Patty and David Said...: Well, Patty and David beat me to it. I've been wanting to get over to Bite Macarons since I first heard of its opening to check it out and maybe do a quick write-up of what it has to offer. But Patty and David did it first. Or rather, Lindy Stamper, who contributes to the blog, did it first, and she took some great photos of some of Bite's offerings. The wall of rainbow macarons is particularly impressive, as are the specialty macaron topiaries, which Bite displays proudly. Stamper does note that at $2.25 a pop, the macarons are a bit on the pricey side for such small cookies. She also says that the flavors are fresh and accurate (Earl Grey tastes like Earl Grey), so she's willing to pay a bit more for such quality products.
Jack Around: This week, Jack examines the "breakfast for dinner" trend and posits that combining breakfast and dinner is perhaps even better. "In that vein," he writes, "pairing fried chicken and waffles has taken root everywhere from Roscoe's in California to the Breakfast Klub in our own backyard." I don't know that chicken and waffles are a particularly new invention or trend, but Jack found that the waffles at The Waffle Bus food truck are some of the best around. "The pillowy waffle hugged its golden companion tightly, with the delightfully piquant spiciness that never let the sweet honey become cloying," Jack writes. "It was a wonderfully orchestrated chicken and waffle combination with the added benefit of being transportable - a messy proposition at most brick-and-mortar sources of the dish." Breakfast and dinner together never sounded so sweet. And savory.
Science Based Cuisine: Our buddy Dr. Ricky, a popular Twitter contrarian, has a new post this week that really has some meat to it. Like the rest of the world, he was pretty fascinated by the petri dish hamburger recently grown by scientists at Maastricht University in the Netherlands and eaten by brave critics in London. But as Dr. Ricky writes, he has a beef with the beef. He notes that meat (and beef in particular) is "a dispensable part of the human diet," and that using this technology to make something that's generally composed of meat scraps anyway is "like using a 3D printer to make a haystack." He also draws attention to fetal bovine serum, which is harvested from aborted cow fetuses and must be used to grow the supposedly cruelty free patties. Dr. Ricky thinks it's a giant publicity stunt, but I'd also take anything Dr. Ricky says with a grain of salt. Like the frankenburger, he's a bit of a sensationalist.
Bayou City Bites: Adam Bevo makes a lot of road trips from Houston to Austin, and as such, he estimates that he's driven through La Grange more than 200 times. Recently, he stopped at Prause Meat Market for the first time. He describes it as a "typical small town meat market" with a counter in the front for specific cuts and a back area for barbecue. If you want a meal at Prause, you can choose from smoked brisket, sausage or pork shoulder. Bevo noted that by 1:15 p.m., Prause was sold out of the brisket, but he was able to score some sausage and pork shoulder. The pork shoulder was nothing impressive, but Bevo notes he'd definitely make the detour into La Grange again for the half beef, half pork sausage.
KHOU: Mia Gradney reports on adorable and business-savvy Kira Christian, a 14-year-old who owns Glitter, a "glamourous cupcakery" in Houston. Christian recently completed classes at the Texas Business Alliance's Youth Entrepreneurship Academy, a four-month-long program that helps kids like Christian cultivate business ideas. Though Glitter is not yet a brick-and-mortar shop, Christian does make and sell cupcakes out of the kitchen at Catfish Willy's restaurant, owned by Christian's mother. She also provides cupcakes for Capital One events, and Capital One has helped Christian grow her business. Look for Glitter to be an actual storefront in the not-too-distant future.
CultureMap: Marene Gustin provides a brief examination of the practice of eating horse meat around the world, but particularly in the U.S., where eating horse is still illegal, but slaughtering horses is allowed. She reports that the ban on horse slaughter in the U.S. was lifted in 2011, and though the U.S. continues to be a major exporter of horse meat, the practice of dining on our equine friends is waning in other countries. Still, she notes, many encourage dining on horses due to overpopulation. Many people sell horses once they're past their prime (rather than taking care of them until they die) and buy newer, younger horses, which encourages breeding. A few commenters have pointed out that eating horses is not actually illegal in the U.S., and one took issue with the implication that eating horse meat is somehow ethically wrong: "You tend to get really pissy when someone walks over your right to choice, how and why is this different for all the people and the animals?" ZING!