I always have enjoyed your reviews/recommendations in the Houston Press.

Have you tried the new SportingNews Grill in the Holiday Inn at 1112 Eldridge Parkway (near Enclave Pkwy)? My wife and I do not frequent hotel bars but on a friend’s recommendation we decided to give it a try. The chef is from New Orleans and makes an excellent seafood gumbo on Fridays (chicken and sausage gumbo the rest of the week). The food is of very high quality and very reasonably priced. We had the pulled pork sandwich and pot roast sandwich as entrees (both very tasty) but we plan to go back and try the jambalaya and shrimp and grits next time.
I’m no gumbo expert but I think this one is in the same league as the smoked duck gumbo at Rainbow Lodge (my previous favorite) for about half the price (if I remember correctly).

Now a coot’s very largest muscle is its gizzard and that probably gives you an idea of what goes down a coot’s gullet. Some folks say they taste like mudhens and since that’s what most call them, well…

Lemme tell you, cut all the breasts into strips and cut those into 1/2X1/2 cubes, blanch them in water with a lot of crab boil, then real, real slow – brown them using olive oil. When the time comes to drop them into the rice, roux, and vegetables, just do it. It’s not gonna taste like chicken, but neither does bullfrog, softshell turtle, or gator.

One of my shooting partners actually asked me to make it again, but alas I told the recipe to his wife and declared I’d shot my last mudhen. Bon vie!