Road Foodie

Some people drive simply to arrive.

The Pork Tour Day 2: Athens, Texas

Posted By 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 […]

Pork Tour Day 1: Austin

Posted By 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 […]

A Tale of Two Marfa Eateries

Posted By 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 […]

Nobody Chats Like a Cowboy

Posted By 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 […]

The Bolo-Tie Syndrome

Posted By on March 2, 2009

Marfa to Alpine. And back. 52 miles. You know what this is, right? You don’t? OK, you are in Santa Fe. You’ve just come back from Ten Thousand Waves, where you came to love the smooth, warm stones so much that you’d really like to propose marriage to them. You sat in a wooden tub […]