Here we have a bit of a shift of gears from our dinner at La Ferme in Chevy Chase. In our continuing exploration of Southern Maryland restaurants, Michael Boyd, my son-in-law, and I decided to go out for a burger and some wings while the ladies went to see the film, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile. We settled on Buckets Bar and Grill, a local sports bar … Continue reading Buckets Bar and Grill, Lusby, Calvert County, Maryland
Michael, Liza, Nancy, and I went to La Ferme for a special dinner. Amazingly, none of us had been there for dinner before, and it is off the beaten track, just off the edge of a tiny commercial block nestled in residential Chevy Chase (with, incredibly, abundant parking). I’d heard good things about it from multiple sources. I also saw a picture on Jeremy Steed’s … Continue reading La Ferme, Chevy Chase, Maryland
You’re taking a vacation this winter. You are, aren’t you? Here’s a guide to places to eat and, often, places to stay while you’re there. Basically, it’s a collection of my reviews from winter vacation spots where I’ve spent time since I expanded this Blog to include non-barbecue places. Since then, I’ve been a lot of places and eaten at a whole lot of restaurants. … Continue reading Where to Go, Where to Eat during Your Winter Vacation
After our extraordinary breakfast at Valentina’s Tex Mex, Nancy and I headed back to Houston to see Anne Rain, Hunter, and Isabelle. Along the way, Nancy and I stopped and had a walk in Stephen F. Austin State Park. The modest admission was waived for Veterans Day Weekend (you’re quite welcome for my service, such as it was), the weather was beautiful, and the trails … Continue reading Pinkerton’s Barbecue, Houston, Texas
After our meal at Terry Black’s, I wasn’t about to miss Daniel Vaughn’s breakfast recommendation, Valentina’s Tex Mex Barbecue. The two places are very different in externals. Terry Black’s is a “city” barbecue place, right in the heart of Austin, the 11th largest city in the US and moving up. Valentina’s is barely in or just outside the city limits, in an area that’s rapidly … Continue reading Valentina’s Tex Mex Barbecue, Austin, Texas
Before I set off for Austin, I shot an email to Daniel Vaughn, the barbecue guru with Texas Monthly and the genius behind the Texas Monthly quadrennial 50 Best issue, and THE authority on all things brisket. Since we’d be there on a Game Day, I wanted to know where we could actually get into a great barbecue place without too awful long a wait, … Continue reading Terry Black’s Barbecue, Austin, Texas
After our magnificent lunch at the City Market in Luling and fulfilling Nancy’s burning desire to go to Smitty’s, we drove on to Austin. As I mentioned here, one of our goals in our trip to Texas was to complete our 10K — this one actually was 11K — state capital walk in Austin. It was state capital #42 in our quest to do all … Continue reading Sandy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers, Austin, Texas
After a truly great lunch at the City Market in Luling, Nancy and I headed north toward Austin. She’d mentioned several times our visit to Smitty’s back in 2010 when I spent a term as a visiting professor at Baylor Law School. Back then Smitty’s was one of the top places in Lockhart, the epicenter of Texas barbecue, just up the road from Luling. Smitty’s … Continue reading Smitty’s Market, Lockhart, Texas
The morning after our wonderful dinner at Rainbow Lodge, Nancy and I rose with the roosters, ready to set out toward Austin to complete our 42nd state capital 10k “volksmarch.” We’d gained an hour by the time zone change, and we’d just left Daylight Savings Time, so getting up early was not a problem. The problem was that I wanted to stop for lunch along … Continue reading The Original City Market, Luling, Texas
Nancy and I had three great purposes in going to Texas: to see Anne Rain and Hunter’s daughter, Isabelle (and, of course, Anne Rain and Hunter), to do one of our 10k state capital “Volksmarches,” and to see Henry Berry, Nancy’s grand-nephew, a senior at UT-Austin. Those are the goals that “we” had. I had a not-so-secret agenda of eating a lot of Texas barbecue. … Continue reading Rainbow Lodge, Houston, Texas
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