Subject: U.S. Department of Agriculture

• National Cancer Organization Wants Hot Dogs Out of HISD Schools

  October 14, 2008

• National Cancer Organization Wants Hot Dogs Out of HISD Schools

  October 14, 2008

• Raging Hormones

  Frédéric Perrier

  July 27, 2000

• Lines & Shadows

  A former farmworker wanted only a utility system for her Fort Bend colonia. Seven years later, there's still tainted water and untreated sewage -- but raw words and the stench of politics flow freely.

  December 7, 2000

• The Big Deal

  Vending machines are leaving Texas school cafeterias. But the mother lode of "minimal nutritional value" has hardly gone away.

  June 6, 2002

• Dining by Demographic

  Fleming's Prime Steakhouse serves up excellent renditions of the nation's most average food and wine preferences

  February 6, 2003

• Marvelous Meat

  Chez Nous

  October 14, 2004

• Open Mouths, Closed Hearts

  June 9, 1994

• Strange Fruit

  September 21, 2000

• The Valentine's Day Minefield at Central Market

  February 12, 2009

• Steak Night: Under the Volcano

  September 18, 2008

• T-Bone Tom's Steakhouse Restaurant

  Visit T-Bone Tom's and help keep Kemah weird

  July 5, 2007

• Monkey Business

  Primates -- destined for laboratory research -- are being brought into a compound in Houston so carefully and quietly that no one knows they're here

  August 31, 2006

• Horse Flesh

  Texas struggles with what to do with its overabundance of Equus caballus, while Europeans wait with open mouths

  April 13, 2006

• Where Carnitas Meet Foie Gras

  Cultures collide at Washington and Asbury, with wonderfully tasty results

  March 16, 2006

• A Cut Above

  The future of the best beef in America may depend on a herd in East Texas

  December 29, 2005

• Letters

  September 8, 2005

• Eighteen Greater Houston Hamburgers You Need to Try Right Now

  A "must try" list of Houston-area burgers

  August 25, 2005

• Burnt Offerings from the USDA

  August 25, 2005

• Eighteen Hamburgers You Need to Try Right Now

  A "must try" list of Houston-area burgers

  August 25, 2005

• Texas Burger Binge

  August 25, 2005

• Past Its Prime

  Taste of Texas Steakhouse takes you on a nostalgia trip to the salad bar.

  August 11, 2005

• Lucky Stars

  Test your love of Texas at Jim Goode's new cowboy saloon

  April 28, 2005

• Letters

  December 2, 2004

• Eating It Up

  Are HISD and Aramark cooking the books to feast on federal breakfast subsidies?

  November 4, 2004

• Best Steak House

  September 23, 2004

• Dry-Aged Discrimination

  What grade of beef are the steaks at The Capital Grille?

  June 10, 2004

• Jekyll & Hydesky

  Two trips to steak house Smith & Wollensky yield wildly different results

  March 18, 2004

• Bring On the Bovine

  Beef-mad Houstonians keep eating steaks

  January 8, 2004

• Make Mine Moo

  Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar

  October 23, 2003

• Best Steak House

  Brenner's Steakhouse

  September 25, 2003

• Forgiving Fertitta

  Is Tilman's awesome new restaurant reason enough?

  June 26, 2003

• Dinner and Darts

  The Rivendell Bar & Grille

  March 20, 2003

• Mystery Meat

  Maverick's motto may be "Supper + Whiskey," but the restaurant doesn't always deliver on both counts

  December 5, 2002

• Hotter than Halal

  Islamic fusion restaurants are all the rage because of their organic meat -- and whole chiles

  June 20, 2002

• American Kobe

  Lynn's Steakhouse proves a few restaurants still serve up USDA Prime

  October 4, 2001

• Aging with Grace (and Science)

  American steaks: second of a three-part series

  August 30, 2001

• A Matter of Fat

  The U.S. beef industry's lower standards have led to an increase in chop houses

  August 2, 2001

• Loco for Loroco

  The secret herb at Houston's pupuserias can drive you out of your mind

  August 17, 2000

• Elephant Walk

  Montgomery County tries to ride herd on its exotic pets

  February 17, 2000

• Swine Flu FAQs: The Answers You Need...And The Answers You Deserve

  Unlike in 1918, when the flu really bitch-slapped humanity, leading medical experts have the ability to immediately update us with information on how to stay safe, and how to separate myth from fact. For example: By now, unless you're a vapid hotel-fortune heiress who answers the cell phone during sex, you know that you can't get this brand of cooties from eating pork; there are, however, some rather interesting questions among the scores of FAQs lists that have popped up in the last few days.We

  May 1, 2009

• Batter Blaster: Against God and Nature?

  Photos by Nikki MetzgarFirst, there was whipped cream. Then, there was cheese. Now, it's pancake (or waffle) batter being sprayed out of aerosol cans. God-fearing people everywhere are trembling as technology pushes us ever closer to experiencing breakfast as nature never intended. We tried Batter Blaster for ourselves. The batter was thick and slower to ooze out of the can than whipped cream, which increased the ick factor. As it cooked, a lot more bubbles rose to the top than with homemade b

  June 15, 2009

• Not So Clear Cut

  June 18, 2009

• Dry-Aged Black Angus

  Photo by Robb WalshWhile we were debating the word salumeria, a commenter by the name of SpandTexPants complained that Houston didn't have a butcher shop that sold dry-aged beef. Well, now we do. Hubbell & Hudson Market in the Woodlands has a dry-aging case in its meat department. When I stopped by today and asked about it, a counterman named German got out a black, moldy USDA Prime rib eye to show me what it looked like. This piece of meat went into the dry-aging case on June 9th. The weight i

  June 18, 2009

• Burnt Offerings from the USDA

  August 25, 2005

• Grass-fed Beef: Healthier Hamburgers

  Photos by Robb Walsh​Grass-fed sirloin hamburger steak is downright delicious. No doubt grass-fed beef raised without antibiotics and hormones is better for you too. Grass-fed sirloins lack the marbling that makes for tender steaks. But grind it up, and you get all the bold herbaceous flavor without the tenderness and texture problems. My hamburger steak was a little dry -- after all, the meat is something like 95 percent lean. But if you ground up this grass-fed beef at home, and added a

  September 15, 2009

• Burger Chic

  September 17, 2009

• Wangsday Wings

  ​Jason Clark, the manager of The Social, recently told me that he isn't making any money on chicken wings, but for the time being he is planning on continuing the "Wangsday" 25¢ wing special at the Washington Avenue Bar. I asked him about it because there was a story about the high price of chicken wings on the front page of yesterday's New York Times. It seems that chicken wings are selling for more than boneless chicken breasts at the moment. Some joints that used to sell wings are chop

  October 14, 2009

• The Elephant Man Of Texas Is Not An Animal, He Just (Allegedly) Abuses Them

  ​The U.S. Department of Agriculture has filed charges against the East Texas handler of three -- er, actually it's now just one -- elephants, for allegedly violating the Animal Welfare Act. For those who haven't been following this sad/absurd story out of Leggett, about 80 miles northeast of Houston, Wil Davenport is a dude who runs something called Maximus Tons of Fun, which was the homebase of rare Asian elephants named Tina, Jewel and Boo (aka Queenie).In August, Davenport surrendered

  October 23, 2009

• Looking for a Bull Market

  November 5, 2009