Delicious Mischief - AM 650 Every Saturday at 11 a.m.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR AUG. 30

2008-08-20T16:37:00.000-06:00

This Labor Day weekend broadcast of Delicious Mischief from San Francisco marks our farewell to our good friends at CNN 650. As of Sept. 6, Houston’s most respected and most fun food and wine radio show moves to NewsRadio 740 KTRH. In addition to its 50,000 watts of broadcast power, KTRH offers Houston a rich tradition of quality broadcasting going back to 1929. In fact, local icon Jesse Jones called the station KTRH to signify “Kome To Rice Hotel,” the downtown landmark he owned and operated across from the Houston Chronicle, which he also owned and operated. We will miss CNN 650 but we embrace NewsRadio 740 KTRH. Any station that carries the Astros games is a pretty good place to call home!

THEATER OF THE TASTE BUDS
People are always saying that restaurant dining is theater, but at Teatro Zin Zanni on the Embarcadero in San Francisco, the idea gets mighty literal. A bit like dinner theater on acid, with a serious side order of Cirque du Soleil, Zin Zanni offers a first-class multi-course meal with a show filled with thrills, spills and plenty of laughter. We chat with the managing director of this San Francisco destination (there’s another Teatro Zin Zanni in Seattle), as well as with the executive chef who watches the night-long performance on a monitor to choreograph each course coming out of the kitchen.

HOTEL WITH A HISTORY
Back in 1906, long before Chef Bernd Liebergesell was born in Germany, a terrible earthquake and fire brought San Francisco to its knees. In fact, one of the few places in the city capable of serving meals to hungry survivors was the then-new St. Francis Hotel, now operated as the Westin St. Francis. We sit down with Chef Bernd to talk about this amazing history spread over more than a century, as well as about the famous dignitaries from around the world he has fed within these walls. There’s even a Survivor’s Breakfast prepared here each year, for the few who were around for the Big One.

YOUR VERY FIRST CRUSH
In this case, we’re not talking about young love but about young wine – unless, that is, we’re talking about old wine. First Crush combines the better parts of Houston establishments like Cova and Max’s Wine Dive, letting a creative menu take orders from an impressive, all-California wine list. The place has a cool, hip, thoroughly downtown vibe and tends to attract a younger crowd with different interests than their parents and grandparents. We interview the eatery’s manager about the wine and its executive chef about the food – as the Gershwins would put it, who could ask for anything more?

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
GRILLED SHRIMP REMOULADE

2 pounds jumbo shrimp, peeled
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
Romaine lettuce leaves

Remoulade:
2 tablespoons Creole mustard
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon paprika
½ cup diced celery
1 cup diced green onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
½ cup finely chopped parsley
2 tablespoons freshly grated horseradish
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Place the shrimp in a glass bowl with the oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt, mixing to coat thoroughly. Cover and set the bowl in the refrigerator to marinate for 3 hours. Prepare the remoulade by whisking together the mustard with the vinegar in a mixing bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Gradually add the olive oil, whisking constantly, followed by all remaining remoulade ingredients. When ready to serve, grill the shrimp over hot coals for 5-7 minutes, turning halfway through. Set shrimp on plates atop lettuce leaves and spoon remoulade over the top and sides. Serves 8.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR AUGUST 16

2008-07-29T06:28:00.000-06:00

THE NEW LE MISTRAL
It hasn’t always easy being the flying Denis Brothers from Provence. But at their restaurant Le Mistral in west Houston, they’ve fought the good fight on behalf and French food and wine when at least some Americans averted their gaze. As a tribute to this food and wine – and certainly to David and Sylvain’s tireless labors – they now have a brand-new freestanding version of Le Mistral that’s knocking the socks off even Inner Loopers. And hey, you thought that was I-10 traffic to Katy all this time?

A RIESLING FOR EVERYBODY
We don’t know about you, but we’ve always found Riesling one of the most fascinating grapes. After all, every other grape we can think of is expected, when it becomes a wine, to be “varietally correct.” That means cabernet should taste like cabernet, and not like merlot, syrah or zinfandel. In the case of Riesling, however, there are very sweet ones and very dry ones, plus just about everything in between. We sit down with the winemaker from the famed German riesling house St. Urbans to taste our way through today’s Grape & Grain.

ANOTHER CUP OF COFFEE
Maybe you haven’t noticed, but not all the coffee brewed, poured and enjoyed in Houston comes to us courtesy of Seattle. Avi Katz doesn’t yet have two stores competing with each other across the street on West Gray, but he does have a successful business that supplies great locally roasted coffee to restaurants, cafes and gourmet retailers all over town. In addition, because he can and because he wants to, Avi has been a local leader not only in the organic coffee movement but in the one demanding fair trade. And that makes what’s in the cup taste all the better better!

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
LOBSTER AND GRILLED POLENTA CAKES

I really love shrimp and grits, that traditional Carolina Low Country favorite. But when my thoughts turn to Italy, where grits are called polenta, my love for shrimp and grits keeps turning right along with them.

Grilled Polenta Cakes:
1 tablespoon olive oil 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 garlic clove, minced 1 cup corn kernels
3 cups water, divided 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup stone-ground cornmeal
Additional olive oil 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion; sauté 5 minutes. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add corn; sauté until heated through, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Bring 2 cups water and 1 teaspoon salt to boil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk cornmeal and 1 cup water in medium bowl to blend. Whisk cornmeal-water mixture into boiling water; return to boil. Cook until polenta is smooth and thick, stirring often, about 30 minutes. Stir in corn mixture. Brush 11x7x2-inch dish with oil. Spread polenta in dish. Cool completely. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill.) When ready to serve, brush preheated grill with oil. Cut polenta into 12 squares. Brush both sides with oil. Place on grill; cover grill. Grill until polenta is golden brown, about 3 minutes per side, sprinkling with cheese during last minute. Serve hot topped with lobster (recipe below). Serves 6, with 2 polenta cakes per person.

Lobster Topping:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Crushed red pepper to taste
2 tablespoons dry white wine
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 lobster tail, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 ripe tomato, chopped
3 tablespoons butter

In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil and stir in the onion and carrot until they begin to caramelize, then add the garlic and stir for 1 minute. Do not burn the garlic. Season to taste with salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper. Pour in the wine and stir until the liquid is almost evaporated, then add the mushrooms and stir until cooked through. Add the lobster pieces and stir just until done, 2-3 minutes depending on their size. Add the chopped tomato and the butter, cooking just until butter has melted to form a sauce. Tomatoes should still be bright red. Season again with salt and pepper.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR AUGUST 9

2008-07-29T06:27:00.000-06:00

A TASTEFUL MUSEUM
We start off this show from New Orleans with a visit to a brand-new museum that’s awfully close to our hearts: The Museum of Southern Food and Beverage. With the executive director keeping us in line (and probably telling us not to touch!), we tour this innovative space devoted to the culinary culture of New Orleans first, Louisiana second and the entire Deep South third. Never fear: there’s also a special section of the museum devoted to the great American cocktail, which was probably born within a few blocks of here.

RUM FROM OUR NEAREST ISLAND
Thanks to Capt. Jack Sparrow and a thousand pirates before him, we always associate the sugar-based spirit called rum with the Caribbean, whether we think of that Disney ride with the kids or our last visit to some hedonistic couples resort in Negril. Still, if sugar is the reason for the season, than why not make world-class small-batch rum in New Orleans – surrounded by its long tradition of sugar plantations along the fabled River Road. That’s what the folks at Old New Orleans Rum are asking, thinking and doing every day, as we taste in today’s Grape & Grain segment.

GULF COAST SEAFOOD
One of the neatest things that New Orleans and Houston share is ready access to the Gulf of Mexico, and especially to the glorious fish and shellfish that can be pulled out of it. Good times and bad, the Gulf is indisputably one of the world’s greatest fishing grounds. We check in with our old buddy (the first chef to ever sear scallops in our studio) Tenney Flynn to hear about the latest trends in seafood cookery he sees as chef/owner of GW Fins in the French Quarter.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
MARINATED EGGPLANT AND PEPPERS

2 medium eggplants
4 large cloves garlic
1 medium red onion, cut into 1/2-inch thick rings
2 red bell peppers
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to cook vegetables
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Crushed red pepper

Preheat the broiler. Cut ends off eggplants and slice 1/2-inch thick. Do not
peel. Cut 2 cloves of the garlic into slices and stud each slice of eggplant with a few
slices of garlic. Brush 2 sheet pans with olive oil. Brush the eggplant slices with oil on both
sides and spread them out on one sheet pan. Season with salt and broil until
tender, turning once. Remove and cool.

Place the onion rings on the other sheet pan and brush generously with olive
oil. Season with salt and broil until tender and brown. Remove from the broiler
and let cool. Place the red peppers on a hot grill, under a broiler or directly over your stove
flame, until the skin chars, then place in a paper bag; close and let rest for 15
minutes, allowing the peppers to steam. Remove from the bag and peel off the
blistered skin. Cut the peppers in quarters lengthwise. Alternate the eggplant
with the roasted peppers on a large platter and top with the onions.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the mint, oregano, remaining garlic (finely
chopped), the olive oil and vinegar. Season with salt, pepper and red pepper
flakes, if desired. Pour this mixture over the vegetables and let marinate at least
2 but preferably 4 hours before serving. Serves 6-8.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR AUGUST 2

2008-07-23T13:11:00.001-06:00

WAY BEYOND GUACAMOLE
No, we’re not committing Texas heresy here: we love guacamole and devour more than our share of it. But even after a visit to the guacamole orchards (that’s what their called) of Michoacan, Mexico, a couple years ago, we still kept wishing we could figure out more ways to use the luscious fruit. The stuff is good and good for you, so why not? Recently, we grabbed at the chance to let Chef Hugo Ortega of Hugo’s and Backstreet Café prepare an entire multi-course dinner using avocadoes in every dern one. Of course, we also took a chance to chat with him for this program.

A WINEMAKER’S SURFIN’ USA
David Hopkins is not your average winemaker – he’s a bit to much of a long-blond-locked surfer dude for that. But he’s also hardly your average winemaker, even for California. At a coastal (how convenient!) winery called Bridlewood, Hopkins makes wines that taste a little like they’re from another world. Our favorite part of the wine world, in fact: The Rhone Valley of France. That doesn’t mean he’s ignoring his own terroir, since that wouldn’t be French. But the Rhone-style wines of Bridlewood are exquisite.

INSECT HAUTE CUISINE
It had to happen sooner or later. In a world in which millions of people eat insects and pretend to like it, you can only run and hide for so long. Especially if you happen to be visiting the brand-new Insectarium created by the Audubon Institute on Canal Street in New Orleans. We meant to only tour the facility but we ended up staying fo r lunch. And that is where the trouble started. Of course, we could have run when the head bug chef came smiling through the lobby with a dragonfly he’d just snagged outside. One for the pot, we should have realized.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe
LOBSTER AND AVOCADO SALAD

2 (2 pound) Live Maine lobsters
2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small Thai chili, seeded and minced
12 large fresh Thai basil leaves, minced
2 sprigs cilantro leaves, minced
1 cup shredded Napa cabbage
1 bunch arugula, stems removed
1 small red bell pepper, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 large ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced thin

Plunge the lobsters into a large pot of boiling salted water. Cover and boil for 10 minutes. Transfer the lobsters to a bowl and let cool to the touch. Using a clean kitchen towel, tear the claws and legs away from the body. Wrap the towel around the tail and twist, separating it from the body. Place the tail on its side and crush down with the palm of your hand until the shell cracks. Separate the meat from the shell and cut it into 1/2-inch slices. Using a lobster cracker, crack the claws and knuckles of the lobster and remove the flesh with an oyster fork. Use immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

In a small bowl, combine the fish sauce, sugar, lime juice and the chili. Stir in the basil and cilantro. In a large bowl, toss the cabbage, arugula, and bell pepper with 1/4 cup of the dressing. Arrange the salad on 6 Asian style rectangular plates. Top with overlapping slices of the lobster and avocado. Spoon the remaining dressing over the avocado. Serves 6.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JULY 19

2008-07-16T07:50:00.000-06:00

A STEAKHOUSE FOR HOUSTON
While the once-predictable Great American Steakhouse has both undergone and enjoyed a renaissance in recent years – after dire predictions throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s that Americans would stop eating red meat altogether – one local entry has exploded into a success story to rival the big national chains. Perry’s Steakhouse used to “stake out” the fringes of the Houston metro area, but now its latest location is going great guns in the heart of Memorial. Mark Collins and sommlier Susi Zivanovic join us to talk about the exciting road Perry’s has traveled – and the one that still lies ahead.

NEW WORLD WINES, AND MORE
So Vino is a terrific place for a glass of wine – that much is certain. What comes as more of a surprise is how successful its owners and chefs have been at pairing great things from the kitchen with great things from the bottle. We’ll chat, taste and sip during out chat with co-founder Elizabeth Abraham, herself the product of a legendary Houston family business, and talk about how her vision of So Vino expanded from “New World Wines” from places like Chile and New Zealand to incorporate wonderful vintages all the way back to France.

COOKING UNDER THE BIG TOP
To make sure today’s show is a three-ring circus (as most of our shows are, after all), we invited in the folks from Ringling Bros., Barnum and Bailey. It turns out the performers in this traveling extravaganza don’t merely perform, they eat. Several times a day, in fact. And sometimes in large portions. We were intrigued to speak with somebody involved in all this daily cooking, especially after we heard how many nationalities, dietary preferences and religious restrictions there are to cook around. Geez, sounds like dinner in today’s typical American family. Except more so.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
DR. PEPPER BARBECUED CHICKEN

½ cup Worcestershire sauce
½ cup Dr. Pepper
¾ cup water
2/3 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons butter
3 slices bacon, chopped
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon celery salt
½ tablespoon prepared mustard
Grated rind of ½ lemon
¼ teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 teaspoon minced garlic
4 chickens (about 1 ½ pounds each), cut in half
Salt and black pepper to taste

In a saucepan, combine all ingredients except the chicken and bring just to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, season the chicken halves with salt and pepper and place skin-side down on a hot grill. Brown on both sides, turning occasionally for about 15 minutes. After that, baste regularly with the sauce until the chicken is cooked through, about 45 minutes. Serves 8.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JULY 12

2008-07-02T11:43:00.001-06:00

WINE & FOOD EXPERIENCE
In New Orleans, Tim McNally has for years hosted a weekly radio show about wine that he oh-so-creatively calls “The Wine Show.” And since Tim and his wife Brenda have been movers and shakers in The New Orleans Wine & Food Experience since the beginning, we start today’s show chatting with him at a grand tasting on the floor of the Louisiana Superdome. Well, OK, not “on the floor” in the alcoholic sense of the phrase.

BAREFOOT IN THE PARK
We’ve traveled so far from the days that wine was just so serious! Of course, wine is still serious business, with a lot riding on each vintage, each blending, each label design and each print, broadcast or Internet marketing campaign. All those things come into play with the wines of Barefoot and their ever-perky creator Jennifer Wall. As you might expect from the name, summer is Barefoot’s busy season.

FRENCH QUARTER ROYALTY
In the oldest and most famous neighborhood in New Orleans, one happily spared by Hurricane Katrina, it comes as no surprise that historic things have happened here. And since the 1960s, many of those things have happened upstairs and downstairs at the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel. We chat about some of the biggies, including the creation of Jazzfest, with Rib Room executive chef Anthony Spizale and maitre d’ extraordinaire Patrick van Hoorebeek.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
NEW ORLEANS SHRIMP CREOLE

1/2 cup finely diced onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 dash hot pepper sauce
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

In a 2 quart saucepan, melt butter or margarine over medium heat. Add onion, green pepper, celery, and garlic; cook until tender. Mix in cornstarch. Stir in stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, and red pepper sauce. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Stir in shrimp, and cook for 5 minutes. Serve over steamed white rice. Serves 4-6.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JULY 5

2008-06-28T06:56:00.000-06:00

MORTON’S BURGER WITH A CAUSE
We always love it, quite self-servingly, when a high-end steakhouse decides to make hamburgers and French fries. For one thing, the quality of the beef used to make that burger is likely to be off the charts. And that’s pretty much what we’ve heard about the brand-new summertime burger and fries being offered Sundays only by the two Houston locations of Morton’s. GM John Recio tells us how the idea came about, and how Morton’s decided to make the whole special promotion a benefit for the Make a Wish organization.

HARVEST TIME FOR TEXAS WINES
The grapes aren’t ready yet in cooler California or Oregon, and they certainly aren’t ready in the even cooler sections of France. But here in Texas, where summer’s heat makes the biological clock turn faster, it’s time to start picking and crushing. Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo of Messina Hof join us to talk about their annual harvest festival. Guests not only learn a few things about winemaking but get to taste a good bit of wine when they’re not picking grapes and crushing them in a vat with their very own feet. Yep, justa lika in da olda country!

TRADITION AT INDIAN BRASSERIE
Recently, we spent a good deal of time (with a good deal of pleasure) exploring the creative new dishes being created by the chef at Bombay Brasserie’s new location across the 610 Loop from the Galleria. At the end of the day, this experience only reminded us how much we love the traditional Indian dishes served every day at the older Bombay Brasserie in Rice Village. The restaurant’s general manager stops by the studio (bearing samples, we hope) to tell us why the classics of India’s rich and colorful cuisine will always be that way.

HEALTHY CHEF MICHAEL KRAMER
We enjoy getting together with each of the Houston chefs showcased in the Healthy Chef column in each month’s Health and Fitness magazine. We’ve actually picked up quite a few great tips for maximizing flavor while minimizing fat and calories. So yes, Paula Deen notwithstanding, it can be done. This month’s Healthy Chef is Michael Kramer, who came from one fat-infatuated place (Charleston, South Carolina) to another (Houston, Texas) to run the new Voice in the Hotel Icon. You’ll be amazed at how little can please you so much.

FOURTH OF JULY
GRILLED SHRIMP TACOS

Peach Salsa:
2 cups chopped peeled peaches
1 cup chopped tomato
1 cup diced red onion
¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice, divided
3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons minced green onions
1 teaspoon chopped seeded Serrano pepper
3 tablespoons muscat canelli wine
1 teaspoon honey
¼ teaspoon salt

1 pound small to medium Gulf shrimp, peeled and deveined
¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon chopped seeded serrano pepper
Salt and black pepper
8 corn or flour tortillas, warmed
2 cups shredded green cabbage
Additional minced cilantro for garnish

In a glass bowl or plastic bag, combine shrimp with lime juice, cilantro, garlic, serrano, salt and pepper. Marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours. To prepare the peach salsa, combine all ingredients in a bowl. Toss gently so peaches and tomatoes are not damaged. Allow to sit for 10-15 minutes, so flavors can combine. Preheat grill and grill shrimp 3-4 minutes, turning once or twice. Serve shrimp wrapped in warm tortillas, garnished with peach salsa, shredded cabbage and a little more cilantro. Serves 4.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JUNE 28

2008-06-19T08:58:00.000-06:00

AT TABLE WITH CHEF JAMIE
In some restaurants around town, things kinda slow down in the summertime – a statement that either “the livin’ is easy” or that it’s too hot to live. Not so at Bistro Lancaster in the downtown landmark hotel. Chef Jamie Zelko is marshalling her energies (and her hyper-fresh local ingredients) with more focus than usual, putting out some special tasting menus that just won’t quit. We drag her into the studio in hopes she’ll bring us some samples.

A GLASS OF MACROSTIE
Since the release of its first highly praised 1987 Carneros chardonnay, MacRostie Winery and Vineyards has strived to create balanced and lush wines that reflect their cool-climate origins. This commitment has grown from an early emphasis on selecting grapes from top growers in the acclaimed Carneros region to include the development of MacRostie’s own Wildcat Mountain Vineyard, as Patrick Muleady explains.

UNARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
Armando Florido could have gone through the rest of his life as a Houston cop – he certainly enjoys the work and understands its importance. But somewhere along the way, between stints on patrol and at his desk, Armando decided what he really loved was cooking. He joins us to talk about the comfortable yet classy Italian restaurant that grew out of this passion, Forno’s in northwest Houston.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
GRILLED CARIBBEAN GROUPER

3 pounds grouper fillets, or red snapper (skin on)
4 ripe mangos, peeled and cut into strips
6 ripe pears, unpeeled, cored, and cut into 1/8
3 ripe avocados, peeled cut into quarters
½ pound cleaned baby spinach
½ cup walnut oil
¼ cup Italian salad dressing
1 cup orange juice
½ cup lime juice

Caribbean seasoning:
(can be prepared in advance)

Mix well and place in a lid tight container
1 teaspoon sea salt
6 teaspoon minced garlic
6 teaspoon dried onions
3 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoon chopped chipolte
2 teaspoon Spanish paprika
3 teaspoon brown sugar
3 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 lemon zest

Prepare a wood or charcoal grill and let it burn to ember. Rub the fish fillets generously with the Caribbean seasoning on both sides, place in a dish and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Spray the fish with walnut oil and grill over low heat for about 8 minutes on one side and 6 minutes on the other side (depending on the thickness of the fish). Remove from grill and keep hot. Lightly oil the pears and mangos and grill for about 3 minutes until light brown. Place in a stainless steel bowl, and toss with the Italian dressing, orange juice and limejuice. Place the baby spinach on individual plates, garnish with the avocado, and spoon the fruit dressing over the spinach. Serves 6.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JUNE 21

2008-06-11T10:31:00.001-06:00

BECKS IN ITS PRIME
These days, most of us Houstonians know a great deal about Becks Prime – where else, after all, can you grab a filet and a baked potato through the drive-thru window, race home and pretend to be the ultimate grillmeister? But a couple decades ago, when the founders of the Houston hamburger-happy restaurant started talking up the idea, true believers in American fast-food said the thing would never fly. We’ll chat with the “Founding Fathers” about how and why they’re still here and thriving, plus look ahead to their patriotic (and delicious!) July 4th specials.

SURF’S UP AT BRIDLEWOOD
Happily for all concerned, David Hopkins looks a lot like the surfer he is, from his suntan to his flowing blond locks, from his cutoffs down to his floppy sandals. But when David is not out riding the Pacific curls, he is making some mighty cool wines for the winery called Bridlewood. To David, growing grapes and making wine on California’s Central Coast near Santa Barbara is a voyage of discovery – one that starts anew each year. As a hint, he lets on that Rhone Valley varietals like syrah and viognier are among the favorites he labors to catch – in between catching waves, of course.

GET YOUR ROUGE ON
Rouge has been a popular restaurant on Westheimer in Montrose for several years now, moving at times through a few different personalities. In the beginning, it was all chef-driven New American Cuisine, and it has served up bits of that off and on ever since. Now, though, with new ownership, all bets are off. The new folks – a West Coast family that moved here after many years in the business – want to keep Rouge serving fine food and exquisite wines but weave in an entertainment element. We’ll talk about all this, and the Las Vegas-style showroom they’ve installed upstairs. And we do plan on talking with our mouths full.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
INDEPENDENCE DAY MACARONI SALAD

2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup tarragon vinegar
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
1 cup mayonnaise
3 eggs
2 cups macaroni
1/2 cucumber, sliced
1 large tomato, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 teaspoon salt

In a saucepan over medium heat, mix together butter, tarragon vinegar, flour and egg. Stirring continuously, heat 10 minutes, or until the mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat and allow to cool 10 minutes. In a large bowl, prepare the sauce by combining the tarragon vinegar mixture with mayonnaise. Place eggs in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil and cook for about 12 minutes. Remove from hot water, cool, peel and chop. Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook the macaroni 10 minutes, or until al dente. Drain and pour into the bowl with the sauce. Stir until the macaroni is well coated. Mix the coated macaroni with the eggs, cucumber, tomato, green bell pepper and salt. Serve lightly chilled or room temperature. Serves 8-10.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JUNE 14

2008-06-05T06:27:00.001-06:00

WINE BAR ON THE STRAND
For today’s show, we travel south to Galveston – as so many Houstonians do this time of year – to check out a food and wine scene that, by all accounts, is going and growing in directions unforeseen only a decade ago. As symbol of this evolution verging on a revolution, we start the program at a classy, brand-new wine bar called Bacchus, right on the Strand amid the longtime T-shirt shops and souvenirs. Owner Ric Legge explains what he saw in Galveston’s changing demographics that made him think a place serving boutique wines would be just the thing.

POOL BAR SUSHI AT THE SAN LUIS
The San Luis Resort has certainly become a place to see and be seen in recent years, especially since it was purchased and glamorized by Tilman Fertita. In years past, for instance, the swimming pool here was a closed-off, functional, guests-only kind of affair. Recently, Fertita and Co. opened the pool view to the Gulf on the other side of the famous Seawall, introduced some super martinis, mojitos and other cocktails and even, in this land of fried seafood, some incredible sushi. Executive chef Sean Moore tells us all about it.

TRADITION LIVES AT MOODY GARDENS
Sometimes, even on a beach vacation, you just want to dress up – well, at least a little. And folks with a love of the culinary classics are increasingly putting their Galveston dining in the hands of European chef Urs Schmid, who holds court daily at Shearn’s Restaurant at Moody Gardens Hotel. The hotel itself is pretty interesting, connecting as it does to its own convention center and all the family attractions the Moody family has installed over the years. But when it comes to Shrimp DeJonge and Lobster Bique, Chef Urs is your man.

HIP SPOT ON THE ISLAND
Finally, you can’t really be a dining destination without one or more stylish places to eat stylish food – uh, stylishly. And if you ask around the island, a lot of people who would be hanging out at Gravitas, Voice or Ra Sushi in Houston are gravitating toward M&M Palms in Houston. It’s a bit more casual than its big-city counterparts, of course, in atmosphere, attire and cuisine. But with a boost from Chef Chris Lopez, the Tex-Mex-influenced but creative food being served has definitely put M&M on the map.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
TRADITIONAL LOBSTER BISQUE

2 whole lobsters, 1 ½ pound each
1 medium onion, diced
1 celery rib, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped tarragon
1 teaspoon thyme
5 cups fish stock or canned chicken stock
½ cup heavy cream
½ cup dry sherry
1 bay leaf
8 black pepper corns, crushed
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon Spanish paprika
2 tablespoons flour
¼ stick butter

Fill 6-quart kettle three fourths full with salt water and bring to a boil. Plunge in the lobsters, head first. Cover the kettle and boil over high heat for 8 minutes. (The lobsters do not have to be cooked fully). Transfer the lobsters with tongs onto a cutting board, and reserve 4 cups of the lobster stock. Let the lobsters cool enough to handle, twist off the claws, and cut the carcass length wise in half. Remove the meat from the body and claws, reserving the shells. Cut the meat into small chunks and refrigerate.

Heat the oil in a 6 quart casserole over high heat, add the lobster shells, onions, celery, garlic peppercorns, tarragon, thyme, and roast for 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste, paprika, bay leaf, and combine well. Pour the 5 cups fish stock over the mixture, and simmer for 1 hour uncovered, or until most of the liquid has evaporated to about 1 cup. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a 1-quart saucepan, and keep the reduced stock hot. In a separate casserole, melt the butter, mix in the flour to make a roux, and cook over low heat for 3 minutes, but do not brown. Whisk in the 4 cups lobster stock, and reduced stock, a little at a time and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes until smooth, add the sherry, heavy cream, lobster meat, Tabasco sauce and heat, but do not boil. Taste to your liking and serve in hot bowls with oyster crackers. Serves 6.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JUNE 7

2008-05-28T10:37:00.001-06:00

REFINED SOUTHERN COOKING
The daughter and granddaughter of terrific Southern cooks, Virginia Willis inherited their love of fresh, home-cooked food and unconditional hospitality before going on to become a classically trained French chef. These divergent influences inform Bon Appétit, Y'all: Recipes and Stories from Three Generations of Southern Cooking, Willis's passionate homage to her culinary roots. The author and TV personality will be joining us in the studio, discussing her “simple is best” food philosophy and her reliance on super-fresh ingredients.

HEALTHY CHEF-INSTRUCTOR
This month our healthy chef, chosen in conjunction with Houston Health & Fitness magazine, is an instructor as well. Michael Bargas joins us from the Art Institute of Houston, sharing the ways he hopes to train chefs-to-be into culinary professionals well array of health issues in cooking. This, of course, doesn’t mean that he (or they) cook nothing but “diet food.” Far from it, actually. Sometimes making sure that what people really want is prepared simply and freshly is the healthiest cooking of all.

A TOAST TO LEONARDO
As we discovered during our own Tuscan travels last year, the town of Vinci is just crazy about Leonardo’s legacy. The great man did, as it were, put the place on the map. Today. Da Vinci is not only the presumed “family name” of history’s greatest inventor but of a wine brand that does what Chianti and other Tuscan wines do best. For this week’s Grape & Grain segment, we sit down for a tasting with Giovanni Nencini, who comes to us all the way from Tuscany to share the good news - and some excellent wines.

VIRGINIA WILLIS’ SILVER DOLLAR CORN CAKES
WITH JUMBO LUMP CRAB
Makes 2 dozen hors d'oeuvres

3 large eggs, separated
1 1/4 cups fresh corn kernels, preferably Silver Queen (about 3 ears)
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
3 tablespoons freshly chopped chives
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup freshly chopped tarragon
1/2 cup crème frâiche or sour cream
Pinch of cayenne
1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, picked through for cartilage and shells
24 1-inch snipped pieces of chive
Coarse salt and freshly ground white pepper

Place the egg yolks in a blender with about half of the corn kernels and puree until smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl; add the remaining corn, cornmeal, and chives. Stir until well combined and season with salt and pepper. In a separate metal or glass bowl using a handheld mixer whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the corn mixture.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large cast iron skillet or nonstick pan over medium high heat. When the butter is sizzling drop the batter by the tablespoon into the skillet, leaving plenty of room between the corn cakes. Cook until small bubbles form on the top and the bottoms are golden brown, about 2 minutes. Using an offset spatula flip the cakes and cook an additional 2 minutes. Place the cakes on a wire rack to cool. Repeat the process with the remaining butter and batter. In a small bowl combine the tarragon and crème frâiche. Season with a pinch of cayenne, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Top each corn cake with a nice lump of crabmeat then a small dollop of the seasoned crème frâiche. Garnish each cake with a piece of chive. Serve with Champagne and enjoy!

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MAY 31

2008-05-21T08:25:00.000-06:00

A NEW AGE OF INDIAN
In this country, we thought we knew what Indian food was – having learned it from the British, of all people. Yet adopted Houstonian Anita Jaisinghani wasn’t satisfied with our vision of the overly-spiced gravies we invariably called “curries” and offered us her restaurant Indika for a different view. Authentically Indian yet also creative – still, no “fusion” for this chef – Indika can teach us a lot about a huge country filled with religious and regional differences, as Anita joins us in the studio to explain.

SOMEWHERE, OVER THE RAINBOW
It’s been a tough (and probably weird) couple of years for Houston favorite Rainbow Lodge. After 30-plus years in one location at Bayou Bend, the landmark eatery found itself dispossessed and searching for a new home for some of the most game trophies many of us have ever seen, plus some impressive game recipes. Chef-owner Donnette Hansen chats about the journey to an equally intriguing new location, the longtime home of la Tour d’Argent (on White Oak Bayou, no less), and some of her upcoming special events. For one thing, there’s Father’s Day coming up.

THE LEGEND OF FREI BROTHERS WINES
Today, appellations like the Alexander Valley, Dry Creek and the Russian River are magical to wine lovers everywhere. But they weren’t all that magical in the late 1880s, when a Swiss immigrant named Andrew Frei first started pondering the opportunity to grow grapes. Over the years, grapes produced by these three quite different areas, as Jim Collins of Frei Brothers Winery explains, have been some of the finest in all Sonoma. And since Jim is in charge of the vineyards, he tells us what it takes to keep things that way.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
PLUM CAKE WITH WHIPPED CREAM

Pastry:
½ stick cold butter
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 ¼ cups sifted flour
1-tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup sugar mixed with ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 pounds plums (washed, pitted, then quartered, but not cut all the way so the quarters can be spread like flower petals)
1 cup apricot glaze or jelly
½ cup sliced almonds (toasted)
1-cup heavy cream (whipped with 2 teaspoon of sugar)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, generously butter an 11-inch tart pan on the bottom and sides. Cream the butter and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer at high speed. Sift the flour and baking powder together, add the salt and combine by hand with the butter-sugar mixture. Press the dough smoothly over the bottom and up the sides of the prepared tin. Arrange the plums skin down in the pastry shell in rows, fanning the plums. Sprinkle generously with the cinnamon sugar, and bake for about 45 minutes. Cool the tart at room temperature. Heat the apricot glaze with two teaspoons cold water in a saucepan, and glaze the plums with a pastry brush. Sprinkle the toasted almonds evenly over the plums. Cut in wedges and serve with whipped cream. Serves 8-10.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MAY 24

2008-05-15T06:58:00.000-06:00

HEALTHY A LA DEL GRANDE
Each month on Delicious Mischief, we chat with the professional spotlighted as “Healthy Chef” by Houston Health & Fitness Magazine. This month we talk to a guy who starts out by saying, essentially, “There’s no such thing as healthy cooking or unhealthy cooking.” As usual, Robert Del Grande turns out to be a breath of fresh air.

HOMAGE TO MACMURRAY
One of our favorite wine people returns for our Grape & Grain segment with some of our favorite wines. Kate MacMurray, daughter of beloved movie and TV actor Fred MacMurray, signs on for a segment all about the wines made with grapes grown in and around her family’s longtime ranch in the lovely Russian River Valley of Sonoma County and brought to our tables by the talented third generation of the Gallo family.

TAKING A ‘JET’ TO GIGI’S
For more than 30 years, the Huang family of Hunan fame has been a kind of restaurant royalty here in Houston. Now with her own place in the Galleria’s growing Restaurant Row, Gigi Huang is working tirelessly to make her tables the hottest tickets in town. We visit with Thai-born chef Junnajet Hurapan (known conversationally as Chef Jet) about his best dishes at Gigi’s Asian and Dumpling Bar.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
QUICK TORTILLA SOUP

2 chicken breast halves, cut in small, rough pieces
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Salt and black pepper
4 cans chicken broth
3/4 cup chunky tomato salsa
Juice of 4 limes
Corn tortilla chips (or fried corn tortilla strips)
¼ cup chopped cilantro
1 large avocado, sliced
Grated cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese

Saute the chicken with the onion and carrot in the oil until all are caramelized, then add the garlic and cook just until it’s brown. Season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken broth and salsa, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. Stir in the lime juice just before serving. Cover the bottom of serving bowls with the tortilla chips and ladle in the soup. Garnish with cilantro, sliced avocado and cheese.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MAY 17

2008-05-07T08:24:00.000-06:00

TO BOMBAY AND BEYOND
In recent years, Houston has seen a steady expansion of its Indian food offering – both in terms of quantity and quality. In particular, several restaurants, from Indika to Kiran’s, have shown the excitement that happens when a talented, innovative chef is in the kitchen. Bombay Brasserie has just entered the fray, with a creative new location subtitled “Gourmet Cuisine.”

WINETALES WITH ALEX OTT
No, a winetale isn’t merely a tall tale told under the influence. It’s a version of the cocktail, except made with wine instead of spirits. Mixology master Alex Ott joins us to talk about what seems his favorite sport – whipping up and offering for tasting a series of summer beverages made with the wines of Ecco Domani in Italy’s Veneto region.

NEW STORY FOR RIDLEY
Ridley Pearson has been on this show before. He’s one of our favorite contemporary authors, mostly for his dark and appropriately violent series featuring Lou Boldt of the Seattle Police Department. Right now, after several other projects, he talks about his new series of young adult novels starting with “Steel Trapp: The Challenge.”

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
ARGENTINE STEAK SALAD

5 to 6 ounces skirt steak, grilled, trimmed and sliced
½ tablespoon grilling spice
1 cup baby arugula
1 cup romaine, shredded
1/3 cucumber, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons bleu cheese, crumbled
¼ cup Bacon Balsamic Vinaigrette (recipe below)
½ fresh tomato, wedged

Heat grill to high. Season both sides of the skirt steak with grilling spice.
Grill steak on both sides. We recommend a medium rare temperature for the steak on this salad. Remove steak from heat, letting it cool slightly before serving. Slice steak to ¼ inch thickness. Toss the baby arugula and romaine lettuce in large bowl and plate.
Top each serving with sliced cucumber and sliced steak. Drizzle each salad with the Bacon Balsamic Vinaigrette. Top with crumbled bleu cheese and tomato wedges.

Bacon Balsamic Vinaigrette
Makes 2 cups

8 strips bacon, cooked crisp (set aside the drippings after bacon is cooked)
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup water
¾ cup balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

In a cast iron skillet over medium-high, fry bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from the skillet and place on paper towels to cool and dry. Lower heat to medium-low and slowly whisk flour into the warm bacon drippings that remain in the cast iron skillet. Whisk flour well until thoroughly dissolved in the drippings. In the same skillet, add water, balsamic vinegar, sugar and kosher salt and pepper.

Stirring constantly, reduce the dressing over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until it is about half of the original amount of liquid. Let the dressing rest for 10 to 15 minutes before serving, allowing it to thicken as it cools. Crumble cooked bacon strips and add to cooled dressing. Pour dressing over large salad and toss well. This dressing tastes best when served immediately.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MAY 10

2008-05-01T09:05:00.001-06:00

NOWFE FOR NEW ORLEANS
For this show, we report from the Crescent City about plans for an even bigger and better version of the New Orleans Wine & Food Experience, an annual event that originally inspired several of our best wine and food festivals in Texas. We start with NOWFE president Howard Brown, talking about an increasing effort to add things (like a big-bucks auction) for well-heeled wine collectors, as well as the organizers’ decision to move the Memorial Day festival to the Louisiana Superdome. A big-ticket wine and food event in the scene of so much chaos during Hurricane Katrina is a message many ought to be savoring.

ONCE MORE WITH FEELING
For several years, Brennan family-trained wine lover Rick Gratia served as president of NOWFE. Having rotated through that job, Rick is now able to enjoy the festival a bit more than in years past – as proprietor of the lovely Muriel’s right on Jackson Square. What’s even better, life’s seasonal rotation of chefs has brought him a top toque in Muriel’s kitchen whom he has worked with in his Brennan past – Gus Martin. Together, Rick and Gus discuss the importance of NOWFE to New Orleans’ continued recovery as a tourism, convention and dining destination.

A LINK TO THE FUTURE
When feisty food guru Anthony Bourdain visited New Orleans recently for his program “No Reservations,” one of the few segments that wasn’t a downer featured chef Donald Link at a barbecue for family and friends in his backyard. Not only was Link cautiously optimistic about the city’s future, he just seemed like one of those guys who’d rather work to fix things than moan about how broken they are. We chat with Donald about this, as well as about his two sterling restaurants, Herbsaint and Cochon.

RALPH ON GULF SEAFOOD
Each year, it seems, produces at least one dazzling new cookbook devoted to New Orleans cuisine. At this year’s edition of NOWFE, Ralph Brennan’s brand-new seafood magnum opus is expected to be all the buzz. We sit down with the former president of the National Restaurant Association to talk about the challenges (and perks!) of life as a Brennan, along with the abundant blessings of seafood pulled fresh from the waters south Louisiana shares with the Texas Gulf Coast.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
RALPH BRENNAN’S CRABMEAT AND AVOCADO

3 ripe medium-to-large Creole tomatoes
3 avocados, preferably Hass, 7 to 8 ounces each
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups spicy vinaigrette (recipe follows)
1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, picked through
Flat-leaf parsley for garnish

Trim ends from tomatoes and cut each into three slices, each about ¾ inch thick. Cut each slice in half crosswise. Cut avocados in half lengthwise, peel, and cut halves lengthwise into three slices. On each of six chilled dinner plates, alternate three tomato halve slices with three avocado slices. Season each portion with a total of ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. In a large bowl, whisk 1 cup vinaigrette to blend ingredients. Add crabmeat and mix gently with a spoon to keep lumps intact.

Divide the crabmeat among the plates, mounding it on the opposite side of the plate from the tomatoes and avocado. Vigorously whisk remaining vinaigrette and drizzle about 2 ½ tablespoons over each serving of tomatoes and avocados. Garnish with parsley sprig. Serves 6 as main course. To make 12 appetizer servings, cut tomato and avocado halves into 4 slices; on 12 salad plates fan two avocado slices around one tomato slice, and drizzle with about 1 tablespoon vinaigrette.

Spicy vinaigrette
Makes 2 cups

¼ cup each minced red onions, red bell pepper and green bell pepper
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1½ teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon each dried basil, oregano and thyme leaves
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons mild honey

In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine all ingredients, whisking until well blended. Cover and refrigerate overnight. If the oil congeals, return vinaigrette to room temperature and whisk vigorously immediately before using.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR APRIL 26

2008-04-16T10:36:00.000-06:00

NEW LIFE FOR THE LANCASTER
Kicking off a show with more chefs per square inch than a typical Houston charity fundraiser, young executive chef Jamie Zelko joins us in the studio to talk about cooking in the busy downtown Theater District. A few months into her tenure at Bistro Lancaster, with the Alley Theatre out one set of windows and Jones Hall out another, Jamie has learned encyclopedias about feeding people in a hurry to get to their seats. And she’s come up with some phenomenal fresh dishes while she’s busy doing it.

SHARING OUR STRENGTH
Of the several interlocking charities helping feed hungry people in the Houston area, none does a better job of getting its message out there than Share Our Strength. A national concern that donates 100% of the money raised to hunger relief (covering costs through donations and sponsorships), SOS has a long history of making sense to the very people who keep us fed every day, the chefs of Houston. Randy Evans of Brennan’s stops in to talk about this year’s Taste of the Nation event, taking place May 4 at the Houston Hotel, Club and Spa.

CLIMBING THE GLASS WALL
What does every chef want when he’s got a busy kitchen full of talented cooks pumping out hundreds of great meals each night? To not have that, of course – and to run a kitchen so small with a dining room so limited that he can personally prepare or at least finish every dish that goes out. That’s what Lance Fegen, long of Zula and Trevisio, wished for – and that’s what he got at the high-spirited Glass Wall. Lance and managing partner-”wine dude” Shepard Ross catch us up on all their news.

FLAVORS OF MAK THE KNIFE
David Yeo is executive chef and partner at a hip Pan-Asian place cleverly marketed as Mak Chin’s, on Shepherd just a spring roll’s throw from I-10. While most folks assume the menu is Chinese, the many surprises point to a different origin that of necessity embraced fusion before fusion was cool – and long before, naturally, fusion was not cool anymore. The food and flavors of Mak Chin take us to Indonesia and Malaysia often as not, where the Chinese, Thai, Indian and a host other worlds collide.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
KOFTA IN SOUTH AFRICAN CURRY SAUCE

1 ½ pound lean boneless lamb, finely ground
16 whole blanched almonds
1 egg
¼ cup breadcrumbs
3 tablespoon besan (chick-pea flour)
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup clarified butter
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
½ cup vegetable oil for frying
½ cup finely chopped onions
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
¼ teaspoon chilies powder
1 ½ cup unflavored yogurt
½ cup coarsely chopped cilantro
2 cups vegetable oil for frying

Place the almonds in boiling water and soak them for two hours. Remove the almonds and discard the water. In a deep bowl, combine the ground lamb, egg, 3 tablespoon chickpea flour, salt, black pepper, and breadcrumbs. Knead vigorously with both hands, and then beat with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth. Divide the lamb into 16 equal portions and shape each one into a meatball. Pat the meatballs into a flat circle, place an almond in the center, and close the ball completely.

Pour the vegetable oil into deep fry pot and heat to 375°F, fry 4 meatballs at a time for about 5 minutes or until they are golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in a fireproof ceramic dish. In a 4 quart saucepan, heat the clarified butter, add onions, garlic, ginger, and simmer for 2 minutes, then add coriander, cumin, turmeric and chilies powder. Stirring constantly, cook over moderate heat for 5 minutes until the onions are golden brown, add the yogurt and bring to al boil. Spoon the sauce over the meatballs, cover the ceramic dish and place in the over for 20 minutes at 350°F. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and serve with steamed rice. Serves 4.

RECIPE & SHOW FOR APRIL 19

2008-04-11T22:27:00.002-06:00

FINE DINING BY THE POOL
We’re just beginning to remember how steamy summer can be here in Houston, and along comes our own Four Seasons with a great new definition of “dining out.” Chefs from the downtown luxury property join us in the studio to talk about the terrific new items they’ve created to be served by the swimming pool. We’ll be sure to ask them what (besides margaritas, of course) might be the best drink to enjoy as well.

TASTING CLOS DU VAL
When French winemaker Bernard Portet was sent to California to look at the dirt in 1970, Napa Valley had only a handful of wineries – and most of those were dismissed global, by no one as much as the French. Still, the winery he founded called Clos du Val remains a standout even among the many great ones now littering the valley – as Rhodesia-born, former London accountant John Clews explains as we taste.

A BITE OF LAST CONCERT
Dawn Fudge isn’t your typical restaurateur – but that’s okay, since her Last Concert Café hidden among a tangle of warehouses, artist lofts and studio renovations isn’t your typical restaurant either. Dawn joins us to talk about the food she serves – primarily Mama’s Big Dinner of cheese enchiladas – as well as the live music she stages from every known musical genres and quite a few that aren’t.

This Week's Delicious Mischief Recipe...
FRESH MUSSELS IN GARLIC AND WINE SAUCE

4 pounds mussels
¼ cup minced shallots
5 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons olive
1 bay leaf
1½ cups dry white wine
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 ½ cups very fine julienne strips of carrots
1 ½ cups very fine julienne strips of leeks
1 ½ cups very fine julienne strips of root celery
3 tablespoons soft butter
3 tablespoon flour
½ teaspoon salt
3 drops Tabasco sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¼ cup freshly chopped parsley

Scrub the mussels well under cold running water. In a kettle heat the olive oil over moderately low heat, add the shallots, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, leeks, celery, and carrots. Cook the mixture for 5 minutes stirring the vegetable until crisp-tender. Add the wine, salt and ½ cup of water; bring the mixture to a boil. Add the cleaned mussels, cover the kettle and steam them in the vegetable-wine broth for 8 minutes, or until each mussel has opened. Discard any unopened mussels.

With a slotted spoon transfer the mussels and vegetables to a heated bowl, keep mussels covered. Strain the cooking liquid through a fine sieve into measuring cup, and if necessary add enough water to measure 4 cups of liquid. In a saucepan melt the butter, add the flour and cook over low heat for 1 minute to make a roux, do not brown the roux. Whisk the broth, a little at a time into the roux, whisking and bringing the sauce to a boil.

Simmer the sauce for two minute; add the lemon juice, Tabasco sauce, and taste to your liking. Divide the mussels and vegetables into 4 heated soup plates, pour the sauce over each serving, and top with fresh chopped parsley. Serve with crusty French bread. Serves 4.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR APRIL 12

2008-04-11T22:24:00.001-06:00

NEW VOICE OF THE ICON
It’s a tough act to follow when the one before you had the name Jean-Georges. But at the Hotel Icon in downtown Houston, that’s exactly what chef Michael Kramer and his team at the new restaurant called Voice are intending to do. We’ll chat with Chef Michael about the joys and sorrows of following such a high-profile concept in a truly lovely piece of Houston real estate.

DESSERTS FOR PASSOVER
Within the Jewish faith, the heart of the Passover observance is the rather austere and highly symbolic meal called the seder. But as far as the folks at Dessert Gallery are concerned, that doesn’t rule out the celebration associated with any great holiday. In our studio, we sample a number of the special sweets Dessert Gallery is offering – and hear how they connect with Jewish tradition.

THE HEALTHY AUSSIE CHEF
In this month’s Healthy Chef segment, produced in cooperation with Houston’s Health and Fitness Magazine, Jason Gould of Gravitas talks about what he cooks for himself when he feels the need to eat healthy. And since his customers sometimes wish to do the same at Gravitas, he talks about what he likes to fix them.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
Cream of Celery Soup with Crisp Bacon

2 pounds celery, peeled and diced
1 medium size onion, diced very fine
½ cup diced green celery stalks
4 slices thick bacon
⅛ cup olive oil
3 cups chicken stock
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into juliennes
1 tablespoons flour
1 cup half and half cream
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
6 inner celery leaves for garnish
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into juliennes for garnish
½ cup sour cream for garnish

Place the celery roots in a stock pot, add bay leaves, salt, cover with water and cook over low heat for half hour, or until the roots are soft. Most of the water should evaporate. Discard the bay leaves and purée the celery knobs in a blender. Cook the bacon in a frying pan, stirring constantly over moderate heat until light brown and crisp. Separate the bacon from the fat, and transfer on paper towels, set the bacon grease aside.

In a heavy-duty casserole heat the olive oil and two tablespoons bacon grease, add the diced onions and cook over low heat until the onions are glazed but not brown. Dust the mixture with flour, add the chicken stock, pureed celery and bring to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes. Add the half and half, black pepper and heat, but do not boil. If the soup is too thick add a little water, then taste to your liking. Ladle the soup into heated individual soup plates. Place teaspoon of sour cream in the center, top with apple juliennes, crisp, crumbled bacon, garnish with a celery leaf, and serve at once. Serves 6.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR APRIL 5

2008-03-31T15:09:00.000-06:00

RETURN OF CHEF PHILIPPE
Many Houstonians were shocked and/or heartbroken when Bistro Moderne closed its doors at the Hotel Derek last fall – most expected Chef Philippe Schmit would return to New York where he first made his name or perhaps to his native France. As corporate chef for Legacy Brands, Philippe will tell us what he’s got in mind for such unexpected Houston landmark’s as Antone’s and even Ninfa’s on Navigation.

WINES OF LLANO ESTACADO
Even as the reputation of wines from Texas has grown over the past decade or so, so has the reputation of wines from Llano Estacado, with most of its best juice hailing from the High Plains around Lubbock. Still, if some people still think you’re crazy recommending a Texas wine, just think what winemaker Greg Bruni’s compadres in California thought when he told them he was moving here.

NEW, IMPROVED MAX’S WINE DIVE
Chef Michael Dei Maggi cut his teeth cooking Italian in the Italian-savvy Northeast, but he came to Houston as part of Bice Restaurant – a genuine Italian fine-dining restaurant chain that’s actually based in Italy. For the last few months, Michael’s been working on his first men for Max’s Wine Dive, and now he’s ready to tell us all about it.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
Sautéed Sirloin Steak with Peppercorns

6 well trimmed sirloin steaks, about 1 inch thick (8 oz each)
1 tablespoon salt
5 tablespoons wholes black pepper, coarsely crushed
3 tablespoons clarified butter
¾ cup cognac
1 ½ cup beef broth, fresh or canned
2 bay leaves
¼ stick butter, chilled and cut into ½ inch cubes
¼ cup heavy cream.
1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved with two tablespoon cold water

Season the steaks generously with salt. One side at a time sprinkles each steak with the crushed black peppercorns, pushing them firmly into the meat with your hands. In a 12-inch cast iron or heavy-duty skillet, heat the clarified butter over high heat. Place the steaks in the pan (3 at the time) and sauté them 4 minutes on each side, or until they are done to your taste. Transfer the steaks to a heated platter and set them aside while preparing the sauce.

Remove the pan from the stove, add the cognac, let warm for a minute, then ignite with a match. Pour in the beef broth, bay leaves and cream. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, whisk in the cornstarch and blend well. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the chilled butter bits one at a time. Strain the sauce with sieve over the steaks, and serve at once. Serves 6.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MARCH 29

2008-03-21T21:17:00.002-06:00

COOKING ON THE RIVERWALK
We start today’s show from San Antonio with Chef Chip McMullin, who’s doing some wonderful things with fresh and local ingredients in a very high-profile location. To Chip, Caleza Grill at the Westin Riverwalk offers a perfect opportunity to wow visitors to San Antonio from all over the world, while sharing with locals his own adventures in culture and cuisine.

AN AMAZING DEVELOPMENT
We all know some beers have a “born on” date, but so few of us know how a beer is actually born. So we check in with good friend Jaime Jurado. In his work with Gambrinus Corp., which counts among its brands the ever-iconic Shiner, Jaime oversees the kind of experimentation that produces seasonal and other special beers. We sit down with Jaime in his “development brewery” to sip away at brews we may well we tasting soon.

CLAIMING MI TIERRA
Like a lot of cities, San Antonio has had its ups and downs – especially the downs over the decades when it comes to downtown. Yet long before the Riverwalk was built for the 1964 World’s Fair, a Mexican-American family was dreaming big. That family started cooking what it cooked best in a tiny location near the old open marketplace – and within a few years, as family members tell us, that tiny space called Mi Tierra had become one of the biggest restaurants you’ll ever see.

This Week's Delicious Mischief Recipe...
TORTILLA SOUP
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for frying
2 large onions, chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 tsp. coarse kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon red chile flakes
12 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes
Juice of 2 limes
1 package (8 oz.) small corn tortillas, cut into 1/4-in.-thick strips (see Notes)
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/4-in.-thick strips
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Sliced avocado, sour cream, grated Monterey jack cheese, additional chopped cilantro, and/or sliced green onions for topping

Heat 1 tbsp. vegetable oil in a large pot (at least 5 qts.) over medium heat. Add onions and cook until translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in two-thirds of the garlic, 1 tbsp. salt, cumin, and chile flakes and cook 2 minutes. Add broth, tomatoes, and half the lime juice and increase heat to a gentle simmer; cook 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour about 1 in. of vegetable oil into a small frying pan set over medium-high heat. When oil is hot but not smoking, add one-third of the tortilla strips and cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer strips to a paper towel-lined baking pan. Repeat with remaining tortilla strips in two batches. Sprinkle with 1 tsp. salt. Set aside.
Purée soup in batches in a blender. Return soup to pot and resume simmering. In a small bowl, toss chicken with remaining lime juice, garlic, and 1/2 tsp. salt.

Marinate at room temperature for 10 minutes, then add to soup and simmer 5 minutes, until chicken is just cooked through. Stir in cilantro. Serve hot with tortilla strips and your choice of toppings. Serves 8-10.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MARCH 22

2008-03-13T11:11:00.001-06:00

A WINE AND FOOD MINGLE
In our first-ever Delicious Mischief broadcast from the lovely hills and lakes of Marble Falls, we report on a remarkable phenomenon. After years of relying on barbecue and chicken fried steak, the town has gone stylish. And that means chic wine bars like The Falls can hope to stay in business a good long time.

BLAST FROM THE PAST
Before we get too giddy about the future, though, let’s enjoy a heapin’ helpin’ of where Marble Falls has come from. We sit down at a table with the owner of the Bluebonnet Café, a place that’s been serving delicious diner-style Texas food for something like 80 years. What’s not to like about a place that does “Pie Happy Hour”?

909 IS MORE THAN A SONG
The Beatles did a song about “the one after 909,” whatever that meant to them at the time. But in Marble Falls, Café 909 is a stylish restaurant dishing up some stylish and innovative cuisine. We chat with the chef-owner about the challenges of doing food worthy of a new generation.

GENERAL PATTON’S STARS
We end today’s show where many think the “new food” movement in Marble Falls began: at a restaurant called Patton’s on Main. The chef-owner here cut his teeth in Oxford, Miss., after attending Ole Miss and refined his craft under Wolfgang Puck in Las Vegas. But as so often happens when Texans start having a family somewhere else, it seems like time to come home.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
CATFISH CAKES

1 pound fresh catfish fillets
Water
4 teaspoons oil, for sautéing
2 tablespoons onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons green pepper, finely chopped
2 eggs, beaten
4 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning
½ cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoon s Dijon mustard
1 cup dried bread crumbs
2 teaspoons freshly-squeezed lime juice
4 teaspoons Creole seasoning
2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce
2 teaspoon s dried basil, crumbled
Oil for frying
2 cups all-purpose flour

Poach catfish in a large pot of boiling water for about 15 or 20 minutes, or until the fish begins to flake with a fork. Drain poached fish in a colander, and place it on a baking sheet to cool. In a large skillet, sauté onions and peppers in oil for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft, and set aside. Take the cooled catfish and crumble it by hand in a large bowl. Add beaten eggs to the bowl of crumbled fish. Add cooked onions and peppers to the fish and eggs. Add remaining ingredients to fish and mix well by hand to create a cake-like mixture.

Form mixture into 6 to 10 equal-sized rounds and place on a baking sheet until ready to fry. In a cast-iron skillet or deep fryer, heat oil to about 350 degrees. Just before frying, thoroughly dust each catfish cake with flour. Fry the cakes in the hot oil until they are golden brown all over, rolling them frequently. Depending on your frying apparatus, this should take about 3 to 4 minutes. Drain the cooked catfish cakes on paper towels. Best when served immediately, but you can reserve them in baking dish in a warm oven until ready to serve. Serve with your favorite tartar sauce. Makes 8-10 cakes.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MARCH 15

2008-03-06T08:45:00.002-06:00

RUNNING WITH THE FOODS
For this show, we travel to New York City – but the traveling hardy stops there. In our opening segment, we visit from Chef Alex Urena of the restaurant called Pamplona. Yes, it’s named after the city in northern Spain famous for the annual “running of the bulls.” Yet after working with David Bouley New York and Feran Adria in Spain, Chef Alex is introducing us to some exciting new flavors indeed.

WINES FROM DOWN UNDER
For starters, long before David Mayger was sommelier at the chic NYC eatery called Telepan, he was an Aussie. And in both those hats, he has watched Australian wines truly come of age – moving from solid craftsmanship at great value to some extraordinary experiences in the bottle. In today’s Grape & Grain segment, David teaches us about these wines from far away, as well as about the things he teaches chefs about pairing them with great food.

AND NOW, OFF TO GREECE
Every since we first visited Greece 30-plus years ago, it has remained one of our favorite countries for food, for wine, for music, for history, for people, for – well, for anything! Yet we’ve discovered the best Greek meal of our lives in a none-to-busy corner of Manhattan, at a stylish little place called Pylos. We’ll visit with the owner and the chef, chat about cuisine while sipping examples from their remarkable all-Greek wine list.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
TAPAS-STYLE MINI-TORTILLAS (SPANISH OMELETS)

· 6 eggs
· 2 tablespoons half-and-half
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
· 1 pinch powdered saffron
· 1 tablespoon olive oil
· 1 tablespoon butter
· 1 cup coarsely chopped fresh mushrooms
· 2 cloves garlic, minced
· 2 cups frozen loose-pack diced hash brown potatoes with onions and peppers
· 1/4 cup snipped fresh chives

Preheat oven to 450 degree F. Grease an 8x8x2-inch baking pan; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs; half-and-half, cream, or milk; salt; pepper; and saffron. Set aside. In a large skillet, heat olive oil and butter over medium heat until butter is melted. Add mushrooms and garlic; cook for 1 minute. Stir in potatoes. Cover and cook over medium-low heat about 10 minutes or until potatoes are lightly browned and tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in chives or parsley.

Spread potato mixture evenly into prepared baking pan. Pour egg mixture evenly over potato mixture, pressing down lightly with the back of a spoon to completely cover potatoes. Bake, uncovered, about 15 minutes or until set and top is golden (center may puff during baking, but will fall during standing time). Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Cut into 1-inch squares. Serve warm. Makes about 4 dozen squares.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MARCH 8

2008-02-27T19:28:00.002-06:00

GETTING IN THE GROVE
Houstonians are enjoying their first chances to get to know the park called Discovery Green right in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center – and that’s a tasty project indeed. Thanks to the Schiller-DelGrande Restaurant Group (of Café Annie and Café Express fame) there’s an important new eatery called The Grove right inside the park. Executive chef Ryan Pera joins us to explain what the concept’s all about.

HEALTHY CHEF GREG
Greg Gordon is best known as the chef and visionary behind La Vista, the strange and wondrous neighborhood restaurant with two locations in Houston. Today he comes into the CNN 650 studio to talk about what he cooks when he cooks healthy – which to look at him, you’d think he must do pretty often. Greg is this month’s Healthy Chef in Houston Health and Fitness Magazine.

LATE NIGHT AT ARMANDO’S
To date, Armando Palacios has made his name – years ago and again more recently – as the guy who adapted Tex-Mex cuisine to suit the River Oaks palate. We’ve talked to Armando in the past about his achievement, as well as about the chic “taco truck” he uses for upscale catering. This time the subject is his new late-night menu, and an intriguing thing it is, if only we can stay awake long enough.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
ST. PATRICK’S DAY BEEF & STOUT STEW

2 pounds lean beef stew meat
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 large onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 cups Irish stout beer (e.g., Guinness)
2 cups chopped carrot
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Toss the beef cubes with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Dredge the beef in this to coat. Heat the remaining oil in a deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the beef, and brown on all sides. Add the onions, and garlic. Stir the tomato paste into a small amount of water to dilute; pour into the pan and stir to blend. Reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook for 5 minutes.

Pour 1/2 cup of the beer into the pan, and as it begins to boil, scrape any bits of food from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. This adds a lot of flavor to the broth. Pour in the rest of the beer, and add the carrots and thyme. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning before serving. Garnish with chopped parsley.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MARCH 1

2008-02-21T09:20:00.000-06:00

CHEF’S BARBECUE JOINT
We all know the Great Texas Barbecue Joint. And the people who cook in such a place tend to be veterans and zealots to be sure, but not trained chefs. That’s only one of the things that make Beaver’s Barbecue so interesting, since it’s the brainchild of Chef Monica Pope of today’s t’afia and the fondly remembered Boulevard Bistro. And if one excellent chef were not strange enough, she’s hired others to help her cook barbecue in this former Houston icehouse.

WINES FROM ALEXANDER’S PLACE
Greek wines have enjoyed both evolution and revolution in recent years, with a massive investment in both talent and equipment. The result: Greek wines aren’t just your mother’s retsina anymore. In this Grape & Grain segment, we hook up with wine importer Konstantine Drougos and the owner of Pavlou Winery in the north of Greece. In addition to qualities evident in the bottle, there is the sheer fascination of new vintages from the ancient kingdom of Alexander the Great.

KILLER WINE
Many wine lovers complain these days that one or two wine critics exercise too much power over the wines that get made and marketed. Yet it’s a safe bet most of us have never considered knocking one of these guys off. That is precisely the premise of Peter May’s brand-new mystery “The Critic,” which he joins us to discuss. What’s more, the Scots-born May now lives in France and has done extensive research (a.k.a. drinking) into the wines of Gaillac for his page-turning novel.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
VENISON STEW WITH WILD MUSHROOMS

3 pounds venison shoulder, trimmed and cut into cubes
½ stick butter
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup minced shallots or onions
½ cup flour
1 teaspoon Spanish paprika
2 medium size yellow onions, peeled and diced
1 ½ pound fresh wild mushrooms, washed and sliced
½ pound lean bacon strips, cut into juliennes
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon rosemary
½ teaspoon salt
8 black peppercorns, crushed
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 cup whole cranberry sauce
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups beef broth
2 cups dry red wine

Spread the cubed venison on a large serving platter. Mix the flour, paprika, salt, and dust the cubed venison generously. Heat a heavy duty casserole, and brown one fourth of the venison in one tablespoon each of the butter and oil over high heat, transfer to a bowl. Brown the remaining venison in three batches, adding more butter as needed. Stir-fry the onions, shallots, and bacon with the remaining butter and oil. Return the browned venison to the casserole, add thyme, rosemary, tomato paste, bay leaves, peppercorns, and mix well.

Add red wine, beef broth, cranberry sauce, cover the casserole and simmer for 2 hours over low heat, or until the venison is tender. With a slotted spoon remove the venison and place in a serving bowl. Strain the sauce into another pot, add the mushrooms, cream and simmer for five minutes. Adjust the thickness and taste. Pour the gravy over the venison; serve with pasta or traditional spätzle. Serves 8.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR FEB. 23

2008-02-14T10:36:00.001-06:00

FISHING THE RIGHT REEF
Like a lot of other Houstonians, we first met Chef Bryan Caswell when he was cooking Jean-Georges-style at the Hotel Icon’s posh dining room called Bank. When Bryan left, it was to work toward opening his own upscale seafood restaurant, which as Reef has emerged as one of the city’s finest dining destinations. We sit down for a multi-ethnic seafood tasting with this talented chef – and ask him too about his sea-foam green Midtown restaurant’s impressive “wall of wine.”

PRESENT AT THE CREATION
These days, most of the major bourbon producers have nudged beyond their best-known traditional products to offer a higher-priced, smaller-batch variation for those consumers who insist upon it. But there was a time, only a generation ago, when anyone around a distillery even suggesting such a thing would have been dismissed as crazy. In today’s Grape & Grain segment, we taste and talk with Bill Samuels of Maker’s Mark, widely viewed as one of the true visionaries who made today’s small-batch bourbons a reality.

NIGHT AT THE OPERA
If all you know about opera comes from Bugs Bunny cartoons or Marx Brothers movies, Jake Heggie would like to think he and HGO have a new opera for you. The San Francisco-based composer joins us for a discussion of his new work “Last Acts,” enjoying its world premiere here in Houston with a cast led by international legend Frederica von Stade. Plus, as a young guy, Jake talks about the long, winding and unexpected road to hanging the “opera composer” sign above his door.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
RODEO BAKED BEANS

2 (15-ounce) cans pork and beans
2/3 cup brown sugar
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup prepared ketchup
1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 slices bacon, chopped

Combine the pork and beans with the brown sugar, onion, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire and vinegar in a baking dish and season with salt and pepper. Mix in the chopped bacon and set dish in a preheated 35-degree oven. (You can also set the dish in the smoker, as many barbecue places do). Cook until the sauce is thickened, about 1 hour. Serves 8.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR FEB. 16

2008-02-07T18:15:00.000-06:00

BEYOND THE PUB LUNCH
Our friend Craig Mallinson joins us from the Red Lion Pub to talk about some of his new lunch items. If the British concept of “pub lunch” was once pretty much shepherd’s pie and bangers and mash, the increasing ethnic complexity of the British population has inspired pubs (yes, even here in Houston) to offer more and more ethnic fare. For starters, Craig serves up some of the niftier Indian flavors anywhere, along with unexpected tinges of Thai.

ZERO IN ON ZONIN
Zonin USA may be based in Charlottesville, Va., not far from Monticello and looking like it was designed by America’s first wine lover, Thomas Jefferson. But the house of Zonin was founded in Italy almost two centuries ago and has expanded to incorporate operations at 11 vineyard estates in all of Italy’s most important wine regions. The family is still very much in charge, as we discover during today’s Grape and Grain segment.

SOMETHING-LICIOUS
Two different Houston writers have recently launched cookbooks, and we’ve invited them both into our studio to tell us all about it. Peggy Touchstone Sholly calls her volume “Dome Home Delicious,” and it is much as the words proclaim: simple, filling dishes based on the best that Texas and its neighboring Gulf Coast states have to offer. Besides a TV appearance on Iron Chef, Dominica Catelli has a new cookbook called "Mom-a-licious," which is aimed at “fresh fast family food” for the “hot mama in you.”

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
MIMI’S CHICKEN

1 roasted chicken (available at Spec’s)
½ cup chicken broth
1 can cream of mushroom soup
½ cup fresh sliced mushrooms
1 teaspoon curry powder
½ cup mayonnaise
Grated cheddar cheese
Unseasoned bread crumbs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Steamed white rice

Cut all the meat off the roast chicken, discarding skin and bones. Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces and combine in a casserole with the broth, soup, mushrooms, curry powder and mayonnaise. Cover with the cheese and breadcrumbs, brushing lightly with the butter. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve over steamed rice. Serves 6-8.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR FEB. 9

2008-01-31T08:23:00.000-06:00

This week we broadcast live from Spec’s wonderful warehouse store on Smith Street, so come by, pick up a few things for your next meal, and say hello. Also, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, you can register to win a two-night stay at the romantic Maison Dupuy Hotel in the French Quarter of New Orleans, with a special-occasion wine dinner for two at Dominique’s. It’s all part of the upcoming New Orleans Wine Festival.

SUSHI FOR THE MANY
For a long time, it seems, sushi was the food for purists – people who tended to take yoga classes, read Eastern philosophy and discuss feng shui every time they thought about moving the sofa. Today, thanks to places like Ra Sushi in Houston, sushi is or at least can be for everybody. Our friends Bill and Jerry from Ra (as opposed to Ben and Jerry from Vermont!) teach us how to appreciate some of their finest culinary creations, along with the different kinds of sake that pair with them. Or, if you’re like me, you can still have a nice New Zealand sauvignon blanc!

WINES FOR VALENTINES
Veteran waiters may roll their eyes and grumble about “amateur night,” but Valentine’s Day (or, in this case, night) remains the single busiest day in restaurants across America – followed by Mother’s Day, which shows where all this romancing tends to lead. Our Spec’s buddy and wine guy extraordinaire Bill Coates joins us for today’s Grape & Grain segment, talking about what makes a wine “romantic.” He’ll also pour us tastes of two or three vintages he thinks especially likely to make the most of dinner with your Valentine.

THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL
Talk about romantic! Surely everyone has seen at least one movie version of “The Scarlet Pimpernel”. This time around, it’s a musical being staged at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts by Houston’s own Masquerade Theatre. These guys do some really terrific shows – as we saw a few months back with “Gypsy” – and we’ll have a chat with artistic director Phillip Duggins and “Pimpernel” star Luther Chakurian to find out how they do it. And since the last time we saw Luther, he was killing people to fill London meat pies in “Sweeney Todd,” we hope he’ll be a bit lest culinary this go-round.

JOHN’S SAY-IT-AIN’T-SO ONE-HOUR
CHICKEN AND SAUSAGE GUMBO

Sometimes, when you’re going from cookbook signing to cookbook signing far from home, you have to whip up gumbo in a hurry in some mighty strange places that aren’t exactly kitchens. You do this by “going Thoreau” and simplifying, deciding what’s really important and what’s only an old wives’ tale. Thus, this gumbo in one hour, made with one of those roast chicken Spec’s and everybody else loves to sell us these days. You may grimace at the shortcuts, but you’ll be amazed at the taste. As Justin Wilson says from somewhere in Cajun heaven, long before that guy trying to sell us suits: “I gar-on-TEE it!”

1 roast chicken
1 pound smoked sausage, sliced in coins
2 slices bacon
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 cups cut okra, fresh or frozen
½ cup tomato salsa
4 cups chicken broth
Creole seasoning to taste
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup vegetable oil
Chopped green onion
Streamed white rice

Remove all meat from the chicken and discard skin and bones. Brown the sausage and bacon to render the fat, then remove the meat from the pan. Saute the onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic in the fat until lightly caramelized, then add the okra and stir until soft and the mixture has thickened. Stir in salsa and cook briefly to incorporate. Pour in chicken broth and season to taste. Crumble the cooked bacon and add to the gumbo, along with the sausage and chicken.

In a separate skillet, stir together the flour and oil until smooth, then cook while stirring to form a very dark brown roux. When finished, carefully (it will bubble and splatter) add some of the gumbo to the roux and stir until thick and smooth, then repeat the process – this will “temper” the roux so it combines better. Add the tempered roux to the gumbo and cook until you run out of hour, or longer of course. Serve in bowls garnished with green onions and steamed white rice. Serves about 8.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR FEB. 2

2008-01-23T17:14:00.000-06:00

NEW CHEF AT ALDEN’S 17
We’re back in the studio today after broadcasts from places as different as New York, Washington and Dallas – and we get to welcome the brand-new executive chef at one of our favorite local restaurants. Wes Morton comes to 17 at the Alden Hotel direct from Navio Restaurant at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay in California. Before that, he cooked at three super-cool eateries in the nation’s capital, Circle Bistro, Cityzen (cute name!) and Michel Richard’s Citronelle.

LATITUDES IN THE TROPICS
While we’re on the subject of 17 and the Alden, today’s show also welcomes back good friend (and cookbook co-author) Dominique Macquet of Dominique’s in New Orleans. As part of a weeklong series of promotions and cooking classes right here in Houston, Dominique joins us to discuss his (our) latest book, “Dominique’s Tropical Latitudes. In particular, we’ll talk about a special book signing and cocktail reception Dominique is doing at the Alden.

FOR LOVE OF PISCO
In the crazy, mixed-up languages of South America, pisco is named after the word “piscu,” for “little bird,” presumably because the spirit made from grapes (a brandy, in other words) can make us fly pretty high. Pisco is widely and wildly consumed in Peru and Chile, both of which fight over the creation of the pisco sour cocktail, as well as Argentina and Bolivia. In today’s Grape & Grain segment, our buddy Jean-Francois Bonnette joins us to give us a taste of the pisco sour his company is introducing to the Houston market.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
JALAPENO-CHEDDAR CORNBREAD

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons finely ground corn flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
5 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 1/3 cups milk
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons seeded and chopped jalapenos

Grease a 8-by-8-inch baking pan. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg, then whisk in the milk and butter. Combine the wet and dry ingredients, then thoroughly blend in the cheese and jalapenos. Pour into the prepared pan and bake in a preheated 350-degree oven until golden brown, about 50 minutes. Let cool. Serves 6-8.

SHOW & RECIPES FOR JAN. 26

2008-01-17T05:33:00.000-06:00

RESOURCE FOR CHEFS
To be a top-flight chef these days, you need all the resources you can get – including information on equipment and personnel, financial and legal matters, and yes, even that all-important media training. One of the best helps for professional chefs we’ve seen is a website called starchefs.com. In our opening segment, we sit down with founding editor Antoinette Bruno in New York City to learn all about her take of the challenges facing chefs these days.

MASTER OF THE COCKTAIL
For a while, it was looking as though any weirdness you can fit into a glass could be sold and would be bought as a cocktail. But as author David Wundrich tells us, the renaissance being enjoyed by the martini and other classics points the trend-spotters in a different direction. In particular, we want to hear from David why he thinks this is happening – when just over a decade ago, cocktail making and spirit sales in general were considered an endangered species.

HEY, AREN’T YOU TIM KEATING?
Chef Tim Keating didn’t come from Houston, and he isn’t working here right now – but we’re tempted to call him “Houston’s own” anyway. We ran into the chef most recently seen here at the Four Seasons while he was attending the Star Chefs Congress in New York City, and we ask him what all he’s doing as a culinary hotshot for Disney World in Orlando. Yes, he misses us too!

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
SHINER BOCK BARBECUED CABRITO

1 (5-6 pound) goat hind quarter, cleaned
½ cup prepared mustard
2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
½ cup chopped cilantro
½ cup lemon pepper seasoning
½ cup chili powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 cup butter
1 onion, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 lemons, quartered
2 limes, quartered
1 bottle Shiner Bock beer
2 cups vegetable oil
½ cup Worcestershire sauce

Rub the coat completely with the mustard. Combine the jalapenos and cilantro with seasonings in a large sealable plastic bag and place meat in the bag, turning to cover with seasonings. Close the bag and refrigerate overnight. When ready to cook, melt the butter in a saucepan and cook the onions and garlic in a large saucepan until caramelized. Add the lemons, limes and beer. When the foam subsides, stir in the oil and Worcestershire sauce. Simmer for about 25 minutes.

Prepare the grill for indirect cooking, with soaked mesquite chips for smoke. Remove the meat from the marinade and place directly on the grill and smoke for 2-3 hours, basting regularly with the sauce. When the goat’s internal temperature reaches 155 degrees, wrap it in foil and return to the grill until the internal temperature reaches 185 degrees. Remove from the grill and let meat rest for 20 meats before carving. Serve pieces on a platter with barbecue sauce on the side. Serves 6-8.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JAN. 12

2008-01-03T09:49:00.001-06:00

MAKING THIS ABACUS COUNT
Today’s Delicious Mischief comes to you from our neighboring Metroplex to the far north, Dallas. We began our eating and drinking tour at one of the city’s best-known fine-dining hot spots, Chef Kent Rathbun’s Abacus. To his credit, Kent refuses to fuse – so “fusion” is not a word he wants to hear about his food. Still, the confluence of many American and European classics given a twist with some of the finest sushi we’ve had anywhere certainly makes you stop and think. When it comes to cuisine, sometimes it IS a small world after all.

MASTERS OF THE MARTINI
We don’t approve of drinking and driving, of course, but when we’re in Dallas and want a martini, a drive just might be in the offing. Up in Plano we find one of the most off-the-wall, over-the-top tributes to the born-again American cocktail ever, a place called Martini Park. We were intrigued enough by the now-accepted notion that anything served in a martini glass is by definition IS a martini. But we forgot even that when we took a look at the food menu, a list of dishes concocted for their ability to pair with martinis. What a tasty concept that proved to be!

CENTER OF IT ALL
Executive chef Tom Fleming comes to his duties at Central 214 after a host of exciting opportunities, both in north Texas and in Chicago. In the latter city, in fact, his food helped chef/proprietor Jean Joho of Everest win a James Beard Best New Restaurant Award for the newer place called Brasserie Jo. Fleming carries this French training into the American food he cooks at Central 214, located in the chic and centrally located Hotel Palomar. Listening to him is hearing the many “fresh, local, seasonal” mantras of today’s American chef.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
BOILED BEEF WITH HORSERADISH SAUCE AND STEAMED CABBAGE

2 ½ quart water
3 pounds boneless beef rump
1 medium size carrot, peeled and sliced
2 leeks, cut in half, washed and sliced
2 turnips, peeled and sliced
½ cup chopped parsley
1 bay leaf
10 pepper corns
2 teaspoon salt
1 medium head of white cabbage

Horseradish Sauce:
½ stick of butter
¼ cup flour
2 cups beef stock
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup prepared horseradish
1 bay leave
Salt and pepper to taste

Place the water in a medium size pot or Dutch oven; add the meat, carrots, leeks, parsnips, peppercorns, bay leaf and salt. Bring the broth to a boil, lower the heat and simmer uncovered for about two hours, skimming the top occasionally to remove any scum. When cooked (the meat should be fork tender) remove the meat, vegetables, and place on a platter, cover with foil and keep warm. Reserve the beef stock. Cut the cabbage in half, and remove the core. Slice each half into 3 wedges and place in a shallow casserole; strain 2 cups of the reserved beef stock over it. Cover the casserole and steam over low heat for 30 minutes, or until the cabbage is tender.

To make the sauce, melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Blend in the flour and cook the roux for two minutes. Mix in two cups of hot beef stock and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly until the sauce is smooth and thickened. Combine with the horseradish and cream, mix well, add salt and pepper to taste. To serve, place the steamed cabbage wedges on a heated serving platter, slice the beef across the grain about ¼ inch thick, and arrange the slices over the cabbage. Arrange the vegetables around the beef, top with a little broth, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve with the horseradish sauce. Serves 6.

OUR REVIEW OF JASPER'S

2007-12-31T09:38:00.000-06:00

The father who raised both Kent Rathbun of Abacus in Dallas and his brother Kevin of Nava and Rathbun’s in Atlanta to be famous chefs belonged to the greatest barbecue fan club that ever existed, the brotherhood of touring jazz and blues musicians.

From Louis Armstrong to B.B. King to Wynton Marsalis, the arrival routine for such artists has changed not one bit: find the gig, find the hotel, find some barbecue. Inspired by what he tasted in his travels, as well as by what he tasted at home in Kansas City, Rathbun’s father perfected his own skills to the point of asking to cook for his buddies in hotel kitchens on the road. Back home, he made sure his sons knew their way around not only a smoky backyard pit but the classics of Kansas City’s barbecue scene, especially the legendary Arthur Bryant’s.

The single most intriguing thing about Rathbun’s concept for Jasper’s, beyond its subtitle “Gourmet Backyard Cuisine,” is the absence of a true smoker in the kitchen. At the original location up in Plano, as well as in expansions to the Woodlands and then to the Austin area, Rathbun has not only installed the “next best thing” but has, in a sense, carried barbecue even farther back to its roots. The smoker-grill he’s designed for Jasper’s starts out each day as a rotisserie, with chicken, turkey, back baby pork ribs and even rainbow trout turning slowly high above a fire of oak and hickory. At this point, the grill man pushes the burning wood and glowing coals forward under a grate, adding more wood as the evening progresses, to create a high-heat grill for finishing smoked meats as well as cooking flat iron steaks. There’s no time-honored 18 or 20 hours of cooking beef brisket at Jasper’s, but there is the tradition and the taste, delivered by a man who remembers the boy who loved nothing better.

A perfect example of what a chef-artist does with old-fashioned barbecue is what Rathbun does with his baby back ribs – even before he dishes them up with New Age/Old World “creamy baked potato salad.” You have to start, he says, with a great product – which is chefspeak for “expensive meat.” Each rack gets rubbed with olive oil and then with a spice blend created for the occasion, then allowed to marinate with those flavors for 12 hours or more. These racks are then cooked over a low fire until medium-well done, being flipped often and basted with a citrus barbecue sauce. Once they reach that desired status in life, they are transferred to a pan, covered with aluminum foil and chilled. When ordered, the racks are cut into “bricks” of three ribs each and finished on the by-now super-hot grill.

As though in response, Rathbun’s version of traditional Texas potato salad starts out as a baked potato, then gets cubed and flash-fried, then mixed with sour cream and spices where the mayo normally would be. Even to a potato salad lover – or indeed to a baked potato lover, or to a French fry lover – Kent Rathbun’s spin on this classic is an epiphany.

One of the joys of Jasper’s, seldom seen in other, far simpler Texas barbecue joints, is first-rate appetizers, soups and salads. Best starters include the prosciutto-wrapped shrimp and grits, direct from the Carolinas by way of polenta-crazed northern Italy, the jumbo lump crab cakes made a textural wonderland by tomatillo-poblano cream and jicama-tortilla slaw, and (for blue cheese fans) a freshly-fried order of perfect potato chips doused with creamy-crumbly Maytag blue. The best soup is the grilled chicken masa, a bit like Tex-Mex “tortilla soup” that’s died and gone to heaven, while the single best salad wanders far from Texas barbecue. It features red chili-seared ahi tuna, with rice noodles and a heat-infused Thai vinaigrette.

Happily, desserts at Jasper’s come as “minis,” not so much so you can eat less as so you can eat more of them. Customer favorites based on childhood memories include the banana parfait with homemade “Nilla” wafers (the pudding whipped till air-light, garnished with banana slices and a sprinkle of crushed vanilla wafers), the Rocky Road ice cream sandwich with chocolate and caramel sauces and “gooey marshmallow cream,” and Rick’s Rockin’ Chocolate Cake. Rathbun is threatening to work up a new dessert based on those old-time campfire s’mores. After tasting all that’s come before, we’ve decided to take him very seriously.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JAN. 5

2007-12-31T09:22:00.000-06:00

A NEW YEAR FOR STONE CRAB
One of the world’s most interesting seafoods used to be available only in the “Caribbean” tip of the United States, a zone stretching south from Miami Beach through the Florida Keys. Today, thanks to intrepid chefs like Trevor White of Oceanaire Seafood, stone crabs can be an annual celebration when they come into their season. Trevor joins us for a stone crab tasting and talk in our studio.

A FULL YEAR FOR A WINE DIVE
It’s been about 12 months since Max’s Wine Dive, combining downhome comfort foods in large portions with quirky, well-chosen wines (hopefully in large portions as well) became the latest dining darling of Washington Avenue. With some fresh ideas and a brand-new chef in its very open kitchen, Max’s joins us in force to celebrate its first birthday.

HOW SWEET IT IS
As part of our new promotional relationship with Houston’s Health and Fitness Magazine, we have their latest “healthy chef” on the show once a month to talk about what makes his or her food arguably healthy. Not every dish on the menu, in most cases – but some. Our goal, including this week with a chef from Sweet Tomatoes, is to slowly improve our own eating habits without ever losing the excitement and enjoyment of terrific food and wine.

NOT-SO-PLAIN JANE
Jane Weiner is a bit of a local treasure. Long admired by the dance community for her innovative choreography at her Hope Stone dance company, she has become even better known for building her ensemble as an ongoing project devoted to inner-city children. At Hope Stone, in other words, dance is never just for dance’s sake. Jane joins us to talk about her group’s purpose and upcoming performance.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
PHEASANT GRANDMERE

2 pheasant
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
½ cup flour
¼ cup butter
½ cup vegetable oil
8 slices bacon, coarsely cut
12 large mushrooms cut in quarters
1 cup light red wine
2 medium size potatoes, boiled, peeled and cut into ⅛ inch cubes
½ cup pearl onions
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

With a sharp knife remove the four breasts and legs from the two guinea hens. Pull off the skin and discard. Separate the thighs from the drumstick. (The drumstick can be used for soup). With a mallet pound the breasts and thighs lightly, season with salt and dust with flour. In a frying pan heat the oil and sauté the guinea hens over high heat for four minute on each side until golden brown.

Discard the oil, add the butter and sauté for another few minutes. Add bacon and mushrooms and sauté a few minutes longer, until bacon is cooked but not crisp. Add wine, potatoes, and onions. Cover and simmer slowly for 25 minutes. Place the birds on a heated platter, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve with seasonal vegetables of your choice. Serves 4.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR DEC. 29

2007-12-09T10:19:00.002-06:00

This week’s Delicious Mischief comes to you from our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.

A COCKTAIL WITH MANY TALES
Even in Washington, a place with more than a few secrets and quite a few people willing to share them for love or money, the Round Robin Bar at the old Willard Hotel has to take the cake. Or at least, take the cocktail. In recent years expensively and luxuriantly renovated as an Inter-Continental, the hotel nonetheless clings to its history about a block away from the White House from before the Civil War. Head bartender Jim Hewes hasn’t been here quite that long, but he sits down with us in the Round Robin for a drink and a chat about the alcohol that has fueled 150 years of American history.

COOKING RENAISSANCE
No one in Washington seems more aware than Neall Bailey of the dining renaissance the nation’s capital has enjoyed over the past 20 years. Long a South-Meets-Midwest meat-and-potatoes kind of town, Washington has finally embraced the embassies along its famed Embassy Row to serve food and open restaurants from every nook and cranny of the globe. As executive chef at the Willard Inter-Continental, Neall competes with such places for oohs and ahs nightly – in the hotel’s restaurants, its more casual cafes, and its busy catering calendar.

CHEF WITH A PASSION
Some years ago, Jeff Tunks was merely another great chef. Most familiar to Houstonians from the meals he cooked at the ritzy Windsor Court Hotel’s Grill Room in New Orleans, Jeff disappeared from the Gulf Coast’s radar for a while – until he came right back at us, with an eatery called DC Coast in Washington. With that place, Jeff and his two partners in a company called Passion Food started a process that would also give the world Asian food at Ten Penh, Hispanic New World food at Ceiba and, just recently, south Louisiana food at Acadiana. We taste and talk with Jeff about his journey.

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT
David Guas left his hometown of New Orleans to follow his mentor Jeff Tunks to the nation’s capital. Each of the four restaurants Jeff and his partners at Passion Food have opened so far have opened featuring David’s desserts. The only funny part of that is that this whole “pastry chef thing” happened by accident, as most creations in the kitchen do anyway. Now David sits down with us to talk about his brand-new life as a caterer and restaurant consultant. And if your place simply needs some new killer desserts, we imagine he’d be more than happy to oblige.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
TRES LECHES

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
5 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
7 ounces sweetened condensed milk
6 ounces evaporated milk

Topping:
¾ cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Sift together the flour and baking powder. Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla, beating well. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture a little at a time, mixing until incorporated. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool. Pierce the cake with a fork in about 10 places. In a bowl, combine the milk, condensed milk and evaporated milk and pour over the cake. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving. To make the topping, whip together all ingredients until thick and spread over the top of the chilled cake. Serves 6-8.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR DEC. 22

2007-12-09T10:19:00.001-06:00

Today’s Delicious Mischief comes to you from our state’s capital, Austin, recently improved immeasurably by the opening of three Spec’s stores.

A CHEF’S NEW SEASON
Every so many years, at a luxury hotel like the downtown Four Seasons towering above Austin’s Town Lake, it’s simply time for a change. That’s what the powers-that-be decided here recently. That’s what they put their money behind. And that’s what they entrusted to German-born executive chef Elmar Prambs – who has embraced more than a few such changes in his two-plus decades at the Austin property. For our money, the versatile new space called Trio is the hotel’s finest “fine dining” effort yet.

MORE CHANGE AMID CONTINUITY
In recent years, one of the big reasons people came to Austin from elsewhere to eat was the Driskill Grill, stationed at the heart of the history-laden Driskill Hotel. The executive chef for much of this time was David Bull, landing his smiling face on the cover of Food and Wine for his creative use of Texas ingredients and his spirited updates on that first generation of “New Texas Cuisine” – Robert Del Grande, Dean Fearing and Stephan Pyles. We sit down for a tasting with new Driskill Grill chef Josh Watkins, to learn (among others good things) that he was doing lots of cooking and creating in Bull’s kitchen all along.

BARBECUE MOVIN’ ON UP
It’s part of a trend we’re seeing in all the major cities of Texas: traditional Lone Star barbecue treated with respect but also lifted from its casual nature by the use of fresh ingredients, imaginative sauces and a rainbow of meat-friendly appetizers, side dishes and desserts. Some folks call this “fancy barbecue,” and Lou Lambert in Austin’s born-again East End doesn’t mind that one bit. We sit down with Lou at Lambert’s to talk carefully about definitions. Still, with Lou’s background on a West Texas ranch, no one is going to “define” barbecue as anything but his native cuisine.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
SMOKED SAUSAGE QUESO

3/4 pound Texas smoked sausage
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup finely chopped red onion
½ cup finely chopped green bell pepper
3 cups heavy cream
2 ½ cups shredded Monterey Jack
2 ½ cups shredded Pepper Jack
2 teaspoons cornstarch, dissolved in 2 teaspoons water
½ cup chopped green onions
Tortilla chips

In a food processor, pulse the sausage into a fine crumble. Heat the olive oil in a skillet and brown the sausage over medium-high heat. Add the onion and bell pepper, stirring until caramelized, 4-5 minutes. Add the cream, reduce heat to medium and whisk to incorporate. Gradually add in the cheese, stirring until melted and incorporated. Thicken with the dissolved cornstarch. Garnish with green onion. Serve in a bowl with tortilla chops. Serves 10-12.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR DEC. 15

2007-12-09T10:17:00.000-06:00

NEW STEAK IN TOWN
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to your old favorite steakhouse, whatever it might be, along comes Del Frisco’s Double Eagle to try and lure your loyalty away. The latest address in the Galleria’s already-glistening Restaurant Row, Del Frisco’s was born in New Orleans 25 years ago but grew only after it threw in its lot with Dallas and the same people who gave us Sullivan’s. The new, huge and kaleidoscopic Houston location joins others in fun places like Las Vegas and Orlando. GM Arthur Mooradian will surely try to convince us that his place is the most fun of all.

AND… NEW SEAFOOD IN TOWN TOO
Houston, we try to remind ourselves, is positioned more or less on the Gulf of Mexico, and only far enough away from the waves to comfort us during hurricane season. But culturally, this is the Gulf Coast, a geography shared with seafood-loving states like Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. If the location on Montrose were still O’Rourke’s Steakhouse, we probably wouldn’t have them on with Del Frisco’s. As it is, with Danton’s Gulf Coast Seafood joining us in studio, we’ll be able to taste from all the major food groups – and let you join the fun.

‘HIWI’ FOR THE HOLIDAYS
The two guys behind the “Houston. It’s Worth It” marketing campaign have caught a lot of flak over the years, especially from the companies paid big bucks to bring tourists, conventions and businesses to our city. They have prevailed, however, and even won praise from Mayor Bill White for their quirky, honest and “non-promotional” approach to promoting Houston. The campaign, predictably telescoped to HIWI, has inspired first a photography show and now a photography book, filled with images of Houston from you and me. And, it’s just in time for holiday shopping!

A WEE DRAM OF SCOTCH
We always enjoy instruction in the art of enjoying single-malt Scotch – especially when the lesson is delivered by a bona fide Master of Wine. That’s M.W. to you and me. And Lorne Mackillop is precisely that, applying his deep understanding of the grape along with his work as a master blender for the Scotch whisky known as Tomintoul to helping us better understand. As with any art form, many variables come into play and require many separate but related decisions on the part of the blend. Mackillop will tell us all about it in today’s Grape & Grain segment.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
SHINER BOCK BARBECUED CABRITO

1 (5-6 pound) goat hind quarter, cleaned
½ cup prepared mustard
2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
½ cup chopped cilantro
½ cup lemon pepper seasoning
½ cup chili powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 cup butter
1 onion, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 lemons, quartered
2 limes, quartered
1 bottle Shiner Bock beer
2 cups vegetable oil
½ cup Worcestershire sauce

Rub the coat completely with the mustard. Combine the jalapenos and cilantro with seasonings in a large sealable plastic bag and place meat in the bag, turning to cover with seasonings. Close the bag and refrigerate overnight. When ready to cook, melt the butter in a saucepan and cook the onions and garlic in a large saucepan until caramelized. Add the lemons, limes and beer. When the foam subsides, stir in the oil and Worcestershire sauce. Simmer for about 25 minutes.

Prepare the grill for indirect cooking, with soaked mesquite chips for smoke. Remove the meat from the marinade and place directly on the grill and smoke for 2-3 hours, basting regularly with the sauce. When the goat’s internal temperature reaches 155 degrees, wrap it in foil and return to the grill until the internal temperature reaches 185 degrees. Remove from the grill and let meat rest for 20 meats before carving. Serve pieces on a platter with barbecue sauce on the side. Serves 6-8.

OUR REVIEW OF DEL FRISCO'S DOUBLE EAGLE

2007-11-28T08:05:00.000-06:00

You just don’t see many double eagles anymore – unless you frequent cafes favored by extremely old Russian royalists waiting for the Romanovs, like the Old South, to rise again. The double eagle was a symbol of a European royalty both genteel and intermarried, before World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution brought that world crashing down around their heads.

As we see clearly at Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House, the latest entry in Houston’s upscale carnivore wars, royalty loved nothing better than watching other people work. At this sparkling, two-story palace in the Galleria’s growing Restaurant Row, this is accomplished by having the kitchen downstairs and the dining room up – not the best idea for your own house but a fine notion for watching waiters slog plates full and then empty up and down a wide, thoroughly regal staircase. In another doff of the hat to royalty, Del Frisco’s subscribes to a style of service called “swarm,” in which any waiter near enough to help at your table is expected to. The result for diners is feeling pampered and privileged, as though at your manor surrounded by lots of servants. The result is feeling, well, royal.

How Del Frisco’s got to this point is as an odd story, even by restaurant standards. The first Del Frisco’s opened in New Orleans in the early 1980s. Despite some success there, we imagine it ran up against the fact that New Orleans had room in its heart for only one local steakhouse, Ruth’s Chris. As a result, after several years, the place gave up on the Crescent City (as homebase, anyway) and decamped for Dallas – a place with a bigger heart, thicker wallets and a greater sense of dining curiosity. Nothing is worse for restaurant diversity, after all, than too much customer loyalty. Del Frisco’s flourished and flirted, as people, places and things tend to do in Texas, finally arriving at a liaison with Sullivan’s that allowed it to “marry money.” As a result, there are now Double Eagles going gangbusters in dining and convention destinations like Las Vegas, Orlando and New York City. And now… Houston.

There is, without a doubt, a certain sameness in what each major steakhouse can do, whether it’s national chains like Del Frisco’s, Fleming’s or Ruth’s Chris, or proud local upstarts like Pappas Bros., Vic and Anthony’s or Perry’s. USDA Prime steak is a great start, built out with the now-mandatory seafood, plus indulgent and hopefully varied appetizers and side dishes, plus decadent, usually gargantuan desserts. It’s not their fault so many steakhouse menus look alike – it’s ours. We know what we want when we go, more than with most other restaurant concepts. If it wants to win a place in our rotation, a new place in town had better serve what we want.

In some places, appetizers represent the kitchen’s only chance to get wild and crazy. At Del Frisco’s, starters couldn’t be more traditional, but they are wonderful. Shrimp cocktail and New Orleans-style shrimp remoulade (the first of several references to Del Frisco’s long-ago hometown) are first-rate but blown away by the same jumbo shrimp simply marinated Italian-style in olive oil, garlic and onion. Speaking of onion, the rings are thick and lightly batter-fried, and deliriously pumped up with flavor. For soup lovers, the lightly creamed seafood broth is better than the New Orleans turtle. And for salad lovers, there’s a nifty iceberg wedge with homemade blue cheese, or a less fattening tomato and sweet onion that’s as satisfying as it is sprightly. Everything, of course, comes in large amounts on even larger plates, so be prepared to share. Personally, we don’t think non-sharers (you know who you are) should be allowed to dine out anyway.

Del Frisco’s is a steakhouse, and that means it had better serve great steaks. It does, though the art and science of doing so has made that achievement more commonplace now than ever before. Buy prime meat is the start of the mantra, then cook it in high-tech, high-heat broilers that no home chef could afford in a million years, then serve it with panache on large platters with very large knives. Del Frisco’s does that. In the Panache Dept., it offers several cuts familiar with the bone out with the bone in. For all the predictable jokes about eating like Fred Flintstone, cooking meat bone-in is a wonderful play for maximum flavor, even more than it’s a bit of tableside theatrics. We like the bone-in ribeye, strip or porterhouse best, but we’re sure the anti-chew brigade who prefer filet mignon will be happy at Del Frisco’s too.

Lobsters are of the Australian cold-water variety, thick and succulent tails broiled just until a bit caramelized on top. The halibut with citrus vinaigrette is a seafood winner, along with two thick medallions of sushi-grade tuna offered with the perfect interplay of sweetish soy and tiger-stripes of pungent wasabi mayonnaise.

There are more side dishes offered here than the law ought to allow, so just dig in and order your favorites from childhood. In addition to some great (huge, naturally) baked potatoes for sprinkling with Del Frisco’s apple-smoked bacon, get at least the creamed spinach and the incredible creamed white corn. You’re allowed onion rings at this point only if you didn’t have them as your appetizer. Since by now there’s never any room for dessert, have some anyway and cart the rest home. Best bets are the lemon “dauberge” cake (lemon pound cake meets the French New Orleans favorite) and the whipped, air-filled cheesecake with strawberry sauce.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR 12-8

2007-11-27T18:15:00.000-06:00

ITALIAN CAN BE HEALTHY
On this week’s show, we launch a new segment created with the editors of Houston Health & Fitness Magazine and devoted to the secrets of “healthy chefs” all over town. We start the monthly series with Anthony Russo of New York Pizzeria, who shares some of the ways his Italian cuisine is not only one of the world’s most ancient but one of the world’s most life-giving. We agree already, Anthony, but we can’t wait to taste the samples you bring to help make your point. Health & Fitness editor Rod Evans joins the fun.

THE WINE SERENADE
Carlo Cignozzi wanted the vines that produce his wonderful, deep-ruby Il Paradiso di Frassina wines in Tuscany to be healthy. And what better way, he figured, to keep a living thing healthy than to play lovely music for it? In the beginning, he played the accordion in his vineyards, but in moré recent years, first-rate sound technology has rescued him from his vine-side vaudeville act. As Carlo explains (and his wife translates), the Brunello vines of Il Paradiso have not only been carefully crafted but lovingly serenaded with Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi and Scarlatti.

LOOKING FOR GOOD SPACE
In keeping with this show’s theme – talking with one healthy chef and then with the maker of healthy wines – we couldn’t resist also inviting two of the healthiest people we know, pilates master Melody Morton of The Good Space and our yoga instructor Selise Stewart. Both women are remarkable since both have worked in terrific restaurants (Selise as a chef) - and both now manage to be healthy while continuing to enjoy the very best in food and wine. As the holidays make ye olde clothes fit tighter by the day, we ask them in desperation for their secret.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
HONEY-JALAPENO PARTY DIP

1 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 ½ teaspoons seeded and minced jalapenos
4 teaspoons honey
¼ teaspoon Worcestershire
¼ teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

Whisk the mayonnaise with the remaining ingredients, cover and refrigerate. Serve with tortilla chips.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR DEC. 1

2007-11-23T07:34:00.000-06:00

CORK OR NO CORK
Wine lovers everywhere love to pop the cork. But what was once a given of the industry is now more of a question, with traditionalists standing tall for the tradition but a host a growing (and surprising) voices sounding off for artificial corks as well as what we all once dismissed as “screw caps.” Author George Taber, who once chronicled another wine revolution – California’s victory over French wines in 1976 – joins us to talk about his new book. “To Cork or Not to Cork” gives all the arguments for all the sides, in a really fascinating way.

HOP IN THE DIRECTION OF SCOTCH
In the past few months, we’ve been lucky enough to sit down with several representatives of Scotch whiskey distillers and learn more about their revered product – and especially those examples of the tradition now known as “single malt.” We’ve been known to partake happily of blended whiskies from Scotland, so all the better when we sit down for a tasting with our new best from Macallan. We’ll surely taste again how soil, climate and craft affect the taste of a fine Scotch, just as they do a fine wine.

THEATER WITH A MESSAGE
Here, just by chance, is another segment inspired by Scotland. A theater troupe born on that northernmost of British Isles has recently spun off an outlet right here in Houston – and when Acting Up puts on a show, its actors aren’t just hoping for a round of applause. Acting Up does theater with a message in mind, one usually having to do with on-the-job safety, and it puts its talents in service to oilfield companies and others who need to hear it. We chat with the Scottish recruiter who set up the program, and the local actor chosen to make it real.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
WARM GERMAN POTATO SALAD

5 potatoes
½ pound bacon
1 large onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon
½ teaspoon chopped fresh basil
½ cup bacon drippings
½ cup cider vinegar
½ cup water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon celery seed
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Boil the potatoes in salted water until cooked, then peel and slice while still warm. Fry the bacon, drain and crumble. Add the ½ cup bacon drippings to the pan. Saute the onion, celery, tarragon and basil for 5 minutes, then stir in the vinegar and water. Bring to a boil. Add the sugar, cornstarch, salt, celery seed and pepper. Combine the dressing with the potatoes and serve warm. Serves 8.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR NOV. 24

2007-11-18T21:52:00.000-06:00

MOTHER OF MEXICAN CUISINE
For 35 years, Carmen (Titita) Ramirez Degollado has been cooking the food of her native Veracruz in her restaurant in Mexico City. Recently, during the Star Chefs International Congress in New York City, we caught up with Carmen and expressed to her our love of Mexican cooking. Of course, when we say that, we generally mean the Tex-Mex wonders we find here in Houston. So in the course of our interview from New York, we explore the many-splendored differences between Mexico City, Veracruz and the borderlands that have given our world so much flavor.

NOT YOUR GRANDMA’S HAM AND CHEESE
You might think you know all you need to know about prosciutto di Parma and the same city’s globally famous cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano, but that’s hardly what Fabio Trabocchi would say. The chef, who recently uprooted his career from the Washington, D.C. area to the Big Apple, is also the author of a cookbook celebrating the cuisine of his own native region, Le Marche. Not as well-known as Tuscany or Umbria in the north or Calabria or Sicily in the south, Le Marche has inspired a cooking demo of the most intriguing ham and cheese dish we’ve ever tasted. Fabio is here to tell us all about it.

MEANWHILE, A CHEF FROM TEXAS
Of course, to close out a show from New York City, we had to find someone wonderful from Texas. And thato we did – longtime New Southwestern pioneer Stephan Pyles. Along with Houston’s own Robert del Grande of Café Annie and Dean Fearing of the Mansion on Turtle Creek, Stephan provided a seriousness and credibility that a cuisine based on chicken fried steak and a handful of chile peppers had long lacked. We touch base with Stephan about the state of Texas fine dining – and about his current project in Dallas, a place called… Stephan Pyles.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
SALAD GREENS WITH PROSCIUTTO DI PARMA
AND WARM BALSAMIC DRESSING

Few of us are capable (or interested) enough to make Chef Fabio Trabochhi’s version of ham and cheese, a kind of cheese ice cream with ground prosciutto sprinkled on top like nuts. Here’s a much simpler to prepare and enjoy these two classic products from Parma.

6 cups mixed salad greens, torn in bite-size pieces
3 ounces thinly sliced Prosciutto di Parma cut in wide strips (about 1 cup), divided
3/4 cup lightly packed Parmigiano Reggiano shavings (about 1-1/2 ounces), divided
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts, divided
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion, divided
1 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves, torn
1/2 cup bottled balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing

In a large bowl, toss the greens with half the Prosciutto di Parma, Parmigiano Reggiano, pine nuts, red onion and all of the basil. Pour the balsamic dressing into a microwavable cup and heat just until warm, about 30 seconds; pour over salad and toss gently. Divide salad among four plates. Garnish with remaining Prosciutto di Parma, Parmigiano Reggiano, pine nuts and onion rings. Serves 4.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR NOV. 17

2007-11-08T15:24:00.000-06:00

THOUGHTS ON STAR CHEFS
Recently, Delicious Mischief traveled to New York City – to a new highrise overlooking the site of the former World Trade Center, in fact – for an annual event called the Star Chefs Congress. Though at times no more impactful than the Congress in Washington, this event offered a chance to record several shows for you featuring chefs whose reputations transcend the ones we know in Houston. It also was a great chance to check out dishes and ingredients and ideas destined to turn up on all our plates very soon, since that’s what all the chefs in attendance were talking about.

WINES FROM BRAZIL
It’s a safe statement that these days the wines we find on the shelves of Spec’s hail from countries we didn’t even knew produced wine a mere generation ago. That doesn’t mean the wine operations there are “new,” since some have histories going back a century or more. But our awareness of them is new. On this week’s Grape & Grain segment, we sit down for a tasting in New York City with two leading wine people from Brazil to tell us all the whys and wherefores – one a representative of the industry itself, the other a member of the Miolo family that brought its Italian winemaking heritage to this brave new world.

THE ART OF THE DEAL
Most people who talk about opening a restaurant assume they’ll make a small fortune doing it. And, to quote the old joke, unless you’re starting with a large fortune, that’s highly unlikely. Restaurant ownership is a complicated and difficult way to make a few bucks, even though most of the chefs attending the StarChefs Congress were hoping for their own place someday. In our final segment, we talk seriously with a globetrotting consultant named Adam Block, who has put together a lot of those “celeb chef” restaurant deals that have transformed Las Vegas and virtually everywhere else.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
APPLE-BRINED SMOKED TURKEY

1 ¾ quarters apple juice
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup kosher salt
3 quarts water
3 Texas oranges, quartered
6 slices fresh ginger
15 whole cloves
5 bay leaves
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 (14-pound) turkey, cleaned
¼ cup olive oil

Bring the apple juice, brown sugar and salt to a boil. Dissolve the sugar, cook for 1 minute and remove from heat. Let mixture cool to room temperature. In a large (5-gallon) container, combine the water, oranges, ginger, cloves, bay leaves and garlic. Stir in the apple juice mixture. Submerge the turkey in this apple “brine,” cover and refrigerate for 24 hours. (Use heavy weight to keep turkey submerged, if necessary.)

Set up your grill for indirect cooking using soaked wood chips for smoke. Remove the turkey from the brine and pat dry. Tie the legs together with string. Lightly brush the turkey with olive oil. Set on a rack inside a heavy foil pan and cook over medium heat until wings are golden brown, about 45 minutes. Wrap the wings in foil to prevent them from burning. Continue roasting until the breasts are golden brown, about 1 hour. Cover entire turkey with foil and cook until the juices run clear when the meat is pierced with a knife, or the internal temperature reaches about 180 degrees. Estimate: 12-14 minutes per pound. Transfer turkey wrapped in foil to a cutting board and let meat rest for 20 minutes before carving. Use the pan drippings to make a gravy, if desired. Serves 8-10.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR NOV. 10

2007-10-30T08:48:00.000-06:00

ROOM TO GROW AT LA VISTA
Seems like just a few short years ago, the Houston eatery called La Vista was known as “that place you bring you own wine” – one of the few, in fact, that didn’t punish you for doing so with exorbitant “corkage fees.” These days, not only is owner Greg Gordon perfectly happy to sell you “his” wines if you prefer, and not only has he sprouted a new second location, and not only has he started serving lunch instead of dinner-only – he has one of those wine-themed private dining rooms that his fans are lining up to reserve.

NEVER TOO MUCH PIZZA
That’s our opinion, and it seems to be Anthony Russo’s opinion as well. While most things wouldn’t get very far in Houston on the strength of mentioning “New York” in their name – picture that wonder we’d call “New York Barbecue,” for instance – the tag definitely works for pizza. The style of pizza formed in Little Italy there as much as a century ago has become the standard for pizza in America. Sorry, Chicago. And Russo is now opening his 20th location of his New York Pizzeria in Houston to prove it.

A YEAR AT SEA
When the Oceanaire Seafood Room opened a year ago in the Galleria’s a’borning Restaurant Row, looking for all the world like an elegant 1930s ocean liner, it was easy enough to make jokes about a seafood restaurant company based far inland in Minneapolis. But thanks to the hard work of executive chef Trevor White, we here on the seafood-rich Gulf Coast have learned in the past 12 months to take Oceanaire very seriously. Trevor joins us in the studio to tell us all about the things he’s learned from us.

THAT OLE ‘GYPSY’ SPIRIT
In her lifetime, Gypsy Rose Lee became an American cultural icon – not bad for someone who was sort of a stripper. Out of her life filled with flash and dazzle came at least one musical filled with much the same, and that is the latest production at the Hobby Center from the ever-ambitious Masquerade Theatre. On today’s show, we’ll discuss the joys of “Gypsy” with artistic director Phillip Duggins and one of the show‘s stars, the incessantly dazzling Rebekah Dahl. We asked them to maybe send us a stripper, but then decided: No, that’s that other guy’s radio show.

THUNDER HEART BISON FAJITAS

1 pound Texas bison skirt or flank steak
Juice of 3 limes
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 large onion, sliced
1 large green bell pepper, sliced
1 large tomato, chopped
Prepared guacamole
Prepared sour cream
Prepared tomato salsa
4 corn or flour tortillas, warmed

Using a mallet, pound the meat to about ½ inch thick, then place in a plastic bag with the lime juice, salt, garlic powder, chili powder and black pepper. Seal bag and marinate in the refrigerator about 8 hours. When ready to grill, caramelized the onion and bell pepper slices in a pan with a little olive oil. Remove the meat from the marinade and grill over mesquite goals to about medium rare, 2-3 minutes per side. Thinly slice the meat. Serve the bison slices atop the caramelized onion and bell pepper, with chopped tomato, guacamole, sour cream, salsa and warm tortillas on the side. Serves 6-8.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR NOV. 3

2007-10-25T06:46:00.000-06:00

A TIME-FREE ZONE
The Texas Renaissance Festival may have a specific period in its name, but that doesn’t keep employees and casual celebrants from tiptoeing through about 500 years of extremely vague history. Still, one guy at the festival who tries NOT to is chef Charles Prince. As the man in charge of the bawdy King’s Feast at the RenFest each year, Prince spends a good deal of his time researching which foods and drinks were enjoyed when. It’s only after they’ve passed historical muster that this chef lets himself (and his guests) start having fun with them.

BEER LOVERS DELIGHT
At any Renaissance festival, you’d expect something billed as a “beer tasting” to get pretty wild, in a room filled with ham-fisted lords and cleavage-ridden ladies knocking back brews less than likely to be distinguished. But after a recent rethinking, this is no longer the case. The daily beer tasting actually supplies attendees with solid information on beer itself – you know, yeast for fermentation, malts and hops, that sort of thing – as it travels through fascinating different brews from England, Wales, Belgium and Germany. We do the tasting ourselves in today’s Grape & Grain segment.

IN THE MARKET FOR A MEAL
First and foremost, the Texas Renaissance Festival is a festival, and that points us toward row after row of food and drink vendors. In today’s show, we wander about tasting things – one of our favorite activities on earth – and settle in to chat with a pair of cooks who’ve parlayed their cooking into an annual gig. Ligia Giles, known as the Empanada Lady, has been hawking her delicious Latin-flavored wares here for 31 years, while relative newcomer Rhonni DuBose has turned her Queen’s Pantry into THE place for breakfast on the colorful fairgrounds near Plantersville.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
THE KING’S SALT-CRUSTED PRIME RIB

4 pounds beef prime ribeye
¼ cup chopped garlic
½ cup kosher salt
4 tablespoons fresh or dried rosemary
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 ounce extra-virgin olive oil

Dry the roast completely with a paper towels. Combine salt crust ingredients then rub a few tablespoons. of this mixture into the surface of the roast. Place roast on a wire rack in a 2 inch deep roasting pan. Cover roast with the remaining crust mixture on top and sides of the piece try to spread evenly and leave the bottom bare of the crust. Roast in oven at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. the garlic should brown a bit. Reduce oven temperature to 300 F and roast until the roast reaches an internal temperature of 125 F. about and 1 ½ hours on a 4-5 Lb roast about a half of a prime rib. Larger roast of 8-12 Lb. takes about 1-hour more. Allow to rest for 30 minutes before serving.

Chef Charles Prince says: “The roasting of beef is a simple process that we tend to make difficult with formulas for cooking times that many times result in the roast being over cooked. Internal temperature is the best guide. The crusting is added before cooking. If you leave the crust on overnight the salt will begin to “corn” as in corned beef - the flesh takes on a pink hue from the salt. This can be a good or bad thing. It makes the finished product more forgiving in the color for presentation. The drawback if left overnight is that even if overcooked it will keep a pink color. Patrons who prefer their meat ‘well done,’ with no pink color, can be a problem.”

SHOW & RECIPE FOR OCT. 27

2007-10-18T07:22:00.000-06:00

PIZZAS FROM CALIFORNIA
One night about 20 years ago, we found ourselves hungry in Beverly Hills – and wandered into the very first California Pizza Kitchen. Loosely inspired by the kinds of things Wolfgang Puck and his ilk were doing – putting anything and everything on a pizza – CPK grew to a powerful national restaurant presence, with a frozen pizza line in your supermarket. For the recent opening of CPK in River Oaks, we sat down with founders Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfeld to talk about the whys and wherefores of great pizza.

BACK ON THE BUS
Well, OK, more like a luxury RV, actually. That’s what Fred Noe of Jim Beam and its higher-end bourbon brethren was doing when he poured through Houston recently. He was celebrating National Bourbon Month, naturally, but also paying homage to the fact that Texans buy more of his best stuff than anybody else in America. With a bit of a tasting, as is our habit in the Grape & Grain segment, we get Fred to tell us all about what makes a great bourbon – and just why bourbon from his neck of the woods in Kentucky is the Great American Spirit.

“INTER” AND SIGN IN, PLEASE
Most people know William Shakespeare wrote some really famous plays, and quite a few people have heard whisperings that maybe things were not always what they seemed – that maybe somebody else wrote those plays, etc. Yet not too many of us know or understand The Bard well enough to concoct a “Da Vinci Code”-style thriller around the mysteries – called “secrets” by the marketing department, of course - that have attached themselves to Hamlet, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar and the rest. Our final guest today is the author of the terrific new mystery “Interred With Their Bones.”

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
SMOKED SAUSAGE QUESO

3/4 pound Texas smoked sausage
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup finely chopped red onion
½ cup finely chopped green bell pepper
3 cups heavy cream
2 ½ cups shredded Monterey Jack
2 ½ cups shredded Pepper Jack
2 teaspoons cornstarch, dissolved in 2 teaspoons water
½ cup chopped green onions
Tortilla chips

In a food processor, pulse the sausage into a fine crumble. Heat the olive oil in a skillet and brown the sausage over medium-high heat. Add the onion and bell pepper, stirring until caramelized, 4-5 minutes. Add the cream, reduce heat to medium and whisk to incorporate. Gradually add in the cheese, stirring until melted and incorporated. Thicken with the dissolved cornstarch. Garnish with green onion. Serve in a bowl with tortilla chops. Serves 10-12.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR OCT. 20

2007-10-10T06:49:00.000-06:00

COWBOY MAGIC WITH BEEF
In cowboy-crazed Abilene (in fact, in the tiny village of Buffalo Gap just outside it), Tom Perini has been cooking true to his roots as long as anybody can remember. And in addition to his destination Perini Ranch Steakhouse – a “real joint,” he calls it - Tom has a peculiar habit of catering dinner parties as far away as Washington and even in Europe. We sit down with this master of the modern chuckwagon and hear all about what it takes to cook Texas food both downhome and a few thousand miles removed from it.

NEW BOOK OF VINEYARD CUISINE
Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo have been two of the icons of the Texas wine industry from the beginning. Their Messina Hof label (the name combines their family hometowns in Sicily and Germany) is likely to show up in any setting that welcomes wine from the Lone Star State – and to hear Paul and Merrill tell it, there’s more such settings all the time. In today’s Grape and Grain segment, they report not only on the state of Texas wines but on their brand-new cookbook from Bright Sky Press.

ONLY IN AMERICA
Around Texas towns like Albany and Abilene, there is the standard-issue presumption of a rugged all-Americanism going back generations. Indeed, several local ranch family histories show precisely that. But one of the area’s most beloved restaurant families actually left Iran when the Ayatollah-types took over and started on the long road to – well, West Texas. Today, two generations of the Esfandiarys cook and serve some of the best chicken fried steak and all its culinary kin you’ll ever lift to your lips.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipes…
BRISKET-STUFFED 1015 ONIONS

10 large Texas 1015 onions
1 pound smoked beef brisket, shredded
½ teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon sage
½ teaspoon ground red pepper
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup unseasoned bread crumbs

Peel the onions and boil in salted water about 10 minutes, then drain reserving the water. Cut the centers from the onions to create shells. Heat the shredded brisket in a sauté pan, adding the garlic and seasonings. Stir over medium heat about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the bread crumbs. Spoon the brisket stuffing into the onions and set in a shallow baking dish. Add enough of the reserved onion water to cover the bottom of the dish. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven until onions are tender, about 45 minutes. Serves 10.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR OCT. 13

2007-10-04T16:07:00.000-06:00

Delicious Mischief is broadcasting this week from New Orleans…

GALATOIRE’S IN A NEW AGE
In all of tradition-heavy New Orleans, there is perhaps no other restaurant so tradition-heavy, from its recipes to its service style to its table-visiting clientele, as Galatoire’s in the French Quarter. But in the two-plus years since Hurricane Katrina, even an institution like Galatoire’s has been forced to reinvent itself.

MEMORIES OF GRAND ISLE
For many who grew up in New Orleans, especially in those simpler times between the end of World War II and the Kennedy assassination, there are few memories as warm as those of summers at Grand Isle. Restaurateur Joel Dondis has made that the name of his newest eatery, and he has adapted and adopted the recipes to make the nostalgia stick.

TROPICAL LATITUDES
Chef Dominique Macquet grew up in the tropics – the isle of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. So a few years back, when he felt the need for fresh inspiration at his French Quarter restaurant called Dominique’s, he found it in memories of blue water and white sand. His new cookbook “Dominique’s Tropical Latitudes” is all about looking back in order to move forward.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
DOMINIQUE’S LEMONGRASS PANNA COTTA
WITH PASSION FRUIT PUREE

1 quart heavy cream
1 ½ cups whole milk
½ cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean
2-3 stalks lemongrass
4-5 sheets unflavored gelatin
½ cup prepared passion fruit puree

Lemon Filling:
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
¾ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 ¾ sticks unsalted butter
8 egg yolks, beaten
1/3 cup cornstarch

Bring the cream and milk to a boil with the sugar, vanilla bean and lemongrass, then remove from heat and let flavors infuse for 1 hour. Bring back to a boil. Soften the relatin in 2 cups cool water and stir into the hot mixture until completely dissolved. Strain into a container with a pouring spout, and then pour into martini glasses. Refrigerate until set, 4-5 hours.

Meanwhile, make the Lemon Filling by heating ½ the sugar with all the lemon juice and butter until the butter melts. In a bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks with the cornstarch and remaining sugar. Add this to the mixture over heat, stirring continually until thickened. Transfer to a bowl and chill in the refrigerator. Use to fill cleaned egg shells and serve alongside the panna cotta. Top the panna cotta with passion fruit puree. Serves 6.

OUR REVIEW OF VIN

2007-10-03T07:57:00.000-06:00

Bayou Place in downtown Houston is very popular with film buffs, who often vote the Angelica their favorite set of screens. And the development sits in the middle of prime real estate for the performing arts, just about equidistant from the Alley, the Wortham, Jones Hall and the Hobby Center. Sadly, unless you count Hard Rock Café as your favorite dining destination, Bayou Place hasn’t rung many culinary bells lately. All that is in the process of changing, however, and we think the new restaurant and wine bar spelled Vin is a major part of the change.

If you want to pronounce Vin correctly, just pretend there’s an “e” at the end – for yes, it is pronounced “vine.” That’s a pretty cool name for a wine bar, unless people walk about all day rhyming it with “sin,” or more appropriately, with “zin.” Zinfandel is only one of many well-chosen and often-quirky wines sold by the bottle or, better still, by the glass at Vin. If you’re really in a hurry to make the start of a show, you might drop in for a glass of wine and one or two of the appetizers. The kitchen can react quickly to requests placed under deadline – and they’ll be honest if this or that dish can’t be done. On the other hand, get downtown early enough for a full dinner and you’ll have to park only once. You’ll find yourselves in a stylish, sexy, tending-toward-Asian dining room, gazing at a menu with more than its share of curiosities and surprises.

Tucked away within all the great bottles and Chef Jared Estes’ sprightly New American-with-splashes-of-Deep-South menu, Houston has a business reason to be proud of this place. The developers of Bayou Place are looking at Vin as a “test case” for their multi-use projects in other American downtowns. As Houston eats, therefore, so eats the nation. Based on one recent fly-by before a movie and then a full-bore, multi-course dinner experience, downtown America may await a splashy red-and-black evening-out at its very own Vin in the near future.

As though knowing there would be “fly-bys” on the way to this or that performance, Estes has served up an unusually long and varied list of appetizers, including some things that (based on similar chefs we know) are probably among his personal favorites. There’s a foie gras starter (not described in detail because it’s “today’s interpretation”) and another made with the current chef’s rage, pork belly. The later is a hot-sweet delight that’s chile-crusted then balanced with figs, dates and pistachios. Still, what we like best about Vin’s menu starts to crop as early as the appetizers: a passionate effort to incorporate comfort foods from the South among dishes that seem to hail resolutely from someplace resembling California.

Best bets from among these delightfully “upscale redneck” classics include shrimp and grits, the single most beloved dish of the Carolina Low Country, and a very nice quail – sitting there in all its Texas hunting-season glory but given twists by roasted sweet Walla Walla onions (try to get the Texas 10/15s, chef), gorgonzola and local honey comb. The list of must-try starters doesn’t stop there, though. Check out the glorious agnolotti – bigger, plumper versions of ravioli in a parmesan broth with thankfully-not-too-much black truffle oil – and the grilled (not batter-fried) calamari, taking the strange form of the Tuscan bread salad called panzanella. Lastly, you shouldn’t leave without the “Hot Pot,” a loving spin on those Chinese dumplings, in a kind of consommé with several crispy tempura shiitake lying about.

When it comes time for a main courses, seafood lovers might go with our recommendation: oat-crusted scallops with truffled corn orzo and what Estes is billing as “miso mostarda.” We have no idea what that name means here, but the addition of a pungent mustard sauce is as delicious as it is unexpected. The mandatory salmon comes creatively outfitted, from its oyster mushrooms to its Jerusalem artichokes to its light, mildly Cajunized tasso broth. Diners on a red meat-quest at Vin should go for either the filet, which tastes lightly smoked in addition to perfectly broiled, and sits beneath a smoked rock shrimp with a side of (enjoy the quotation marks) “mashed potatoes and gravy,” or perhaps the lamb strip loin. These last tender strips would be wonderful enough by themselves, but they’re even better sprinkled with Mexican cotija cheese and the crunch of pickled jicama.

On the night we went to Vin, there were six desserts available – and we did a tasting of all six, as can you. Dessert portions are smallish, perhaps an issue in side-of-cake-loving Houston; but the pleasures can be pretty intense. Our favorites included the unusual-sounding gingered strawberry and apricot goat cheese crisp (don’t argue, just enjoy) and the bittersweet chocolate and Grand Marnier “cobbler” with butter brittle. Some of the language seems invented to sell, but the tastes and textures of dessert at Vin are often marvelous. You know, maybe if you can’t make it in before your show, you can still swing by for dessert and a glass of wine after. It’s a thought!

SHOW & RECIPE FOR OCT. 6

2007-09-26T06:02:00.000-06:00

DINNER WITH TEQUILA
When wine dinners started opening the door to “cognac dinners” and then Scotch or bourbon dinners, we knew the door would not be closing again. It was only a matter of time before the finer Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants in our area started experimenting with tequila dinners. While hardly the first event of its kind, the upcoming dinner at Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen does allow us to taste tequilas again with our friend Carlos Camarena of El Tesoro. Sylvia should join us in the studio as well, to talk about pairing foods with top-shelf tequilas.

A HEALTHY FALL
With the start of autumn, we might actually get some cooler weather one of these days. But we’ve already seen the debut of another cultural and social season, and that means more dining out. We’ll be checking in, therefore, with our favorite healthy chef, Marcela Perez, to see what she’s got on the stove as an alternative to the buttery-creamy dishes our nights out tend to provide. And we’ll hear too, from fellow radio host Cleverley Stone and our friends at End Hunger Network, about Houston Restaurant Week. It’s a welcome reminder of the many who can’t even get enough to eat, even when we are eating too much.

CLASSIC FROM THE CELLAR
There’s a new food and wine event in town, this one pairing up not only some interesting wines but a colorful collection of local and national celebrity chefs, sommelier competitions, a farmers market and live music. We’ll hear all about the Houston Cellar Classic from chef Jonathan Jones of Max’s Wine Dive, who’s been known to serve us very large portions when the mood strikes him. We’re always happy to welcome another chance for Houstonians to eat and drink.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
CRAWFISH KACAL
Brennan’s of Houston

Sauce:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ pound andouille or other spicy smoked sausage, sliced ¼-inch thick and cut into half-moons
2 pounds crawfish tail meat
1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup brandy
½ cup whipping cream
1 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup chopped tomato
1 pound angel hair pasta, cooked
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion
Boiled whole crawfish for garnish

Prepare the sauce by heating the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, adding sausage and cooking until fat is rendered. Add crawfish rails and sauté 2-3 minutes, then add Creole seasoning and hot sauce, Worcestershire and brandy. Reduce heat to medium and cook until liquid is reduced by half. Add cream and reduce until liquid is reduced by half. Reduce heat to medium-low and add butter a cube ot two at a time, stirring each addition to incorporate. Heat half the 6 tablespoons of butter in another large skillet. Saute the tomato, then stir in the pasta. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the remaining butter. To serve, spiral the pasta (using a fork or tongs) into the center on individual bowls. Spoon the sauce around the pasta. Garnish with green onion and whole crawfish. Serves 6.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR SEPT. 29

2007-09-20T09:25:00.000-06:00

OF COURSE IT’S GREEK TO ME
One of our favorite weekends of this or any other year, the first one in October, is right around the corner. For today’s show, we go into the kitchen with Houston’s own Greek community, perhaps even lending a hand in their Herculean effort to feed the multitudes during the annual Greek Festival. There is this notion going around that if you attend the wonderful fest filled with food, wine, music and art, you too can be Greek for the day. That sounds good, naturally, but we think it’s even better that our own very real Greek-Americans work hard all year to make this festival their gift to the community.

WINES FROM THE ANCIENTS
In honor of this year’s Greek Festival, we sit down for a tasting with Greek wine importer Konstantine Drougos. Most people who like wine can guess the ancient Greeks pioneered a lot of techniques for making the stuff 2,000 or even 3,000 years ago. On the other hand, says Konstantine, in recent years the reputation of wines from Greece has suffered from cheap imports and a lot of confusion with things like retsina and ouzo. Our guy is a man with a mission: share some of the best wines now being produced in Greece with a world unlikely to know they exist.

THE ROOM THAT FRED BUILT
Our friend Kevin Simon, who teaches courses in wine at the University of Houston’s hotel and restaurant management program, takes us into his building’s brand-new boardroom filled with wines you just don’t see very often. Thanks to the bequest of Houston attorney (and wine lover) Fred Parks, there’s a new meeting space available to the public, blending wines 50, 75 or even 100 years old with all the latest audio and video technology. We‘ll make it clear to Kevin, however, that lifting a glass may be about as technical as we are likely to get.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
COUSCOUS MARRAKESH

1 pound uncooked couscous
1 cup cold water
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped onions
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
½ teaspoon ground saffron
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ cup peanut oil
2 ½ pounds boneless lamb, cut in 2-inch cubes
2 quarts water
1 (3-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut in 1-inch pieces
2 green bell peppers, cut in ½-inch strips
1 pound tomatoes, cut in 1-inch wedges
1 pound yellow squash, peeled and cut in 2-inch slices
12 ounces frozen string beans (regular cut)
1 cup chickpeas (garbanzos)
½ pound black raisins
Salt and black pepper
Parsley sprigs

Moisten the couscous in a 3-quart bowl with the 1 cup of water, to which 1 tablespoon of salt has been added. Stir up with a fork and allow to stand 10 minutes to swell. Spread the couscous out in a colander lined with cheese cloth (or in the top of a couscousiere). Place the colander over a pan that fits it and is half filled with water. Cover with aluminum foil and allow to steam for 10 minutes. In a 6-quart kettle (or bottom of couscousiere), sauté the onions, coriander, salt, crushed red pepper, saffron and cumin in the oil until soft but not brown. Add the lamb and 2 quarts water. Fit the colander (or top of couscousiere) with the steamed couscous over the meat, cover it with foil, and allow mixture to simmer gently for 30 minutes.

Add the chicken to the stew and continue cooking for 30 minutes longer. Stir the couscous from time to time to make sure the grains are separated. Add the carrots, green peppers, tomatoes, squash, string beans, chickpeas and raisins. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until vegetables are soft but still slightly crisp. Pour the couscous into a large (15- to 18-inch) round serving platter. Make a large hole in the center, pushing the couscous to the edge of platter. Arrange meat and vegetables attractively in center, pouring the sauce over all. Garnish with the parsley sprigs. Serves 8.

Note: A couscousiere is a large double boiler with holes in the bottom of the upper pot that allow its contents to steam. A couscousiere may be improvised by lining a metal colander with cheese cloth and placing the colander in a 6- or 8-quart pot so that the handles rest on the rim. A piece of heavy-duty foil can serve as a lid.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR SEPT. 22

2007-09-20T09:22:00.000-06:00

A GROOVY KIND OF SUSHI
Lovers of sushi bars often feel quite at home in places they’ve never been – such is the traditional, almost classical nature of the sushi chef’s art. Still, and happily for those a little less sold on the whole idea, some sushi places go gunning for hip by creating new tastes and textures within the basic genre. RA Sushi in Highland Village would be one of Houston’s most likely sushi places to find something new – and Chef Jerry Jan joins us in studio to show exactly what intriguing creations he and his mates in the kitchen have recently added to the menu.

FROM HOUSTON TO BURGUNDY
Melba Allen was born in Galveston and grew up in Houston, neither place particularly likely to ever produce some of the world’s finest wines. That certainly can’t be said of the place she lives and works now, the legendary French wine region of Burgundy. During a visit to see her family and friends in Houston, Melba (now Melba Allen-Buillard) talks about the changes in life that have taken her from a modeling career to teaching “wine science” at a French university. She also shares details of a product she and her “oenologue” husband are marketing.

MIXING AND MATCHING ASIA
We have to admit an ongoing fascination with the very idea of “pan Asian” cuisine. Several restaurants talk about it, but a new place called Rattan actually puts the words in its name. Thank goodness, they’re not touting “fusion” as well, since there’s an idea who’s marketing moment has come and gone. The fusion of many cuisines goes on around the world, of course; it’s just not a saleable gimmick anymore. We speak with the owners of Rattan about exactly what they have in mind and in the kitchen.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
RAINBOW TOWER SALAD
Randy Chou, Café le Jadeite

Dressing:
2 tablespoons prepared apricot glaze
2 teaspoons hot mustard
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

½ cup finely chopped mango
½ cup finely chopped avocado
½ cup finely chopped tomato

Prepare the dressing by whisking together all ingredients. Prepare the tower by setting a small cylinder mold on a plate and creating a bottom layer with about half the mango, followed by half the avocado and half the tomato. Gently press the layers down using the bottom of a cordial glass. Invert the tower onto a salad plate and generously spoon the dressing over the top and around the sides. Repeat for an additional salad. Serves 2.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR SEPT. 15

2007-09-06T11:51:00.000-06:00

WHAT AM I BID FOR…?
There are wine dinners nearly every week around Houston, and some blessed weeks indulge in more than one. Still, it is a rarity when one of the city’s most innovative chefs teams up with the tradition-laden auction house called Sotheby’s to produce a great menu and a wine collection worthy of it. That’s what Chef Ryan Pera of 17 at the Hotel Alden joins us in the studio to talk about, both the wines that will be poured and the creative dishes he has come up with to showcase them.

RUNNING WITH WINE BOTTLES
The fact that Washington State produces some of America’s best wines shouldn’t be “new news” to anyone who’s been paying attention, but like every other wine region, Washington has its ups and downs – starting with the fact that everybody not there thinks only of Seattle and imagines the place rains all the time. Not so, says winemaker Kerry Norton of Covey Run: the main producing area is east of the mountains, away from the ocean, and likely as not to be dry. In today’s Grape & Grain segment, we taste our way through the wines Norton makes, learning every sip of the way.

WEEKEND OF CONTEMPORARY DANCE
Those listeners who enjoy both traditional ballet and contemporary “modern dance” must be aware we live in a city with much to offer. Between the big productions staged by Houston Ballet and the dozen or so smaller groups worthy of our attention, dance lovers are seldom all dressed up (or not) with no place to go. We chat with the principals involved in the upcoming Weekend of Contemporary Dance, a gathering place for creativity that culminates with free performances at Miller Outdoor Theater. The interview, like dance itself, should be lively.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
OPEN-FACED HOT MUFFALETTA

Olive Salad:
1 cup coarsely chopped, pitted, large green Greek olives
1 cup coarsely chopped queen size Manzanilla olives with pimentos
1 (15.5 ounce) jar Italian giardiniera vegetables, chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1 tablespoon Roasted Garlic Puree
2 teaspoons capers, drained and rinsed
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 15-inch loaf French bread
¼ pound sliced Genoa salami
¾ pound sliced provolone cheese
¼ pound sliced baked ham
¼ pound sliced mortadella

Prepare the Olive Salad by combining all ingredients in a large bowl. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before using. Slice French bread in half lengthwise. Lay open halves on a baking sheet and spread the tops with olive salad, using about 1 cup and reserving the remainder in the refrigerator. Divide the salami over the sandwiches, followed by half the cheese, the ham and the mortadella. Top with the remaining provolone. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil from the Olive Salad, if desired. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for about 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted, then broil for 2-3 minutes to turn the top golden brown. Slice each open-faced sandwich into 8 pieces and serve. Makes 16 pieces.

OUR REVIEW OF POLO'S SIGNATURE

2007-09-05T16:19:00.000-06:00

Strategically positioned between River Oaks and Tanglewood, Post Oak Grill turned out to be quite the home run for Chef Polo Becerra. The Mexico City native poured ample flair into the mostly traditional cuisine there, but also never lost sight of his restaurant’s true mission as upscale watering hole and really classy pickup bar. When Post Oak Grill was having a good night, you could probably spot the decrease in recently and soon-to-be divorced traffic at the Palm.

Still, when Becerra decided to open a restaurant more devoted to food – and a newer, more youthful version of food at that – he was smart enough to gather the best help money could buy. To run the kitchen at what he called Polo’s Signature, he raided the kitchen at Mark’s and came away with Adam Puskorius as his executive chef. And to run the dining room, he lucked into the near-legendary Jon Paul, a household word among the well-heeled for his years at Brennan’s of Houston and especially at tony’s. The fact that Paul had recently extricated himself from an ill-fated entrepreneurial venture called Sabor on Montrose nailed the biblical adage that all things work for the good. Doing a bit of prospecting himself, Paul brought along his right-hand guy from tony’s, Cesar Ebora, to serve as wine manager.

It goes without saying that the phrase “New American Cuisine” is as meaningless as can be. Initially, it probably meant something – like when Jeremiah Tower was cooking it for Alice Waters at Chez Panisse. In the decades since then, however, the vague grasp the phrase exerted on meaning has been pressed aside by the service of almost anything alongside almost anything else. And since “American cuisine” can arguably include anything our nation can include, no one had quite the clout to make a useful definition stick. At Polo’s Signature, New American Cuisine apparently refers to the melting-pot bag of tricks that a chef can draw from. At their best, we’re totally happy to let chefs Polo and Adam keep drawing, based on their own inclinations, and totally ready to forget those chefs who didn’t draw so well or so wisely.

Among the appetizers at Polo’s Signature, you might follow your normal Texas inclinations to anything that sounds the least bit Tex-Mex. The shrimp empanadas with roasted avocado salsa are extraordinary, as are the beef tenderloin tostadas with smoked jalapeno avocado sauce and even the weirder goat cheese lamb enchiladas with roasted pacilla sauce and toasted pumpkin seeds. Starters shine, however, even removed from Tex-Mex. Check out the light but satisfying Tuscan soup with pulled chicken, cous cous (more Sicilian than Tuscan, honestly) and spinach, or any from the dazzling collection of salads. Best bet from these is probably the fried oyster in warm pancetta vinaigrette, our beloved Italian bacon working its sweet-smoky magic on spinach, frisee and arugula. If it’s offered as a special, be sure to order the lobster salad with fresh tropical fruits, candied pecans and tequila-lime vinaigrette.

From a practical standpoint, the list of entrees is ambitious – 13 selections of seafood and meat, plus six more items described as Steaks and Chops. Our favorite seafoods here are the pan-seared sushi-grade Hawaiian tuna, paired with jasmine fried rice and ginger sake sauce plus those slices of pickled ginger we all love from sushi bars, and the hyper-fresh roasted Chilean sea bass with braised fennel, saffron sauce and some deliriously good whipped potatoes. Among the meats, we love the tender grilled lamb loin with roasted garlic rosemary sauce. Of course, we might love anything that came with the confusingly described but dead-on comfort food “Gouhda cured Ham Mac and Cheese.” Whatever language that’s attempting to be, we intend to become fluent.

Desserts change day to day, with no “menu” except a tray that shows up when appropriate. Still, in the months Polo’s Signature has been open, a certain sizzle has attached itself to the three-layer chocolate mousse cake, the carrot cake with coconut-cream cheese icing, and the banana-pineapple bread pudding with chocolate-cognac sauce. Best of all, if you ask, Cesar Ebora might splash the bread pudding with some extra Pierre Ferrand cognac – one more example, if one more were needed, of Polo’s Signature getting it right.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR SEPT. 8

2007-08-30T14:00:00.000-06:00

ARMANDO’S REDUX
It wasn’t too long ago that one of the hottest restaurants in Houston was called Armando’s – a place that blended the joys of our beloved Tex-Mex cuisine with the joys of seeing and being seen, a social gathering place by way of upscale watering hole. That era at Armando’s ended, leaving its owner to concentrate on founding a museum for Latin American art. Now, Armando Palacios is back in the food business, and he joins us in the studio to tell us what’s old – and of course, what’s new, starting with a brand-new location.

THE CODE OF DA VINCI
Before Da Vinci came to be understood as Leonardo’s last name, it was the town from which he hailed in the Tuscany region of Italy. And some of the greatest things Leonardo DIDN’T invent were the wines of this lovely area, including world-famous Chianti. Today, for our Grape & Grain segment, we sit down at the Tuscan winery that markets its wines as “Da Vinci” in the United States. We speak with the marketing director, along with the woman who leads increasing numbers of tours of the winery and the chef who cooks every day in its incredible restaurant.

A TALE OF TWO MUSEUMS
Houston is a city of intriguing museums, and quite often there’s more than one exciting museum event at a time. In our studio, we chat with the curator of the show at the Houston Museum of Natural Science inspired by the 3-million-year-old Ethiopian fossil of a girl named Lucy – and also with a curator from the Museum of Fine Arts, talking about the current cinema retrospective honoring the recently deceased Italian master Michelangelo Antonioni. By coincidence, we’ll be focusing on the cultures of Ethiopia and Italy, two countries in bitter conflict in the days before World War II.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
PASTEL DE TRES LECHES

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
5 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
7 ounces sweetened condensed milk
6 ounces evaporated milk

Topping:
¾ cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Sift together the flour and baking powder. Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla, beating well. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture a little at a time, mixing until incorporated. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool. Pierce the cake with a fork in about 10 places. In a bowl, combine the milk, condensed milk and evaporated milk and pour over the cake. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving. To make the topping, whip together all ingredients until thick and spread over the top of the chilled cake. Serves 6-8.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR SEPT. 1

2007-08-23T15:38:00.001-06:00

PICO’S TOURS MEXICO
Everybody talks about “regional Mexican cuisine” – or perhaps the plural “cuisines” is more appropriate – but generally speaking, no one does anything about it. Or them. Until now. Chef-owner Arnaldo Richards of Pico’s Mex-Mex (the name itself is a hoot, here in Tex-Mexville) has a special dinner coming up in which each course will hail from a different region of Mexico. Arnaldo will join us in the studio with a tasting of some of those dishes, plus talk about the perfect wine, or more likely margarita, to accompany them.

NEW COCKTAIL CONCEPT
These days, making a cocktail has become de rigeur again for millions of Americans – after a lot of years in which wine and beer pretty much ruled the roost. Thanks to boosts from a lot of directions, including the revival of the martini and a host of other great American classics, the cocktail as once enjoyed on movie screens by Nick and Nora Charles is stylish once again. And speaking of stylish… we welcome our suave French old friend Jean-Francois Bonnette back into our studio to talk about some fresh ideas in cocktails he is working with these days.

THE ECONOMIST OF FOOD
Tyler Cowen is an author and a professor of economics at George Mason University. Which means he’s hardly the most likely guest on Delicious Mischief. But we couldn’t help noticing a host of fascinating topics in his new book called “Discover Your Inner Economist.” Among the notions we’ll discuss with our new favorite prof are: How to choose the right restaurant in a foreign city, how to get the best dish at a fancy restaurant, why appetizers are better than main courses (we have some thoughts on that one!), and why you should ask yourself “What sounds the least appetizing?”

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
SALMON TARTARE WITH MEXICAN AVOCADOS
Chef Jason Gould, Gravitas

1 pound fresh salmon, finely minced
1 red onion, peeled and finely diced
3 ounces finely cut chives
Juice of 3 lemons
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 avocados
½ cup of buttermilk
Salt and white pepper
4 large shallots
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ cup rice wine vinegar
1 English cucumber, thinly shaved
1 head frisse lettuce

Mix salmon, onions and chive together in a bowl and keep refrigerated. Mix 1/2 lemon juice and olive oil together and season with salt and pepper to make a dressing. Puree avocados with butter milk, remainder of lemon juice and salt and pepper. Slice shallots into rings. Mix sugar and vinegar together and bring to boil. Add sliced shallot and let cool.Combine the salmon mixture with the dressing. Place a large spoonful of avocado mix on plate. Carefully place salmon mix in the center of avocado mix. In a separate bowl, mix frisee with cucumbers and pickled shallots. Garnish salmon with salad. Serves 4.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR AUG. 25

2007-08-17T12:19:00.000-06:00

This special broadcast of Delicious Mischief comes to you from the Italian region of Tuscany. From the wine area known as Chianti, to be precise. And from the ancient wine estate of Badia a Coltibuono, to be more precise than that.

LEARNING TO COOK ITALIAN
Guido Stucchi learned to cook his country’s many regional cuisines growing up around his mother, a cookbook author and famed instructor. In fact, he saw her at her culinary best almost every day, teaching Italian techniques to students from around the world at the cooking school she founded on her family’s wine estate, Badia a Coltibuono. The name means something like Estate of the Good Harvest, and as Guido makes clear to students in his cooking classes, that applies to food every bit as much as wine.

TUSCANY EQUALS CHIANTI
Chianti is a very specific place within Tuscany – and along the lines of wine laws in France, the name also brings with it a long history of hoops for producers to jump through. Still, sitting in the garden sipping wine at Badia a Coltibuono, it’s impossible to consider those regulations such a bad thing. We taste the wines of Badia a Coltibuono in today’s Grape and Grain segment, and talk about them with Guido’s sister, Emanuela Stucchi. On this fabled estate, winemaking like cooking remains a family affair.

A CHAT WITH THE CHEF
One of the best parts about visiting Badia a Coltibuono, other than having instant access to some of the best wines in Tuscany and cooking classes in the local cuisine, is getting to spend one or more nights at the inn and enjoy lunch or dinner in the restaurant. The menu isn’t cold-hearted enough to limit itself to uniquely Tuscan specialties, but it does offer most of the signature seasonal dishes. We visit with the chef about some of his favorites – not to mention, since we’ve now dined here once in the winter and once in the summer, some of ours.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
JOHN’S TUSCAN PORK AND MUSHROOM STEW

1 pound Italian pork sausage, hot or mild
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 ½ pound pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat and cut into bite-sized pieces
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Crushed red pepper to taste
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped yellow onion
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 cup chopped tomato
¾ cup dry red wine

Brown the sausage in the olive oil till almost cooked through, then add the pork cubes. Cook stirring occasionally till dark brown, 5-7 minutes, over high heat. Season with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. When meat is starting to stick to pan, stir in the garlic, carrot, celery and onion. Season again with salt, pepper and crushed pepper, cooking until vegetables turn golden and caramelized, about 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook till they start to wilt, about 5 minutes, then incorporate the tomato and red wine. Cover and cook until the meat is tender, the flavors are combined and the liquid thickens almost into gravy. Serve spooned over polenta, or with penne or other pasta. Serves 6-8.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR AUG. 18

2007-08-09T15:18:00.000-06:00

HOUSTON’S CURIOUS GEORGES
Among Houston chefs, few are as respected across the board as Georges Guy. In a host of different ventures over the years, Georges and his wife Monique have been the traditional French restaurant couple in France – except they’ve done it in America. They made Chez Georges a haven for diners who wanted a hand-picked, hand-cooked meal they way they might get in the Old Country, while also creating Bistro Provence. Now in what they keep calling “retirement,” Georges and Monique are doing great things with food and wine on lower Westheimer in the charming old house that long was home to Aldo’s. As the French love to say, vive la difference!

DANIEL IN THE LION’S DEN
To read each of Daniel Silva’s thrilling novels, the lion’s den is where he seems to keep putting himself – right along with his fictional hero, Israeli agent (and brilliant Italian art restorer!) Gabriel Allon. Though Allon became an agent and assassin against his will, after the Munich Olympic massacre of 1972, even that original verve has changed to something verging on troubled sadness. But the world (and western Europe in particular) just might need Allon more than ever. We caught up with Silva recently at Houston’s Murder by the Book to talk about his breathless new novel, “The Secret Servant.”

GETTING PONTIUS ABOUT PILATES
After a summer traveling around Europe and eating and drinking way too much – OK, I was taping radio segments too, thus I never called it “vacation” – I felt the need to turn to our finest fitness friend, Melody Morton. As the owner and inspiration of The Good Space Pilates and Yoga Studio on Woodway, Melody has the unenviable task of fixing me after my many, many excesses. We talk to Melody in the studio about what pain and suffering she has in mind for me: all for my own good, naturally. And if anybody can get me moving, it’s Melody Morton!

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
TARTA DE SANTIAGO

We recently returned from the region called Galicia in northwest Spain, docking in tuna-crazed Vigo for a trip inland to the medieval pilgrimage destination Santiago de Compostella. This lovely almost tart is will always remind us of this lush, spiritual place with its soaring cathedral spires.

Pastry shell:
1 cup flour
½ cup sugar
½ stick butter softened
1 whole egg
2 drops vanilla extract
Extra butter for a loose-bottomed fluted tart pan

Filling:
4 whole eggs
2 ½ cups finely ground almonds
1 ¼ cups sugar
Pinch ground cinnamon
Zest from one lemon

Preheat the oven to 375°. Sift the flour on to a work surface and make a well in the center, add the sugar, egg, vanilla extract and butter, knead to make smooth dough. Wrap in wax paper and set aside for ½ hour. To prepare the filling, beat together the eggs, lemon zest and sugar until creamy. Fold in the ground almonds, and cinnamon. With a wooden spoon beat the filling until all the ingredients are well mixed together. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and line the pie tart with the pastry dough, prick it all over with a fork and spoon the filling on top. Bake in the middle shelf in the oven for about 30 minutes, until golden brown. Leave the almond tart to cool in the pan. Once cool, transfer it to a serving plate and dust with confectioners sugar before serving. Yield: 1 9-inch tart.

OUR REVIEW OF BOB'S STEAK & CHOP HOUSE

2007-08-02T06:07:00.001-06:00

No... with all due respect to food gurus of the ‘70s and ‘80s, America is not living healthily on a seafood-based diet patterned (as one genius predicted) on a cross between the Japanese and the Eskimo. Personally, I was none too happy to describe that future in news stories back in the day, and pleased as can be each time I get to report that it never happened. I love a good steak now and again, and since I define such steak nights as special occasions, I’m at peace with the high cost of placing such pleasures in my life.

In this space, I have chronicled the Houston arrivals of classy imports like Strip House, Fleming’s and Morton’s, as well as the success of homegrown concepts like Perry’s and Tilman Fertitta’s over-the-top Vic and Anthony’s. This month, there’s a third type of genesis to report: a place born in Texas (as in Dallas) that tested the waters out in San Francisco before looking south. Loyal Houstonians would say Bob’s Steak & Chop House wanted to practice on San Francisco’s worldly diners till they were good enough to open here.

And open here Bob’s did, finagling its way into a beloved landmark, no less. The space on Post Oak long occupied by Tony Vallone’s magical tony’s had been declared a “no restaurant zone,” primarily to avoid parking problems that had scared off upscale retail shoppers during lunch. Even at tony’s, it seems, food and drink couldn’t bring in as much revenue as jewelry, furs and fashion. Still, once the last vestige of Vallone’s culinary xanadu had decamped to its new Greenway Plaza location, lawyer Ed Toles talked the landlords into letting him bring in Bob’s. After all, the lawyer argued, Bob’s would open only for dinner, when all those high-end boutiques were closed. Even during the holidays, he pointed out persuasively - ever the lawyer. Bob’s was in.

Happily, for diners fearing not so much the old catering division called “tony’s at home” but something we’ll dub “tony’s all over again,” the fact that the space had been scrubbed clean for a hoped-for retail meant that Toles and Co. had little to tear down. Just as tony’s itself was overdue the fresh, chic, lighter and more youthful look its new location delivered, Bob’s was able to reconfigure and redecorate those regal old rooms into the traditional dark wood of the modern upscale beefery. Beyond that, quite frankly, the project verged on paint-by-the-numbers. Short, simple menu printed on card stock. Classic American steakhouse fare, with only the occasional dollop of innovation.

Enticing bar. Super wine list. With those things in place, Bob’s Steak & Chop House was ready for Houston. And according to the crowds shaking hands, slapping backs, kissing cheeks and visiting table to table on any given evening, the Houston that remembered tony’s best was more than a little bit ready for Bob’s.

With a few exceptions, success as a modern steakhouse isn’t about what you invent but how you serve it. It would be difficult to point to a single selection on Bob’s menu that was “invented” here, or even at the mother ship in Dallas. On the other hand, many things are done exceedingly well, and that’s more what we the people are looking for. Portions of things tend toward the large, as do those things themselves: both the light, fluffy onion rings and the “Maryland-style” crabcakes were bigger than found in nature, and the shrimp appetizer is best enjoyed as a shareable trio of spicy cocktail, pungent remoulade and crisp batter-fried. There’s a soup of the day – often lobster bisque, the epitome of a heavy French cream soup – and some wonderful if cheese-crazed salads. As someone observed, the bleu cheese salad gives you only enough lettuce to shovel lots of bleu cheese into your mouth, while even the usually light tomato and red onion came with a generous snowfall of – more bleu cheese. The dairy industry must be very proud.

Once you steer (get it?) past the filet mignon in three increasing ounce counts, you reach the serious steaks, several of which arrive bone-in, which makes for much better flavor and a more thrilling presentation built on Flintstones déjà vu. Best bets include the Kansas City strip in 18 or 22 ounces (some of that being bone, remember?) and the 22-ounce “cote de boeuf,” a pumped-up rendition of ribeye. There’s a nifty rack of lamb at Bob’s, plus the now-mandatory and thankfully not-overcooked chops of pork and veal. Seafood lovers, a class once alleged to include Japanese and Eskimos, have to get by on crabcakes, two kinds of shrimp, broiled salmon and a fish of the day, often the overly familiar and occasionally over-fished Chilean sea bass. If you really want to eat seafood in a steakhouse, I’d recommend instead Bob’s broiled lobster tail from south Australia.

In a welcome touch, exemplary potatoes are included with your entrée - letting that intolerable $6 to $9 upcharge be spent on your dessert. Beware, though: the brownie as wide as a roof shingle (OK, so it WAS a double portion!) topped with Reese’s peanut butter cup ice cream, and the moist, flavorful side of carrot cake might remind you of the Flintstones as well. It’s a little-known historical fact that dinosaurs, like Houstonians, had quite the sweet tooth!

SHOW & RECIPE FOR AUG. 11

2007-08-02T06:07:00.000-06:00

DOUG’S FRIED GREEN TOMATOES
It’s a Deep South favorite that didn’t really become famous until a few years ago, and that thanks less to a specific preparation than to a bestselling book and popular movie. Now, happily, fried green tomatoes are here to stay. And when you go looking for a Deep South (or even better, Deep Texas) classic, one of the best places to go is Chef Doug Atkinson’s Latigo Café in Beeville. Chef Doug is bringing fried green tomatoes and whatever else he feels like cooking to our studio for what we hope will be a rather fattening conversation.

UP FROM FINGER SANDWICHES
He’s cooked in northern California alongside Thomas Keller at The French Laundry and Michael Mena at Aqua – an impressive resume indeed for turning his culinary art and craft to wedding food. But that’s exactly what Chef Jose Rivera of Ashton Gardens has done with his move to Houston. Actually, this chef and the European-style wedding venue both fit perfectly with the general trend toward more sophisticated and more ethnically diverse foods turning up after the couple says “I do.” He’ll be joining us to talk all about these intriguing trends.

DINING ON THE CHEAP
Mike Riccetti is a bit of a cheapskate – but at least we’re not telling you anything he and you don’t already know, especially if you’ve read, enjoyed and relied upon his wonderful guidebook “Houston Dining on the Cheap.” Now, as the brand-new third edition makes its penny-pinching rounds, Mike joins us to talk about how Houston is holding the line: struggling to preserve its status as one of the very best dining values in all of America. And maybe we’ll figure out how this guy researches these books without weighing 750 pounds.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
GAZPACHO ANDALUZ

3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, cut in half, seeded (reserve ½ tomato for garnish
1 green bell pepper, cut in half, seeded (reserve ¼ for garnish)
1 cucumber, peeled and seeded (reserve 2 inch slices for garnish)
2 stalks celery
1 onion
1 (12-ounce) can tomato juice
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
4 tablespoons tomato purée
¼ teaspoon thyme
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon savory
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 drops Tabasco sauce
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 boiled eggs, chopped

Wash and dry the vegetables, chop them and place them in a blender with enough tomato juice to partially cover. Add garlic, tomato purée, savory, thyme, pepper, salt vinegar, oil and Tabasco sauce and purée until smooth. Pour the mixture into a bowl and stir in the remainder of the tomato juice. Chill for two hours. Serve the gazpacho in individual soup cups. Dice the remaining bits of tomato, green bell peppers, and cucumber separately and sprinkle them separately with the chopped parsley and boiled eggs on top of the soup. Serves 6.

OUR REVIEW OF YATRA BRASSERIE

2007-07-24T09:30:00.000-06:00

Just over a year ago, Sonu Lalvani was another of those numberless London success stories from the huge colonial expanse divided in 1947 into India and Pakistan. He had a successful restaurant called Yatra in the stylish Mayfair district, with an attached nightclub flying the colors of ‘60s Carnaby Street called Butterfly High. Then a friend told Lalvani about Houston, and all bets were off.

These days, that established restaurant-club in Mayfair is having to look after itself a bit, while the entrepreneur focuses his energies on doing what many have tried and failed to do: making sense of Houston’s on-again, off-again, maybe-again downtown. Lunches at his new Yatra Brasserie have caught on bigtime among business people looking for curry in a hurry. At night, though, when the bulk of those people trek home to River Oaks and Tanglewood, not to mention Katy, Sugar Land and the Woodlands, it’s a brave new world fronting the Metrorail on Main Street. Happily, Lalvani has not only duplicated Butterfly High to grab some of the late-night, youth-driven club business but two other connected lounge concepts. The place is a by-god stately pleasure dome, as another Brit once said of Xanadu – the city, not the movie.

Yatra Brasserie is the creation of a man with polish, a man whose schooling took place in England, and a man who understood how to bring that country’s favorite “cheap food” – chicken tikka masala is now considered the UK’s “national dish” – to one of London’s poshest neighborhoods. In Houston, considerable amounts of style have made the crossing, though happily for us, Lalvani understands the need for reasonable prices to attract office workers in the day and young club-goers at night. The cuisine, again happily for us, is largely traditional and familiar to lovers of Indian food, all prepared very well and tasting of fresh ingredients. In short, at Yatra, Indian food is neither some nouvelle gourmet craze or the latest immigrant broken-English buffet in the ‘burbs. It’s a grand and ancient cooking style that we, like so many Londoners before us, will want to eat again and again and again.

Some of the dishes served here blend Indian and Pakistani origins, as befits a land long intermingled but then separated geographically on the basis of its two main religions, Hindu and Muslim. Even one of the naans (those terrific breads cooked in the clay tandoor) hails from the often-troubled border, but the mildly sweet bread studded with raisins is way too wonderful for religion or politics. There really is chicken tikka masala at Yatra, so everyone should be happy. And a wonderful version it is too, reminding us why so many people love a “good curry” when the concept and certainly the word usage were hard to find in India before the British started simplifying the names on things.

The appetizer list shows a few signs of reaching out to Houston diners. Traditional ground beef samosas show up under a far more familiar name in these parts, empanadas; there is virtually no difference in the construction. And you can almost feel the young people coming in to club stopping off for starters like spicy calamari, spicy chicken wings (cooked in the tandoor, not in Buffalo) and Goan-style crab cakes with a nifty lemon butter sauce. Oddly, Yatra sidesteps the omnipresent mulligatawny soup of London (another, we’re told, British colonial invention) for a pleasant cream of spinach and pea. Other favorites more in keeping with tradition include the samosa chaat – pastry stuffed with potatoes and peas, with curried chickpeas, tamarind and mint sauce – and chicken harra kabab, a kind of white-meat tandoori chicken nugget with yogurt and mint.

With deference to its customers base, some entrees are what we of the West would call “curries” – meats or seafoods cooked in a lush, spicy sauce that verges on being gravy, and other proteins are more simply grilled. We have many loves from that first collection, in addition to England’s national dish: the very-hot shrimp vindaloo (if you don’t like hot, avoid anything called vindaloo), the creamer-than-cream chicken korma, and the best lamb rogan josh we’ve ever tasted. While many of these dishes taste like curry, they are made traditionally not with anything called “curry powder” but with specific and varied blends of spices. And since many Indians are vegetarians, there is a larger-than-usual list of these items, including the popular ssag panir of spinach and cheese, the bhindi masala of cut okra with onions and tomatoes, and two kinds of dal made with two colors of lentil, black or yellow. Sided with some of Yatra’s flaky but filling naan and a bowl of aromatic basmati rice, this is the only vegetarian cuisine on earth in which a meat-lover might be happy.

Traditional Indian desserts are wildly unimpressive to Americans raised on anything from bread pudding to pecan pie to chocolate cake, so Lalvani and Co. have rejiggered the old-time recipes a bit. Gulab jamun, for instance, a kind of fried dough ball soaked in too-sweet-too-floral syrup, gets “born again” at Yatra flamed in cognac. Much improved, thank you! And take it from a London veteran: after the traffic jam of spices that is this bedazzling cuisine, any dessert that’s cold, clean and made with fresh mango is a salvation.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR AUG. 4

2007-07-24T08:34:00.000-06:00

LA VISTA SPREADS ITS QUIRKY WINGS
Around Houston, a little restaurant called La Vista first attracted attention as one of the only places that wasn’t trying to sell you wine – or for matter, wasn’t going to hit you up with a big “corkage fee” if you brought in your own bottle. Since they weren’t licensed to sell the stuff, they saw no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy it. In fact, everything about Greg Gordon’s La Vista seemed a little bit off, starting with people drinking their own wines while waiting outside for a table. Greg joins us to tell us how the place became such a big success, he’s had to open a second location.

CAPT. SPARROW’S BEVERAGE OF CHOICE
Most of us grow up, at one time of another, singing that pirate song with the refrain, “Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!” These days, with Disney’s ride Pirates of the Caribbean spawning not one but three hit movies, the song and all it implies are more a part of pop culture than ever. And that means rum is part of it too. Our good friend Jean-Francois Bonnette, always welcome to bring us tasting portions of Pierre Ferrand cognac, this time shows up with his company’s Plantation Rum. Arrgh, we can’t wait – yo-ho!

TUNA LIVES – IN VEGAS
Some years back, when we first heard about a Texas-inspired, Texas-built comedy show called “Greater Tuna,” we wondered what on earth the name could mean – but didn’t expect to hear about it again. We were so wrong: not only has “Greater Tuna” been produced again and agin, but its creators have enjoyed immense success with the various sequels. Now, with the premiere run of “Tuna Does Vegas” in Galveston, creators (and stars) Jaston Williams and Joe Sears take the colorful characters of Tuna, Texas, on the road to Sin City. And they’ll be in our Sin Studio to tell us all about it.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
CHILLED TOMATO AND PEANUT SOUP

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
½ cup smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon celery salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 cups tomato juice

Heat the oil and sauté the onions until softened but not brown, then stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Remove the pot from heat. In a bowl, stir the milk gradually into the peanut butter until the mixture is smooth, then add the celery salt and pepper. Add this slowly to the onion mixture. Return the pan to the heat and simmer, stirring often, until soup thickens. Stir in the tomato juice. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving in a tureen or in individual soup bowls. Serves 6.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JULY 28

2007-06-08T07:52:00.000-06:00

CARNEROS CRAVINGS
With one foot in Napa and one in Sonoma, the Carneros district of northern California was long been recognized as a remarkable place to produce cool-weather grape varietals. And in popular parlance, that makes it a terrific place for chardonnay and an even better place to battle the “heartbreak grape,” pinot noir. Winemaker Jeff Stewart, who when we first met him was making wonderful pinot noirs at La Crema, joins us for a tasting of his latest handiwork at Buena Vista. Knowing Jeff, Buena Vista and Carneros, we are certainly looking forward to this tasting.

HOUSTON’S FRESH DAIRYMAIDS
Some of you may have seen these hard-working young women already, handing out samples of artisan Texas cheeses at the Midtown Farmers Market every Saturday. Dancing with their market schedules a little, we’ve lured Kendra Scott and Lindsey Schechter (www.houstondairymaids.com) away from their booth to take us through the cheese tasting they do so well. To hear them tell it, Texas is blessed with a host of great cheesemakers – smalltime, small-volume producers who specialize in big flavors instead.

HEALTHFUL TRAILS TO YOU
Doing what we do, we think approximately every 10-12 minutes of going on a diet. Far more effective (and far, far more pleasant) is having fitness chef Marcela Perez on the radio to give us suggestions of making our favorite dishes lower in fat, sodium and other things we have good reason to be wary of. Plus, Marcela is always fun to talk to about her business Marcela’s Meal (www.marcelasmeals.com). She makes healthy meals for Houstonians on a weekly basis and even delivers to their homes. We settle for her delivering to our studio!

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
LEMON-ROSEMARY CORNISH HEN

1 ½ cup olive oil
½ cup finely chopped fresh rosemary
¼ cup finely chopped fresh thyme
3 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
4 Cornish game hens, butterflied and pressed open
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped lemon zest
2 tablespoons Fleur de Sel or coarse-ground sea salt

Prepare a marinade by mixing 1 cup of the oil, rosemary, thyme, garlic and black pepper in a bowl, then spreading this all over the hens. Let the hens marinate for 1 hour. Saute the hens skin side down in ¼ cup olive oil for 5 minutes, then turn them and sauté 3 minutes more. Remove the hens, add the remaining oil and sauté the onion, carrot and celery. Cover the bottom of a roasting pan with the sautéed vegetables, then spread the hens on top. Sprinkle hens with lemon zest and roast for 20 minutes in a preheated 350-degree oven. Transfer the hens to a serving platter and strain the pan drippings over the top, discarding the vegetables. Sprinkle with Fleur de Sel and serve. Serves 4.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JULY 21

2007-06-08T07:51:00.000-06:00

We broadcast for our second week from the great old American city of Boston, beginning with one of its most famous chefs.

THE JOYS OF RIALTO
Jody Adams admits that her name doesn’t sound Italian – because it isn’t. But ever since her mother taught her the excitement of cuisines from all around the world, she has felt inspired and enlightened by this one in particular. After cooking beside several high-profile Italian chefs, Adams was ready some years ago to venture out on her own. Rialto, one of the nation’s finest and most creative Italian restaurants, is the result.

IRISH EYES ARE SMILING
Yes, and they may well belong to the doorman, the bellman and the front desk personnel. In Boston, clearly America’s most Irish city of all, there’s an elegant new hotel owned by the Jurys family of Ireland. In fact, in Ireland and the United Kingdom, Jurys is almost as well-known as, say, Marriott. In Boston, though, there’s the added pleasure of crossing an ocean without even crossing the street.

CHEESE FROM VERMONT
There’s just something dairy-like about the green hills – and yes, even the namesake Green Mountains – of Vermont. Or maybe it’s just that we were all raised on Ben & Jerry’s pretty-hippie-commune mythology. Nonetheless, with a lot of love and a lot of care, a dairy cooperative named Cabot is producing cheddar cheese that wins awards and gets shipped all over creation. And it just might be saving the family-owned dairy farm in the process.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
SUMMER SEAFOOD SALAD

1 cup fresh pineapple juice
¼ cup fresh lime juice
¼ cup ginger juice
1 tablespoon malt vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1 serrano pepper, seeded
3 fresh mint leaves
15 fresh cilantro leaves
1 ½ cup peanut oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
16 large shrimp, peeled and sliced in half lengthwise
2 pounds snapper fillet
1 pound fresh lump crabmeat
3 cups julienned jicama
1 ½ cups julienned carrots
3 scallions, chopped
2 cups hearts of romaine

Prepare the dressing to blending the juices, vinegar, garlic, Serrano, mint and cilantro until smooth, then slowly pour in the oil with the blender running to incorporate. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Grill the shrimp and snapper till lightly striped but not overcooked. Shred the snapper into bite-sized pieces with a fork. In a large bowl, combine the seafood, jicama, carrots and scallion with the dressing. Let sit 10-15 minutes. Arrange hearts of romaine on dinner plates as a base, then mound the seafood salad at the center. Drizzle with an extra vinaigrette. Serves 6.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JULY 14

2007-06-08T07:50:00.000-06:00

We’re broadcasting this week from Boston, cradle of the Independence our nation just celebrated.

SITTING BY THE FIREPLACE
We spent a full school year in Boston in 1970-71, and there really wasn’t much worth eating – especially if your preferences run to the spicier sides of Tex-Mex and Louisiana cooking. Now, however, Boston is a first-rate and diverse dining destination. We get a status report from Jim Solomon, whose restaurant called The Fireplace in the Kennedys’ old neighborhood of Brookline serves up some of the best food we’ve anywhere lately.

A TOUR OF LITTLE ITALY
Little Italy is what the place is, but in Boston the locals call it the North End. Of course, the neighborhood goes back hundreds of years and started out British like every other neighborhood. But at some point, the place got poor and verging on seedy, and that meant it was perfect for immigrants. The Irish arrived first, but then the Italians took over for keeps. We take a walking food tour of the North End. Join us for a pastry and an espresso.

BACK TO THE FARM
Chef Peter Davis of Henrietta’s Table doesn’t kid himself – the rocky soil and icy climate of New England isn’t exactly the Garden of Eden when it comes to food products. Yet New England does some things incredibly well, starting with the seafood David likes to catch up near Gloucester himself and seasonal produce like corn and tomatoes as exquisite in flavor as it is shortlived. Davis talks about cooking the local and seasonal way in a region where that philosophy needs all the help it can get.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
STEAK AU POIVRE

6 well trimmed sirloin steaks, about 1 inch thick (8 oz each)
1 tablespoon salt
5 tablespoons wholes black pepper, coarsely crushed
3 tablespoons clarified butter
¾ cup cognac
1 ½ cup beef broth, fresh or canned
2 bay leaves
¼ stick butter, chilled and cut into ½ inch cubes
¼ cup heavy cream.
1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved with two tablespoon cold water

Season the steaks generously with salt. One side at a time sprinkles each steak with the crushed black peppercorns, pushing them firmly into the meat with your hands. In a 12-inch cast iron or heavy-duty skillet, heat the clarified butter over high heat. Place the steaks in the pan (3 at the time) and sauté them 4 minutes on each side, or until they are done to your taste. Transfer the steaks to a heated platter and set them aside while preparing the sauce. Remove the pan from the stove, add the cognac, let warm for a minute, then ignite with a match. Pour in the beef broth, bay leaves and cream. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, whisk in the cornstarch and blend well. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the chilled butter bits one at a time. Strain the sauce with sieve over the steaks, and serve at once. Serves 6.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JULY 7

2007-06-08T07:49:00.000-06:00

We’re broadcasting this week from San Antonio, focusing on interesting ways that the city’s Hispanic heritage in the New World constantly carries echoes of the Old.

RAMBLING AT LAS RAMBLAS
We’re predetermined top like any restaurant that reminds us of Las Ramblas, the lovely “Champs Elysees” of Spain’s Barcelona. Sunday strolls pasty cafes and through open-air flower markets are hard to forget. But we‘re particularly impressed by the VERY Spanish foods the Hotel Contessa on the Riverwalk has chosen to drive the point home in its lovely Las Ramblas restaurant. We sit down with the chef to talk about the business of serving true Spanish food in this hotbed of Tex-Mex.

GRILLING AND CHILLING
Proving that the Riverwalk is much more than a collection of frathouse bars and barbecue (though we have nothing against frathouse bars or barnecue), the Caleza Grill serves a stylish mix of Spanish and other cuisine just a few steps along from Las Ramblas. It’s a stretch of a few hundred feet any card-carrying foodlover should be proud to call home. We join the chef at Caleza Grill for a tasting of signature dishes and very interesting wines.

HOME TO LOS BARRIOS
Home is what the place feels like anyway. Los Barrios is the one mandatory stop we have on any and every visit to San Antonio, letting us revel not only in a great family-run success story but in all those foods that make Tex-Mex the national cuisine of Texas. Diana Barrios-Trevino, a cookbook author who has actually cooked alongside Emeril Lagasse on national television, joins us for a sampling of her family’s versions of San Antonio classics.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
BAKED RED SNAPPER WITH STEAMED FENNEL

1 whole red snapper (4-6 pound)
¼ cup butter (melted)
1 teaspoon salt
Juice of two lemons
2 cups dry white wine
½ cup chopped onion
1 medium size carrot, peeled and diced
1 stalk celery, washed and diced
¼ teaspoon thyme
1 ½ cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons Chinese oyster sauce
1 tablespoon chives, finely chopped
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 tablespoon flour
2 knobs fresh fennel
1 tablespoon salt
¼ cup olive oil

Cut off the stalks from the fennel, then cut the knobs in half, and slice very thin. In a 2 quart pot bring water to a boil; add the salt, olive and fennel. Cook for 5 minutes, drain the water and keep the fennel hot. Clean the whole snapper inside, leave the head on but trim off the fins and tail. Scale the fish and wash under running cold water. Score the skin with a sharp knife. Rub the salt inside and outside, and place the fish in a shallow baking pan and pour ¼ cup of melted butter over it. Combine the lemon juice, wine, carrots, celery, onions, thyme, oyster sauce and pour over the fish. Seal the dish tightly with cooking foil and bake at 375°F. for 35 minutes (depending on the size of the fish, you should be able to remove the meat from the bones easily).

Place the steamed fennel on a heated serving platter. Carefully remove the whole fish from the baking dish, and place on top of the fennel and keep warm. Strain the pan juices into a saucepan. Stir in the cream and over high heat bring to a boil to reduce to a bout 2 ½ cups. Combine 1 tablespoon of melted butter with one tablespoon of flour to make a paste. Wisk the mixture into the boiling liquid and simmer for a few minutes until the sauce is smooth and thickens. Pour the sauce evenly over the fish and fennel, serve immediately. Serve with new boiled potatoes.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JUNE 30

2007-06-08T07:47:00.000-06:00

IN PHILIPPE’S KITCHEN
This entire show was born recently, when Chef Philippe Schmidt hosted a Loire Valley dinner at his Bistro Moderne. Having been wowed by the dinner, we decided to turn those wines and the kinds of foods served with them into a perfect summer show. We start where all great meals always start, in the kitchen. Surrounded by his cooks, Philippe walks us through all that happens there, as well as his fascination with brave new ingredients.

VALLEY OF THE LOIRE
Most people know at least a little about the lovely Loire Valley – it’s the place with all those chateaux, for starters. But even the centuries of wealth on display in its towering castles is nothing compared to the wealth displayed in its bottles of wine. As two wine people from the valley explain, the region may be best known for whites that fit perfectly into Houston summer – but the reds are a treasure more on par with those of Burgundy and Bordeaux than we might be tempted to expect.

MAKING IT BITE-SIZE
In Spain, there are tapas. In Italy, antipasti. In Greece and most parts of the Middle East, there are meze by many names. But in France, somehow, we forget about hors d’oeuvres. Or perhaps, after too many cocktail parties with lackluster nibbles, we don’t give the French contribution its due. All that is about to change with the new cookbook called “Bite Size: Elegant Recipes for Entertaining” By French chef Francois Payard. Payard, who help his friend Philippe with the Bistro Moderne wine dinner, tells us all about it.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
FRENCH PEAR TART

Pears:
4 cups water
2 cups sugar
3 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
3 large ripe Bosc pears, peeled, cut in halve, remove the stem and core
2 tablespoons lemon juice

In a 3-quart casserole, bring the water to a boil, add the sugar, cloves, cinnamon and lemon juice, simmer for 5 minutes. Add the pears and poach over low heat until soft. With a slotted spoon remove the pear halves and arrange cored side down on a wire rack to drain.

Pie Crust:
1 ½ cup cake flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ stick butter, chilled and cut into 1 inch cubes
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
4 tablespoon chilled water

Sift the flour and salt on to a working surface; add the chilled butter and vegetable shortening. Knead with your hands and add the water one spoon at the time. Gather the dough into a ball, dust with a little flour and wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate for one hour. On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough and line a 9 inch fluted false-bottom pie pan. Line bottom with foil, and cover with two cups of beans to hold the foil down. Bake at 400 ° for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the foil and beans, and you are ready for the filling.

Filling:
1 pound almond paste, room temperature
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
¾ cup flour
½ stick soft butter
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups apricot jam
¼ cup kirsch (cherry brandy)

Place almond paste into a large mixing bowl. Using a rotary electric mixer combine one egg at a time with the almond paste. Add the sugar, vanilla and mix until nice and smooth without any lumps. Add the egg yolks and butter and blend well together. Using a wooden spoon, fold in the flour. Heat the apricot jam with the kirsch in a small pan over low heat. To assemble the tart, spread half of the apricot mixture in the bottom of the pastry shell. Arrange the pear halves in the tart shell like the spokes of a wheel, spread the almond paste over the pears and bake for 45 minutes at 375°, until firm in the center and nice and brown. Glaze the tart with the remaining apricot mixture. Serve at room temperature with whipped cream.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JUNE 23

2007-06-08T07:21:00.000-06:00

This week we broadcast from summertime San Antonio, where a song-and-dance folkloric show called Fiesta Noche del Rio has been packing ‘em in for more than 50 years.

THE REAL AMERICAN FOODS
It used to be a landmark brewery – you remember Pearl, don’t you? Thanks to some serious investment dollars involving an heir of the Pace picante sauce empire, the complex of buildings has given birth to a host of inventive enterprises, including a Center for Foods of the Americas. Today, we tour the facility and its professional cooking school affiliated with the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. Needless to say, at these cooking classes, se habla espanol.

FIFTY YEARS OF FIESTA
Even before there was a Riverwalk in San Antonio, there was a Fiesta Niche del Rio – a show devoted to all the sounds of Texas but most importantly the colorful Hispanic singing and dancing that make the city so special. We talk to the director, choreographer and others who have kept the show running (and selling tickets) all summer for more than half a century.

TO THE PROMISED LAND
San Antonio is home to one of the nation’s most interesting dairy farms – well the corporate office anyway. The cows, of course, have their offices somewhere else – outside the city limits of San Antonio, amidst the wide open spaces of south Texas. But the special care given to these hormone-free all-Jersey cows and their milk has spread the reputation and finally the availability of Promised Land far beyond the borders of the Lone Star State.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
CRABMEAT AND AVOCADO SALAD

1 ½ pound fresh lump crabmeat
1 ½ cups mayonnaise
¼ cup bottled chili sauce
½ cup diced celery
¼ cup diced green bell peppers
¼ cup diced red bell peppers
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon English dry mustard, dissolved with a little water
4 drops Tabasco sauce
½ teaspoon salt
3 large firm ripe avocados
12 bibb lettuce leaves
2 large ripe tomatoes, stemmed and cut into wedges
3 hard cooked eggs, cut lengthwise into quarters
8 radishes sliced thin
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chive

Combine the mayonnaise, chili sauce, celery, peppers, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and salt in a deep mixing bowl. Whisk until all ingredients are well blended. Add the crabmeat and toss gently with a rubber spatula until the crabmeat is evenly coated. Cut the avocado in half, and with the tip of a paring knife loosen each seed. With a large soupspoon scoop out the flesh from each avocado half and place on 6 individual chilled salad plates. Spoon the crabmeat mixture into the cavities and arrange the bibb lettuce around the avocado.Garnish the leaves with the tomato wedges and hard cooked eggs. Sprinkle the sliced radishes and chives on top. Serves 6.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JUNE 16

2007-06-08T07:20:00.000-06:00

This week we broadcast from one of our favorite events anywhere, the New Orleans Wine & Food Experience…

THE NEW SUPERSTAR
As the TV-famed chefs of New Orleans’ global reputation – whether homegrown delights like Cajun-country’s Paul Prudhomme or adopted sons like Emeril Lagasse – get a bit older and more settled in their ways, a whole new generation is attracting our admiration. At the moment, the most successful of these is John Besh, with four wonderful restaurants in the New Orleans area and a love its culture, cuisine and people. We chat with John about the joys and sorrows of building an empire in post-Katrina New Orleans.

THAT BAREFOOT GIRL
As the summer months get hotter and hotter, at least some of the wines we love at other times in the year seem too intense, too heavy.We taste our way through the incredibly popular (and populist) wines of Barefoot with perky, blonde winemaker Jennifer Wall. It’s enough to make us want to hit the beach – not to mention pull our resurrected and remastered CDs of all our old Beach Boys albums.

THROUGH BRENNAN EYES
Houston knows the legendary Brennan clan – especially since their Brennan’s of Houston has been a success in these parts for more than three decades. But to get the real scoop on how restaurants are doing in the Crescent City, we sit down with Ralph Brennan. As the former president of the New Orleans, Louisiana and even NATIONAL restaurant associations, Ralph’s vision reaches a lot farther than the lovely “dueling oaks” across from his Ralph’s on the Park.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
MUSSELS IN GARLIC AND WINE SAUCE

4 pounds mussels
¼ cup minced shallots
5 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons olive
1 bay leaf
1½ cups dry white wine
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 ½ cups very fine julienne strips of carrots
1 ½ cups very fine julienne strips of leeks
1 ½ cups very fine julienne strips of root celery
3 tablespoons soft butter
3 tablespoon flour
½ teaspoon salt
3 drops Tabasco sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¼ cup freshly chopped parsley

Scrub the mussels well under cold running water. In a kettle heat the olive oil over moderately low heat, add the shallots, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, leeks, celery, and carrots. Cook the mixture for 5 minutes stirring the vegetable until crisp-tender. Add the wine, salt and ½ cup of water; bring the mixture to a boil. Add the cleaned mussels, cover the kettle and steam them in the vegetable-wine broth for 8 minutes, or until each mussel has opened. Discard any unopened mussels.

With a slotted spoon transfer the mussels and vegetables to a heated bowl, keep mussels covered. Strain the cooking liquid through a fine sieve into measuring cup, and if necessary add enough water to measure 4 cups of liquid. In a saucepan melt the butter, add the flour and cook over low heat for 1 minute to make a roux, do not brown the roux.

Whisk the broth, a little at a time into the roux, whisking and bringing the sauce to a boil. Simmer the sauce for two minute; add the lemon juice, Tabasco sauce, and taste to your liking. Divide the mussels and vegetables into 4 heated soup plates, pour the sauce over each serving, and top with fresh chopped parsley. Serve with crusty French bread. Serves 4.

OUR REVIEW OF MAX'S WINE DIVE

2007-05-31T06:32:00.000-06:00

Don’t you ever get tired of restaurants where you have to pray to your food? Where the chefs consider their creations and presumably themselves the center of the universe? And where the wine guys are even worse, if that’s possible? A lot of people are tired of such restaurants, and you can find those people each night squeezed into booths, strewn about shared banquettes and just standing three-deep at the bar at Max’s Wine Dive on Washington Avenue, almost certainly tasting from each other’s plates. Such bad manners are par for the course at Max’s, a place where it’s always the damn good time that matters.

It says something about our dining culture – and not necessarily something good – that the concept of a restaurant meal and a good time have come to be viewed separately. It’s a sad evolution that America by no means started, showing up in France as chefs seeking Michelin stars sought to distinguish their cooking from the bistro down the street. It showed up too in the labors of Italian chefs, particularly in that country’s economically superior north, to distinguish their food from that of the long-impoverished south – and, with a special vengeance, from the Italian-American red-sauce cuisine refugees from that south carried to the Little Italys of the world. Still, within the French and Italian cultures – especially those formed alongside the Mediterranean – there remained enough sheer gusto that mealtime seldom seemed dreary.

Leave that step to the upstart Americans, who from the beginnings of our history felt a need to out-Europe the Europeans. Taking on the pomposity of Europe at its worst, that fetish for the rarest foods and the oldest and/or most expensive wines, we created a dining mythology based on pecking order. Or even worse: on money. It is restaurants like Max’s Wine Dive, starting with the name alone, that force us back to the Old Country (even when it’s only in our minds) to reconsider where and how we’ve ended up. Max’s isn’t a French bistro or an Italian trattoria, or for that matter a Greek taverna or a Spanish tapas bar. On the other hand, this being America, maybe it’s able to be all those things at once.

Born from the success of The Tasting Room in different locations around Houston, Max’s is a wine bar with Very Serious Food. Or, since we’re not liking the word “serious” here, it might be more accurate to say… Very Big Food. Pushed along by this scope and scale, Chef Jonathan Jones delivers us from any notions of delicate or discreet, subtle or stylish. If it tastes good, Jones serves it. And generally, if a little of something tastes good at Max’s, a lot of it almost certainly tastes better. Any other approach might make diners less happy when perfect and even imperfect strangers ask to taste off their plates!

The menu at Max’s Wine Dive is a slagheap of bad puns and sexual innuendo, which only helps disarm us from notions of any propriety whatsoever. Even traditional “fancy” items like foie gras or bone marrow turn up as, in the first case, P, B & J (foie gras between Max’s tirelessly oversized Texas toast with native pecan butter and cherry-orange-ancho jam) and the second as the stark-sounding Chef JJ’s Big White Bones. Even more memorable than those starters are the Nacho Mama’s Oysters, delightfully fried and served with aioli on crispy fried wontons, the Quail Cakes (chicken-fried semi-boneless quail on lush sweet corn pancakes) and Max and Jack’s Frites – unbelievably addictive French fries dusted with something both hot and sweet and sided with a dip that’s definitely not ketchup.

At Max’s, appetizers may well fill you up; they absolutely will if you order enough of them – and satisfy your entrée cravings as well. But if you want a real entrée, Jones has picked out some really big dinner plates and seems hell-bent on filling them. Crazy things crash together and cohabitate happily: like the Lobster Thermadelphia that sounds more like an ancient Greek battle (it’s Texas-Philly cheesesteak, except made with lobster), the Lambwich (a kind of over-the-top Sloppy Joe with goat cheese), and, our favorite joke-becomes-dinner of all time, the Texas Haute Dog. This one makes the weiner from grass-fed gourmet beef, wraps it in an artisan bun, covers it in what may be the best “Texas red” chili anywhere (venison or otherwise) and sprinkles it with cotija cheese, crispy fried onions and pickled jalapenos. As young IM-ers love to put it… OMG!

When it comes to wine at Max’s Wine Dive, Tasting Room wine director Michael Housewright is often around to make vivid, dead-on and often surprising suggestions – most available by the glass for those of us who love to bounce from wine to wine and food to food like a slightly demented pinball machine. And when it comes to dessert, get both the brownie and the lighter-than-usual bread pudding spiked with white chocolate. Happily, in keeping with Max’s approach, there’s absolutely nothing light about the caramel sauce spooned around your dessert plate.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JUNE 9

2007-05-31T06:24:00.001-06:00

A TALE OF TWO FOODS
With all the aura surrounding Texas-ness, especially here in Texas, you might be tempted to think it’s easy launching a food line themed around the Lone Star State. Yet food remains a super-tough, competitive business, whether you’re trying to open a restaurant or sell a bottle of hot sauce. We have a chat with the founders of two Texas food companies – Smokin’ Dave’s and Didgy’s BBQ – to learn how they’ve risen to the challenge.

YES, WINE FROM LOUISIANA
Having tasted many Louisiana wines over the past couple decades, we didn’t think any would ever end up on the shelves of Spec’s. And as best we can tell, the wines crafted by John Seago at Pontchartrain Vineyards are the first from Louisiana to do so. As you’ll hear, John is a passionate advocate for good wine wherever it’s made – and especially for a series of grape varietals he feels are perfect for Louisiana and parts of Texas where the Frenchified “noble grapes” refuse to grow.

WOODLANDS WINE WEEK
We love the explosion of food and especially wine festivals all over the greater Houston area, with yet another coming up. For those on the northern edges of town, it’s hard to beat Wine Week in the Woodlands for convenience and good taste. We’ll be visiting with Clifton McDerby, one of the event’s organizers, as well as with Bill Chenault, winemaker with California’s time-honored Sebastiani & Sons.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
PINEAPPLE STUFFED WITH CURRIED SEAFOOD

2 ripe pineapples
½ pound small shrimp
4 ounces canned water-packed tuna
½ pound crabmeat
¼ cup coarsely chopped peanuts
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons pimentos, diced
1 tablespoon chives, finely chopped
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon A-1 sauce
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
Pinch of salt and a few drops Tabasco sauce

Peel and cook the shrimp in boiling water for 6 minutes. Chill the shrimp in cold water, drain and dry the shrimp with a paper towel, then place them in a large mixing bowl. Flake the tuna, crabmeat, and add to the shrimp. Sprinkle with curry powder, add all the other ingredients and mix well. Set aside in the refrigerator. Cut off the top of each pineapple and spit in half from top to bottom. With a small sharp knife cut along both sides of the core at an angle, pull out the core and discard. Carefully cut out the ripe pineapple flesh and cut into thin strips. Combine with the seafood salad and mix thoroughly. Fill each pineapple shell with the mixture and chill before serving. Serve on a bed of Boston lettuce and garnish with fresh cilantro and a wedge of lemon. Serves 4.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JUNE 2

2007-05-22T16:21:00.000-06:00

YATRA COMES TO HOUSTON
The owner of Yatra Brasserie was enjoying considerable success with his Indian restaurant-nightclub concept in the posh Mayfair district of London when someone suggested he open a variation in downtown Houston. That, amazingly, he has done – a restaurant serving Indian and Pakistani cuisine good enough to delight even the pickiest Englishman – for whom a “curry” like chicken tikka masala is now the country’s national dish. Sonu Lalvani joins us in the studio for a tasting of Yatra’s best dishes.

ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE
Longtime Monty Python member Eric Idle took the stuff dreams are made of, or at least the stuff their hit film “Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail” was made of, and turned it into a major Broadway blockbuster. Christopher Gurr, one of the stars of the musical “Spamalot,” sits down to discuss not only his role in the touring production now playing at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts but the show’s lasting appeal.

WHAT’S NEW WITH BARBI
A few years back, Chef Barbara Farrar was the toast of the town – and considering the menu at her Chez Nous in Humble, that would mean she had to be French toast. In recent years, while consulting for quite a few successful food operations, the chef friends know as Barbi has settled on a much more casual approach to dining. In her latest incarnation, at a place called TTR Gourmet, she’ll make you a delicious sandwich but she sure won’t make you croque, monsieur.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
GERMAN APPLE PANCAKES

Pancake Batter:
1 ½ cup flour
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoon melted butter
1 dash of nutmeg
½ cup sugar and ¼ cup melted butter for caramelizing the pancakes
½ cup vegetable oil

Apple topping:
3 medium-size Golden Delicious Apples
3 tablespoons sugar, mixed with 1-teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Peel and core the apples, cut the apple in quarters, then slice each quarter into thin slices. Place apples in a ceramic bowl and combine with cinnamon-sugar and lemon juice, set aside. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl, and make a well in the center. Whisk the eggs, butter, milk and vanilla, pour into the well and whisk until smooth and creamy. Generously oil a 10-inch Teflon sauté pan and heat over moderate heat, pour a quarter of the pancake mix into the pan. Tilt the pan first to one side, then to the other side, until the batter coats the bottom of the pan.

Arrange the sliced apples into the batter and cook the pancake, first on one side, then by using a spatula to turn on the other side. The pancakes should be golden brown, place on a heated serving platter and keep warm. Just before serving heat the melted butter, add the sugar and return each pancake for a few seconds into the butter – sugar mixture. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Serves 4.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MAY 26

2007-05-08T07:39:00.000-06:00

THIS BARBECUE NATION
At this time of year, the smell of wonderful smoke – wood or coal, or maybe simply food cooking on a hot gas grill – becomes part and parcel to tell us we’re in America. At least that’s the way Fred Thompson sees things, and he’s traveled up and down this whole country cooking and tasting so he can tell us all about it. Texas certainly enjoys a place of honor in his book “Barbecue Nation: 350 Hot-Off-the-Grill, Tried-and-True Recipes from America’s Backyard,” but there are many surprises from many surprising places as well.

THE ZINS OF RAVENSWOOD
Under the battle cry “No Wimpy Wines!”, Joel Peterson of Ravenswood has done exactly what a lot of folks told him couldn’t be done when he was just getting started in the 1970s. He has produced wines in a California then known primarily for cheap jugs of plonk that rival some of the best made in Europe. On top of that, he and his Sonoma winery have become famous using a grape no one else back then was very interested in – zinfandel. Joel joins us for much tasting and talking – and, we promise, it won’t be wimpy!

VIRTUOSI AT A TENDER AGE
Everybody can picture a classical chamber music concert, and the movies have taught to expect plenty of white hair onstage as well as in the audience. Still, a group called Virtuosi of Houston plays concerts sure to impress, and all the musicians are 18 or younger. We sit down with the people who coordinate Virtuosi – and even one Virtuoso himself – to learn how this music 300 or more years old is thriving in the Land of Hip Hop – and seldom sounding better.

PANNA COTTA WITH BLOOD ORANGE SAUCE

2 whole vanilla beans
1 quart whipping cream
1 ½ cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 sheets unflavored gelatin

Blood Orange Sauce:
2 cups blood orange juice
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in water

Split the vanilla beans with a sharp knife and scrape out the seeds. Combine the seeds in a heavy saucepan with the cream, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil. In a bowl of warm water, dissolve the gelatin, then whisk this into the hot cream. Remove from heat and strain. Pour into dessert cups (2-4 ounces) and refrigerate until chilled, 4-5 hours. Prepare the sauce by boiling the blood orange juice with the sugar for 20 minutes to concentrate. Whisk in the cornstarch. Strain and let cool. To serve, spoon the sauce around a dessert plate and unmold the panna cotta on top. If it sticks, set the cup in shallow warm water for 30-60 seconds to loosen the custard. Serves 8-10.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MAY 19

2007-05-08T07:38:00.000-06:00

CHEF PHILIPPE ON CUISINE MODERNE
The second most amazing thing about Bistro Moderne at the Hotel Derek is that it’s still there. Several concepts came and went in the space before it took over. But the most amazing thing is simply how good it is, and how well Chef Philippe Schmidt has translated his background in France and his success in New York into a cuisine that makes Houston palates happy. Philippe is always an excellent guest, full of excitement about the latest fresh ingredients he has found and what he can’t wait to do with them.

A TASTING WITH CLOS DU BOIS
Over the years, the winery known as Clos du Bois has evolved into one of the best loved names in California – in Sonoma, to be more precise. Winemaker Erik Olsen joins us to talk about and taste some of his latest releases, as well as to discuss the things he’s seen, heard and learned in two decades making wine for the likes of Robert Mondavi, Simi and, a bit north in Washington state, the very popular Chateau Ste. Michelle.

RIDING THE RAILS TO THE ALDEN’S 17
When the restaurant 17 opened a few years back, there was much talk about its name – how it referred to the 17 railway lines that, at one point, came together at the site that became Houston. Since Chef Ryan Pera’s arrival, presumably not by freight train, the talk has switched dramatically from what’s on the rail to what’s on the plate. Ryan joins us for talk about his newest menu items.

SOUTHERN-STYLE PORK TENDERLOIN

½ cup ground pistachios
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup Panko Japanese breadcrumbs
Salt and black pepper
1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed
¼ up clarified butter
3 Granny Smith apples, thinly sliced

Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons chopped shallots
½ cup balsamic reduction (1 cup balsamic vinegar and ½ cup sugar, reduced by ½ over high heat)
3 tablespoons good-quality honey
Seeds scraped from 2 fresh vanilla beans
½ cup red wine
¼ cup beef stock

Form a coating by mixing the pistachios, Parmesan and breadcrumbs, then seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. Roll the pork tenderloin in the coating, pressing it into the meat. Heat the clarified butter in a skillet and brown the pork on all sides. Transfer to a baking pan and set in a preheated 350-degree oven for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, sauté the apple slices in the skillet juices, seasoning with salt and pepper. Prepare the sauce in a separate pan by melting the butter, sautéing the shallots and incorporating all remaining ingredients. Keep the sauce hot. When ready to serve, spread the apple slices out on an oblong platter. Slice the pork tenderloin and set the slices atop the apple. Spoon sauce generously over the platter. Serves 4.

SHOW & REVIEW FOR MAY 12

2007-05-03T07:24:00.000-06:00

HOME IS WHERE THE PASTA IS
After a generation of chefs devoted to making Italian cooking in the United States as fancy and expensive as possible, there has been a welcome sea change. Italian chefs everywhere are recognizing that the best cooks they ever knew were not their professional mentors but their mothers and grandmothers. Of the books coming out of this epiphany, I was lucky enough to co-author one – “My Home Is Your Home,” written with Chef Andrea Apuzzo, of Capri by way of New Orleans. We sit down with Andrea to talk about the book and this return to the rustic.

SAN FELICE MAKES US HAPPY
By now, most folks know that the Italian region of Tuscany is where Chianti comes from. And we hope most folks now that Chianti is no longer – and in fact, never was – only that cheap red wine that gave us straw-covered bottles to put candles in. No, Chianti has always been one of Italy’s most respected wine regions, the kingdom ruled by the glorious sangiovese grape. We taste wines today with our new friends from San Felice – and hear about their efforts to save a grape that almost got away.

NOW IS THE TIME FOR NOWFE
It’s no secret that the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience created the model now used by many wine and food festivals around the country, including at least a couple successful ones in the greater Houston area. This year, as New Orleans continues it long climb back into the world of tourism, NOWFE promises to be bigger and better than ever. We prepare for the VERY long weekend later this month chatting with the president and the executive director about what there will be to eat and drink.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
PERE AL VINO BIANCO

6 large, ripe pears, peeled and cored but left whole
1 cup sugar
2 cups dry Italian wine
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
3 tablespoons toasted and chopped pistachios
1 dozen Italian almond macaroons

Place the pears in an enamel fireproof baking pan small enough so that they can stand upright. In a separate saucepan, bring the wine, cloves, cinnamon and sugar to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes. Strain over the pears, seal the dish with foil and poach over moderate heat until the pears are pierced easily with a fork. Remove them with a slotted spoon and place them in a glass-serving bowl. Raise the heat and reduce the liquid to about ¾ cup. Pour though a fine sieve over the pears, and refrigerate until well chilled. Just before serving, sprinkle them with the toasted pistachios and serve almond macaroons on the side. Serves 6.

OUR REVIEW OF PICAZO

2007-05-03T07:22:00.000-06:00

Pablo Picasso’s most famous child is named Paloma – a fact that plays pleasurably around your mind as you enjoy the newly minted artistry of Alejandro Picazo and David Palomo. Working in the shadows of Minute Maid Park, the two veterans of fine dining both here and elsewhere have crafted a casual, something-for-everyone destination eatery that works before or after an Astros game or as an entire evening’s sport. And if you think more than once of the 20th century’s best-known artist or his daughter’s line of fragrances, that’s probably all right with the partners as well.

Most of the lineage behind the project is Spanish, like Picasso himself. And there’s definitely something from contemporary Spain about the surroundings, blending comfortable elements of stylish city-tapas-bar-meets-rustic-village-bodega. The feeling is one in which you are welcome, with none of that fear of needing to dress up, study cooking at the CIA or take out a home equity loan. The idea is straightforward. It’s easy and pleasant to be sitting inside Picazo with a glass or three of red wine, and the owners hope you’ll choose to be there often – not just on those mythical but too-far-distant special occasions.

Still, when it comes to firepower in food and service, it’s worth remembering that Picazo spent considerable time at the old Aldo’s Dining con Amore on lower Westheimer, the place that played host to $20,000 dinners of Enron deal-closing. That company, those days and that restaurant are all gone now, which is probably just as well. Few restaurants give no thought to prices anymore; and in the case of Picazo, we certainly approve of both the affordability and the quality on each plate. Along the same lines, we’re delighted (personally as well as professionally) with their interpretation of World Cuisine – Spanish, Italian and Latin American. Any restaurant that has steaks this good, plus pizzas and pastas – plus tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole and the best seafood enchiladas we’ve ever tasted seems poised to establish itself as a regular hangout for many Houstonians.

Appetizers at Picazo ramble around the globe, from something as close as New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp to sashimi-like “Spanish” tuna cubes that are actually more Asian: thick (maybe too thick) squares of glorious tuna waiting for us at the end of a bamboo skewer with soy, sesame seeds and shaved ginger that’s been crystallized into something with the texture of sea salt. As we say, there are all the standard-issues Tex-Mex starters, even chile con queso. But perhaps the best appetizer is the fried calamari. Though a typical marinara version is offered, turn it down in favor of the Asianized sauce of sweet chili and tamarind. If there were such as thing as General Tso’s Calamari, it would taste a lot like this.

Several popular pastas are served, including one with seafood that’s patterned after the flavors of Spanish paella. Our favorites, though, come from closer to the Italian wellspring from which Aldo’s drew inspiration, the absolute best being pasta (make it penne, please) alla Russa. Whether the name is supposed to be spelled Russa (implying Russian, as in the dressing) or Rossa (as in red or pink from tomato), this penne tossed in a creamy tomato sauce with pancetta and parmesan, plus chicken or shrimp if you want it to be your entree, is a dish we’ll go back for again and again. From the pizza list, be sure to try the Mediterranean, its roasted tomato sauce holding together goat cheese and fresh herbs, plus roasted pequillo peppers, plus an expected side of spicy aioli, presumably for dipping. It all works.

Not surprisingly, one of our favorite parts of this or any other menu is the section called “TexMex & Mexican.” Here you find several of Picazo’s instant greatest hits, including those seafood enchiladas (lobster, shrimp and crabmeat) all lushly bedded down in creamy cilantro sauce, and their versions of chiles en nogado, the peppers stuffed with piccadillo and topped with plenty of a pecan sauce. If you think this restaurant is too “nice” to be serving Tex-Mex, happily you need to think again: both the cilantro-kissed Mexican rice and the refried beans with crumbled cheese are traditional and terrific. Of the seafood entrees, the salmon al champagne and the snapper Picazo (topped with more creamy cilantro sauce) are the standouts. Unless you get waylaid by the wonderful chicken piccata, you carnivores out there are sure to find happiness with the 22-ounce Chicago-cut rib chop. With any meat or no meat at all, be sure to order the three-cheese au gratin potatoes. You’ll thank me later.

2007-04-29T18:40:00.000-06:00

In case you're curious what an author at work looks like, this is me deligently researching my new cookbook, Tropical Latitudes. It and all its lovely food photography will be going to press in just a couple of weeks and appearing in bookstores near you very soon!

P.S. The setting here is the Caribbean island of Grenada, long known as the Isle of Spice. So of course I'd like it a lot!

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MAY 5

2007-04-26T07:14:00.000-06:00

MEAL OF KEELS AND WHEELS
This weekend a lot of Houstonians will head south – approximately as far as Seabrook. There they’ll be greeted by a charity event called Keels and Wheels, the perfect getaway for people who are fascinated by wooden boats and antique cars. And by wooden boats, well, we don’t mean those little skiffs some of grew up paddling. More like the yachts enjoyed by the rich and famous. We get the scoop on the scene and the cause from the founder of Keels and Wheels.

HARNESSING A GEYSER
Winemaker Mike Schroeter joins us from Geyser Peak to taste some of his best new releases. The winery is one of the older ones in California, having been founded in 1880. Besides, any winery that made it to us through the great mistake called Prohibition deserves my expression of “Well done!” The company on Chianti Road in Geyserville – talk about mixing wine metaphors – has a terrific story to tell. As usual, we prefer to listen to stories while sipping something nice.

NEW DAGGER IN TOWN
Susan Wittig Albert lives in the Texas Hill Country, tending her garden and, like a lot of people we know, cooking recipes that make use of whatever’s interesting and seasonal. So does the heroine of her series of highly readable novels, a woman named China Bayles. Sadly, for China if happily not for Susan, murders keep getting in the way. The non-fictitious half of this duo sits down to chat about her new mystery, Spanish Dagger.

SPRINGTIME ASPARGUS SOUP
WITH GRILLED DIVER SEA SCALLOPS

1 ½ pounds fresh spring asparagus
2 quarts chicken broth
1 quart heavy cream
10 fresh sage leaves
½ tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon diced shallots
4 cloves fresh garlic
Salt and black pepper to taste
6 diver scallops

Cut the tender tips from the asparagus spears, Bring the remaining spears to a boil in the chicken broth and cream, adding all remaining ingredients except scallops. When asparagus is tender, remove from the heat and let cool enough to handle. Pour the soup into a food processor and puree until smooth. Strain through a sieve. Return the soup to heat. Grill the scallops, or sear them in a very hot skillet. Saute the asparagus tips in a little butter or olive oil. To serve, ladle the hot soup into a bowl. Set a scallop at the center of each bowl and top with asparagus tips for garnish. Serves 6.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR APRIL 28

2007-04-19T06:59:00.000-06:00

SEVEN ENCHILADAS MAKE ONE WEEK
It’s here, it’s hip, it’s happening… it’s National Enchilada Week. And to celebrate the traditions of our favorite Tex-Mex dish, we sit down for an enchilada tasting with Sylvia Caceres-Copeland, who turns out a few of these things each day at Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen in west Houston. What might be even cooler, Sylvia teaches enchilada cooking classes at her restaurant and elsewhere. Maybe she can even teach us how to make them, though many brave men and women have fallen in that difficult endeavor.

RAISING OUR GLASS TO VODKA
Everybody knows there’s only one vodka made in Sweden – Absolutely! Well, thanks to a Swedish-American father-daughter team with a vision of something different and arguably better… not anymore. We enjoy a good, long, smooth and militantly UN-flavored vodka tasting with the duo behind Stockholm Krystal, who reached an agreement with the Swedish government almost as soon as it opened up the vodka business to more than one operator. The proof – yes, that would be a pun! – is not in the pudding but in the glass.

A SHOW THAT’S ‘GONE TO TEXAS’
According to its creator, some folks in New York consider the musical “Gone to Texas” the “American Les Miserables.” That said, we did travel to San Antonio to the see this show about the heroes of the Alamo, which is enjoying its final performances this weekend. What we found was a show with much to recommend it – some nifty, rather operatic music and some even niftier characterizations of figures in Texas history who seldom step down from their stone pedestals. We talk to all involved about how and why this show might be “Les Tex.”

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
JERK-MARINATED ROAST LEG OF LAMB

1 leg of lamb, deboned and butterflied
5 cups Jamaican jerk paste, preferably Walkerswood
1 cup peanut oil
Cooked Jasmine Rice

Cover lamb with 3 cups of the marinade, then spread the meat open on a tray lined with plastic wrap. Place another tray lined with plastic on top, and set a weight on that to press the meat down. Let marinate overnight in the refrigerator. When ready to cook, remove the lamb from the marinade, roll up and tie with string. Heat the oil in a large pan, then brown the meat until golden on all sides, about 10 minutes. Then remove the meat from the pan, brush with the remaining jerk marinade and roast on a tray in a preheated 300-degree oven, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before removing string. Carve meat and serve with jasmine rice. Serves 12-14.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR APRIL 21

2007-04-13T14:33:00.000-06:00

STEAKS BY BOB
Proprietor Ed Toles joins us from Bob’s Steak & Chop House, which opened recently on Post Oak in the location long inhabited by the legendary tony’s. We’ll learn about the steakhouse’s donation of a piece of that legacy - black granite tiles engraved with the long-familiar tony’s logo – as well as about this steakhouse that’s been a big hit in San Francisco, Dallas and Plano since 1993.

MATT’S BACK, FOR REAL
After escaping from last week’s radio show (where he was listed as a guest in error), Chef Matt Maroni will join us to talk about The Lodge at Bayou Bend. For one thing, Matt has had something good cooking in this kitchen as long as we’ve known him – and that means back to when the place was Rainbow Lodge. For another thing, the owners of the new restaurant have big plans for not only expanding the dining space but for creating one of Houston’s loveliest weddings venues. The thought of Matt preparing the food is enough to make anybody want to get married.

PHILIP LEHL AND ‘WIFE’
For most of us, it’s scary enough to imagine portraying any one character onstage. But during Stage’s current rendition of the Pulitzer-winning play “I Am My Own Wife,” actor Philip Lehl plays no fewer than 42. What’s more, he plays them all while wearing a dress, since they’re seen through the eyes of a transvestite in Berlin who survived both Nazis and Soviets. Philip is clearly one of Houston’s best actors, as anyone’s who caught his shows at the Alley will attest. But we can’t wait to hear about this latest challenge. And since it’s only radio, Philip is welcome to wear pants.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
GRILLED BANANAS WITH COFFEE-RUM SAUCE

Sauce:
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cups hot brewed coffee
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons cold brewed coffee
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons dark rum

3 large firm bananas
1 tablespoon melted butter, warm
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Whipped cream

Prepare the sauce by caramlizing the sugar in a small saucepan and then pouring in the hot coffee, stirring constantly. In a bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in the cold coffee, then stir into the sugar-coffee mixture. Bring to a boil to thicken, then remove from heat and incorporate the butter and rum. Keep the sauce warm. Peel and slice the bananas in half lengthwise. Combine the melted butter with the cinnamon and brush on all sides of the bananas. Grill for 2 minutes, then turn and grill 2 minutes more, until there are grill marks. Cut each banana half into 3 pieces and serve 2 on a dessert plate. Spoon sauce over the top and around the sides. Top with whipped cream. Serves 4.

OUR REVIEW OF BISTRO MODERNE

2007-04-06T06:46:00.000-06:00

Ecclesiastes, the Greek word meant to capture the Hebrew Koheleth, was and is mad about the seasons. No, not mad as in angry, and certainly not mad as in nuts. Mad as in passionately embracing. If you don’t know that book of the Bible, then you surely know the folk rendition by Pete Seeger or the rock variation by The Byrds - Turn, Turn, Turn. Still, Ecclesiastes and Koheleth combined have nothing on Chef Philippe Schmidt of Bistro Moderne.

With the same passionate embrace, and the same sense of poetry that helped Hemingway find his title “The Sun Also Rises” among its verses, Schmidt wraps his arms around each change of season. Spring means new and different ingredients, especially if you keep your eyes open for weird, wonderful stuff the way he does. And spring means a change in our eating patterns, with the slow (and for us, reluctant) letting go of stews and braised meats that nourished us through the winter. It isn’t like we suddenly want nothing but salad – least of all in any restaurant that uses the word “bistro” in its name. But we do want things a little fresher and lighter, not to mention brighter than the browns that tend to dominate the best winter plates. The fact that Schmidt can twist and turn with the seasons as freely as he does is, perhaps, where the Moderne in the name matters most.

Many Houston diners already have sampled Bistro Moderne, a place that opened in the Hotel Derek a few years back and managed to stick where eatery after eatery had failed. Credit for a restaurant’s success must always be spread around, but surely the lion’s share must go to Schmidt, who parlayed his good looks and charm with the city’s elite to a position where they trust him to cook what he sees fit. In general, and in keeping with the chic Derek setting, Schmidt has hit many home runs rethinking the mom-and-pop cuisine that’s the true essence of bistro. Best of all, he has done so without ever forgetting what the word means – a danger in a dining scene ever-ready to accept China Bistro, Tex-Mex Bistro and other nonsense like that. Schmidt’s cooking is French in the finest sense of the word, born of fresh ingredients and slow-mastered technique, though drawing also on the German heritage of his name to make foods even richer and heartier when it suits him.

A recent tasting of Bistro Moderne’s menu for spring turned up many items in all categories we hope to enjoy again and again. Some were among the 8-10 items Schmidt added for the warmer weather, while others were classics so popular he dares not take them off. That is part of the price a chef pays for success, having to be ready to serve the most popular dishes rain, sleet or snow. Or spring and summer. A deft hand clearly guides preparation of new and old in the glassed-in kitchen that visitors ogle as though the cooks were lions at the zoo.

If you’re serious about eating lighter for spring, check out the new salad Schmidt has crafted around simple arugula, studding it with twirls of paper-thin fennel and a fresh selection of Iranian figs filled with goat cheese. The whole things gets a drizzle of sweet-tart balsamic reduction and a sprinkling of delicate matchsticks of toasted bread. If you’re a tad less serious about spring, then you really need to get one of the finest foie gras appetizers anywhere: a trio of foie gras terrine with lush late-harvest Muscat de Beaume de Venise, sautéed foie gras in a sauce that combines balsamic vinegar with chocolate made in Schmidt’s hometown of St. Etienne, and foie gras ravioli beneath a saffron foam. The caramelized onion with cassis provides the perfect kick for a decadent way to start (or heck, finish) any meal. Perhaps the menu’s must-have appetizer is still the so-called crab bomb, constructed like the chocolate dessert of that name but building the form with avocado and stuffing that with crabmeat beneath a lime and cilantro vinaigrette.

We think the most exciting spring entrée showcases escolar, the fish from Ecuador. While considered oily (its name was changed from “oilfish” when it hit the American market), escolar is mild-tasting and delightfully flaky. The fish is grilled and set atop zucchini puree, playing the role of mashed potatoes this evening, and itself topped with zucchini tempura. The sauce is envisioned around a cranberry-like fruit from Iran called the barberie, which brings a perfect balance of sweetness and acidity. Other great rejiggered-for-spring entrees include the lemon sole in a soft blanket of Gruyere and capers, sided with shiitake and snap beans, and the incredible hanger steak. This comes with mashed potatoes where the mashed potatoes should be, plus an intense red wine sauce inspired by Bordeaux. The steak comes with the marrow bone, for those who learned to use that little spoon eating osso bucco.

In France, a lot of diners would eat a meal like this and opt for a fresh pear. In Houston, we say “Not so fast.” Knowing this great truth about us, Schmidt and his pastry chef have concocted several complex and even over-the-top desserts to end the evening right. Our two favorites are the vanilla fondant, a mysterious but incredible sauce that flows out of light pastry when we attack it like those molten chocolate cakes used to do – a snow white version of a dark pleasure indeed! – and the mandatory chocolate fantasy, crafted as a “tart.” Don’t think “fruit tart” here: it’s more like a tart shell overflowing with the best dark chocolate pudding anybody’s Mom ever dreamed of making. It’s got hazelnuts in the chocolate for crunch, plus some hazelnut ice cream on the side. If you ever thought Nutella in a jar was terrific (and it is!), you probably won’t think that after this full-bore dessert at Bistro Moderne.

SHOW & RECIPES FOR APRIL 14

2007-04-06T06:44:00.000-06:00

TEX-MEX GOES HEALTHY
Everybody in Texas pretty much considers Tex-Mex his or her own native cuisine – thus the Tex with the Mex. But we understand, intuitively, that all that gravy and cheese, plus rumors of lard here and there, can’t be very good for us. We check in with out own “fitness chef” Marcela Perez about what’s right and what’s wro- well, not-so-right about Tex-Mex food. And we’ll talk about cutting the fat and salt without cutting the flavors we all love.

THE LATEST FROM THE LODGE
Executive Chef Matt Maroni joins us from The Lodge at Bayou Bend, hopefully bringing tasting portions of some of the dishes his restaurant is now doing best. Matt was one of the last chefs at Rainbow Lodge before it moved from these lovely digs right on Buffalo Bayou. Thankfully, the new restaurant’s ownership (which owned the real estate all along) tracked down Matt and said: Come cook. And cook he does.

FOOD FROM A NIFTY ‘DIVE’
In an embarrassment of riches, we also will visit in studio with Chef Jonathan Jones of Max’s Wine Dive – who, by the way, is also welcome to bring us food. Why settle for one lunch when two do so nicely? We’ve loved Jonathan’s cooking in the past, and we’ve heard great things about the things he’s doing at Max’s with the lush, indulgent, probably fattening comfort foods we all love. So maybe we’ll learn each dish from Jonathan – and then ask Marcela to make it healthy!

WHAT THE HECK IS NUN CAKE?
We had a small role in a new cookbook making the rounds. Something like four years ago, we asked our readers to share memories of their most memorable school lunches growing up. One of the most enthusiastic respondents was Danielle Schaaf, who spun quite a tale of the noontime meals at her Catholic school. That memory attracted many other memories to Danielle, and now she has turned them all into a cookbook.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
INDIAN PICKLED VEGETABLES

Pickling Liquid
2 quarts white vinegar
1½ cups coarse-ground mustard
2½ cups ground turmeric
2 cups chopped ginger
1 cup whole peppercorns
2 bunches cilantro, roughly chopped
10 fresh cayenne or jalapeño peppers, split
5 cups vegetable oil

Vegetables
1 pound haricots verts (green beans), trimmed
5 large carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 bunch broccoli, cut into florets

To prepare the pickling liquid, combine the first seven ingredients in a large bowl or container; cover and refrigerate for 1 week for flavors to develop. When ready to use, strain through a cheesecloth and incorporate the oil. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the vegetables and blanch for 30 seconds. Cool quickly by placing vegetables in an ice-water bath; drain. Place vegetables on baking sheets; dry in the sun for 2 hours or place in a 180° oven for 30 minutes. Using a clean spoon, transfer the vegetables to two sterilized mason jars. Pour pickling liquid over the top, making sure vegetables are covered. Seal jars and refrigerate for 3 weeks before serving. Can be stored for up to 6 months. Serves 8-10.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR APRIL 7

2007-03-31T08:18:00.000-06:00

Note: On Saturday March 31, Delicious Mischief had the unexpected pleasure of broadcasting live from the Spec’s Warehouse store on Smith St., talking about food and wine for an hour from the center of all things food and wine in Houston. The show described originally for March 31 will now be broadcast on Saturday April. 7.

THE GREAT GADSBY
Chef Robert Gadsby, who came to Houston from his native Cockney London by way of Los Angeles, has learned a thing or two about local tastes since opening Noe at the Omni Riverway. He still loves to create personalized tasting menus of 5, 7, 12 or maybe, if you like, 1,413 courses. But he recently started offering an a la carte menu as well, for diners who might want just a salad and a nice steak. It’s all part of the journey for Gadsby, one of the smartest chefs we know – even if he does sometimes sound like Dick Van Dyke in “Mary Poppins.”

WORK DU SOLEIL
It’s back! The magnificent entertainment juggernaut known as Cirque du Soleil has taken time off from its Vegas extravaganzas to create a big new traveling show called “Corteo” – and, as always, Houston is lucky enough to get it here for about a month. This time, the troupe is setting up its signature Grand Chapiteau in northwest Houston, at Sam Houston Race Park, and counting on us to beat a freeway to its door. We chat with Corteo artistic coordinator Richard (that’s Ree-SHARD!) Dagenais about what it takes to coax magic from 55 artists from 16 countries up to 10 shows a week.

BUBBLES FROM CHAMPAGNE
We don’t buy into every “trademark” claim food and wine people aim in our general direction, including complaints we’ve heard about Parmesan cheese or prosciutto that isn’t from Parma or even about “Alfredo sauce” not made by people who bought the rights from Alfredo himself in Rome. Still, we have always accepted that the only actual champagne comes from the Champagne region of France. In today’s Grape & Grain segment, we sit down for a tasting of some of the best and brightest “real French champagnes” with the “real French people” who make them.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
BRAISED PORK BELLY AND BREADFRUIT ESCABECHE

1 pork belly (5 pounds, preferably karabuta)
4 cups Chicken Stock (recipe on page 00)
3 pounds breadfruit, peeled and cubed
4 cups boiling water
8 small additional breadfruit
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
¼ teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon allspice berries
1/2 cup white vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Smothered Callaloo
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 Scotch bonnet pepper, finely chopped
2 bunches fresh callaloo or kale
1 tablespoon salt
½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 225°. Place whole pork belly in a roasting pan; add stock. Braise in the oven until tender, about 1½ hours. In a large saucepan, partially cook breadfruit cubes in boiling water for 6 minutes; drain and set aside. Hollow out additional breadfruit to serve as “bowls;” set aside. Remove pork belly from braising liquid; set liquid aside. Cut pork into 1-inch squares. In a sauté pan, sear the squares on all sides to render the fat. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, curry powder and allspice, stirring for about 1 minute. Then add the vinegar. Reduce heat and simmer pork in this “escabeche” for 15 minutes Add the breadfruit cubes; simmer 10 minutes longer. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Remove from the heat; keep warm.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large saucepan; sauté the onion, celery, garlic and Scotch bonnet until lightly caramelized. Add callaloo; sauté until lightly browned, 15-20 minutes. Add salt, pepper and reserved braising liquid. Simmer until callaloo is tender and liquid is almost gone, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Spoon pork and breadfruit mixture into breadfruit bowls. Serve smothered callaloo on the side. Serves 8.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MARCH 31

2007-03-22T06:50:00.000-06:00

THE GREAT GADSBY
Chef Robert Gadsby, who came to Houston from his native Cockney London by way of Los Angeles, has learned a thing or two about local tastes since opening Noe at the Omni Riverway. He still loves to create personalized tasting menus of 5, 7, 12 or maybe, if you like, 1,413 courses. But he recently started offering an a la carte menu as well, for diners who might want just a salad and a nice steak. It’s all part of the journey for Gadsby, one of the smartest chefs we know – even if he does sometimes sound like Dick Van Dyke in “Mary Poppins.”

WORK DU SOLEIL
It’s back! The magnificent entertainment juggernaut known as Cirque du Soleil has taken time off from its Vegas extravaganzas to create a big new traveling show called “Corteo” – and, as always, Houston is lucky enough to get it here for about a month. This time, the troupe is setting up its signature Grand Chapiteau in northwest Houston, at Sam Houston Race Park, and counting on us to beat a freeway to its door. We chat with Corteo artistic coordinator Richard (that’s Ree-SHARD!) Dagenais about what it takes to coax magic out of 55 artists from 16 countries up to 10 shows a week.

BUBBLES FROM CHAMPAGNE
We don’t buy into every “trademark” claim food and wine people aim in our general direction, including complaints we’ve heard about Parmesan cheese or prosciutto that isn’t from Parma or even about “Alfredo sauce” not made by people who bought the rights from Alfredo himself in Rome. Still, we have always accepted that the only actual champagne comes from the Champagne region of France. In today’s Grape & Grain segment, we sit down for a tasting of some of the best and brightest “real French champagnes” with the “real French people” who make them.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
GULF COAST CHOUCROUTE GARNI

If you’ve still got a head of cabbage (or two) left from St. Patrick’s Day but can’t face another watery New England-style “boiled dinner,” you should try combining the rustic goodness of Alsatian choucroute garni with the robust flavors of the Gulf Coast. Trust us: this won’t feel like famine at all!

1-2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound smoked sausage, cut into 2-inch lengths
3 small yellow onions, roughly chopped
Creole seasoning to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3-4 large carrots, chopped into 2-inch lengths
2 large baking potatoes, cut into 2-inch cubes
½ cup dry white wine
1 head cabbage, core removed, roughly chopped
1 (14.5-ounce) can chicken broth

Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven and brown the lengths of sausage until flecks of char appear, then stir in the onions and cook until golden and deeply caramelized. Season to taste with Creole seasoning and black pepper. Add the garlic, carrots and potatoes and stir over high heat until browned, 6-8 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, letting it start to steam the vegetables. Scrape up browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add chopped cabbage and stir to combine with the other vegetables. Let cabbage sauté briefly, then pour in the chicken broth. Thoroughly incorporate. Season again with Creole seasoning and black pepper. Cover pot, reduce heat and let steam until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Serve sausage and vegetables in bowls with broth. Serves 6.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MARCH 24

2007-03-15T06:55:00.000-06:00

TAKING THE OCEAN AIRE
Living along the Gulf Coast, most Houstonians know their way around a seafood menu. But our new kid on the block comes to us all the way from Minneapolis – not, we’ll admit, the most likely place. But with a bold assist from Chef Trevor White, the restaurant called Oceanaire in the Galleria’s new Restaurant Row is showing us things we’ve never quite seen before. The menu takes a “something old, something new” tack in terms of recipes, all made with some of the freshest seafood from around the world that overnight delivery can arrange.

OUR TEXAS WINERS – WE MEAN, WINNERS
As has become a kind of tradition, some of the top honors at the recent Houston Rodeo Uncorked Wine Competition were carried home not to France or California or Australia, but to Bryan, Texas. On today’s Grape & Grain segment, we settle in for a chat (and tasting, of course) with Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo, two of the true pioneers of Texas’ increasingly respected and simply accepted wine industry. Not only have the Bonarrigos helped us come a long way from Chateau Bubba: they’re helping us envision the long road still ahead.

A SHARPER IMAGE, PLEASE
We’re almost afraid to do this, but we’ll finally talk on live radio with Helen Perry, one of the region’s best-known “image consultants.” Happily, Helen also spends a considerable amount of her time as a humorist, so hopefully we’ll all be laughing as she tells me what’s wrong with everything I wear, do and think. Helen presumably is one of those few people out there who understand just how casual “casual Fridays” in a corporate office are supposed to be. And she might even be able to explain “casual chic.”

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
PERI-PERI GRILLED CHICKEN CAESAR SALAD

1 cup Peri-Peri Sauce (see recipe below)
3 chicken breast halves
½ loaf rustic Italian bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1 large head romaine lettuce, cleaned and roughly chopped

In a mixing bowl, combine the Peri-Peri with the chicken and let marinate for 30 minutes. Heat the oil in a sauté pan and fry the bread cubes until golden on all sides, about 2-3 minutes, in batches if necessary. Drain the croutons on paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Grill the chicken on a pre-heated grill until done, about 3 minutes per side. Slice the chicken. Prepare the dressing by combining the mayonnaise, pepper, lemon juice and Parmesan in a bowl. Toss the chopped romaine with the dressing and divide over 4 salad plates. Top each with chicken and croutons. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan and black pepper. Serves 4.

Peri Peri Sauce:
2 yellow onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic
¼ cup vegetable or olive oil
2 preserved lemons
1 cup ground African peri-peri (or chimayo) pepper
1 tablespoon freshly ground cumin
1 tablespoon freshly ground coriander seeds
3 cayenne peppers, seeded
½ teaspoon sea salt
3 cups olive oil

Saute the onion and garlic in the oil until lightly browned. Cool and add all remaining ingredients. Puree in a food processor.

SHOW & RECIPES FOR MARCH 17

2007-03-10T08:17:00.000-06:00

GREETINGS FROM LATIGO CAFÉ
If as a chef, you are who you’ve cooked with, then fifth-generation Texan Doug Atkinson has to be one of the most impressive guys we’ve met. He joins us in the studio to talk about his latest endeavor, Latigo Café in Bellville west of Houston – as well as about his adventures cooking with Stephen Pyles, Bruce Molzan, Herve Glin (okay, so not everybody’s a Texan!), Robert Del Grande and Robert McGrath.

MUSIC OF THE VINES
We always love it when we get to combine several of our passions, in the case of “Vineland” both wine (of course) and musical theater. The show about the legends behind the Chilean wine Castillera del Diablo is coming to the Hobby Center this month, with Spec’s holding a special block of tickets. We’ll be chatting with a principal of the touring production about just what to expect – other than a nice glass of Chilean wine.

NOVA MEANS NEW, YES?
In Houston, a city blessed with many innovative theater companies, one of the most innovative of all goes by the name Nova Arts Project. On the eve of a tour of Eastern Europe for a recent show called “Interior,” we speak with the founders of Nova Arts about what their vision is and is not.

PILATES WITH A GREAT MELODY
Our friend Melody Morton of The Good Space Pilates and Yoga Studio pays one of her regular visits to Delicious Mischief, as ever addressing the problems we share with everyone else who eats and drinks too much for a living. And if one of the hardest parts about living a healthier and more active life is feeling motivated to do so, then Melody is at her best in that department.

This week's Delicious Mischief recipe...
CHIMICHURRI PORK SKEWERS WITH SAFFRON RICE

On Tuesday March 13, John DeMers of Delicious Mischief will serve as guest chef for a four-course dinner tasting at The Tasting Room’s Midtown location. You can stop by and meet John, and for $20 taste his quartet of dishes. He'll also be signing copies of his new book "Big Easy Cocktails." Here’s the evening's main course.

Chimichurri:
2 cups finely chopped parsley
8 garlic cloves, chopped)
1½ cup olive oil, preferably Spanish
Juice of 2 lemons
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

1 (2-3 pound) pork loin, cut into bite-sized cubes
1 yellow onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
Saffron Rice (see recipe below)

In food processor, combine the parsley and garlic, add remaining chimichurri ingredients. Let sit for 2 hours before using. Combine about half the chimichurri with the pork cubes and marinate about 1 hour in the refrigerator. Skewer the pork on bamboo that’s been soaked in water for 10 minutes, alternating pork with onion and pepper. Grill the pork skewers until done, a total of 4-5 minutes, turning occasionally. Brush with chimichurri marinade during cooking. Serve skewers with saffron rice and remaining chimichurri on the side. Serves 8-10.

Saffron Rice:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup finely chopped onion
2 cups water
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup long grain rice
½ teaspoon powered saffron

Melt the butter in a pot with a tight-fitting lid and sauté the onion until transparent. Add the water and salt. Bring to a boil and stir in rice and saffron. Cover and simmer 15 minutes, then uncover and continue cooking until rice is tender and fluffy. Serves 8-10.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MARCH 10

2007-03-02T09:13:00.000-06:00

A HEALTHY PERSONAL CHEF
Chef Marcela Perez is being praised all over town for her healthy, flavorful dishes. Still, for the time being anyway, you can’t go to Marcela’s restaurant – it has to come to you. Marcela is one of a growing number of “personal chefs,” professionals who cook specifically for clients. In her case, the food really is as healthy as it is wonderful. Marcela will join us and tell us how she does it.

SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST
Yes, we know, that’s the name of a music seminar and festival in Austin. But in this case, it’s also the theme of a wonderful wine dinner. Jean-Philippe Guy of Bistro Provence brings us a selection of wines to taste from southwest France, along with his considerable knowledge of that ancient region near where the Pyrenees mark the beginnings of Spain.

FOODS TO TIE THE KNOT BY
If you go to a lot of weddings in and around Houston (which we make a general point of not), you know that the food served is almost on the level of the bride’s dress when it comes to postgame analysis. We chat with Radhika Day, publisher of Weddings in Houston magazine, about the latest trends and their upcoming bridal event.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
LEMON-ROSEMARY CORNISH HEN

1 ½ cup olive oil
½ cup finely chopped fresh rosemary
¼ cup finely chopped fresh thyme
3 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
4 Cornish game hens, butterflied and pressed open
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped lemon zest
2 tablespoons kosher salt

Prepare a marinade by mixing 1 cup of the oil, rosemary, thyme, garlic and black pepper in a bowl, then spreading this all over the hens. Let the hens marinate for 1 hour. Saute the hens skin side down in ¼ cup olive oil for 5 minutes, then turn them and sauté 3 minutes more. Remove the hens, add the remaining oil and sauté the onion, carrot and celery. Cover the bottom of a roasting pan with the sautéed vegetables, then spread the hens on top. Sprinkle hens with lemon zest and roast for 20 minutes in a preheated 350-degree oven. Transfer the hens to a serving platter and strain the pan drippings over the top, discarding the vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and serve. Serves 4.

OUR REVIEW OF THE LODGE AT BAYOU BEND

2007-02-23T07:48:00.000-06:00

Question: When is a landmark restaurant not a landmark restaurant? Answer: When it’s actually a landmark restaurant location.

All of our standard assumptions about restaurant identity got a swift kick recently when the wild game eatery known for 30 years as Rainbow Lodge hoofed it across town to the location long associated with Old French La Tour d’Argent. That, we suppose, makes it a beloved local landmark inside a beloved local landmark, a fact worth pondering all by itself. But the best news among all these musical forks is the new restaurant that has risen where Rainbow Lodge used to be, a stylish yet totally comfortable food and wine emporium on the banks of Buffalo Bayou called The Lodge at Bayou Bend.

For all but the hunters in any crowd, the most welcome change in these nature-blessed digs is that Rainbow Lodge took all those sad-eyed game heads with it. In times past, they seemed to not only fill every inch of wall but clutter the very airspace with their crazy quilt of lifeless horns and antlers. More than a few customers complained the animals were “looking at them” in a really unfriendly way, accusing them no doubt of taking part in the slaughter. The new, cleaner décor suffers from no such angst: it’s a kind of upscale Colorado-Meets-Wyoming residence built of dark wood and windows, the glass not only inviting in the gracefully illuminated trees at night but making the whole feeling one of Big Sky Country.

This sea change on the bayou started with the decision of longtime property owner Fred Welling to ask his high-profile tenant to move so he could create a restaurant that he and his son Derek could actually form. Once the move was accomplished, and rumors that the beloved building was being torn down to build a highrise quashed, the Wellings could set out on a path to make their personal vision stick. The gardens have been manicured yet still feel strikingly wild for being a few steps off Memorial so close to downtown. Lights, pools, fountains and pathways have been added or improved, showing the family’s cards a little when it comes to becoming a top-shelf weddings venue.

And best of all, a team has been built around the last great chef at the old Rainbow Lodge, a guy who enjoys cooking wild game but by no means wishes to be typecast. Matt Maroni serves a substantial list of red meats at The Lodge, but it’s clear when he’s talking to you tableside that his heart is in the more complex and personal constructions. Some of those are seriously good, while others feature a touch of whimsy – a facet seldom seen in Big Meat dining palaces. The result is a light and creative touch that surprises as often as it fascinates.

Appetizers, for instance, are billed as Palate Teasers and include both an excellent crab cake with tomato confit, poached red onion, crispy artichoke and fennel buttermilk aioli and a smile-to-your-lips little platter called the Lobster Trio. Besides your basic lobster claw with an apple-vanilla gastrique, this joyride takes in a salty-sweet lobster “club sandwich” and a lush lobster truffle “cappuccino.” As we say, the whole thing is as much about smiling as eating. Another must-have starter is the grilled quail breast, which seems simple enough - until you Deep South it with cheddar biscuit, braised greens and a hollandaise kicked up with jalapeno duck sausage.

Almost in answer to anyone trapped in a Rainbow Lodge time warp, The Lodge serves some serious seafood entrees – not just the mandatory things old-fashioned steakhouses put on the menu. And while Maroni is ever-quick to use words like “easy” and “simple,” his dishes can have a whole lot shaking, as it were. Yellowfin tuna, for instance, is barely seared, but then labor-intensively outfitted with yellow pepper aioli, sprout leaves, sweet onion rings, golden potato and olive vinaigrette. Even better, we think, is the pan-roasted grouper with a savory fricasee of veal sweetbreads, trumpet royale mushrooms, several purees involving root vegetables – and then, from out of nowhere, razor clams. Of course, some might shout “overkill!” by this point. But Maroni has convinced us he has a deft hand with these mixtures, and we are inclined to trust him. Certainly, anyone relishing every morsel of his Harris Ranch beef tenderloin with truffle potato emulsion, wild mushroom ragout, a fluffy-soft poached egg and herb bordelaise would let the chef choose the entrée and probably the entire menu from this day forward.

Nigerian-born pastry chef Edet Okon seems to blend the best of Paris with the best of Vienna whenever he comes out to play. Desserts are satisfying yet not particularly gargantuan, the pastry guy following Maroni’s lead in preferring many perfect little pleasures to a single big and heavy one. A recent threesome of Okon’s best desserts included a priceless strawberry “fraisier” blending mousse with maybe souflee glace, another dish of the world’s smallest raspberry jellyrolls (no, that’s not what they’re called, but it’s what they are – Guinness Book, take note!) and yet another soft, delicate, air-whipped confection rolled in and around crunch-happy pistachios.

In the dining room, where all these goods things find their resolution, each meal is the province of GM Jason Morgan and especially of wine steward extraordinaire David Orchard. Having handpicked the wines on the Lodge’s list, Orchard can give you all the detail you want on any bottle, half-bottle or glass – he’s like a delightfully obsessed baseball commentator, full of oenological batting averages and ERAs - along with dead-on suggestions for pairings. Considering the number of tracks some of Maroni’s dishes run on, this is a great service to have. The next time you try choosing a wine to go with jalapeno duck sausage hollandaise, you’ll have some appreciation of Orchard’s mastery.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MARCH 3

2007-02-23T07:46:00.000-06:00

UNCORKING THE RODEO
In addition to all the “normal” fun associated with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, over the past few years wine and food have come to play a major role – and not surprisingly, we’re all for it. Bear Dalton of Spec’s joins us in the studio to taste and talk about the winning entries of what must be one of the world’s largest wine tastings.

NOT WITHOUT A HITCH
Mark Shanahan really is a film professor who teaches a course in Hitchcock. But thanks to the Alley Theatre, he’s also an actor portraying a film professor - who teaches a course in Hitchcock. Mark joins us to talk about the enticing new play “Hitchcock Blonde,” and what it teaches us about Hollywood’s late, great Master of Suspense.

IT’S A MYSTERY
Scottish writer Peter May first attracted out attention with a “police procedural” novel set in today’s China – not the least of which because he wasn’t the least bit Chinese. Not only is May coming to Houston to talk about his new China novel “The Fourth Sacrifice” but about his new series featuring an Italian-Scottish crime solver living in France. Since May himself lives in France, we may be getting a bit closer to home.

CHICKEN AND ANDOUILLE QUESDAILLA
WITH CILANTRO SOUR CREAM

Cilantro Sour Cream:
½ cup sour cream, preferably Mexican-style
1 teaspoon finely chopped cilantro
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

3 large (10-inch) flour tortillas
1 cup diced grilled chicken breast
1 cup diced grilled andouille
1 roasted red pepper, roasted with char removed, diced
¾ cup shredded Chihuahua (or Monterey Jack) cheese
3/4 cup jalapeno Chihuahua (or pepper jack) cheese
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon ground guajillo chile

Top a tortilla on a plate with about half the chicken, andouille, pepper and cheese, then cover with a second tortilla. Spread the remaining fillings and top with the third tortilla. In a bowl, combine the olive oil with the guajillo pepper and brush this on the top of the guesadilla. Carefully transfer, oiled side down, to a nonstick pan over medium heat. Brush the second side with the oil-guajillo mixture and cook, flipping once carefully, until both sides are golden brown and cheese is melted, 5-6 minutes per side. Transfer the quesadilla to a large plate and cut into 8 wedges. Serve with Cilantro Sour Cream.
Makes 8 wedges.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR FEB. 24

2007-02-14T17:03:00.000-06:00

This week’s program hosted by John DeMers comes to us from the beach in Jamaica – from the Grand Lido Braco Resort on Jamaica’s north coast, to be precise, between the bluewater playgrounds of Montego Bay and Ocho Rios.

YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN
The chef at the Grand Lido Braco Resort spent nearly two decades cooking the flavorful foods of his island – for the hip-happening chefs of the so-called Mango Gang in Miami, Coral Gables and super-chic South Beach. Eventually, though, he found a job that let him come home and cook Jamaican food for visitors more primed than ever to taste the real deal. We chat with him about the sea change that has taken a little-understood cuisine into stylish kitchens in the States in less than 20 years, along with what that means to a true Jamaican in the kitchen.

APPLETON RUM EXPRESS
Like every other Caribbean island, Jamaica produces some mighty fun rum. At the Appleton Estate distillery in the center of the island, however, perfectionists are mastering the distilling and blending of this colorful pirate spirit in a way that’s attracting the attention of the wider world. We enjoy a tasting of Appleton’s finest with the estate’s chief blender, learning of the miraculous ways aging in oak has of making rum not just your mama’s white lightning anymore. We learn when to pour this rum into a Planter’s Punch, Pina Colada or Mai Tai – and when to sip it like a fine cognac.

COOPERATIVE SPICE
On the shelves of Spec’s and other fine food purveyors in the States, the products of a Jamaican company named Walkerswood are surefire promises of quality. But as we hear from the international marketing director and the executive chef, Walkerswood isn’t so much a company as a rural cooperative, more like a village in which everyone has one very tasty goal. Over the past 30 years, and especially in the past five when the products have found a home in American kitchens, Walkerswood has become synonymous with the jerk seasoning and other spicy flavorings that make Jamaica famous.

JAMAICAN SMOTHERED CALLALOO

1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 Scotch Bonnet pepper, finely chopped
2 medium sized bunches fresh callaloo, or kale
1 tablespoon salt
½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
4 cups chicken stock

Melt the butter in a large saucepan and sauté the onion, celery, garlic and pepper until lightly caramelized. Add the callaloo and stirfry until lightly browned, 15-20 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and chicken stock. Reduce the heat and simmer until callaloo is tender and liquid is almost gone, about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Serves 8.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR FEB. 17

2007-02-11T10:55:00.000-06:00

A LIFETIME OF WANDERLUST
Longtime Houston chef Joe Mannke took his first breaths in a country that doesn't exist anymore - Pomerania, a place long German, now a part of Poland. But in the years since, he has traveled and cooked on nearly every continent. His new autobiography with recipes, titled Wanderlust, is his intriguing personal story with the dishes that make it even more so.

A BIT OF POLO
Chef Polo Baccera has been a semi-discovered treasure of the Houston dining scene for some years now. With the opening of his new restaurant, he not only kicks his own cooking up a notch but seeks a wider audience for all he's about. Polo joins us in the studio to tell us all about it.

AUSTRALIA BY WAY OF FRANCE
Roman Bratasiuk's name doesn't sound Australian OR French, but his incredible wines are a dazzling taste of both. Roman happens to be Australian, and that's where he makes his wines. But he is so enamored of the wines of France that his style is primarily French. Try a bottle of Clarendon Hills before or after today's Grape & Grain segment, and you'll see what we mean.

This Week's Delicious Mischief Recipe...
SEARED YELLOWTAIL SNAPPER
WITH SHRIMP-CELERY ROOT CROQUETTE

Croquette:
1 pound celery root, peeled and quartered
1 Yukon gold potato, peeled
2 quart chicken stock
1 ½ pounds peeled and deveined raw shrimp
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
6 eggs, beaten
3 cups panko breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

1 fresh coconut, peeled and cut from shell
2 cups shrimp stock
1/6 cup light soy sauce
3 tablespoons ginger juice
1 tablespoon jalapeno juice
½ tablespoon garlic juice
1/6 cup cilantro juice
6 (6-7 ounce) snapper fillets, preferably skin on
Garnishes: grilled scallop, lump crabmeat, chopped bok choy (optional)

Cook the celery root and potato in the chicken stock until tender, 35-45 minutes. Let cool and puree in a blender or food processor. Add the shrimp and puree to thoroughly incorporate. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Form the puree into croquettes using a ring mold, then dip in sequence into flour, egg and breadcrumbs. Heat grapeseed oil in a pan and saute the croquettes until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side.

To make the sauce, puree the coconut meat in the shrimp stock, then add the soy and all the juices. Mix well. Heat in a pan but do not boil, to preserve the fresh flavors. Saute the snapper with the skin side down for 6 minutes, then turn and complete cooking, 4-6 minutes more. To serve, ladle the sauce onto the bottom of a bowl, position croquette on the sauce and lean the snapper against the croquette. Garnish other seafoods or vegetables if desired. Serves 6.

OUR REVIEW OF OCEANAIRE

2007-01-19T12:32:00.000-06:00

You know the world has turned a few times when the best new seafood restaurant to hit our stretch of Gulf Coast in ages hails from Minnesota. Yet in this era of global seafood, it’s actually far less important that you’re close to an ocean than that you know how to reach people who are. Once the system is in place, dayboats pulling into Hawaii or Chile are as close as the chef’s cellphone – and in some cases, ready to fly you fresher fish than some guy on a dock just 100 miles away.

The Oceanaire Seafood Room, landing in the Galleria’s new Restaurant Row during the holiday shopping rush, has pretty much mastered the fish-by-cellphone thing since its beginnings up north in 1998. It brings to local tables an established rep it has no interest in losing, a comfortably elegant décor with the just the right touch of 1930s Art Deco ocean liner, and a commitment to celebrating the greatest traditions of American seafood cookery. With a delicious bit of irony, most of the classic recipes from which Chef Jeremy White takes his cue were invented in days that saw seafood served only along America’s coastlines. In many cases, his hyper-fresh updates of the classics not only take these traditions far from the coasts of their origin but make them better as cooking in every conceivable way.

Take Oceanaire’s rendition of Lobster Thermidor, for instance – as tired and moldy an old dish as can be imagined, now terribly dated with its all-encompassing glop of cream, butter, breadcrumbs and too much cheap sherry. Chef White seems to have deconstructed the dish into its flavor components and produced a fresh, zippy, surprisingly light but lush spin that’s all about chunks of sweet lobster and lump crabmeat. The other elements are held back, applied strategically, a splash here or there. A dish no one needed to try has become a dish everyone needs to try, a transformation that proves to be emblematic of what the new Oceanaire in Houston is all about.

In keeping with its concept and seafood’s global shipping lanes, each night at the restaurant produces a dated chalkboard list of what seafood is in the house. While certainly showbiz plays a part in such lists – showbiz being another word for what restaurants like to call presentation or the “complete dining experience” – it also is a kind of guarantee. Nothing is served that’s less than perfect just because it’s listed on some printed menu. On the night of our recent visit, the chalkboard listed 25 fresh items, from finfish like Block Island swordfish and Carolina white trout to New Zealand “green lip” mussels and Jonah crab claws. Interestingly, there’s a strong sense of wine-like “terroir” in Oceanaire’s treatment of seafood. Fish, it seems, really are what they eat, so it matters deeply where they come from. This geography fetish carries over bigtime to the Oyster Bar, where you might enjoy a bevy of bivalves from Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Maine and Massachusetts. Cold water is a must here, it would seem.

For appetizers at Oceanaire, the number of promising choices can overwhelm. Best bets we’ve sampled include Baked Oysters Creole with a bit of andouille crust, Topneck Clams Casino (that Sinatra-like Italian-American classic) and the quite different, much lighter Ahi Tuna Tower, with avocado, mango and jicama pico de gallo. In some dishes, it’s all about the crunch. Oldtime faves like Shrimp de Jonghe, Escargots and even a 95-cent “Tomato Juice Cocktail” turn up, but so do newtime faves like Crab Cake (hewing the current party line of lots of crabmeat, almost no breadcrumbs) and the Thai-spiced Red Curry Mussel Stew, memorable for its coconut milk and basil. Chef White’s cookbook collection seems as global as his seafood – a Houston thing indeed.

In addition to the option of fresh items simply grilled or broiled with sea salt, lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil, there are no fewer than 15 entrees listed as Oceanaire Specialties. In addition to that glorious Lobster Thermidor and the wonderful swordfish from Block Island (up by Rhode Island, which is much smaller than Texas) served with garlic essence and herbed crimini mushrooms, we like the Monterey Bay Fisherman’s Stew (bouillabaisse gone to Sicily, in much the style of San Francisco’s cioppino) and the Whole Fried Arctic Char, an Asian concept from the start with its citrus-soy glaze and crunchy daikon sprout salad. Among the main courses built around shellfish (in case you haven’t had enough by filling your table with great shellfish appetizers), we prefer the Massachusetts diver scallops with braised salsify and a garlicky gremolata glued together with melted Asiago.

Make no mistake: just as any modern steakhouse must appeal to seafood lovers, any modern seafood house must do the same in reverse. A couple of great steaks are offered, along with high-end know-their-home-address chicken, pork, veal and lamb. And when all the entrée plates are cleared, you will want dessert whether you’ve “saved room” (what a quaint concept) or not. All the expected things are done well at Oceanaire, from Key Lime Pie to Baked Alaska, from Tres Leches (now there’s a dish that came out of nowhere) to Crème Brulee. Classics all. Yet you might just let your server set the Super Caramel Brownie at the center of your table. More like a mammoth slice of chocolate cake than a brownie anybody’s Grandma ever thought about making, this one comes with whipped cream and a generous ladling of both chocolate and caramel sauces. Let the feeding frenzy begin!

SHOW & RECIPE FOR FEB. 10

2007-01-19T12:24:00.000-06:00

THE FLAVORS OF CATALAN
Though it studiously avoids using the word “tapas” – one of the many dining trends that came and went in America in the ‘80s – the new restaurant called Catalan picks and chooses all the best and lasting elements of the craze, then inserts razzle and dazzle of its own. On today’s edition, chef Charles Clark (of Ibiza fame) and Catalan chef Chris Shepherd talk about how they took the concept and made it real for diners. As a result, the foods and wines of Catalan make it perhaps the hottest restaurant in town.

MUSIC TO OUR EARS
Talk about an embarrassment of riches! Anthony Brandt of Musiqa and Matthew Dirst of Ars Lyrica join us in studio to talk about their upcoming combined Valentine’s concert, an event Delicious Mischief will be hosting with oh-so-French food and wine from our friends at Le Mistral. And while we’re at it, we’ll visit a while with French-accented Antoine Plante, he the honcho of Mercury Baroque, which also has a concert on our February radar. Now if everyone will just bring a musical instrument, we’ll at least have a trio!

WINES FOR VALENTINES
Despite the huffing of some restaurant waiters about “amateur night,” Valentine’s remains along with Mother’s Day one of the top days for dining out in our culture. We always figured there was some relationship between the two, though they clearly fall less than nine months apart. Our buddy Steve Ehrman of Fosters Wine Group joins us with his selection of the perfect wines for the perfect romance. And you can enjoy these vintages whether you join the hordes in our local restaurants or settle in for a quiet, hopefully candlelit dinner at home.

POACHED PEARS IN WHITE WINE

6 large, ripe pears, peeled and cored but left whole
1 cup sugar
2 cups dry Italian wine
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
3 tablespoons toasted and chopped pistachios
1 dozen Italian almond macaroons

Place the pears in an enamel fireproof baking pan small enough so that they can stand upright. In a separate saucepan bring the wine, cloves, cinnamon and sugar to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes. Strain over the pears, seal the dish with foil and poach over moderate heat until the pears are pierced easily with a fork. Remove them with a slotted spoon and place them in a glass-serving bowl. Raise the heat and reduce the liquid to about ¾ cup. Pour though a fine sieve over the pears, and refrigerate until well chilled. Just before serving, sprinkle them with the toasted pistachios and serve almond macaroons on the side. Serves 6.

OUR REVIEW OF CATALAN

2007-01-19T11:49:00.000-06:00

Like so many food crazes, the Spanish “tapas craze” went the way of the Hula Hoop almost as soon as it started turning up in major U.S. cities throughout the 1980s. The Ballroom in New York is no more – indeed, its brilliant Peruvian-Chilean-Spanish-German-Italian chef Felipe Rojas-Lombardi was tragically and prematurely taken from us. Here in Houston, Arturo Boada’s downtown landmark Solero has faded from the culinary scene, our own affectionate memories of the place pretty much wiped out by too much red wine. Yet Spanish cuisine remains a tantalizing and still-undervalued international treasure, an invitation to the same rustic genius found in Tuscany or Provence.

And that’s where the new Catalan fits in. In the shadows of the Pyrenees, with its tangle of Spanish, French and Basque influences, Catalonia (the typical English spelling) is best-known via its largest city on the sea, Barcelona. Yet as envisioned by owners Charles Clark and Grant Cooper of Ibiza fame and realized fresh daily by Chef Chris Shepherd from Brennan’s of Houston and sommelier Antonio Gianola from DaMarco, Catalan has settled into the dining landscape as though a beloved, timeless, mandatory fixture in a matter of months. It seems destined (and it certainly deserves) to outlive not only any trendiness still clinging to tapas but any excitement attached to being the hippest, hottest new food and wine destination in town.

The thing is, Catalan both is and is not a “tapas restaurant.” In traditional Spain, the very idea of a “tapas restaurant” is almost senseless. Spaniards prowl the streets for tapas and wine BEFORE going to a restaurant or home for dinner excruciatingly close to midnight. There is, however, a definite and delicious tapas presence reflected in the longest section of Catalan’s menu, so sweetly called not “tapas” but “Small Plates to Share.” Still, the guys here learned from others’ mistakes: instead of realizing later (or too late) that Houston diners demand large entrees, they built in main dishes along with soups, salads and sides from the ground up. Most diners, therefore, order tapas here like appetizers, then plunge headfirst into some reasonably dazzling entrees. It’s an entire Spanish evening, with several locales telescoped (profitably) into one.

It’s worth noting, however, that you can and sometimes should make a full meal from Catalan’s generous collection of Small Plates, the best being the spicy garlic Gulf shrimp (a Spained-up version of New Orleans-Sicilian barbecue shrimp), the classic Spanish tortilla (a potato omelet made with no Mexican-style tortillas in sight) and the Arborio-dusted calamari with jalapeno-lime dressing (a nifty escape from corporate-Italian batter-fried with marinara sauce). In keeping with the current chef fetish, there’s a mandatory pork belly starter, fatty but flavorful, and given amazing depth by Steen’s cane syrup. Going this tapas-only route lets you also enjoy the coolest thing about Gianola’s wine program at Catalan: an affordable chance to sip your way through three-ounce “tastings,” thus enjoying three, four or five different wines in the course of your meal. We can imagine few things better outside the privacy of our own home.

The soups at Catalan are Spain’s greatest hits album: a tomato-kissed gazpacho and a warming, lush cream of garlic. Salads hail from somewhere wonderful between Spain and France, the best being crispy frisee with bacon lardons, pomegranate and tarragon dressing. There’s even a neat spin on Caesar, mildly deconstructed into baby Romaine, rocket lettuce and something called “anchovy confit.”

While fewer in number than the Small Plates, the predictably named Big Plates lack nothing when it comes to making an impression. Things we’ve loved best so far include the beef filet a la plancha (maybe from that carnivorous Broadway musical called Man of la Plancha!) served with olive oil whipped potatoes and a thankfully mild-tasting anchovy butter, and the seared tuna with ham-hock braised lentils (Spanish-French soul food) and whole roasted sweet shallots. The seafood stew is essentially Gulf Coast bouillabaisse, featuring virtually every seafood in the kitchen in a light but lively garlic, saffron and tomato broth – a reminder of Catalonia’s connections via Barcelona to the larger Mediterranean world.

Many of the main dishes at Catalan come with terrific sides; but if your preferred entrée does not, never fear. Just be sure your table gets one or more of the following: bacon and sage grits, olive oil whipped potatoes, Cabrales cheese gratin and, our favorite, cauliflower puree. It’s the cauliflower dish for people who don’t think they like cauliflower. Still, don’t use up all the space that might hold dessert. You absolutely need the white chocolate and dried cherry bread pudding (showing Chef Chris’ debt to Brennan’s and therefore to the Commander’s Palace branch of that family in New Orleans) and the chocolate lover’s Nutella crepes with cinnamon ice cream.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR FEB. 3

2007-01-19T11:41:00.001-06:00

THE LATEST FLAVORS FROM N.O.
Today’s opening segment checks on the progress of post-Katrina New Orleans from a restaurant that truly takes “location, location, location” to heart – Muriel’s on Jackson Square. We chat with proprietor Rick Gratia and new executive chef Guy Sockrider on the challenges of staying in business and keeping food, wine and service standards high while waiting for the once-and-future New Orleans tourist to return.

SOUTH AMERICAN VINTAGE
In a world that regularly embraces the wines of Australia and even acknowledges great new vintages from South Africa, we think South American wines (especially those from Chile and Argentina) remain both super bottles and super values. We sit down for a tasting during today’s Grape & Grain segment with a representative from the winery built by Nicolas Catena. And we’ll make the pleasurable acquaintance of malbec, a grape used for blending in France but now claiming its own place in the South American spotlight.

THEATER ON A MISSION
Jeannette Clift George joins us from A.D. Players, talking about her decision 40 years ago to create Houston’s – and perhaps America’s – first “Christian theater company.” A lot of shows have come and gone at A.D. over four decades, but Jeannette remains true to the notion that quality professional theater and moral instruction are not mutually exclusive.

BALINESE SATAY WITH NASI GORENG

Satay:
6 shallots, peeled
3 pieces lemon grass
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons oil
2 chicken legs and thighs, deboned and cut into serving pieces
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
3 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground turmeric

Nasi Goreng:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup pork cur in small cubes
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger
1 fresh chile pepper, seeded and diced
1 cup finely chopped carrots
1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1 cup peeled and chopped raw shrimp
4 eggs, beaten
4 cups cooked white rice, preferably kept overnight in the refrigerator

In a blender, make a paste of the shallots, lemon grass, garlic, cilantro and oil. In a bowl, combine the paste with the chicken and all remaining satay ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for 12 hours. When ready to serve, skewer 4-5 pieces of chicken on bamboo skewers that have been soaked 10 minutes in water. Grill until cooked, 5-7 minutes. Heat the oil in a wok, then brown the pork. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, chile pepper, carrots and bell peppers, stirring until softened. Add the shrimp and stir once or twice, then the beaten egg. Fold vigorously into the mixture like an omelet., When egg is still a little runny, thoroughly combine the cooked rice and the soy sauce, turning with a spatula over the heat until the rice begins to crackle and pop. To serve, fry 8 eggs sunny-side up. Mound the rice on plates using a bowl for shape, then top with each mound with a fried egg. Arrange 2 skewers of satay around the rice. Serves 8.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JAN. 27

2007-01-17T16:53:00.000-06:00

DINING IN TOULOUSE
In France, the word Toulouse might be identifying a famous food city or a very short artist whose surname was Lautrec. In Houston, though, the word brings back memories of a Tanglewood favorite named Café Toulouse. Chef-owner Scott Castell joins us to talk about his creation of a new place in the old space, Bistro Toulouse.

GENTLE FIRE IN A GLASS
Many wine lovers (including this one) remember their first sip of cognac – the soft caress of its almost perfumed heat in their throats. In this week’s Grape & Grain segment, we sit down to taste with a real Frenchman from the Cognac region to learn what this wine-related spirit is and is not, along with where it does and does not come from. After this, you won’t be singing that old song “Brandy” anymore!

VERY POPULAR SCIENCE
The Houston Museum of Natural Science in Hermann Park says 2006 was their best year ever, with something over three million visitors. That No. 3 turns up again, since that attendance makes the Houston museum the nation’s third most popular museum, after the Smithsonian in Washington and the Metropolitan in New York. Museum President Joel Barsch joins us to talk about the big year ahead.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
VIETNAMESE BEEF PHO

Broth:
5-6 pounds beef soup bones
1 pound beef chuck or brisket, cut into pieces
2 onions, lightly charred over flame
4-inch ginger root, lightly charred over flame
5 star anise
6 whole cloves
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
1 ½ teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons Vietnamese or Thai fish sauce

1 ½ pounds small dried banh pho noodles (rice sticks)
½ pound round, sirloin of London broil, set in freezer 15 minutes and sliced paper thin
1 onion, thinly sliced and soaked in cold water for 30 minutes
4 scallions, green parts only, chopped
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
Freshly ground black pepper

To make a clear broth, parboil the bones and beef in water for 3-5 minutes to release the impurities. Drain and rinse them with fresh water, cleaning any residue from the stockpot. Return the bones and meat to the pot. Add all remaining broth ingredients. Pour in 6 quarts of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to gentle simmer and cook for 3 hours, skimming impurities from the top occasionally.

To prepare the bowls, soak the dried noodles in hot tap water for 15-20 minutes, until softened. Quickly blanch the noodles in boiling water, just 10-15 seconds, then remove with a strainer. Divide the noodles over 8 soup bowls. Add the raw paper-thin beef atop the noodles, along with the soaked onion. Bring the broth just to a boil and ladle into the bowls, cooking the thin beef. Garnish each bowl with scallions, cilantro and pepper. Serves 8.

Show & Recipe for Jan. 20

2007-01-12T18:51:00.000-06:00

THE BUSINESS OF DINING
Poor management, thieving employees, cursed locations – you hear a lot of reasons given whenever a restaurant gets into trouble or closes its doors forever. But Bret Wieman and his wife Cheryl Kirsten have built a successful business in Houston buying places that have fallen on hard times and doing all the right things right – while keeping as many employees as possible. Talking to them is a real education in what really matters when it comes to a restaurant making it.

MASTERS OF SCOTCH
We’ve always been fascinated with Scotch whiskey, even though we haven’t always liked drinking the stuff. Those tastes of smoke and peat its fans adore has always struck us as an “acquired taste” – one we never got around to acquiring. Still, when every few months now, we sit down for a Grape & Grain tasting at Spec’s with Scotch ambassador Simon Brooking, the combination of the whiskey and his accent keeps bringing us around. We’ll be tasting the “heather on the hill” from Brigadoon before long.

PAOLA AND THE DANCE
Certainly the Dominic Walsh Dance Theater is a Houston treasure, as has been recognized both locally and nationally – and part of that treasure status comes from the small group of gifted dances that has gathered around the company’s namesake. No one of those is more important to the look and style that “is Dominic” than Chilean-born, Greek-heritaged Paola Georgudis. The lovely Paola joins us to talk about an upcoming celebration of two Italian choreographers.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief recipe…
FOIE GRAS AND SHRIMP RAVIOLI

1 ½ cup diced foie gras, cleaned and deveined
18 large shrimp, peeled
¼ cup heavy cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2/3 pound all-purpose flour
3 large eggs, beaten
1/3 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
½ cup foie gras or duck fat
2 whole leeks, white part only, julienned
2 cups duck stock
2 cups shrimp stock

To prepare the filling, puree 1 cup diced foie gras with 10 of the shrimp. In a saucepan, bring the cream to a quick boil and let cool down. Add to the foie gras-shrimp mixture, processing until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Let cool. Mix the flour, eggs, salt and oil in a large bowl. Using your hands, shape into a ball, cover and let rest for 1 hour. Divide the dough into 2 equal parts and roll each out into a large, very thin rectangle. Fill 1 square with 1 tablespoon about 1 inch apart, then cover with the other pasta square. Cut out ravioli using a pizza cutter and crimp the edges sealed with a fork.

Prepare the Leek Fondue by heating the foie gras or duck fat in a pan and braising the leeks for 20 minutes, until very soft. Drain on paper towels. Saute the remaining shrimp in the fat. Prepare the Shrimp-Foie Gras Essence by reducing the duck and shrimp stock over high to only 1 cup. When reduced, puree the stock with the remaining diced foie gras. Cook the ravioli in boiling salted water for about 5 minutes. To serve, make a mound of leeks on each of 8 warmed dinner plate, then set 2 ravioli on top. Spoon the Shrimp-Foie Gras Essence around the plate. Garnish with sautéed shrimp. Serves 8.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JAN. 13

2007-01-03T20:53:00.000-06:00

So my friends… you have to join us for the new, improved Delicious Mischief, Houston’s own food, wine and arts radio program, this Saturday from 11 a.m.-Noon on CNN 650. Though there are often surprises, our scheduled guests Jan. 13 include:

THE WHOLE ENCHILADA
One of the great thrills of moving to Texas is discovering the joys of the allegedly humble enchilada. Except when the enchilada is made by Sylvia Casares-Copeland of Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen, it isn’t humble anymore. Like so many things in food, the enchilada is less a recipe than a delivery system, opening the door to wonders inside familiar or not so familiar. Sylvia joins us top taste our way through some of her best enchiladas, as well as to talk about what makes them special.

SPECTACULAR ARCODORO WINE DINNER
Arcodoro has long been one of our favorite “Italian” restaurants, at least partially because it’s pretty much the only one specializing in the foods of the island of Sardinia. The reason for this is simple enough: chef-owner Efisio Farris hails from Sardinia. And on Jan. 15, Efisio and his chefs are joining wine guy extraordinaire Phil Cusimano and the wholesale division of Spec’s for an incredible wine dinner with the vintages of Valdicava. Efisio and Phil join us in studio for a bit of a preview. Knowing these two passionate guys, it won’t be a calm event.

BRUNCH IS THE BEST
Don’t you just love brunch, that leisurely Sunday meal that blends some of the best dishes from breakfast with some of the best dishes from lunch, and often involves alcohol to boot. Well, to drink, actually. We check in with our good friend Martha Beaudry, a Houston realtor who is devoted to the art and science of brunch. In fact, Martha has a brand new website to tell us all about, www.brunchbeat.com, with all the best places to go and try. From now on, Martha, if we buy a house from you, will you at least take us out to brunch?

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
CURRIED LAMB AND CHICKPEA SAMOSAS

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound ground lamb
2 medium onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup cooked chickpeas
2 tablespoons homemade garam masala
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 package prepared phyllo dough
½ cup melted butter

Heat the oil in a large pan and sauté the lamb until browned and fat is rendered. Add the onion and garlic, stirring until caramelized, then add the chickpeas and garam masala. Stir for 3-5 minutes. Pour into fine sieve and let grease drain for 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro. Let cool. Meanwhile, unfold the phyllo and cover with a damp cloth so it doesn’t dry out. Cut the pastry into 5-inch squares. Create base by layering 3 strips of phyllo, then spoon about 1 tablespoon of lamb-chickpea mixture onto bottom corner and fold remaining phyllo over top diagonally, to form triangle. Fold the edges with melted butter to seal. Place the triangles on a lightly oiled pastry sheet and bake until golden in a preheated 350-degree oven, about 10 minutes. Serves 8.

DELICIOUS MISCHIEF COMES HOME TO CNN 650

2007-01-03T08:40:00.000-06:00

HOUSTON – Delicious Mischief, the fast-paced Houston food, wine and arts radio program presented by Spec’s Wine, Spirits and Finer Foods, returns to CNN 650 at 11 a.m. Saturday Jan. 6.

Host John DeMers said the move was motivated by a combination of the CCN affiliate’s continued interest in his show and the FM station’s decision to switch to a sports format in early 2007. According to DeMers, the mixing of food, wine and the arts with highly respected local, national and international news is a natural.

"Everybody knows CNN," he says. "And here in Texas, everybody knows Spec’s. This opportunity lets us put these two respected brands together, in pursuit of all the best food, wine and fun.

I’ve been hosting this show in Houston for four years and, before that, for more than 12 years in my hometown of New Orleans. I still get up every Saturday morning excited to go to work – if that’s what you insist on calling it."

Delicious Mischief features spirited conversation with local and national chefs, cookbook authors and the occasional guest from the arts/entertainment world. Each show is structured around a central segment called Grape & Grain, during which DeMers talks and tastes his way through some of the world’s finest wines, spirits and beers. This is usually his favorite part of the show.

The author of 34 published books, most about food, drink, travel and religion, DeMers is the former food editor of United Press International, the global news service for which he also covered plane crashes and Mafia trials, Super Bowls and championship fights, and later food editor of the Houston Chronicle. He currently serves as editor in chief of ArtsHouston magazine. His latest books include "Wanderlust" (written with Houston chef Joe Mannke) and "My Home Is Your Home" (written with Capri-born Andrea Apuzzo). Over the decades, DeMers has traveled on assignment to approximately 130 foreign countries.

For the stage, DeMers has penned the Houston-set love story musical "Deep in the Heart," produced so far in Galveston, Austin and Houston, as well as the new musical about the history of the Lone Star State, "Texas at Heart," currently being readied for production in San Antonio.