 Dave Reilly unveils the new label Dave Reilly, head of winery operations at Mandola Estate Winery in Driftwood, poured me a glass of the winery’s spectacular 2008 Montepulciano–and then he dropped a bomb. He told me that Damien Mandola was no longer involved in his namesake winery. Then he showed me the new label.  Chef Ray A smoking barbecue trailer was drawing a crowd to a convenience store parking lot in north Houston. It was Friday evening around six and people were ready to party. Some of the customers hung around and joked with the guys passing out the rib and sausage plates. One guy sipped a beer and joined in the conversation from the open driver’s side window without getting out of his car.  Alan Lazarus in his garden Alan Lazarus, the executive chef and co-owner of Vespaio and Enoteca Vespaio on South Congress Avenue in Austin, had 20-some pounds of tomatoes sitting on his kitchen table when I stopped by his house for breakfast. There were still more stacked on all the window sills. We had huevos in homemade ranchero sauce with sliced purple heirloom tomatoes and sliced giant beefsteak tomatoes on the side. Alan and I have been friends for more than 20 years. I have always been amazed by the man’s gardening skills. Before I left his house, he filled up my cooler with 3 kinds of tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, cukes and baby ears of corn. I passed on the Mexican marigold mint, sorrel, squash, and beets he pulled out of the garden while I watched. Alan said that this has been the best year for gardening he’s seen in many years, so enjoy it while you can!
The fried softshell crab and grits I had for lunch at Brennan’s of Houston the other day raises the bar in the seafood and grits competition. The softshell crab was extra crispy and very juicy, the stoneground grits were excellent and the pool of gravy surrounding the whole thing didn’t hurt any either. Wow! If they have his on the brunch menu this weekend, you better order it. I thought I was being pretty damn clever last summer when lobster got cheap and I served lobster and saffron grits with Veuve Clicquot champagne at a dinner party. But I like softshell crab and grits even better. There’s a recipe for softshell crab and jalapeño cheese grits in John Besh’s cookbook, My New Orleans, so I guess the combination has been around. It’s an evolution on shrimp and grits and catfish and grits–old Southern combos traditionally eaten for breakfast with crispy bacon. Thank the lord that underwater oil gusher has been at least partially capped. Next week we’ll do a Gulf seafood appreciation thing and I’ll share a couple of recipes for shrimp grits, so stay tuned. Ford announced it will discontinue the Mercury line of automobiles today. This doesn’t have much to do with food unless your parents took the family out for burgers in a Mercury station wagon. So humor me a minute while I say:
On Sunday I blogged and tweeted about smoking a Kobe brisket with Bellville Meat Market rub. @BBQsnob, the guy behind the Full Custom Gospel BBQ website tweeted about how good it sounded and I ended up inviting him and his family over for lunch on Memorial Day. Sounds lovely, eh? It was…until I noticed something weird going on in the smoker.
Update: Here’s what our Memorial Day barbecue looks like after five and a half hours of smoking. I think the pork is done, but I’m going to hit it with a wine jelly and mustard glaze just for the hell of it. Okay so maybe my old favorite Freddy Fender is a little dated. I like Los Lonely Boys alright. But the cutting edge in Tex-Mex music has got to be H-town’s underground hero Chingo Bling. Tamales, tortas and tacos are among his favorite song subjects. This is a musical icon with his own brand of hot sauce. Check out his “taco shop” video? The other day I twittered a smartass remark: Authentic Mexican is to Tex-Mex as the Ballet Folklorico is to Freddy Fender. My fellow food writer Colman Andrews asked if I meant by that Tex-Mex was more fun and closer to the truth. His question caused me to reflect for awhile.  3x3 at Tornado Burger Tornado Burger, the Houston burger joint that patterned itself after In-N-Out, may soon get some competition from the real thing. The Orange Country Register has confirmed that Southern California’s iconic fast food burger chain, In-N-Out, has plans to enter the Texas market. |
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Copyright © 2010 Robb Walsh :: Texas Eats - All Rights Reserved 
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