Years ago, on a crowded night in the French Quarter, we had no reservations for dinner and seemingly no prospects of eating anything worthwhile, having been firmly rebuffed by every hostess desk within walking distance of our hotel. All, that is, except for Galatoire’s. With its “no reservations” policy for the downstairs dining room (and […]
Feasting on Manna Korean in North Austin
On a recent Saturday in downtown Austin, everyone was moving. Sidewalks were teeming with UT kids, happy to have reached the weekend. Panting joggers darted through intersections. Scullers zipped under the Congress Avenue Bridge that spans Lady Bird Lake (formerly Town Lake). We, on the other hand, just needed some lunch. Preferably Asian in nature. […]
Via Emilia in The Woodlands
Do we throw around an expression like “gracious service” these days? And is there a scarcity of places that provide it? In an age when some of the best upscale dining seems to require the symbols of self-consciously “unselfconscious” informality (sleeve tattoos, chef-owners in ball caps, exposed bricks and beams, communal tables, menus full of […]
Delicious Detours: You Want to Eat at Guy’s
You do want to eat lunch at Guy’s Oyster Bar in downtown Amite, Louisiana. When you are heading north on I-55 from around Hammond, Louisiana, not long before you reach the Mississippi border, look for the Amite exit. Yes, Guy’s is a bar, and it’s a little dark in there, and there are die-hard patrons […]
A Visit to Hahn Winery and Our Pinot Noir Picks from the Santa Lucia Highlands & Beyond
A trip to the Monterey Peninsula would not be complete without an excursion to the nearby wine country of the Santa Lucia Highlands. I had done the research, but it wasn’t until we actually touched down in San Francisco that our group was able to come together and figure out which day was going to […]
Hello, Gorgeous: California’s Monterey Peninsula is a Head-Turner Without Even Trying
If Monterey Peninsula were a woman, she’d be the one that all the others envy. The one who doesn’t give much thought to hair or clothes or makeup. For her, it all just comes together effortlessly, a unique kind of beautiful that you can’t get from poring over the fashion boards on Pinterest. Like the […]
Delicious Detours: Destination Boudin
Traveling the dreaded I-10, from Baton Rouge to Houston, my family knows what to expect: like forcing an elephant through a drinking straw, it often seems the entirety of the Gulf Coastal U.S. is trying to get over the Mississippi River Bridge at the same time as I am. This is the usual state of […]
Dining Well at Disney
Beauty and the Beast: It was 8:30 p.m., and we had hopped two monorails to get to Epcot after arriving just a few hours earlier at The Contemporary Hotel in the Magic Kingdom. We were late for our reservation at the Biergarten in Epcot’s Germany Pavilion, and people were packing themselves in like beached sardines […]
Delicious Detours: Giving Thanks at New Zion Missionary Baptist Church BBQ
My dad came to visit from Louisiana a few weeks before Thanksgiving. Sort of an early holiday visit, since John and I had decided to take a vacation with the kids during Thanksgiving week. This time, my dad wanted to get out of the house and “see the sights.” When he told me this, my […]
Gringo’s Shines in New I-45 North Location
The air was more than brisk as we pulled into the Spring Park Village retail development, north of FM 1960 on I-45. Our destination, the new location of Gringo’s Mexican Kitchen. (Disclosure: I was part of a group invited to a pre-opening event held a few days prior to the restaurant’s official opening. As guests, […]
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