Colombia and South Florida to Mexico and South Texas, ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 1: Sylvia Casares of Sylvia's Enchilada Kitchen

​We met with Sylvia Casares, founder of Sylvia's Enchilada Kitchen, to discuss how she gambled her life savings to realize her dream of a mesquite grill. EOW: As I understand it, you used to have a corporate job and then took the leap into becoming a restaurant owner. Tell me how that happene ... More >>

A Nuclear Error, But I Have No Fear

​ Things we learned today: There was a "blast" at the South Texas Nuclear Plant in Bay City.Not to worry, though. A nuclear-plant blast can have "no environment impact," is the second thing we learned. Generally, putting the words "nuclear" and "blast" together would indicate to us some type of en ... More >>

How To Solve Walden's Deer Problem: Music Hath Charms To Soothe That Savage Beast

The Montgomery County town of Walden is having a deer problem, the Houston Chronicle reports.And before you get all logical and say "Well, if you're going to build homes in a forest full of deer, you're going to have deer problems," just remember that deer don't worry too much about the resale va ... More >>

Cory Morrow, Roger Creager, Jason Boland

Laredo Cavalcade

If you like the tacos at Laredo Taqueria on Washington, wait until you try the tacos at Laredo Taqueria on Cavalcade.

Protect The Texas Fawnsfoot And Pimpleback, Even If They're Not Cute

​A couple of months ago we brought you the sad tale of the dwindling jaguarundi, and how an environmental group was suing the U.S. Department of the Interior demanding that the agency create a conservation and survival plan for the endangered cat from South Texas. Now that same environmental group ... More >>

George Strait

Accordion Kings & Queens Festival

Numero Dos

Sylvia's Enchilada Kitchen expands to a second location.

Cheese Enchiladas with Chili and Queso

So let's just say you had some chili con carne and chili con queso on hand for one reason or another this weekend. (Who said anything about football?) If you also happened to have some yellow corn tortillas, you would have all the makings of one of my favorite Tex-Mex creations, Palmetto Inn's #10 ... More >>

Houston Law Students Have Some Buyer's Remorse

Polka Party

Maybe it’s the beer that makes all these stoic countries produce such jubilant dancing

Mescaline on the Mexican Border

Texas is the only state in the country where peyote is sold legally. Really.

Larry Craig's Bathroom Sex Might've Screwed Farmers

Maybe the East Germans Can Help

All in All It’s Just Another Brick

Killing Fences: Totally Misconstrued

The department of homeland security is doing its best to get its message across

Border Fence May Destroy Wildlife Habitat

U.S. Fish and Wildlife services spent $80 million to reclaim wildlife habitat in South Texas. Now Homeland Security is ready to wipe that out.

Letters to the Editor

Going for Gol

At the Ready

The Minutemen have come to Texas

Dang, You've Got Skills!

Show 'em off at a midnight screening of Napoleon Dynamite

McKay Brothers

McKay Brothers (Texas Archipelago Records)

Let Go

LEGO tourney pits block against block

NYBBQ

Vic's Backyard Bar-B-Q Barn serves great links and ribs, but its owner isn't from around here

Good Company

Goode Company Texas Seafood

Minibill

Flaco Jimenez

The Bored Patrol

Border Patrol agents in South Texas contend they are getting paid to stay put as illegal immigrants go around them. Is this how the much-hyped crackdown along the Rio Grande is supposed to work?

Rush to Judges

Texans long to secure seats on the bench

It's Goode Being Green

Levi Goode

Art Car Outs

There's some fury over a jury deciding who gets in the parade

Space Odyssey

Tom Moser wants to put Texas on the map as a commercial launch pad for cargo-carrying rockets

The Insider

A Family Affair

Roland Garcia has the political backing to be the U.S. Attorney for South Texas. He also has a brother imprisoned for murder and drug trafficking -- a fact he somehow forgot to tell his congressional sponsors. That may not be enough to disqualify him, but