West Africa

Here, Eat This

A beginner's guide to Nigerian cuisine.

Here, Eat This: A Beginner's Guide to Nigerian Cuisine

Tackling Nigerian cuisine so early in the Here, Eat This series? Why not? Nigerian food is some of the most accessible "ethnic" food out there -- or at least, it will be for anyone who grew up eating Cajun, Southern or soul food. I'm looking at you, Houston. See also: - Here, Eat This: A Beginner's ... More >>

Gatlin's BBQ, Eatsie Boys, Latin Bites and More Restaurants on Board for 2013 Menu of Menus

More of your favorite Houston restaurants are coming on board for Menu of Menus every day -- and maybe even some that will be your new favorites after you sample their grub at our grand tasting event on Tuesday, April 9. Since we're carefully curating the selection of restaurants this year, I'm ple ... More >>

Park City's Breakouts

The movies to know from Sundance - and the year ahead.

Louis Vuitton Obsession: Domain Seizure Reminds Us of Five Things You Shouldn't Buy Online from Random Websites

As part of the continued crackdown on counterfeit merchandise websites, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations announced in a release that it seized 89 Internet domain names last week. Of those 89, a whopping 78 were related to Louis Vuitton, the high-end handbag ... More >>

Top 14 Words Used By Cybercriminals

We here at Hair Balls have gotten pretty good at recognizing e-mail scams when we see 'em. For example, we don't give our checking account info to just any Olatunde, Abimbola, or Harry who says he's a Nigerian prince -- we make sure they prove it to us by getting their phone number first. But othe ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 28, Egusi at Finger Licking Bukateria

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 >>

Happy Meal: Sunday Ogbonu's Stomachful Of Heroin Weighs In At Two Pounds, Three Ounces

Ah, the glamorous life of a Customs and Border Protection agent: waiting around for someone to crap out the kilogram of heroin they've ingested in order to get the junk into the U.S. Most recently on the bowl was Nigerian citizen Sunday Okechukwu Ogbonu, 47, who arrived at Bush Intercontinental Air ... More >>

Free Radicals: "If There's No Money Involved, That's Fine"

Free Radicals have won an amazing nine Houston Press Music Awards for Best Jazz, but jazz really doesn't even begin to cover the 16-year-old Houston group's sound. It's so all over the place that the only category that really fits is the oft-misunderstood "world music," especially on the Radicals' n ... More >>

FELA!

7 Cool & Cheap Things To Do This Weekend -- In Houston, Not At SXSW

T-Bone Walker heir Don Kesee, one of the area's Houston's most underheralded bluesmen - which unfortunately is saying something, but watch a little bit of the above clip at Navasota's Blues Alley festival - comes into the city for a gig at the Shakespeare Pub. Super Happy Fun Land's SXSW Overflow ... More >>

We Love Food

Our 100 favorite dishes in Houston.

Finger Licking Good

If you like Cajun and Southern food, try this West African restaurant.

Of Fufu and Roux: A Nigerian-American Love Story

Photo by Troy FieldsA plate of doughy fufu and thick egusi soup at Finger Licking Bukateria.​Last Friday morning, I was rushing around my nine-by-six kitchen and tearing out the contents of the cupboards like a poltergeist. I was running late for our holiday luncheon at work and still needed t ... More >>

The 10 Most Unintentionally Hilarious Business Names in Houston

Gained in translation​Legend has it that back in that glorious half-season when Randy Johnson was mowing 'em down for the red-hot Astros, Drayton McLane thought up what he believed was a brilliant way to part Astros fans from still more money had one of his famous food-service brainstorms. He ... More >>

The Dark Side of Chocolate

Houston Rapper Aims To Win Nigerian Contest

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. Have something you always wanted to ask a rapper? Email it to introducinglisto ... More >>

Crawfish Across the World

Ground crawfish powder, one of the "mother" spices in Nigerian cooking.​Louisianans like to think they've got the world on a string when it comes to crawfish, with small towns like Breaux Bridge laying claim to titles such as "Crawfish Capital of the World." But there are a few people in Niger ... More >>

Christina Clardy: West U Doctor, Two Others Convicted in $30 Million Medicaid Fraud

Christina Clardy among those convicted.​Christina Clardy, a 61-year-old West U doctor, was convicted with two other people of running a massive Medicaid-and-money-laundering scam that somehow involved Nigerian tankers, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced today. Kenneth Anokam, 56, and Niger ... More >>

Little India: The Reflection of a Small but Vibrant Community

​I was discussing Nigerian restaurants with a friend last night over dinner. "Are there any?" she asked. "In Houston?" I replied. "Of course! Why?" It was a rhetorical question; I knew the answer. Despite making up nearly 2 percent of our city's population, Nigerians in Houston -- and their ... More >>

Nigerian Brunch at Peppersoup Cafe

Photos by Katharine ShilcuttPlantains and scrambled eggs, with plenty of tomatoes.​Michelle Ukegbu isn't messing around when it comes to the food at her one-month-old restaurant, Peppersoup Cafe. Her mother opened Houston's first African restaurant, Safari Restaurant, literally right around th ... More >>

“Ancestors of the Lake”

It Takes Tuwo

Suya Hut serves a slice — er, ball — of West Africa in Houston.

Tuwo and Suya and Egusi, Oh My!

Photos by Troy FieldsThink of tuwo like a giant, jolly ball of dumplings.​Despite Houston's wealth of ethnic food -- and even its wealth of African food -- eating Nigerian cuisine can be intimidating. Unfamiliar words, unfamiliar ingredients and unfamiliar foodstuffs all combine to make for a ... More >>

Food Fight: Spicy Peanuts

​The peanut occupies a strange and remarkable place in our national consciousness. It's not a true nut (it's a legume, like lentils and peas), but might as well be for purposes of food allergies and supermarket inventory. It's not American, but might as well be for purposes of popular culture, ... More >>

Suggestive Restaurants to Get You in the Mood This Valentine's Day

The big red cock itself.​On the way to Jimmy Changa's a few weeks ago, my dining companion and I passed a country-cute little restaurant in Deer Park called Jug and Muffin. Aside from reminding me that I still want to open a pub some day called The Honk and Jiggle, we couldn't stop giggling to ... More >>

New Tracks From Roosh Williams, Jack Freeman, Roderickvonn, Etc.

​Five Spot receives a fair amount of email each day. It's not a gross amount or obscene amount, just a fair amount. And scattered in between offers from Nigerian princes and penis-enhancement companies are links, MP3s and heads-ups from and/or about Houston rappers/musicians. Now, were this ... More >>

WHAT?!? Companies Pay BRIBES To Do Business In Russia And Angola?

Shocking, we know​Be prepared to lose all faith in -- well, if not humanity, per se, at least capitalism and government officials in Nigeria.It appears -- are you sitting down? -- that bribery is sometimes used when American companies try to do business in Russia, Nigeria, Angola and Kazakhstan. Y ... More >>

Planet Houston

The world's great cuisines converge here.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Collections and Exhibits

Captured in Afghanistan

American soldiers, vérité-style, in Restrepo.

Game Time: 2010 World Cup -- I Am Darth Soccer

"Luke!! I am your bad-luck charm!!"​If ever there were a sporting event that was tailor-made for watching in a sports bar with a room full of diehard fans, it's World Cup soccer.It's the one sporting event that takes a pretty easily graspable concept for the casual fan (put ball in goal -- and in ... More >>

World Cup 2010: USA-Ghana -- Do You (No Longer) Believe In Miracles?

Yeah, and WE wanted YOU to stop giving up early goals​They did it once, they did it twice, even three times for awhile, but the US National Team failed to come from behind as they fell to Ghana 2-1 in overtime Saturday.For the third time in this tournament, the US fell behind from an early goal, h ... More >>

World Cup 2010: USA-Ghana -- Five Keys To Look For

A moment he'll never forget​The images of Wednesday morning are still fresh on many people's minds. The image of Landon Donovan putting the US ahead in the 91st minute against Algeria, putting the Americans back in the round of 16 for the first time since 2002.Their opponent on Saturday is Ghana, ... More >>

Fake Nigerians Scamming Hispanics In Texas City

Photos courtesy GCSODaniel Johnson, not a Nigerian with cash-flow problems​Almost exactly five years ago, we were minding our own business at the Downtown Transit Center light rail stop one evening. A suave and well-dressed middle-aged black man came up to us and introduced himself and spun an out ... More >>

Houston International Festival

Going Overboard at Truluck's

Photos by Katharine ShilcuttFresh crab claws and oysters: a triumphant start to any meal.​The last time I ate at Truluck's (5350 Westheimer), the restaurant was still located in the charming silver diner car -- still abandoned, by the way -- up the road from its current location on Westheimer. ... More >>

Ask A Rapper: Uzoy On Some Absolutely Awful Rapper Names

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. Have something you always wanted to ask a rapper? Email it to introducingliston ... More >>

Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders LIVE

Elizabeth Vargas takes audiences onto the battlefield

The Okra Principle

Love is a conflict we all share

UniverSoul Circus

Web exclusive!

iFest: This Is Our Party

Better music than ACL and fewer hippies

Song and Dance Ensemble of West Africa

This group mixes Congolese traditions with bits of styles from around the world

Impulse Artist Series: In Their Own Element

Four of today’s rising star pianists perform as a collective and then in solo concerts

Gimme more at Suya Hut

Inprints Brown Reading Series

Les écailles de la Mémoire (The Scales of Memory)

Brooklyn’s Urban Bush Women and Senegal’s Compagnie JANT-BI join forces in a collaborative dance performance

Worldly Moves

United in Song