Category: Texas (Page 2 of 4)

The tacos at Fuel City in Dallas have been called the best in Texas. They're certainly among the cheapest as well.

Fuel City Bringing its Tacos to Fort Worth

June 15, 2015 / Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle / 0 Comments

Cheap gas, 69 cent a bag ice, live longhorns, donkeys, zebras, and camels, karaoke nights that require off-duty cops to direct traffic — and if that’s not enough, some of the best, and cheapest, tacos to be had in the Lone Star State. Yes, Fuel City in Dallas is not your ordinary gas station. Word has traveled and made the concept a success, so that a second Fuel City opened in Lufkin, and a third will open later this year in Mesquite. Latest news is that a fourth Fuel City will open in Fort Worth next summer, with a fifth to follow near Joe Pool Lake. A cheap-gas-and-tacos dynasty in the making — God Bless America!

A selection of Austin's finest from Franklin Barbecue

The 50 Best Barbecue Spots in the South

June 5, 2015 / Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle / 0 Comments

Southern Living presents what they are calling the top 50 barbecue joints in the South. Ten of the 50 are designated Top Picks, and they include both obvious choices like Louie Mueller and Franklin of Texas and some places that we’re not familiar with. Which is wonderful! In fact, there are plenty of Q shacks among the 50 that are totally new to us, and we can’t wait to hit the road to sample as many as we can. Just one question: where’s McClard’s of Hot Springs, Arkansas, our favorite Southern BBQ joint?

A plate of Dirty Wus from Pip's of Portland OR

America’s Top Dozen Donuts

June 4, 2015 / Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle / 0 Comments

This past winter we popped into Frangelli’s Bakery in Philadelphia to try their donnoli — that’s a donut filled with cannoli cream. Alas, they were out, and we returned home with a fine selection of “regular” donuts, which included a dossant (like the trademarked Cronut). Little did we know at the time that their jelly donuts are a force to be reckoned with. Frangelli’s jellies were just named one of America’s top 12 donuts by The Huffington Post (full disclosure: the story’s writers are from Philly). Continue reading

Molly Schuyler, earlier this year, consumed three of these 4 1/2-pound steak dinners in 20 minutes.

Gluttony Girls

June 1, 2015 / Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle / 0 Comments

You don’t have to be a fan of competitive eating to have heard of Kobayashi (the first superstar of the genre) and Joey Chestnut (with the catchy made-for-media name). The casual observer might extrapolate from those two guys, and common stereotypes of women and men, to the conclusion that competitive eating is a man’s game. Wrong! Some of the most accomplished competitive eaters are women. Continue reading

The All American Buddy Holly Burger (#20) comes with mayo, mustard, onions, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, and American cheese.

An Interview with the Owner of Hut’s Hamburgers of Austin

April 15, 2015 / Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle / 0 Comments

Mike Hutchinson purchased Hut’s Hamburgers of Austin, Texas in 1981 when he was 27 years of age. He and his wife Kim still own the 76-year-old burger joint today. Austin Eater interviewed Mr. Hutchinson about the changes he brought to Hut’s (he introduced the 20 burger menu) and his thoughts for its future. He’s tried hard to adapt to evolving tastes by offering something for everyone — he now offers veggie burgers and gluten-free buns as options — but he draws the line at kale. Read the full interview here.

An assortment of barbecue from Black's of Texas

Take a BBQ Field Trip to Lockhart TX

March 25, 2015 / Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle / 0 Comments

Not long ago Austin, TX was practically a barbecue wasteland. Oh, you could find plenty of Q and, if you arrived in Austin from barbecue-deprived regions of the country, it was more than OK, but by Texas Hill Country standards, it was decidedly second-rate. While that’s no longer the case, it’s still fun to take a trip to Lockhart, less than an hour away and home to some of the all-time greats of American barbecue, to sample the wares of the city’s historic pits. Take a look at this overview of Lockhart barbecue.

The famous 72-ounce steak dinner at the Big Texan Steak Ranch of Amarillo

Three 4 1/2-Pound Steak Dinners!

March 23, 2015 / Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle / 0 Comments

The Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, Texas has a long-standing (and well-publicized) offer: consume a four-and-a-half pound steak dinner, with all the fixin’s (baked potato, salad, shrimp cocktail, and roll) in an hour or less and it’s free. Last year, one Molly Schuyler, a 120-pound woman, consumed the dinner in under five minutes. And then went on to consume a second dinner in under ten minutes! On April 19th, Ms. Schuyler intends to consume three steak dinners in under an hour! We are both repulsed and in awe. Read about the event here.

No sauce is needed (or available) on smoked brisket this good!

2nd Kreuz Market Now Open in Bryan TX

March 21, 2015 / Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle / 1 Comment

Last month Kreuz Market of Lockhart, Texas opened a second location in the town of Bryan, a little less than two hours east of Austin. Kreuz owner Keith Schmidt has family connections to the rapidly growing Bryan-College Station region, and it seemed like a good spot for expansion. Lucky Houstonians have just saved about an hour-and-a-half off their round trip to the sauceless, forkless Kreuz! Read more in The Eagle of Bryan-College Station.

Chickens and racks of ribs sucking up smoke in the pit at Pierce's Pitt of Williamsburg, VA

Garden & Gun’s Ultimate Barbecue Bracket

March 19, 2015 / Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle / 0 Comments

Garden & Gun is running a bracket competition between 32 Southern barbecue joints, covering pretty much all the regional traditions in Southern Q. We didn’t do the detailed work to know for sure but it appears that every Southern state is represented in some way, which is as it should be. First round voting is going on now. Our pick for most evenly matched first round battle: Kreuz of Texas vs. Craig’s of Arkansas. Biggest mismatch: Lexington of North Carolina and Chaps Pit Beef of Baltimore. We like pit beef just fine but we don’t see it lasting long among these heavyweights.

The great migas breakfast taco from San Antonio's Taco Taco, which made it past the first round in the breakfast taco bracket

San Antonio Breakfast Taco Madness Bracket

March 16, 2015 / Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle / 0 Comments

If you know San Antonio, Texas well you may want to take part in the San Antonio Madness breakfast taco bracket assembled by mysanantonio.com. If you don’t know San Antonio well enough to participate, but plan to visit at some point, you might want to use the bracket as a way to scout out your future San Antonio breakfasts. They’ve already eliminated the first 16 entrants, and Round Two voting is taking place today.

Voodoo Coming to Austin

March 16, 2015 / Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle / 0 Comments

At the end of 2014 Voodoo Doughnuts said they planned to open a store east of Denver. They wouldn’t narrow it down any further. Well, they recently announced their new Voodoo and, as many expected, they’ll be landing in Austin, Texas. The address will be 212 East Sixth Street. As for time frame, all we know is “sometime in 2015.” Austin, as in Keep Austin Weird, sounds like a perfect city for Voodoo.

Here's the view you'll get as you head towards your table at The Salt Lick of Driftwood, TX.

Is TX’s Salt Lick “The Best Damn Barbecue” in the Country?

March 16, 2015 / Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle / 1 Comment

Owner Scott Roberts of Driftwood, Texas’ Salt Lick says his restaurant has the “best damn barbecue” in the country. Sure, he may be a tad biased but he’s not alone. The writer of this Business Insider story about The Salt Lick says it’s the place to go if you have time for just one restaurant in Austin. What started as the most rustic of Texas barbecue pits has grown over the decades into a very comfortable, almost upscale (as barbecue restaurants go) sit-down eatery. While we wouldn’t go so far as to call it Texas’ finest, we think any barbecue tour of Texas is incomplete without a visit to The Salt Lick.

One of the keys to a good Hot Brown is real roast turkey, not deli slices.

Top 20 Food Cities in the U.S.A.

March 15, 2015 / Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle / 0 Comments

The list is presented by Travel + Leisure, and chosen by their readers, as the best “food snob” cities but it doesn’t appear that any sort of pretentiousness is part of the equation. These seem more to be the 20 cities for people whose primary travel activity is eating, and that includes us. The list begins at #20 with Seattle. Louisville, at #16, gets recognition for the Hot Brown sandwich invented at The Brown Hotel. #15 New Orleans (#15! Wow!) topped the survey for fine dining, like Brennan’s, and sandwiches, such as the great ones served at Parkway Bakery. NYC is #10 and Cleveland (!) is seventh. Best food city in the U.S.? Houston!

Al's #1 Italian Beef began on Taylor Street in Chicago's Little Italy.

Is Al’s #1 Italian Beef on Taylor Better than All Others?

March 14, 2015 / Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle / 0 Comments

We were reading a chicagoist story in which the writer notes with amusement how the new Texas edition of Al’s #1 Italian Beef has been such a local hit that they’ve repeatedly run out of food. They point out, sort of in passing, that only the original Al’s, in operation since 1938 on Taylor Street, actually roasts the beef in-house. All the others (including the only one we’ve ever been to, in River North) get their beef from a commissary. And that, presumably, makes a difference. If chicagoist says it’s so we’ll accept it although we don’t really know for sure if that’s true. We thought the Italian beef we’ve enjoyed at Al’s on Ontario was extraordinary. Our question: is the original even better?

Oysterfest, Fulton TX, March 5th through 8th 2015

March 6, 2015 / Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle / 0 Comments

The oyster shucking contest is Sunday afternoon. The oyster eating contests are tomorrow and Sunday. There are cash prizes for the winners, up to $700 for the master shucker! Yes, we’re talking about Fulton, Texas’ 36th annual Oysterfest, co-sponsored by the town and its fire department, which began yesterday and continues through Sunday. Fulton is a Gulf Coast town about halfway between Houston and Mexico, perfectly situated for obtaining the Gulf’s freshest oysters. Continue reading

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A Morning Menu of LAF-Style Food News and Stories to Begin Your Day

HAPPY NATIONAL STRAWBERRY DAY!

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A Morning Menu of LAF-Style Food News and Stories to Begin Your Day

HAPPY NATIONAL CHOCOLATE MINT DAY!

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A Morning Menu of LAF-Style Food News and Stories to Begin Your Day

HAPPY CREME-FILLED CHOCOLATES DAY!

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A Morning Menu of LAF-Style Food News and Stories to Begin Your Day

HAPPY NATIONAL PEPPERMINT PATTY DAY!

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A Morning Menu of LAF-Style Food News and Stories to Begin Your Day

HAPPY CREAM CHEESE BROWNIE DAY!

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