Houston Food Truck Reviews: This is a great blog if you get tired of waiting for our sporadic (but, ahem, excellent) food truck round-ups. This week, blogger David Sarkozi checked out one of Houston's newest food trucks, Gastro Punk. Sarkozi writes, "Ok, maybe I have a problem, Gasto Punk has been open about 10 days and I've eaten from them three times now. They are clearly going to be one of the premier trucks in Houston from here on out." In his post, he highlights Gingerbread Stout Braised Short Rib Grilled Cheese, Pulled Pork Nachos (with some of the best pulled pork he's had in a long time) and Stout Braised Short Rib Tacos. Where do we sign up?!
Hank on Food: Somehow we keep missing these arbitrary food holidays, so add this one to your calendar for next year: August 6 is National Root Beer Day. Hank on Food realized it a day late too, though, so that makes us feel better. In honor of the holiday, Hank wrote a great roundup of the best root beers out there, including local brews from Saint Arnold and Abita. He ended up making a float using Sprecher's Root Beer from Wisconsin. "My initial sip started with a strong blast of vanilla and cream, followed by the spice of the botanicals and finished with the twang of the honey," Hank wrote of the float. He also gives some history of root beer in the post, which he says might trace back to the year 1265. The type of root beer that we enjoy today was probably a happy accident though. Cheers to that.
Adventures in a New (ish) City: I just discovered this blog, and while a few of the more recent entries are interesting and worthwhile, this post from last week had me cracking up, so I thought I'd share. In the post, the blogger Kim displays a childhood photo of her looking longingly out into the distance. She explains that her family lovingly calls the photo, "What Does Heaven Look Like Kimmy?" Then she shows readers what heaven looks like. Evidently, it looks a lot like Spec's on Smith Street. Kim has posted photo after photo of heavenly Spec's cheese, salami and, of course, booze. When she was four or five, Kim didn't know what heaven looked like. Now she does. She has seen it. And it is good.
Culinary Houston: Jack Tyler, formerly of Jack Tyler Dines, is all about the burgers this week. He says, "Among food bloggers and foodies, in general, there has been a trend lately of photographing, eating and labeling giant Napoleonic presentations of burgers as 'Burger Porn.' At Skeeter's Mesquite Grill, Gary Adair has judiciously steered clear of the temptation to follow this trend and is producing burgers that prove that 'Size doesn't matter.'" I love this idea that it's not the size of the burger, but what you...you know...do with it that matters. Tyler tried a number of mesquite grilled burgers at Skeeter's and found that "non-designer burgers" are the way to go. Amen, brotha. Amen.
H-Town Chow Down: The folks at H-Town Chow Down checked out Black Walnut Cafe to see what new items the joint is thinking of adding to their menu. For the next few weeks, it seems, the cafe is testing new menu items and asking diners to give feedback on a secret website that's only given out to patrons. H-Town Chow Down tried the pork tacos and the turkey burger, both of which they liked quite a lot. They're excited (as are we) that a restaurant is taking such a social, crowd-sourcing approach to creating a new menu. Each dish is available for a limited time and will be replaced with a new option for the next couple of weeks. It's a cool idea, and I hope it works out well for Black Walnut Cafe and for its diners.
Leader Eater: This week, The Leader's intrepid food bloggers ventured out to Rasoi, the newish Indian restaurant in northwest Houston. "The typical game plan for Leader Eater at an Indian restaurant is simple (and a tad bit gluttonous)," they write. "In most cases, the venue is a buffet and in all likelihood I'm attempting (a one-man battle usually) to set a new feat for forking back as much Tikka Masala Chicken and/or Chicken Makhani and naan bread as anyone ever has in one sitting." I think we've all been there, but fortunately, Leader Eater tried a new tactic, which involved (gasp!) ordering a la carte off the menu. The loved the Crunchy Munchy Jhinga coconut shrimp and the Lamb Chop Masaledar, and they're new converts to menu ordering. Congrats, Leader Eater. You're grown-ups now.
