brucesw

There's a 'TX OK' tab on that page, too. A week or so ago when I first heard of this there was a Sysco distributor in the Houston area on the list but now all I see are two restaurants in the metro Houston area. I had an Aji Tuna Burger, seared, at Hopdoddy in Houston last month. Looks like I don't have anything to worry about for now but I'll have a test next time I visit the doc.

First trip in a couple of weeks today. My store had no pork bellies nor any blank spaces in the meat cases where there might have been some. I sure hope this makes it here. It hasn't been mentioned in the circulars (this week's edition is late in arriving). The Brie was back; I got the last of it. I was sorry to see for the second time the Specially Selected Sea Salt Pita Chips were missing. I've been buying those for months and really like them. I bought a box of the Savoritz Sea Salt Pita Crackers and I am not happy with them as a replacement. There was a dearth of dark chocolate options where the chocolates are displayed. That had better be an abberation! I've been trying pulled pork products (refrigerated) to see if any are any good. I tried TJ's previously and while it's not bad it's not what I want. I was hoping the Aldi/Appleton Farms would be more of a Carolina style product with vinegar and mustard listed in the ingredients for the sauce before the tomato products but it was cloyingly sweet. I did not like it on it's own at all but could get it down with a generous dollop of plain yellow mustard stirred in or liberally spread on buns. I won't be buying this again. I have the HEB product in the fridge and will try it in a few days but don't expect it to be what I want, either. There are probably good Carolina style pulled pork products available but I'm not interested in doing mail order for this so expect to be making my own.

Thanks. I didn't know Aldi did that. The store near me has only been open 7 months and I've only been going about half that time so I'm still learning but I am very glad to have some new competition in this part of town and I'm trying lots of products.

Sorry to hear that. I know there was none yesterday at my store but I think there was a couple of weeks ago (I didn't need any so didn't buy any). I was disappointed not to find any Cowgirl Caviar in the freezer section yesterday and I won't be surprised if it suffers a similar fate. It was a steamable side with 7 whole grains (brown rice, oats, rye, red wheat, triticale, barley, buckwheat and red quinoa) plus black beans, shoepeg corn, and green bell peppers with either guajillo pepper seasoning or mango. I really liked the one with guajillo. Fortunately I stocked up a couple of weeks ago.

@csingley - Hi. I was just at Mein this weekend with Jaymes and several others and she mentioned this thread, which I had missed. Glad to see your comments. Back in 2011 I was doing a tour of Sichuan restaurants in Houston, trying to educate myself about the cuisine, and happened on Mala Sichuan (the original) when the Grand Opening banner draped over the sign for the previous tenant in that space was all the signage there was. They were less than 2 weeks old. I ranked them in the middle of the 5 restaurants I sampled then and was surprised they became such a hit with foodies but chalked it up to my lack of knowledge of the cuisine. But I do have to agree, I find Cooking Girl, which I've been to only once with the same group (minus Jaymes) to be much, mjuch better. East Wall sounds good. I will have to put that on my list. I have been to Shanghai several times, Shandong many. I have noticed the frozen dumplings but never bought any. I was also doing a tour of soup dumplings back then. Fu Fu was proclaimed the best by most foodies. I don't remember how many I tried (Shanghai may have been one of them). There was a place where Uyghur Bistro is that I had them, as I recall and a place down the sidewalk from Fu Fu, Friends Kitchen or something like that. I gave up; if any of those available in Houston at the time were good examples then I didn't share the fascination. E-Tao started getting notices after I parked my tour bus and I've never been but I did see this last spring and it's on my list to try. Uyghur Bistro, which I've been to only once, and Cooking Girl are my two favorite finds this year as far as Chinese restaurants. BTW, of the 5 Sichuan restaurants I tried back in 2011, 2 are gone (Banana Leaf II replaced one of them, Uyghur another), one has either changed hands or the kitchen has completely changed and I wouldn't recommend. The fifth I can't remember. Our group at Mein over the weekend was somewhat underwhelmed, given all the hype. Recommend a good noodle dish there, if you will. Thanks.

I first had sabich almost a decade ago at an Israeli restaurant near me. I got it as a plate with chopped, roasted (I think) eggplant, hummus and Israeli salad (diced tomato, cucumber, green bell pepper), a hard boiled egg and a thick, warm, fluffy pita. I made pita sandwiches out of it and I loved it; their pitas are excellent. The hot sauce accompanying it I judged to be harissa since I've never heard of schug but I later saw it elsewhere on the menu and found the Sabra product in the Kosher section of a nearby grocery store. The Sabra schug (red or green) is a thick, rather dry paste-like product but what I had at the restaurant was flowable. I've also had it there as a sandwich on a baguette, with thick slices of eggplant plus tomato and cucumber.and hard-boiled egg They also offer it as a pita sandwich and a wrap with malawach, the fried Yemeni bread similar to porotta but made with phyllo, I think. I see places online giving the pronunciation as sabikh but that place said it was sah BEECH. So far as I can recall, there was no amba. I'll have to look for that at the grocery store. I see another Israeli restaurant nearby has added it to the menu also as a pita sandwich, on a baguette and as a wrap in lafa, the Iraqi flatbread. Their lafas are so big I probably wouldn't be able to finish one at one sitting. Serious Eats did a recent feature on sabich and I agree, it's far superior to falafel.

A little background: http://www.bellissimofoods.com/Distributors_Area.aspx?state=OH but the linked website is parked. Maybe you could contact the restaurant itself: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sidaris-Italian-Foods/151869574825945

Are the canisters interchangeable between different makes of burners? They all look alike, both burners and canisters. If so, you could pick up supplies from any of the retailers I mentioned above. Unless there's a hurricane on the way.

You can buy those at lots of places, Walmart and Academy (Houston based sports and outdoor stores) in the camping and outdoors departments; also at Asian grocery stores like Hong Kong Market (Houston), Super H Mart and more. Aren't they commonly used for table top cooking in Asian restaurants and, presumably, homes? Jaymes - I've been thinking about getting one since Ike (the hurricane, not the President) but never have gotten around to it, for power outages but also as an adjunct cooker to my two induction units, since the bulk of my pots and pans don't work on them. I'll be looking forward to your reports.

Here's the article Note this is just a list of the best new or most improved places since the last Top 50 List. Several commenters didn't understand that and bemoaned some longtime revered places not being listed. Well you can't actually expect people to read the title or the introductory paragraphs now, can you? The barbecue scene in Texas has been mushrooming for almost a decade. Lots of new places are opening up, especially in Austin and here in Houston, and, apparently, other places are upping their game. So it's no longer adequate, TM reasons, just to publish a Top 50 once every 5 years. There are 5 in Austin, only one of which, Terry Black's, have I heard any mention of, and that was just an announcement that it was planned. Terry Black is related in someway to Edgar Black of Black's in Lockhart. There are four in Houston (Killen's in Pearland counts as Houston to everybody here). Most of these places will probably not make the next Top 50. Virtually everyone here expects Killen's to not only make the Top 50 but crack the Top 5. Ronnie Killen expects to unseat Aaron Franklin as the reigning king of Texas barbecue. We'll see about that.

Ha-ha. You have a much nicer HEB out where you are than I have. I'll look forward to that report. I'll see you at Coltivare and I'm counting on you to answer some questions and offer some explanations --- you have more experience with this than I do.

I checked out Revival Market's Cured Plate Monday. It was my first visit since they morphed from being a meat market/market that had counter service sandwiches and some plates into a full service restaurant that also has a butcher shop and a few other market items. The place was very sparsely populated compared to every other visit I've made. Counter-clockwise from the lower left: spiced honey whipped lardo, Coppa, Pepperone, Head Cheese, pecans and peanuts, chicharrone, bread, salami (underneath the chicharrone and bread), sour cucumber, and, in the center, buttermilk ricotta. I'll say upfront the Coppa made little impression on me. I think it just kind of got lost with all the other things I was tasting. Basically everything was great except for the pecans which were soft and flavorless. The pepperone was cold and hard at first but by the time I worked my way thru the whole platter, which took about 40 minutes, it had warmed up to room temp and was much more enjoyable. My two favorite items were the pepperone and the salame, which I never got a picture of. I had browsed the meat cases while waiting and was aware there are at least 4 varieties of salame and pepperone but the waiter could not tell me which ones I got. I went back up to look again on the way out and the two most likely suspects were both missing any identifying signs. I didn't want to linger and try to get a butcher's attention; I was having diner's remorse from having eaten too much and was ready to go. The chicharrone were quite greasy. My shirt went right into the laundry when I got home. Next time I'll tuck the starched linen napkin into my collar. The article linked above says Revival makes all their own cured meats and that's what the website claims but the waiter only said 'house-made' when pointing out the Coppa and I noticed only a handful of meats displayed were identified as house-made, for some reason. Website

Short notice on this - I just saw this today. Home-made kolaches? Pork loin? I presume we'll be hearing some polka music? I had other plans for tomorrow but am reconsidering and thought I'd pass it along. Website

Chef Guerrero is now serving cuy. I think I had read he was planning on doing this. I have to make some reservations.

A restaurant, bar and bake shop, the main retail outlet for Slow Dough bakery with baking on premises. Plan B for lunch today; I was thinking they had a charcuterie plate but it was a pressed salumi sandwich - 2 types of salami, ham, cheese and red pepper on a pressed ciabatta roll, with house-made chips and bread and butter pickles. I woulda rather had a charcuterie plate with bread and cheese. It was supposed to be a half pound of meats and I was so full afterward I couldn't even contemplate the sweets in the bake shop but I did score a loaf of pumpernickel. I've had a thing about pumpernickel in recent months and I think Slow Dough makes the best one in town. Website W + M was recently named by the reviewer for Houstonia Mag as one of the ten best new restaurants of the past 12 months.

Fiesta can be a pretty amazing store but I've got to say that pretty well blows my mind. I'm just so used to the big one on Hillcroft and Bellaire where the emphasis is on Mexican, Central American and Caribbean. And those folks at Sur Peruvian sound real nice. I don't get around all over the metro like I used to a few years ago but I may have to drive all the way out there, eat at Sur Peruvian, and then go over and gawk at the Peruvian produce department at Fiesta! And I will get up and check out Flores. I'll be going back to Tampico when oysters are in season.

Well Jaymes I don’t know what I can possibly tell you or your son about shopping in Houston that you don’t already know, but here goes. If there’s a specialty South American grocer in town I don’t know about it. First place to look would be Fiesta, of course. I’ve shopped at Fiestas all over town looking for specialty ingredients and the ones on the west side are the best ones for South American products in my experience. In fact it was that Fiesta at Mason and I-10 I think where I first came across the jarred aji pastes several years ago. I have since seen them elsewhere but they’re not stocked at the Fiestas near me. I looked over the produce and freezer sections there but I never thought to check out their dried chilies. There has been something of an explosion of Peruvian restaurants here in the last few years and I think there may be more availability now. Ask the produce manager. As far as fresh peppers, the stalls at the rear of Canino’s Produce Market might be worth a look. You know the big spaces up front are really a wholesale produce market that’s open to the public, not a real farmer’s market, but the stalls at the very back are leased by individuals who come all the way from the Valley to sell their unique goods. I wouldn’t get your hopes up but it would be worth a look. You can always walk out back to the Tacambaro taco cart for some tacos de mollejas, some of the best sweetbreads you’ll ever have, and of course hit up El Bolillo while you’re in the neighborhood. You are familiar with a certain Sr. Wah who has raved several times about Flores Spices, right across the street from Canino. I’ve never been but since you’d be in the neighborhood you ought to check it out. Another place to look for fresh would be at the Saturday morning Urban Harvest Eastside Farmer’s Market. Called Eastside after the street it’s on it’s actually on the west side, inside the Loop, near Lamar High. That’s the best one in town. I’m pretty sure there are farmers in the area who specialize in peppers and that’s probably the most likely place they’d show up if anybody's growing them around here.. The biggest variety of dried peppers I’ve ever encountered was at the Mi Tienda in Pasadena but since they’re oriented so heavily toward the Mexican market I really doubt they’d have any South American varieties. I wouldn’t make the trip all the way over there (or to the one on Tidwell, which would be considerably closer to you) just for that. Since you’ve found that Peruvian restaurant out your way so agreeable have you thought to inquire there where they get their supplies? Wish I could be more help. Be sure to report back.

I think you'll like it. I liked the room, too. Easy to find, just a half-block from Alamo Tamales.

I have been wanting to go to David Guerrero's Andes Cafe ever since it opened. We were exploring Mexican cocteles de camarones, campechanas and vuelve a la vida cocteles last month as a Dish of the Month feature on another board and I had to step outside the lines a couple of times. This is the Ecuadorian version of a coctel de camarones - poached shrimp marinated in lime juice and sour orange, ketchup and mustard, with pickled red onions, tomatoes, cilantro and olive oil, served chilled. Sour orange definitely has a place in a shrimp cocktail and this was very good but very, very tart. A Mexican coctel, like a shrimp cocktail north of the border, is typically served with saltines and that would have been helpful here. The accompaniments were popcorn, chifles, the Ecuadorian term for thin plantain chips, and toasted corn. I also had the Tamal de mi Abuelita - a steamed rice and potato dough tamal stuffed with shredded chicken, egg, olives and raisins, wrapped in banana leaves. It was served with Tomate de Arbol - a tomarillo aji sauce. I've had some great tamales in Houston, Tex-Mex, Mexican, Salvadoran, Nicaraguan, Venezuelan, Cuban - this was interesting. It wasn't bad but wasn't great, either. For dessert I had the Pionono - a Peruvian cake roll with Dulce de Leche. I had passed on the same dessert at a Peruvian restaurant the previous evening and couldn't resist the temptation again but didn't read the menu carefully enough. The other restaurant described it as a sponge cake roll; this one was closer in texture to a pound cake and it was very heavy, more than I wanted. It was also cold, right out of a refrigerated case, and I didn't have time to let it come to a more palatable temperature. It was a disappointment. I should have asked them to box it up to go. A few years back I was really into Central and South American cuisines, eating at restaurants representing every nationality I could find here, and there basically isn't anything on the menu here I wouldn't like to try, so I will be returning. Guerrero himself is from Ecuador but true to it's name, the restaurant's menu features dishes from 7 different South American countries. But there may be a little bit of a bias in favor of Ecuador... Andes Cafe

Thanks for sharing all of this Kenneth. I'm headed soon to the local Malaysian restaurants where I see some of these dishes I've never had before on the menus. How anybody could be bored with all of that food to explore is beyond me but they better not be traveling with me.

Definitely.

I was in Maine in '99 on vacation and had my first ever experiences of lobster rolls. I saw signs for them at McD's then and told my friends back home about it. I did not try one at McD's, couldn't imagine it nor imagine locals going there, unless the price was just too good to pass up. Lobster rolls have been big here the last couple of years. A Maine expat opened a shop on the far north side and people drove from all over (including me). They opened a second location and tried a third and a truck but had to give up on the latter two because of financial difficulties. Meanwhile, a unit of Cousins Maine Lobster, the guys that were on Shark Tank, came to town and people supposedly stand in line for a couple hours to get one (not me). Still, I don't expect to see the local McD's jumping on the lobster roll bandwagon.

The only brand of pickled jalapenos I buy is Trappey's. They come in both mild and hot and the hot is hot enough for me but I'm not that much of a heat seeker anymore. Trappey's uses a cold brining method which preserves the crispness of the pickle which is why I prefer them. I've never seen some of those products shown on the website. I seldom see anything other than the jalapenos in stores around me. I like their crisp, hot pickled okra the best, too, but I never see it. I've read Cajun Chef is another brand that uses cold brining but I've never seen them in a store.

I tried the Inca corn once; that was enough for me. I finished the bag, which is better than I did a couple of years ago when I found the same product locally and wound up throwing half the bag away. TJ’s was better but not by enough. I have been enjoying the convenience of the Coffee Concentrate, too much so, perhaps; I've gotten very lazy about brewing a fresh cup. I’m on my second jar but this will be the last, I think. I’ve realized I can make my own cold brewed coffee concentrates at home with the equipment I already have and use beans I like and I can brew in small quantities. I was beginning to find the TJ’s blend boring and I like variety in my cup, anyway. I brew small batches, steeping the grounds in my large French press overnight then straining the concentrate both with the screen and through a paper filter in my Clever Drip Coffee Maker into a container to go in the fridge. Making a concentrate to have on standby so you can produce a cup quickly results in a better tasting cup than saving and reheating leftover coffee. I guess the cold brewing has something to do with that. I’m also liking the Smooth & Really Mellow Decaf. I have to have some decaf around and I’ve tried all the local roasters and never found any I like. I was reluctant to buy that big a container, not knowing for sure what the blend is and how long ago it was roasted, but I’ve been pleased. Also on my second canister. This is the one in the reddish-brown canister not the greyish-green one which I tried and did not like. Other than this I have avoided TJ's coffee and am sticking with local roasters I know. I’m just getting started exploring TJ’s cheeses but I really like the Collier’s Welsh Cheddar and the Le Delice de Borgogne Triple Cream Soft Ripened cheese of the one’s I’ve tried.

I will have to give them another try. Tried once and thought it was just hype. I almost exclusively buy grape tomatoes when a farmer's stand near me is not in operation. BTW the Rio Grande Valley is not a big producer of tomatoes. http://www.yara.us/agriculture/crops/tomato/key-facts/us-tomato-production/