There are no excuses for anyone missing out on good food next week, and if you visit Grand Prize Bar, you’ll have the opportunity to enjoy food from many local restaurants. It isn’t just the spirit of the holidays that has Grand Prize hosting a slew of chefs, but also to help raise money to support the Original OKRA Charity Saloon. All food sales go directly to supporting the Charity Saloon. Each day of next week, there will be a new chef from a local restaurant, for six days straight. The food festivities begin on Monday, and will end on ... Read More »

By: Erin Dyer Houston Mobile Food Unit (MFU) Collective has announced new mobile food ordinance changes that will be proposed to Mayor Annise Parker and the Houston City Council on September 26. These changes are to be presented in hopes that they will aid food trucks and small businesses, benefit Houston’s reputation for entrepreneurship, and increase tourist flow into Houston as a destination city. Currently, seating outside of the food trucks is not permitted and no downtown food trucks serve hot food because they are not allowed to use propane in downtown locations. Among the proposed modifications are the elimination of the ... Read More »

I don’t know how you feel about Alec Baldwin but he hosts one of the best podcast series ever. Baldwin is best known as an actor and you can fill in the blank as to your favorite role that he’s played. For his podcast series Here’s The Thing, Baldwin plays devil’s advocate when he’s not plying us with his oil slick voice and his sharp and forthright humor. The guests cover the gamut of movers and shakers of the current scene and other tourists of industry. You want a recommendation that will both entertain and heighten your awareness of life ... Read More »

Heading home last night, I had to pull over and see why the Chick-Fil-A parking lot was full of tents. Was this the new location for Occupy Houston? Were people protesting Chick-Fil-A’s support of right-wing social issues like the fight against gay marriage? No, as it turns out–100 people were camped out in the Chick-Fil-A parking for 24 full hours in anticipation of the grand opening of their new location! So I got out of the car to take some photos and talk to folks. It was about 1 am, so a lot of people could be heard giggling in ... Read More »

You know how they always say do the math? Well I did the math and 30,000 Japanese yen convert to about 371 dollars. That’s the least expensive meal of raw fish you can buy at Jiro Ono’s sushi restaurant, a ten-seat establishment located in the Tokyo subway. Jiro, a wry 85-year old chef, has a way with tuna in the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a great fit for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston this weekend and next, just witness all the films that play to big crowds of food aficionados there (like El ... Read More »

Makenzie Maupin, Mike Eros, Nick Cooper, Food Not Bombs members, and other citizens opposed to the criminalization of charity The City of Houston is currently attempting to vote in an amendment to chapter 20 of the code of ordinances that would criminalize people who share food. The amendment requires that anyone who wants to share food in a public space will need to prepare food in an approved kitchen, have one member of their group undergo a food safety course, store their food in an approved location and never in the home, and must serve food in an area with ... Read More »

by @GunsandTacos Social media networks are like cable providers. You sometimes hate the one you’re using, but it’s kind of necessary to have it around if you want to stay connected. Some may think Yelp is just a restaurant rating site, but it’s actually a “community” of sorts, with forums, clubs, and meet-ups.  For the most part, Yelpers are real people, which is kind of Yelp’s downfall. “Real People. Real Reviews” Yelp is really easy to use. You don’t have to start a blog or pay for hosting, and there are no requirements of writing ability.  The unintentional hilarity of ... Read More »

by Mills McCoin When Texans combine two of our favorite things- fierce competition and chili- a certain spicy nirvana erupts and takes hold of the appetites of everyone in attendance. So if you think your chili recipe is the best around then come put it to the test this Saturday, January 28th, at Onion Creek Coffeehouse Bar Lounge (3106 White Oak) for the H-Town Chili Throwdown.  There’s a vote for the People’s Choice Award and the Grand Prize winner takes home $500.  Do you know how much ground beef you can buy for $500?  A great many pounds.   You don’t have ... Read More »

By Alex Wukman Earlier this month we here at Free Press Houston called attention to the recent trend of Houston restaurants being sued for failing to pay their employees. We tried to be understanding about it–hell, we even tried to be funny about it–and we hoped that a little public shaming would be the end of it. This isn’t rocket science after all: if a person works for you you pay them. End of story. Now we know that payment isn’t always an option in some businesses, that’s why tech start-ups use things like stock shares to attract employees. The ... Read More »

By Alex Wukman Once that big new H-E-B opened we all knew it was just a matter of time before market forces came in and Montrose Fiesta went out. We tried to prevent it from happening, but it was all for naught.  And when we heard that current owner Suzanne Levin was seeking variances seemingly designed solely to make the property more attractive to potential buyers, well we put two and two together and came up depressed. But it wasn’t real. It was an abstraction, like nuclear war, something that might happen but probably wouldn’t. Who would want to buy ... Read More »