Gulf Coast

One of Texas' Biggest Power Generators Just Admitted Deregulation Is a Colossal Failure

A bigwig at NRG, Texas' second-most prolific electricity generator, took to the editorial page of the Houston Chronicle the other day, and the result was remarkable -- a tacit admission from one of the sector's biggest players that deregulation simply does not work. As we noted recently, Texas' pow ... More >>

Crazy Ants, Discovered in Houston a Decade Ago, Are Swarming Toward Dallas

First, the good news: Crazy ants don't sting. They do sometimes bite, but the pain is mild, and it fades quickly. Even better, they drive out their stinging cousins, fire ants, which have been tormenting Texans for decades. Now, the bad news: When entomologists say "crazy," they mean it. "When you ... More >>

Chef Tim Byres' Cookbook, Smoke: New Firewood Cooking, Released Today

Chef Tim Byres of Smoke has a new cookbook out today. Smoke: New Firewood Cooking is a simple story about a boy, smoke and meat, highlighted with some beautiful photography by Jody Horton. In addition to recipes and cooking methods, there's a section for the more industrious cooks, like how to build ... More >>

Mike Bishop, Hellbent on Stopping the Keystone Pipeline, Sues the Corps of Engineers

Earlier this year we introduced you to Mike Bishop, the irascible ex-Marine with 20 acres in the path of the Keystone pipeline, just east of Nacogdoches. When we met him, the retired chemist and bio-fuel tinkerer was livid, cataloging the insults to his land -- the 'dozed crops, the clear-cut woods ... More >>

In the Wake of Spills, the EPA is Urging Tighter Review of the Proposed Keystone Pipeline

Back in March, the Keystone XL pipeline's approval looked practically assured. Construction of the 1,179-mile leviathan, connecting Alberta's tar sand mines with Texas Gulf Coast refiners, was already well underway in Texas. The State Department said Canadian tar sands production would proceed apace ... More >>

State Department's New Keystone XL Pipeline Report Proves Battle to Stop Tar Sands Is Probably Already Lost

On Friday afternoon came the unheralded release of a pretty important preliminary analysis from the State Department regarding the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, a conduit for diluted bitumen mined in Alberta and destined for the Texas Gulf Coast petroleum refineries. The takeaway, however, has to ... More >>

ERCOT Says There May Not Be Enough Juice in the Power Grid To Prevent Rolling Blackouts This Summer

Just in case all this temperate whether has lulled you into the perception that the Texas power grid doesn't have the thinnest margin of safety between lights on and lights out anywhere in the country, here's a reminder: Summer is coming. ERCOT, the grid operator for most of Texas, says the odds th ... More >>

Keystone XL Pipeline Opposition Gets an Unlikely Ally: Rupert Freakin' Murdoch

Is Keystone Pipeline really good idea?Bringing lots of heavy, dirty oil across country, when fracked ,cheaper, cleaner energy available— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) February 15, 2013 Yeah, you read that right. Media magnate Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, wh ... More >>

Beer Dinners and Mardi Gras Events for the Week of February 6 - 12

Thursday, February 7 Bolsa Mercado is reviving Meet & Eat this Thursday. Chef Jeff Harris is creating a dinner in honor of the Meridian, Texas-based Red Caboose Winery, which was recently selected as a Top 10 Hot Brands by Wine Business Monthly. Dinner includes Gulf Coast red snapper, roasted and br ... More >>

Native Americans Gathered Downtown Last Night to Protest Broken Treaties and a Tar Sands Pipeline

If you happened to be passing the corner of Akard and San Jacinto Monday night, the huge, blue LED lights spelling out "IDLE NO MORE" might have left you nonplussed. It was no coincidence that the demonstration, known as a light brigade, took place within a stone's throw of the Canadian consulate g ... More >>

Judge Punts on Landowner's Keystone Pipeline Challenge

The Nacogdoches judge who granted a Douglass landowner's request for a temporary restraining order against the Keystone pipeline back in November now is telling him to take his case to another court. County Court at Law Judge Jack Sinz ruled last week that he could not hear Mike Bishop's fraud case ... More >>

30 Essential Texas Restaurants to Visit Before You Die

The 30 Essential Texas Restaurants: Plus Some That Nearly Made It

If you've read this week's feature -- The 30 Essential Texas Restaurants to Visit Before You Die -- by food critic Katharine Shilcutt at our sister paper the Houston Press, then you've no doubt already asked why X, Y or Z restaurant didn't make the list. Maybe you've asked this question angrily to ... More >>

Protesters Are in the East Texas Trees Again to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline

As of around 2:30 yesterday afternoon, two Keystone XL pipeline protesters were perched atop platforms strung through the trees in East Texas, aiming to block construction of what may soon become the longest pipeline in the Western Hemisphere. The controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which could be ... More >>

There Will Be Tar Sand

Tarry Canadian bitumen is barreling its way to Texas via the Keystone XL pipeline. Will it bring energy independence or environmental calamity?

Dallas Fed Looks Back on the Year in Drought, Beef and Black Gold

In '12, a parched Texas saw drought ease, but the cattle industry continues to reel from the hangover brought on by 2011, the driest year in its history. Meanwhile, oil! Dear Lord, he sent us another boom. The Dallas Fed describes what 2012 held for these iconic Lone Star pursuits. We're a farming ... More >>

Nacogdoches County Landowner Wins Temporary Restraining Order Against Keystone Pipeline

Nacogdoches County Court at Law Judge Jack Sinz issued a temporary restraining order against TransCanada Tuesday, preventing the company from continuing construction of the southern leg of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline crossing Mike Bishop's land. I met Bishop a few weeks ago at his place ... More >>

Texas Railroad Commission Still Needs to Work on Holding Oil and Gas Producers Accountable

Once again, the Railroad Commission of Texas' raison d'être has been evaluated by a commission comprising state legislators and two regular citizens. Once again, it was given a reprieve from being abolished, given the gang-busting pace of oil and gas development over the last several years. But not ... More >>

TransCanada Can Move Ahead With Texas Portion of Pipeline, But the Fight Isn't Over

Earlier this month, three East Texas hamlets with a collective population of fewer than 2,000 souls filed suit in a federal court in Oklahoma City to halt construction of the southern half of The International Pipeline Formerly Known as Keystone XL. The Keystone was to be a massive piece of infrastr ... More >>

Yukon Ho! Canada Rolls Out a Welcome for Mexicans

UT Poll: Most Folks Want To Keep the EPA, And What is This 'Fracking' You Speak Of?

Shale gas extracted by fracking deep formations in Texas, New York, Pennsylvania and elsewhere is supposed to be the bridge fuel to the sustainable age, capable of powering power plants and, hell, even our cars. It's become the centerpiece of President Obama's "all of the above" energy plan. In Tex ... More >>

Obama's Jobs Council Meets at SMU's Cox to Insist Infrastructure's the Way Back to Work

Photo by Leslie MinoraThe mustachioed man in the middle is Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO​The day before the Labor Department broke the dismal news that the unemployment rate's unchanged and consumer confidence has "dropped sharply," students, professors and local business leaders fi ... More >>

Flippin' Out Crepes Will Help You Celebrate Bastille Day, Even If They're Not Sure What It Is

Monica Berry​So Bastille Day is coming up, on Thursday, July 14. And you actually have options on where to celebrate in Dallas. You could grab your beret and head to Bastille on Bishop in Oak Cliff. The Alliance Francaise of Dallas and the French American Chamber of Commerce are partnering u ... More >>

Feds Roll Out $15 Million to Begin Studying Feasibility of DFW-to-Houston High-Speed Rail

​About a month back we looked at docs the Texas Department of Transportation submitted to the Federal Railroad Administration in the hopes of landing some federal money dough for that loooooong-discussed Dallas-Fort Worth-to-Houston high-speed rail line. Long story short: The state wanted $18 mill ... More >>

Tonight, Tonight: Ralph White at Dan's and Mechanical People at Poor David's

Just a couple of interesting musical options this Monday evening as the music conferences have been all packed up and put away until next year.

Some Pictures Aren't Worth 1,000 Words, But Go Ahead and Comment Anyway

Editor's note: We tried to get Hanna to wear former critic Dave Faries' dining disguise, but she just wouldn't do it.​I'm proud to be a member of a community of food writers that care about working conditions in food processing factories, the availability of fruits and vegetables in impoverish ... More >>

Foodways Texas Offers a Tasty Road Trip to Gulf

​Foodways Texas, the new organization that aims to "preserve, promote and celebrate the diverse food cultures of Texas," has announced an event that should help make sense of all the fancy words in its ambitious mission statement. Tickets for the group's first symposium in Galveston go on sal ... More >>

Sure, Simmons May Bury Nuclear Waste in West Texas. But It Has To Get There Somehow.

Nuke-Free Texas​We've noted a couple of times in recent days that Gov. Rick Perry's appointees to the Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission are but days away from closing comment on Harold Simmons's permit application to bury 36 states' nuclear waste out in West Texas. Ah, ... More >>

Foodways Texas and Smoke Let You
Step Out of Your Shell

​One of the best invitations I've received this year was an e-mail beckoning me to College Station for the founding of Foodways Texas. Now, you too have the opportunity to support the organization, as august a group of chefs, food writers, scholars, fishermen, pitmasters, chuckwagon cooks and ... More >>

Three Good Reasons to Visit Houston.
No, Really.

​According to my handy Frommer's statewide guidebook, Houston is "not usually considered a tourist destination." Sounds like the folks doing the considering don't let their guts lead, since -- as I discovered on my first trip there this weekend -- Houston is an incredibly exciting town for ea ... More >>

Coasting Through Recovery

Alligator Cafe Lends Help to Its Cajun Brothers and Sisters

​Alligator Café, a Cajun restaurant in East Dallas, is dedicating 10 percent of its sales each Tuesday to the Gulf Coast relief effort. "We're hoping to collect about $15,000," says Alligator Café manager Stacy Nicholson. The "Fishermen's Fund" drive began the first week of July; Nicholson ... More >>

Six Flavors Blue Bell Should Never Release

​It's National Ice Cream Month, which got us thinking about Texas' de facto state ice cream. Below is a list of flavors Blue Bell's R&D should strike from brainstorming sessions for fear of being force-fed ghost chili-infused Ben & Jerry's. Now comes with bits o' snake!​Rattlesnake: Swe ... More >>

Local Musicians To Host Benefit For The Gulf Coast at Lola's in Fort Worth on Thursday

​July 1 marks another hot, run-of-the-mill day for us here in North Texas, but for the folks directly affected by the oil spill in the Gulf, it's another day without work. And some DFW musicians have decided to do something about it--namely, they'll be teaming up with venues all over the country t ... More >>

Local Restaurants Help the Gulf Coast; Mextopia Holds Its Grand Opening This Weekend; Scardello Hosts Top Flight Wines; And More.

Blythe Beck​A few Dallas restaurants are gearing up to help out with Gulf oil spill. Executive chef Blythe Beck at Central 214 starts a new fundraiser today called "We Cook While They Clean." The restaurant will donate $1 from every purchase of the chicken-fried Kobe steak dish to the Gulf R ... More >>

Oyster Lovers Unite

Now may be your best chance for a little raw love

Texas Talkie

Horton Foote takes the Theatre Three Stage

Hitting the Right Chords

Gumbo Rune

DaZa offers a dash of Creole poetry

Deep Easy

Laissez les bon temps rouler at two new restaurants

Big Shucking Deal

Do different oysters really taste different?

Goof Coast

Deep Ellum seafood restaurant can't figure itself out

Sleeps with the Fishes

Soprano's gets squeezed out

Texas shtick

Love & War in Texas sounds more like a movie than a restaurant. Either way, it's an epic of indulgence.

Clawing for success

Tasty crab claws can't rescue Truluck's