Alison Cook of the Houston Chronicle visits new area hot spot Dolce Vita Pizzeria Enoteca and gives it serious props: Houston now lays claim to some of the best handmade pizzas served in America. I do not exaggerate. I would put these babies up against the well-regarded likes of Chris Bianco's pies at Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, say, or even the painstakingly purist specimens at Una Pizza Napoletana in New York's East Village. Quite frankly, thanks to their spectacular wood-fired crusts, they best even the griddled specimens served at überchef Mario Batali's Otto Enoteca Pizzeria, the downtown Manhattan pizza bar that was Wiles' inspiration. We'll have to get some of Serious Eats staff out there to try it STAT—head honcho... More

The Houston Press' Robb Walsh recently visited local taquería Mexico's Deli, where all the sandwiches have jailhouse-themed names like the "fugitiva," the "convicta" and the "tortura": In the 1970s, [owner] Alex [Garcia] explained, he opened his first taquería in Mexico City. Spoofing the hit musical La Cage aux Folles (The Bird Cage), he called the restaurant La Jaula de Tacos (the taco cage). In keeping with the "cage" theme, the tortas were named after prisons. The incarceration tortas were a big hit, and Alex went on to open four more restaurants in Mexico City. But his mini-chain collapsed with the devaluation of the peso during the Carlos Salinas de Gortari regime. So Alex came to Houston to start over.On my... More

Robb Walsh of the Houston Press visited the new wine bar and restaurant Max's Wine Dive, which serves a $14 hotdog called the "Texas Haute Dog": "a grass-fed beef frankfurter on a Kraftsmen bun, topped with "house-made" pickled jalapeños, venison chili, cotija cheese and crispy fried onions that look remarkably like the Durkees canned onions of green bean casserole fame. The dog is served on top of a pile of hand-cut frites (that's French for French fries) that have been garnished with more venison chili." I want to say "Texas eats, New York City prices" but I don't think we have any hot dogs that expensive here! (Burgers, now that's a different story altogether.)... More

Yesterday marked the start of the Lenten Season, during which Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays to honor the Passion of Christ. Seafood is exempted and so in many communities with large Catholic populations, parish fish frys on Lenten Fridays have become a tradition. Nicki Britton of the Houston Chronicle visited parish fish frys in the area and talked to the people that run them: "The fries "build relationships,'' she says. "Many of the (volunteers) are retired. They may not have an organized plan for every day. But they know that every Friday for six weeks, they will be coming together and sharing an experience.'' The recipes for fried fish, coleslaw and potato salad come in two scales each:... More