Subject: Robb Walsh

• On The Range: West Texas Enchiladas

  The first of a series documenting Chris Meesey's personal quest for authentic Tex-Mex. But we'll let him tell you more... I'm a genu-wine Texan, born and bred. In fact, I began life at Nix Hospital, San Antonio--less than one mile from The Alamo, the acknowledged epicenter of the Texas Universe. How much more Lone Star can you get than that? And, like most old-school Texans, I have my food likes and dislikes. Last time I checked, I think it was in the Texas Constitution that all Texans must

  February 11, 2009

• On The Range: Fajitas

  I made a rather startling discovery while continuing my quest into the origins of Tex-Mex. For some reason I had assumed fajitas were a California addition, perhaps because of their ready adoption in to the presumably healthier Cal-Mex lineup. But no--legend credits Ninfa's in Houston, although according to Robb Walsh's seminal work The Tex-Mex Cookbook, fajitas are as Tejano as Rudy Cisneros, Selena or Juan Seguin--originating in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in the 1940's. There, butchers cal

  February 18, 2009

• On The Range: Combination Plates

  Dwight Eisenhower (right) took Mamie for a Tex-Mex combo plate at The Original Mexican Restaurant in San Antonio before WWILet's get one thing straight: Tex-Mex has never pretended to represent Mexican cuisine in its entirety. In fact, according to Robb Walsh, author of The Tex-Mex Cookbook, the genre was developed by Euro-American descendants and Hispanics living in Texas (Tejanos)--and was designed to be marketed to gringos. This week, my quest to find examples of authentic Tex-Mex in Dallas

  February 25, 2009

• On The Range: Mexican Breakfasts

  Beans for breakfast? Are you kidding?Ah, but according to the indispensable tome The Tex-Mex Cookbook, here in the Lone Star State a pot of beans was often used to break a cowboy's fast on the long trail, whether plain (as preferred by eminent Texas writer J Frank Dobie) or with a little bacon and chile added.At some point, an enterprising mamacita got the bright idea of mashing them into a paste and frying them up with lard or bacon grease to create that Tex-Mex staple, refried beans.

  March 4, 2009

• On The Range: Tamales

  Pig's head tamales?Well, yes. Robb Walsh notes in his Tex-Mex cookbook that traditional emporiums use pig's heads as their base meat when making their husky creations. The head is boiled until the meat and lard cook away, then the broth is used to moisten the masa harina (corn meal infused with lime) before the pork and lard are whipped together until fluffy. Finally, mixture is wrapped into masa.Walsh goes on to note that some tamale-makers use the easier-to-handle pork butts. In any case, the

  March 11, 2009

• On The Range: Bar-Mex (Nachos, Chips And Stuff Like That)

  Most of us--well, most non-Hispanics, anyway--have been eating nachos for many years without a clue as to where the term originated. You see, in Tejano culture, "Nacho" is merely the nickname for Ignacio, a rather common name in Spanish-speaking households. And according to Robb Walsh and his Tex-Mex Cookbook, this delicacy common to every Tex-Mex restaurant and bar in Texas was cooked up on a whim by Ignacio Anaya, a waiter at the Victory Club back in 1941. Many years later, Bill Salter,

  March 18, 2009

• Burning Question: What's Going On At City Of Ate?

  Hey, wait a minute...this is a government waste disposal schedule.Someone posted a comment under our new Veggie Girl segment this week wanting some kind of alert when the column pops up--RSS, we think they called it.The Burning Question crew, of course, knows nothing about technology...which is probably for the best. If we could figure out our mobile phone camera, crew members would waste workdays in much the same way we used to waste them back when the photocopier worked.Too smudged to copy--th

  March 20, 2009

• On The Range: Enchiladas

  Let's face it: A true Tex-Mex establishment succeeds or fails on the strength of its enchiladas. I realize I'm speaking only for myself, at least as far as popular dishes go. Many patrons of an El-or-La-something-or-other (as Rosemary Kent dubbed Tex-Mex restaurants in her Genuine Texas Handbook, released a generation ago) are perfectly content to order fajitas, tacos, or quesadillas every time. However, one can always learn volumes about the cook's commitment to authenticity through enc

  March 25, 2009

• On The Range: Tortillas

  Corn or flour?Depends on the filling. This comes from Alison Cook, author of "Taco Capitol, USA," a groundbreaking Texas Monthly cover story on the subject of Tex-Mex cuisine, who notes that while flour tortillas are better suited to Northern Mexico-style grilled meats and to breakfast tacos, "certain (soft) taco fillings seem to cry out for the character and texture of a properly mealy, layery corn tortilla: nopalitos (prickly-pear cactus pads), homey Mexican stews (such as carne guisada), and

  April 1, 2009

• Oyster Lovers Unite

  February 12, 2009

• Beer|DISD|Cotton Bowl|Jerry Jones

  November 6, 2008

• Shaky Construction|Sweet on the Dr

  August 28, 2008

• The Gang's All Here|That's the Ol' Pepper|Checkout Time|The Real Deals

  June 12, 2008

• Ask A Mexican

  All good things come from Texas—in food, anyway

  December 6, 2007

• On The Range: Cabrito

  Goats helped settle America. Not kidding: According to Robb Walsh, author of The Tex-Mex Cookbook, goats were the preferred diet of common folk in Europe, so when Columbus sailed to the New World on his second voyage in 1493 he brought goats for meat, cheese, and milk--along with Spanish shepherds to make it all happen. They brought sheep, as well, but they were raised for wool, not eaten at dinnertime. In his memoir, Are You Really Going to Eat That?, Walsh describes a memorable cabrito

  June 3, 2009

• Letters

  Every egg matters; The little ingrates; Groucho does Iowa; Conan's feminine side; Salt in the wounds

  June 15, 2000

• Fluff

  Dented reputation; Please, stop calling. Please; Dot-dot-dot stuff

  June 8, 2000

• On The Range: Chili Con Carne

  Given the popularity of chili, this was probably inevitable.Chili con carne, better known as chili for short, was named Official State Dish of Texas back in the late 1970s. Why chili and not barbecue or steak? According to Paul Burka, political writer, food guru, and all-around resident curmudgeon of Texas Monthly magazine, the esteemed members of the Texas State Legislature were bribed with beer (probably enough to do the trick) and free chili by a lobbyist for the cause. In his

  April 15, 2009

• On The Range: Chicken Tortilla Soup

  Mexican cooks reuse leftovers like nobody's business. Consider the plight of the frugal family in days of yore, north or south of the border. The basics of life--shelter and food--are not certainties. Since the beginning of farming, rural families learned not to toss any part of a plant or animal that could make a nice meal with just a little ingenuity. Thus dishes such as lengua (beef tongue) or barbacoa de cabeza (slow-cooked cow's head) were born.Even low-cost items like tortillas are

  May 6, 2009

• On The Range: Guisado

  What's in a name? Unless I miss my guess, the guy who first coined the expression must have been thinking about guisado, a Mexican branch of the stew family. Why is this the case? You can answer the question by trying a simple experiment. Think about beef stew. What images does it evoke? If your parents were good cooks, you may be rewarded with images of juicy, tender comfort food consumed slowly on a cold winter night. Unfortunately, for me it's a reminder of the meat-veggies-and-water c

  May 13, 2009

• On The Range: Chiles Rellenos

  Chiles rellenos, Emeril-stylePoblano peppers or Anaheim? When making chiles rellenos, the chef must first consider which pepper might better serve his or her vision of the completed dish. Indeed, they are similar and both are widely used, but tasting reveals subtle but noticeable differences. The leaner Anaheim pepper is actually American in origin, specifically New Mexico by way of California, and its flavor is often more delicate--which some might argue serves as a better canvas for the

  May 20, 2009

• On The Range: Carnitas

  Mike McCuneLittle bits of meat--that's the literal definition of carnitas, those bite-size morsels of pork that have served as a favorite snack food throughout central Mexico for many years. However, according to eminent British food historian Rachel Laudan, carnitas are actually the preferred food of rural weddings in places such as the south-central Mexican state of Michoacan, where an entire pig is often slaughtered to feed hungry masses. These traditional feasts are prepared in huge c

  May 27, 2009

• "Mystery Meat" | "Storm Damaged" | "Buzz"

  June 26, 2009

• On The Range: Migas

  PedroserafinA Spanish version of migas.​On The Range is a weekly exploration of the history and lore of Texas menu items.Eggs, tortilla strips, onions, chiles, and cheese. Or bread, oil & vinegar, spinach, alfalfa, and....licorice flavoring?? Believe it or not, these are some of the raw ingredients of two classic versions of that breakfast staple, migas. You are, no doubt, familiar with the Tex-Mex incarnation of the dish, which is yet another rendition of eggs and is quite similar in com

  September 16, 2009

• On The Range: Huaraches

  Ooops...wrong image.​On The Range is a weekly exploration of the history and lore of Texas menu items."If everybody had an ocean/Across the U.S.A/Then everybody'd be surfin'/Like Californ-I-a/You'd see 'em wearing their baggies/Huarache sandals too..." Despite the popularity brought to them by the Beach Boys way back when, huaraches aren't just a type of shoe. In fact, they are an oblong-shaped delicacy made from fresh masa, flattened into a form that is roughly the same thickness as pita

  October 14, 2009

• A Year On The Blog

  This time last year Patrick Michels' talent was already apparent.​A year ago we launched City of Ate--an event of such importance we forgot completely about the anniversary, which was last week.In announcing he could no longer remain anonymous, Houston Press critic Robb Walsh mentioned that he was no longer a restaurant reviewer. The expectation that news, notes, observations and whatever else should be available almost instantly has made him more of a food blogger--just as responsible for int

  November 9, 2009

• Refried Beans With Extra Virgin Olive Oil? The Mexican Says For the Love of Lard, "No!"

  November 19, 2009