Posted By bbinns on March 27, 2009
* Miles Driven from Marfa: 2611 * Days on the Road: Seven (on the last day, I rested by eating oysters in Washington DC) * Tanks of Gas: Seven (Average price per gallon: $1.79) * Pig’s Ears Eaten by Stella: Eight * Pounds Lost: Three (This phenomenon has been noted on all of the nine […]
Posted By bbinns on March 25, 2009
Some time back, I’d heard that Ben Barker did a “crazy pork dish,” and thus my detour away from the direct route up to New York, and down to Durham for the final day of the Pork Tour. John Currence (Day 3)—actual originator of the crazy pork rumor—also told me that Ben is the chef […]
Posted By bbinns on March 23, 2009
I have been to the sine-qua-non of smoky-salty pork, and it is within a two-day drive of my house. Ham-el-lujah! Forty-eight hours after my visit with Allan Benton of Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams, my hair, my favorite driving skirt (one needs room to spread on a trip like this), my car, Stella—all still smell […]
Posted By bbinns on March 20, 2009
At his diminutive roadside business in Lexington—don’t look for a website, there isn’t one—Ricky Parker sells barbecue. This is like saying that you go to a little street called Broadway to see some folks stand around and read a play out loud. Parker is particular about his pork. You might even say he’s pushy. He […]
Posted By bbinns on March 19, 2009
Oxford chef and restaurateur John Currence has a real pretty tattoo of a pig on the inside of his left arm. For various reasons, I know that such a place is one of the most painful places for tattoo application. To me, this proves that pork is very important to John. Therefore, he is my […]
Posted By bbinns on March 18, 2009
Driving north from Austin, heading for Waco, I cross the Brazos river. Just saying Brazos out loud: “I crossed the Brazos,” makes me feel like a cowboy. On the right just before the bridge is the Texas Ranger museum. It’s shiny and new and very big. I note, once again, that it’s real nice for […]
Posted By bbinns on March 17, 2009
When I decided to commence the Pork Tour in Austin, I knew who to call for advice. My red-headed, Texan, pistol-of-a-girlfriend Coqui didn’t fall far from the tree. Her dad, Ronnie Dunn, has been searching out the best BBQ in and around Austin “since God was a chile.” In his off-BBQ hours, he’d butchered meat […]
Posted By bbinns on March 16, 2009
On my last day in Marfa, the town is hopping. It’s spring break: people and babies are everywhere in evidence. There’s an exhibit at Marfa Ballroom, the sheriff is grilling out east of town at the stables, then there’s music behind the old bowling lanes, and a wedding has taken over the Hotel Paisano. Plus, […]
Posted By bbinns on March 14, 2009
Borunda’s Bar and Grill is Marfa’s oldest restaurant (opened 1887). Cochineal is Marfa’s newest (opened May ’08). Between these two restaurants and their respective restaurateurs lies a gulf as wide as the Texas sky. Much about the quixotic nature of Marfa may be understood by taking a look at them both. Originally called Tula’s, Borunda’s […]
Posted By bbinns on March 9, 2009
Fort Davis. About 2 miles (as the crow flies). As a kid, I rode every summer up at a most excellent camp in the High Sierras. We cantered, galloped, learned to do an emergency dismount from a gallop, and just generally felt at home on the back of a horse. During my marriage-related 7-year sojourn […]
