Category Archives: Food, glorious food

New school food coming

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

No more mystery meat. School lunches, long saddled with an unhealthy reputation, are getting a makeover. Instead of salt-doused fried foods, highly processed white bread and sugar-laden desserts, cafeteria trays will be carrying whole wheat pizza, leafy green and orange … Continue reading →

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The year in beer

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Scott Metzger offers a look back on beer news from 2011, and makes some predictions for this year. Of the most interest to me is this:

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“Says I, I’ll try cider, I’ve heard that it’s good”

Posted on December 10, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

We know all about the local beer-brewing scene here, but did you know there was a burgeoning trade in cider as well? By the time Jake Schiffer was ready to incorporate Leprechaun Cider Co. in the spring of 2010, he … Continue reading →

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Beyond turducken

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

You’ve had turducken. You’ve had turbaconducken. Where do you go from there? How about the Quaducant, with Creole sausage? That’s just one of several options presented to you at that link. I may have to ask for that next year. … Continue reading →

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Food trucks

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The city of San Antonio is preparing to overhaul its regulations of food trucks. In San Antonio, strict mobile food vending laws make it difficult for food trucks to flourish. Acknowledging the need for change, officials are jump-starting a process … Continue reading →

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The macrobrewers are expanding, too

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

In addition to all the new microbrewers that are sprouting up, giant international conglomerate Anheuser-Busch InBev will be spending a bunch of money to improve and expand its operations. The local Anheuser-Busch InBev brewery is using a major capital infusion … Continue reading →

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Still more microbrew options

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Our flagons runneth over, as new microbreweries keep springing up. If each opens as planned, Buffalo Bayou, 8th Wonder and Yard Sale Brewing companies would bring to eight the number of plants making beer within an hour’s drive of downtown … Continue reading →

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Jus’ what?

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

From the stupid lawyer tricks department: Heights-area restaurant Jus’ Mac, which boasts a variety of gourmet macaroni-and-cheese dishes mixed with anything from jalapenos to pineapple to Doritos, is in a trademark disagreement with the McDonald’s Corp. McDonald’s claims the “Mac” … Continue reading →

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Eating good in the neighborhood

Posted on September 10, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron rounds up a bunch of restuarant openings and soon-to-be-openings in and near the Heights; they hedge this a bit by declaring the area of study “Super Heights, which includes the Washington corridor and its fringes, where owners are … Continue reading →

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Freetail expansion on hold

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Bummer. Having previously announced expansion into the Houston market, Freetail Brewing Co. will announce the indefinite suspension of plans for a second location — citing concerns over access to capital. “As I moved forward with the Freetail Houston project, I … Continue reading →

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Open The Taps

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Better late than never. “The fourth tier wants to speak up,” said Ted Duchesne, a Clear Lake-area beer blogger and president of a nascent nonprofit organization that pledges to work on behalf of consumers to increase the availability of craft … Continue reading →

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“Zero waste” grocery stores

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

This is a really interesting idea. That environmentally friendly canvas shopping bag you proudly lug to the grocery store is about to get a lot more full, if you do your shopping in Austin, Texas. You’ll need to fill it … Continue reading →

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713 ™

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

WTF? Anheuser-Busch is counting on civic pride to make its next product a smash seller: beer named after America’s various beer-drinking cities, based on their area codes. To that end, AB has already applied for a federal trademark for “713” … Continue reading →

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Burgerville

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

We’ve seen a bunch of well-regarded and highly-anticipated national burger chains enter Houston recently – Five Guys, In ‘n’ Out, The Counter – but the one I’d love to see hit our shores is Burgerville. As the 39-restaurant chain looks … Continue reading →

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Yet another new microbrewery to open

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Not far from my house, as it happens. Startup Buffalo Bayou Brewing Co. will be located much closer to I-10 than to its namesake waterway, but founder Rassul Zarinfar says that’s by design. […] The company has leased a 7,800 … Continue reading →

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Saturday video break: You know the deal with those little shopping carts they got

Posted on June 18, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The new Whole Foods at Waugh and Dallas about to open, so there will never be a better time to post this: That may be the best non-Yankovic style parody I’ve seen in years. Tiffany got to go on a … Continue reading →

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Beer solidarity

Posted on June 12, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Good for them. Small businesses like Ziggy’s Bar & Grill and Kata Robata have scratched Bud Light from their menus and have spread the word through social media, as response to HB 602’s recent death at the hands of Anheuser-Busch. … Continue reading →

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The Cottage Food Law was adopted

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I received the following email from Kelley Masters of the Texas Cottage Food Law group late last week: After a roller coaster of a session, the cottage food bill ended up getting attached as an amendment to SB 81 in … Continue reading →

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What do they have against food?

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The Lunch Tray is peeved. The Associated Press reports that late Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee approved an agriculture appropriations bill which would essentially gut all of the recent, hard-won legislative victories to improve the health of Americans, especially children. … Continue reading →

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In your grill

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I love the opening to this story about the people who call Weber Grills for tech support, and the people who take those calls. Man. Meat. Fire. It is supposed to be a foolproof formula. But the guy at the … Continue reading →

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Another microbrewer comes to town

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The beer scene in Houston keeps getting better. Eric Warner was at the well-regarded Flying Dog Brewery in Colorado for a decade, as brewmaster and then as chief executive. While there, the brewery came out with such beers as Snake … Continue reading →

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Freetail to come to Houston

Posted on May 21, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Cool! After months of professional evaluation and fan speculation, Freetail Brewing Co. is happy to announce it has chosen downtown Houston as the site of its second location. On November 2, 2010, Freetail Founder & CEO Scott Metzger announced the … Continue reading →

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Trader Joe’s coming to Houston

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

And there was much rejoicing. Trader Joe’s, the offbeat grocer whose most popular products include frozen chicken tikka masala, pumpkin ice cream and low-cost Charles Shaw wines nicknamed “Two Buck Chuck,” is expanding into Texas with stores planned in Houston … Continue reading →

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Taco trucks and city regulations

Posted on March 19, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Lisa Gray writes about the food truck craze in Houston, and the obstacles that these foodie entrepreneurs must overcome. Food trucks can be a serious urban amenity, a quick way to bring life to a street, parking lot or underused … Continue reading →

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Cottage foods trying again

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

During the 2009 legislative session, I wrote about a group called Texas Cottage Food Law that seeks to legalize selling food that was made in a residential kitchen. From their website: In Texas it is currently illegal (click to see … Continue reading →

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The state of school food

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Bettina has a feature story in Houston Family magazine about the current state of school food, which takes into account recently passed legislation by Congress and what’s going on in HISD. She also has a report from an HISD “Nutrition … Continue reading →

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Good beer, good times

Posted on January 15, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Nice to know that quality still matters. Saint Arnold Brewing Co. increased production by 22  percent last year, continuing a streak of double-digit annual growth even as the U.S. beer industry stagnated. The Houston brewery, founded in 1994, expanded capacity by … Continue reading →

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Katz’s finally kloses

Posted on December 25, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

An era comes to an end. Marc Katz’s delicatessen on West Sixth Street is finally closing. Katz, whose business M&M Katz Inc., has been mired in U.S. Bankruptcy Court since 2004, said his business is shutting down Jan. 2 after … Continue reading →

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You can’t say that about cheeseburgers!

Posted on December 19, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Local TV stations are not lovin’ an anti-McDonald’s ad. The advertisement from Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, titled “Consequences,” displays a doctor and a weeping woman standing over a corpse clutching a cheeseburger in its right hand. The 30-second spot … Continue reading →

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Getting kids to try new foods

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The following was co-written by my wife Tiffany Tyler, who is the chair of the board of the Central City Co-op and Carolyn Lambeth, the Director of Operations for Central City. It appeared on Monday as a guest post on … Continue reading →

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Mixing alcohol and caffeine

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t drink “energy drinks” or the new “caffeinated alcohol” drinks because they look hideous and I’m way too old for that crap, but apparently they have drawn the attention of the regulatory agencies for being potentially dangerous. The Texas … Continue reading →

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More stories about building food

Posted on November 26, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

After having turducken for your Thanksgiving dinner, how can you not have something like this for dessert? A Los Angeles man named Charles Phoenix has created the turducken of Thanksgiving desserts and dubbed it the cherpumple. Turduckens are pretty commonplace … Continue reading →

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Smoked beer can turkey

Posted on November 25, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

For those of you with an engineering bent and a large enough grill, I give you smoked beer can turkey, based on a popular grilling technique for chickens. Bon appetit!

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“Lunch Line”

Posted on October 23, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Want to understand the history of the school lunch program and what’s going on with it today? Then you’ll want to see the documentary “Lunch Line”, for which The Lunch Tray is, fittingly enough, a sponsor: Here’s a trailer of … Continue reading →

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