Texas Food
WHETHER YOU ARE A TRAVELER WANTING A LOCAL EXPERIENCE OR AN EPICUREAN SEEKING CULINARY NIRVANA, you’ve come to the right state. There are so many options available that the hardest part often is determining which ones to try. Consider seeking places that serve quintessential Texas dishes like barbecue, Tex-Mex, steak, chicken-fried steak, chili, Gulf seafood or kolaches. Alternately, look for an interesting destination, such as choosing to partake of an authentic chuck-wagon breakfast or heading to the latest groundbreaking restaurant opened by a top chef. Enjoying a meal in the state doesn’t have to simply be a process of fi nding food, it can be expanded into an experience.
TASTE THE LONE STAR STATE
CULINARY TOURS If you are an adventurous eater, taking a
culinary tour of the state’s largest cities can be a great way to become familiar with some of the food off erings. T e tours vary from tasting portions at a variety of places to a progressive dinner-style and off er a rounded experience of food and local information. Houston Culinary Tours features out-
ings led by chefs to their favorite food places (usually a quick sell out). Other options are a Saturday walking tour of the Downtown or Heights areas or T ursday tour of Montrose. Austin Eats Food Tours features Brunch,
BBQ & Brewery and Best of Austin Food Truck tours on Saturdays, plus a South Con- gress Walking Food Tour on Sundays. Dallas Bites! Food Tours and Dallas by
Chocolate Food Tours have covered such top- ics as Dallas’ Best Tacos & Margaritas, and a Taste of Grapevine Walking Tour. Food Tours of America in Dallas attendees choose from a West Village Restaurant Hop (or the Dine & Dealy JFK Tour option) or the Uptown Foodie Walk. Barbecue lovers may be interested in the Texas Bar-B-Q Tour that takes in three of the top six award-winning barbecue restau- rants in the Dallas and Fort Worth area along with landmarks and places of interest. Taste T is off ers culinary and craſt brew-
ery tours in San Antonio, including one that features off -the-beaten-path eateries in the King William District on T ursdays. Fork in the River in San Antonio presents the food, architecture and history of the River Walk on Tuesdays through Saturdays. A Taste of El Paso Dining Tours off ers ei-
ther the La Mexicana Experience, highlight- ing the Mexican Revolution of 1910, or Trail Hands Dinner, focusing on cowboys.
BOTH PHOTOS: WILL VAN OVERBEEK/TXDOT
There are many opportunities to try Tex- Mex cooking throughout the state.
BARBECUE TRAILS T ere are hundreds of barbecue joints
throughout the state, and afi cionados will be happy to argue for their favorites. A couple of areas have established barbecue trails that promote trips to some of the best brisket, ribs, chicken and sausage the state has to off er. Consider exploring T e Texas BBQ
Trail. T e trail features all four barbecue places in Lockhart (named the Barbecue Capital of Texas by the 1999 Legislature), two in Elgin, four in Taylor, two in Luling and one in Bastrop. Most of these have been in business for 50 years or more and routinely make the list when people start talking about the best barbecue in Texas. T e newer Coastal Texas Barbecue
Trail features seven barbecue joints in and around Victoria. T e trail suggests daily itin- eraries to enjoy one place for lunch and one for dinner all while enjoying the local attractions
then come back another time to try a diff erent itinerary. Or, you might decide to try them all in a weekend and that’s all right, too. Of course, there are many other good
barbecue places throughout the state, they just don’t have trails yet.
COOK-OFFS AND EVENTS When you are seeking Texas foods, a good
way to fi nd options is to inquire at the local visitor center for the best local restaurants. If you are lucky, there may just be a food event or cook-off (stand-alone or as part of another event) happening at the time of your visit. Chili cook-offs occur throughout the
year, culminating with the CASI and Fran- cis X. Tolbert-Wick Fowler international chili championship cook-off s held at the be- ginning of November in Terlingua. Attend- ing a chili cook-off is partially about the food and part pageantry, with many cooks in costumes and themed booths. It usually provides an opportunity to check out a vari- ety of concoctions. Barbecue cook-offs are another favorite
pasttime with hundreds taking place throughout the state. T e Lone Star Barbe- cue Society and the International Barbecue Cookers Association have an extensive list
C U I S I N E More
For more ideas on places to enjoy food and drinks or fi nd events like cook-offs that are not included in this guide, visit
www.texashighways.com.
21
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220 |
Page 221 |
Page 222 |
Page 223 |
Page 224 |
Page 225 |
Page 226 |
Page 227 |
Page 228 |
Page 229 |
Page 230 |
Page 231 |
Page 232 |
Page 233 |
Page 234 |
Page 235 |
Page 236 |
Page 237 |
Page 238 |
Page 239 |
Page 240 |
Page 241 |
Page 242 |
Page 243 |
Page 244 |
Page 245 |
Page 246 |
Page 247 |
Page 248 |
Page 249 |
Page 250 |
Page 251 |
Page 252 |
Page 253 |
Page 254 |
Page 255 |
Page 256 |
Page 257 |
Page 258 |
Page 259 |
Page 260 |
Page 261 |
Page 262 |
Page 263 |
Page 264 |
Page 265 |
Page 266 |
Page 267 |
Page 268
