Houston Grub

Whilst in Houston I was more disciplined than ever about eating humbly. More than any other time in my life I ate at home and brought my lunch to work. I also threw away practically no food, I ate almost everything I bought. Surprisingly, I did not miss eating out. It was not for lack of options. There are more places to eat-out in Houston than any other place I have ever lived or visited. Seriously, there are ten restaurants on every corner.

However, I did eat a few times and can whole-heatedly recommend these fine Houston eateries:

- Zabak's Meditrerranean Cafe
Hands down best, cheapest falfafel sandwich($5) I have ever had. Genuine, friendly service. I went twice in 6-months and would have gone every week if my budget would have allowed it.

- Brasil Cafe
One of my few complaints about cafe's and bars in the SF Bay Area is the lack of not only outdoor seating but also the size and stability of tables. This Houston cafe far surpasses any local cafe or bar. Tons of outdoor seating and small but very stable tables. Perfect for sitting and studying. Plus, the food is great and reasonably priced AND you can can get coffee/tea or wine/beer. Favorite place to linger in the afternoon with a study material.

- Boudreaux's Cajun Kitchen
I was first introduced to Boudreaux's by way of fried dill pickle chips. Not something that prior to living in Houston I would have considered tasty or delicious. But fried dill pickle chips = tasty and delicious. You do however need to split an order with at least three people because you're satiated early with the salty and yummy treat. Boudreaux's has an extensive menu with almost any fried item you could possible want (and many items prepared in other ways too but really why bother). Casual and fun. A little expensive but ample portion size. Great drink specials before 7 pm.

- Big Woodrow's
A fellow intern intern worked at Big Woodrow's throughout the internship and loved it. She insisted that we introduce the incoming class to traditional Cajun food here, specifically boiled crawfish. Crawfish are widely distributed in the southeast and considered a delicacy, rightfully so. I thought it was so great we took my dad when he came two weeks later for crawfish. When ordering crawfish for the first time make sure you find out how spicy they are. I loved it but my dad was a little overwhelmed by the spice.

And who could go to the almost South and not partake of BB-Q:
- Goode Company
Everything they say about Texas BB-Q is true. It is soo good. It also widely available but believe it or not, I only went for BB-Q three times while I was in Houston - twice at Goode Company. Just go, don't think about splitting a plate, get a combo and try as much as you can. They say the pie is also good at Goode Company but I ate so much BB-Q I never had room.

Mangalista Mania

Several months ago I agreed to purchase a pig (I don't think it was the pig pictured above) from a high school friend, Kylan Hoover. Six months before Kylan and I had gone for lunch together, while catching up, Kylan casually mentioned that he was interested in returning to pig farming (He had raised pigs for the fair in high school). I had just been reading on Michael Ruhlman's blog about a pig-purveyor in Washington who was looking for a northern California outlet for his prized Mangalista. One thing lead to another and Kylan was the proud daddy of more than 50 pigs in less than a month. Given the introduction I feel a connection to his "herd" of piggies.

When given the opportunity I had to have one. Some girls have to call their fiances and say "I went a little crazy and bought another pair of shoes", I had to say "I kinda just bought a pig... with your checkbook." Lucky for me Andy (and my mom) really like bacon. Even a small pig yields far more pork than two can reasonably eat so I solicited friends to purchases "shares" of our new friend.

I have never bought a whole animal for consumption before (chicken's don't count). I didn't know the pertinent questions to ask:
Q: How will the Mangalista go from living to dining?
A: The swine along with nine other friends were transported in a horse trailer from their home in the Livermore Valley to a small family owned slaughterhouse in Modesto on a Monday. Where they met their end quickly and humanely. The whole hogs were transferred in a refrigerated truck to Star Meats in Berkeley where my pig "hung" for several days. Hanging is necessary to allow natural chemical reactions to occur taking the meat from icky to amazing. Kylan left directions for the cutting and on Friday morning the pork was cut. Friday afternoon we picked up many neat brown packages.

The other pigs went on to the French Laundry where they were processed for curing and aging. They will make a prominent appearance early next year on the menu.

Q: How many pounds of meat will the piggy yield?
A: When all is said and done I still don't know. By conventional standards my pig was small weighing just shy of 200 pounds at the end. I weighed most of the individual cuts in order to fairly divide among shareholders. However, I did not weigh the head, heart, kidney's, liver, lard or intestinal bits. Some of the poundage is lost during butchering I think its safe to safe in the end I had over 150 pounds of pork.

Q: What happens to the head, heart, kidney's, liver, lard and intestinal bits?
A: I kept and rendered the lard myself.
I met my limit at "processing" the other offal so I arranged a trade with Hank Shaw. Who made excellent use of the other nasty bits and publicized Kylan's business a bit on his blog Hunter Angler Gardener Cook.

Q: How do you fairly divide the pork among shareholder's?
A: We laid all the neat brown packages out on a table in the garage. We took out several "odd" pieces including the pork shoulder that I roasted for the party. We weighed the pieces and with Kylan's help we just started making "equal" piles. On the day of distribution I used my own share to swap with people who wanted different cuts. It just worked itself out.

The list of questions goes on and on.
Needless to say most of us (including me) don't really know how our dinner starts.

Let me tell you this dinner was damn good even knowing a little bit more about where it came from.


Photos courtesy of Andy Bliss - More photos of the pig party.