Good fortune soup for the New Year
Collard greens? Check. Black-eyed peas? Check. Ham? Check. With these three ingredients, I’m now set to eat a meal filled with good fortune on New Year’s Day. And lord knows,…
Main dish recipes
King Ranch chicken casserole
Casseroles are an ancient dish, found all over the world. Yet for some reason, whenever I hear the word, I don’t think of France (the origin of the name), I…
An anniversary served with fried chicken
Sixty years ago, my dear grandparents were married. A few days before the wedding, my grandfather’s mother wrote a letter to my grandmother’s mother. In her correspondence with her future…
The good, the bad and the puffy tacos
New York City is shaping up to be a terrific taco town. There are taco trucks scattered throughout the five boroughs, with one even parked just a few blocks from…
An asparagus sandwich and a new attitude
The small Texas town where I went to college had a surprising bounty of good restaurants despite its size. While I ate the majority of my meals either in Slater’s…
Ramping up some gnudi
I don’t have Italian blood flowing through my veins and I have to admit when I was little, my knowledge of that country’s vast cuisine ended (and began) with pizza,…
Conejo colorado (rabbit stewed in red chile sauce)
I have been a longtime reader of Robb Walsh. Starting when I lived in Austin in the early ’90s and he was the food critic at the Austin Chronicle, I’ve…
Independence and chicken-fried steak
“Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas without eating a chicken-fried steak.” —Larry McMurtry It’s been said there are three food groups in Texas: Tex-Mex, barbecue, and…
Luby’s liver and onions
I grew up in a frugal household. After witnessing Houston’s boom and bust in the 70’s, my parents were classic penny pinchers—they clipped coupons, insisted I bring my lunch to…
