From a very strong beginning, Corkscrew BBQ, the small, family-run BBQ joint on Budde road near the Woodlands, has drawn numerous accolades for it's world-class brisket. Many think it's the best in Greater Houston, and can hold its own against the hallowed pits of Central Texas.
So do they rest on their laurels?
Apparently not.
Will Buckman, the pitmaster who personally oversees the smoking of each brisket, has selected an even higher quality brisket: Pasture raised Black Angus Prime Brisket.
This premium beef promises to elevate Corkscrew's brisket beyond its current highly awarded (and highly delicious) state.
Aaron Franklin, better keep looking over your shoulder.
Houston is a city that's obsessed with the latest and greatest. Along those lines, it's the newest restaurants are the ones that get almost all of the press.
We believe that one of the greatest accomplishments a restaurant can have is longevity. Keeping customers happy is hard work, and doing so for a decade is a significant achievement. Pappasito's has done this, and done it thrice. They're now celebrating 30 years in business, a milestone we think shouldn't be ignored.
“This is a big milestone for Pappasito’s, and we couldn’t have done it without the support of our loyal guests,” said Harris Pappas, co-owner and co-founder, Pappas Restaurants, Inc. “We want to thank Houstonians for their support and invite them to join our family for 30 days of celebration.”
The original Pappasito's opened on Richmond near Hillcroft back in 1983. Since then, the operation has brought its brand of high quality Tex-Mex cuisine to 13 Greater Houston area locations, with 8 others in DFW, Austin, San Antonio, and Atlanta.
In honor of this milestone, the restaurant is offering some awesome weekly specials:
Oct 1-5: Half price beef and chicken fajitas. All day, large size only.
Oct 7-11: Half price happy hour appetizers with beverage purchase. 3p-6:30p in the bar.
Oct 13-19: Half price lunch beef & chicken fajitas. Medium size only, 11am-4pm.
Oct 20-26: eClub free appetizer with Pappasito's Pass (with entree purchase, exclusions and terms apply)
Oct 27-30: Half price beef and chicken fajitas. All day, large size only.
We're big fans of Pappasito's fajitas. We're even bigger fans when they're half price.
During the 30-day celebration, customers of legal drinking age can also enjoy an anniversary drink, the Pappasito’s Reserva Margarita made with Corazon Reposado barrel-aged tequila, which has been hand-selected especially for Pappasito’s Cantina, Grand Marnier, organic agave nectar, and fresh lemon and lime juices shaken tableside and served on the rocks. Guests who order the special drink will receive a complimentary 30th anniversary commemorative glass, while supplies last.
They're also preparing a special dessert, Chocolate Tres Leches, a rich chocolate cake soaked in three milks with dark chocolate, Kahlua, and a hint of cinnamon, toasted meringue and shaved chocolate.
For more information, check their website or Facebook page.
UPDATE: Chef Stone has left Vallone's to pursue other opportunities.
Vallone's, the hot new steakhouse project from the team behind Tony's, has named Jay Stone as its Chef de Cuisine. Vallone's is a collaboration helmed by Tony's executive chef Grant Gordon and Tony's GM Scott Sulma. Tony Vallone, Houston's legendary restaurateur, is rumored to be consulting on the project as well.
(Tony Vallone has a storied history of discovering and nurturing great culinary talent, including top Houston chefs Mark Cox [owner and executive chef of Mark's], Marco Wiles [owner and executive chef of Da Marco] and Olivier Ciesielski [owner and executive chef of L'Olivier], who all perfected their craft under Tony's watchful eye.)
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| Chef Jay Stone |
Chef Stone was formerly executive chef at Spectrum Catering, and was the driving force behind the Wicked Whisk food truck, cited by Houston Mayor Annise Parker as her favorite food truck.
(He also collaborated with Corkscrew BBQ's pitmaster Will Buckman on the groundbreaking Wicked Corkscrew pop-up experimental dinner, the first to combine the techniques and recipes of a classically trained chef with the award-winning meats of one of Texas's top BBQ joints.)
We've been big fans of Jay's innovative cooking since we first got to sample it, and are looking forward to seeing what he'll produce in collaboration with the consummate culinary professionals of the Vallone organization.
Having Jay Stone and Grant Gordon collaborate in the kitchen reminds me of the friendship (and rivalry) between the two great 20th century artists Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. The collaboration and creative tension that can result from having this much culinary talent under one roof promises to make Vallone's one of the city's most exciting kitchens.
We're fans of Black Walnut Cafe, the fast casual restaurant that started in the Woodands and has spread across the Houston area (and is soon coming to Austin and Dallas). One thing we love is the large, eclectic menu - it's a place we're not hesitant to visit with people whose food preferences we don't know.
And the menu is ever-changing. For the next few weeks, Black Walnut will be testing a few new items each week, and soliciting feedback from patrons who try them via a secret website, revealed only to those who try the dishes. We love the idea of getting direct feedback from customers, and what makes it even cooler is that one lucky customer will get the chance to name one of the dishes on the menu! (There's also a $100 gift card involved, which is certainly a good thing.)
We were excited about the opportunity to provide feedback about which items would make the next menu, so we accepted the generous offer to come sample this week's selections.
First up were the pork tacos. They're served street taco style on a sheet of aluminum foil. Of course, being a nice place like the Black Walnut, the foil was on a plate.
The patty is hand formed from high quality ground turkey, pressed fairly thin, griddled with a nice caramel-colored sear, then topped with swiss cheese and veggies. Biting into this burger was a big surprise... I LIKED IT. The expertly seared turkey patty had a nice savory flavor - the seasonings used were spot on. It didn't taste like a beef hamburger, but it was a very good sandwich that I would gladly order again. And I've never said that about a turkey burger before in my life. Kudos to the chefs at Black Walnut Cafe for doing the impossible.
Last up was an item that I saw, but didn't sample. It's an Eggs Benedict burger.
We were honored (and more than a little bit surprised) to be named the Best Food Blog in the 2013 Houston Web Awards, presented by the Houston Press. This was the third annual Web Awards, highlighting the best of social media and online presences in Houston.
The award was presented Thursday, June 27 at the House of Dereon.
We'd like to thank the Houston Press, its staff, and it's readers for recognizing the work we do to put together this blog. Every time we gain a new reader we're gratified, but an award like this humbles us. Houston is fortunate enough to have a tremendous list of great food writers, and we're honored to be among them, much less to be singled out.
Thank you.
The Woodlands keeps growing, expanding west from I-45. Woodlands Parkway is currently over nine miles long, running through the heart of the community. And we're finally witnessing the restaurant scene expand slowly backwards. No longer must a diner endure a prefabricated meal from a generic chain restaurant in the newer areas of the Woodlands. While the Waterway and Market Street areas are still the epicenter of dining in the Woodlands, interesting new restaurants are opening further away from the "downtown" area.
A case in point is the new Blue Mug Cafe. It's an new venture from some established pros (The Altus culinary group). It's located at Woodlands Parkway and FM 2978 - about as far away from I-45 as you can be and still be in the Woodlands proper.
The Blue Mug has been open for about a week, and locals have already flocked to check it out. We've visited three times, and each time has found the comfortable dining room nearly filled to capacity. There's a buzzing energy about the place as friends, couples, and families chow down on the upscale renditions of American comfort food.
(Since the restaurant just opened, this isn't a full review, but rather a first look. We'll follow up later with a full review of the Blue Mug Cafe.)
We've visited during the day, so we've focused our explorations on the sandwiches. First up is the Capone, an Italian cold cut sandwich featuring spicy Cajun turnkey, honey ham, hard salami, and provolone served between two gigantic grilled slices of crusty Italian bread. This is a huge sandwich; I devoured half and was fully sated.
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| The Capone at the Blue Mug Cafe |
Next up is an offering that appears to be on its way to becoming a guest favorite: Jefe's Pot Roast Grilled Cheese. On two slightly more modest slices of the grilled crusty Italian loaf is piled a small mountain of Angus pot roast dressed with a subtle apricot BBQ sauce. Melty cheddar cheese is oozing atop the beef, and the result is slightly messy, rather delicious, and incredibly filling. If you order this at lunch time, you will leave very happy, but in need of a nap.
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| Jefe's Pot Roast Grilled Cheese |
We've not explored other areas of the menu (yet) but are intrigued by a few of the entrees: A tequila lime chicken pasta, served with homemade tomatillo sauce and a seductive chipotle and apricot meatloaf both caught our eye. We observed a mammoth hot fudge sundae (called, logically enough "Sinatra's Mammoth Hot Fudge Sundae") roll out of the kitchen, and concluded that it was easily enough for a family of four. Blue Mug Cafe is not stingy with its portions.
We've also heard very good things about breakfast at the Blue Mug Cafe. They open at 6am, and in-the-know commuters are being drawn in to such creative offerings as sweet potato pancakes, bruléed French Toast, and other American and Latin-influenced breakfasts. We can't wait to sample them.
Service at this fast casual establishment is friendly, and the kitchen is finding its rhythm and getting food to the table in reasonable time. The dining room is comfortable and family friendly, and a glass divider separates it from the bar area, which is already becoming a happy hour hotspot for this part of the Woodlands.
An attractive patio area wraps around the front and side of the building, and a modern pergola provides plenty of shade. Ample parking makes the visits easy, too.
For a week-old restaurant, things were running incredibly smoothly. We expect small bobbles at this point (you should, too) but we were pleasantly surprised by the staff's execution. We've enjoyed our visits to this promising new restaurant. We'll be back.
Blue Mug Cafe | 30420 FM 2978, The Woodlands, Texas 77382 | 281-292-2583 | BlueMugCafe.com
Sunday, March 24, 2013 will go down in Houston History as the first time over a dozen of Houston's best pit masters assembled and served BBQ to a devout congregation of over 1,500 BBQ enthusiasts. The Houston BBQ Festival was the first event of its kind, and hopefully not the last.
Despite unseasonably cold weather and strong winds, dedicated BBQ fans treked from all over Texas to south of the Astrodome to worship at the altar of grilled meat.
They were not disappointed.
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| Enjoying great BBQ with a thousand of my friends. Fortunately the lines were moving fast. |
Organized by BBQ gurus Chris Reid and Michael Fulmer, the event drew all sorts of enthusiasts from the Houston and Texas food scene, many of whom were volunteering to help the event run smoothly.
The media was in attendance: Katharine Shilcutt of the Houston Press, Greg Morago of the Houston Chronicle, Eric Sandler of Eater Houston, and Robb Walsh of Houstonia were all devouring 'Q and comparing the offerings. Also making an appearance was Daniel Vaughn, newly named BBQ Editor of Texas Monthly magazine, who will be a major contributor to the epic BBQ issue expected out this summer.
The festival was perhaps the best run food event in recent memory, a tribute to the hard work of the staff and the organizing skills of Reid and Fulmer. And the staff, largely composed of the notable Houston foodies on Reid's and Fulmer's rolodex (OK, iPhone address book) was constantly in motion - we don't know how staff members like Gary Wise, Joanne Witt, and Nathan Ketcham each managed to be in four places at once. Their tireless efforts were impressive to behold.
Participating BBQ joints were Blake's BBQ, The Brisket House, Brooks' Place BBQ, Burns BBQ, Corkscrew BBQ, Fainmous BBQ, Gary Burns Old Fashioned Pit BBQ, Gatlin's BBQ, Gerardo's, Killen's BBQ, Lenox Bar-B-Que, Pizzitola's Bar-B-Cue, Ray's BBQ Shack, Tin Roof BBQ, and Virgie's BBQ. Lines were long but moved fast as the BBQ pros served up samples of the meats and sides which made them famous.
Mother Nature and the Bayou City Event Center provided a beautiful but chilly backdrop for the event, and the high winds kept the crowds bundled up and gave the pit masters extra challenges. A handful of pit masters (Ronnie Killen of Killen's, Will Buckman of Corkscrew, and Jamie Fain of Fainmous) were on-site the night before and cooked their 'Q on-site, and fought against the winds to keep the fires low and the smoke just right.
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| Generous samples were provided by each pit master. |
We sampled a wide variety of 'Q from the assembled Houston BBQ royalty. There wasn't a bad plate in the bunch - Reid and Fulmer demonstrated the value of expert curation for a food event. But a few items stood out from the pack for us:
Sausage - Houston generally isn't a sausage town, but there were some standouts. Our favorite was Fainmous BBQ's house-made sausage, with Blake's BBQ serving our runner up.
Pulled Pork - Traditionally not a Texas strength, we were impressed by the pulled pork from Corkscrew BBQ and Fainmous BBQ, with Corkscrew having a slight edge in flavor and Fainmous having a slightly more tender texture. These two pits confirm that Texans can do pulled pork that compares to the best to be had anywhere.
Beef Ribs - Killen's BBQ stunned us with a superlative example of this hard-to-find meat. Ronnie Killen hasn't even opened his BBQ joint yet, but he's shown that he's going to be a formidable presence on the BBQ scene in days to come.
Pork Ribs - Virgie's lived up to their reputation for stellar ribs - flavorful, tender, and with a delicious bark. Runners up were Gatlin's and Pizzitola's Bar-B-Cue.
Brisket (Overall Best of Festival) - We concur with the sentiment we heard all over the festival - Corkscrew BBQ had the festival's overall best meat - their world class brisket. Pit master Will Buckman delivered his signature brisket: Tender with great mouthfeel, and a masterful balance of oak smoke and beef flavor. Buckman took the risk of cooking it on-site, and it paid off for him. Runners up were Greg Gatlin's phenomenally tender slice from Gatlin's and the deeply smoky offering from The Brisket House.
There are worse ways to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon that walking around, talking with friends, and eating BBQ from over a dozen of Houston's greatest BBQ pits. We think that this first Houston BBQ Festival was a roaring success, and are already counting the days until Reid and Fulmer gather their tireless staff, the talented pitmasters, and thousands of BBQ fans for the second edition of this outstanding even.
We'll be there. You should be, too.