Patricia Sharpe

In the tiny town of Kemah, Ishtia is a world of pure imagination in the hands of Choctaw chef David Skinner.

At Radici, the celebrity chef reveals that she's as skilled at focaccia as she is cornbread.

While we wait for the first official Texas addition to the Michelin Guide to drop, we guess which restaurants will make the list.

Inspectors for France’s world-famous Michelin Guide have been secretly eating their way across Texas for months in preparation for the publication, which is released at the end of the year. The guide’s expansion to Texas will include Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. The announcement was made on July 16 jointly by Michelin and Travel Texas, the state’s tourism agency, following yearslong efforts by the Texas restaurant and travel industry to entice the finicky French guide…

After a couple of visits to Mexta, two things became clear: The restaurant, which opened in March in downtown Austin’s historic Littlefield Building, has all its bases covered, from perennial Mexican favorites (guacamole, ceviche) to exciting, lesser-seen regional specialties (pork belly encacahuatado, tikin xic salmon with xnipec salsa). Second, it intends to be the boldest Mexican restaurant in the city. Peering in from the foyer, distracted by happy-hour chatter and the whir of blenders, I…

Texas walked away with just one medallion at the James Beard Foundation awards ceremony last night. The near wipeout disappointed many Texas viewers of the gala, which was streamed live on YouTube, especially because the state had initially done well in January, with 39 semifinalist nods. The festivities were held at the Chicago Lyric Opera. The winner of the lone Texas prize, for Best Chef: Texas, was a thrilled and emotional Ana Liz Pulido, owner of her own three-year-old restaurant, Ana Li…

“Here’s your Chicken 65,” announced our server. We stared at the bowl, steam rising from the heap of golden brown nibbles of fried meat. You’d expect to find the southern Indian snack in a casual setting (of the many theories regarding the name, one posits that it was created at a hotel in Chennai in 1965). But what was it doing at a smart-looking restaurant in a fancy new Houston development? I popped a toasty bite in my mouth. Oh. “Chicken nuggets of the gods” might be going too far, but these…

Covering Texas news, politics, food, history, crime, music, and everything in between for more than forty years.

Covering Texas news, politics, food, history, crime, music, and everything in between for more than forty years.

The Texas restaurant scene is as delicious as it’s ever been. I said, “THE TEXAS RESTAURANT SCENE IS AS DELICIOUS AS IT’S EVER BEEN!” It is also noisy (not to mention expensive and in a state of serious flux). Last year I was all worked up about small plates and the chaos they bring to the tabletop. This year, though I indulged in many glorious bites, I found myself stewing over another unsavory development. Where is all this noisy energy coming from? Clubstaurants, mostly, and they’re here…