Great food comes from great ingredients, and often the produce found at the local grocery store leaves much to be desired. As any chef will tell you, the solution is to buy direct from the farmer, but that's often very difficult to do.
If you live on the North side of town, it just got a bit easier, thanks to Neal's Berry Farm & Farmer's Market.
Located on Gosling Road a couple of miles south of the Woodlands, Neal's is a comfortable, air-conditioned farmer's market, and a sprawling berry farm, where intrepid cooks (or their kids) can harvest fresh berries straight from the vine.
The indoor market features a variety of produce that's either grown on the premises, provided by local farmers, or brought in fresh from Neal's network of producers. The selection changes frequently, and everything is remarkably fresh.
To guarantee maximum freshness, the more perishable produce is stored in a climate-controlled cooler; a rarity at farmers' markets.
Neal's also offers a variety of prepared homemade gourmet items, including dressings and sauces. They also offer a complete make-your-own blackberry cobbler kit, taking the guesswork out of home baking without resorting to the industrial mixes found on your grocer's shelves.
The kit has everything you need, except for water, butter, and the blackberries. Of course, Neal's can help with the berries, too, thanks to the large blackberry orchard behind the store. You can purchase packaged blackberries recently picked by Neal's staff, or you can pick your own, strolling down the rows of tall blackberry plants.
Even during our end-of-season visit, the blackberries were plump, plentiful, and very sweet.
We got the full tour from the proprietor, and his pride in the beautiful grounds was infectious. A restaurateur for many years, Mr. Neal is familiar with the challenges of getting fresh produce, and he created this farmers' market as a solution to that vexing problem.
We were impressed by the quality of the produce at Neal's, and think you will be, too. If you're in the area, come check it out.
Neal's Berry Farm & Farmer's Market
24527 Gosling Road
Spring, Texas 77389
281-255-3699
Houston is hands down the best food city in Texas, and we Houstonians are spoiled. We're used to being able to readily find great examples of pretty much any cuisine.
One area where we've had difficulty in Houston is Bar-B-Q. Sure, Houston has some amazing BBQ joints, like Thelma's and Burns. But the typical BBQ place in Houston serves mediocre BBQ, especially if you're looking for a convenient, family-friendly setting that won't challenge the less adventurous among us.
Enter Rudy's. This San Antonio based chain has established several outposts in Houston, and has developed a reputation for better-than-average BBQ. Our first visit (soon after the Spring store opened) wasn't memorable, but we'd been hearing good things, so we visited again.
Ordering at Rudy's is different than most BBQ restaurants, but will seem familiar to anyone who's been to any of the meat markets that often offer the best BBQ to be found. Once you reach the counter, you order your meat by the pound, and it's sliced to order. We prefer this ordering method.
On this trip, brisket was under investigation. Rudy's gives you the option of lean or moist brisket; this corresponds to the wet or dry end of the brisket. Wet, in this case, refers to fat, and that's where the flavor is. We ordered our favorite: An outside cut from the wet end.
What arrived was some of the most beautiful brisket we'd seen in quite a while. Moist, fork tender, rimmed with a beautiful 3/8" smoke ring, and encrusted with a perfectly charred pepper and spice rub, this brisket was ready for the cover of Texas Monthly.
And the flavor did not disappoint. Lush, smoky, with that oak flavor that doesn't come on as fast as mesquite, but which provides a very satisfying BBQ flavor. And this is real BBQ; sauce (or sause, as Rudy's spells it) is strictly optional.
We also sampled a link of Rudy's "Regular" sausage, the milder of the two offered. It was good, with a firm texture and smooth smoky flavor. But it was the brisket that stole the show.
Rudy's | 20806 I-45 North | Spring, Texas | 77373 | 281-288-0916