SHOW & RECIPE FOR FEB. 9

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!