No caffeinated gum for you. Wrigley’s new caffeinated gum, Alert Energy Gum, only lasted a couple of weeks on the shelves of supermarkets, grocery stores and convenient stores after the FDA became concerned about the amount of caffeine each piece of gum offered. With 40 milligrams of caffeine (equal to half a cup of coffee) [...]
Posts under ‘Food, glorious food’
What does it mean to be a “craft” beer?
The Chron has a Q&A with beer aficionado Jenn Litz that raises an interesting question. Q: How are the major breweries responding to the craft beer trend? A: Mostly through the acquisition route. They know the milliennials are drinking craft, and the margins are good with craft beer. The majority of craft beer drinkers either [...]
Now you can drink for charity
The OKRA Charity Bar is now open for business. Charity Bar — like Warren’s Inn, its neighbor around the block — will be open until 2 a.m. seven days a week. “I think bars have a responsibility to people in the neighborhood to be consistent,” said OKRA founder and Charity Bar owner Bobby Heugel on [...]
It’s a dog eat donut world
What interested me the most in this story about the locally-based Shipley’s Do-Nuts is what wasn’t said. The changes are coming at a time when competition in the breakfast industry is stronger than ever. Coffee chains are offering more breakfast pastries, and even ethnic bakeries are gaining favor with the general public, said Chris Tripoli, [...]
The Houston Food Bank could use your help
Times are tough, y’all. Despite a growing demand, food banks, charities and pantries face a dwindling supply of products to distribute to Houston’s hungry this holiday season. Food banks in Houston and across the country have less to give away because the federal government is purchasing fewer excess farm products to stabilize agricultural prices. At [...]
Craft versus crafty
Just because that beer you’re drinking has a quirky name and a whimsical label on the bottle doesn’t mean it came from a microbrewery. In a biting opening salvo, a trade group for the nation’s craft brewers on Thursday accused Anheuser-Busch InBev and other major manufacturers of “deliberately attempting to blur the lines between their [...]
The hospitality industry industry’s effect on the economy
I had the opportunity recently to attend a presentation by the Greater Houston Restaurant Association (GHRA) of a study they sponsored of the economic impact of the hospitality industry in Harris County. Here’s the high level view: The study found Houston’s hotels, restaurants and drinking establishments make significant annual contributions to the local economy. The [...]
Cracker Jack’d
Buy me some peanuts and caffeinated Cracker Jacks… Coming soon to a store near you: Cracker Jack’D, a new twist on the popcorn candy that offers Power Bites with as much caffeine in every serving as a cup of coffee. That could mean kids could get an overdose of caffeine if they consume more than [...]
Where to eat if no one is cooking in your house
I figure most people are eating at home, or the home of a family member or friend, but if you’re not and you’re in Houston, Eater.com has a list of restaurants that are open today. Some pretty fancy places in that list, actually, so if you were going to cook but had a catastrophic failure [...]
Beer is still a job creator
We really owe a debt of gratitude to beer, in particular to microbrewers. Saint Arnold Brewing Co., the city’s oldest craft, has 43 employees and is in the midst of hiring at least three more, founder Brock Wagner said. That is about double the staff before production shifted to a new brewery with more capacity [...]
More on the microbrewers’ legislative strategy
The Statesman returns to our favorite subject. The small brewers, generally a young and passionate group, always have been better at creating hoppy and original brews than navigating the Legislature and the network of big-money lobbyists who are experts at quietly influencing politicians. The lack of political savvy among craft brewers has hampered their efforts [...]
The case against the food trucks
Reggie Coachman, president of the Greater Houston Restaurant Association, tries to make a case against giving food trucks freer rein downtown. Currently there are more than 939 active mobile units permitted in the city of Houston, including 774 trucks and trailers equipped with kitchens. The Mobile Food Unit Coalition primarily represents a small number (less [...]
MFU Houston encounters some resistance
No one ever said updating Houston’s food truck ordinances would be easy. On Tuesday, more than 50 mobile food truck owners and supporters showed up at a council committee hearing to push for changes to the city’s mobile food unit ordinance, saying it would promote economic growth and improve vitality downtown. “The way the ordinance [...]
MFU Houston
From the inbox: The Houston Mobile Food Unit (MFU) Collective will present City Council Members with stakeholder-driven Ordinance changes in September, which will further promote business growth and entrepreneurship in Houston. The proposed Ordinance changes will eliminate the 60-foot distance between Mobile Food Units; allow 1 propane (LP) permit to cover multiple locations; provide access [...]
Fort Bend Brewing
Microbreweries sure are a growth industry around here. Chris Leonard came to Houston and was struck by the similarity with his hometown of Philadelphia. It was enough to convince him to move to Missouri City from the City of Brotherly Love. “I see the opportunity here, and I’m really excited about it,” he said on [...]
What does it mean to be a beer?
Boy, is that a deep question or what? Until recently, beer drinkers who took their time to read the labels on their bottles or cans may have encountered some head-scratching fine print concerning Texas. Underneath the name of Brooklyn Brewery’s Brooklyn Lager, for instance, was the note “In Texas, malt liquor.” Even closer inspection would [...]
Beer is a job creator
Microbreweries are, anyway. Craft brewing in Texas could add 52,000 jobs and mushroom into a $5.6 billion industry by 2020 if state lawmakers next year ease restrictions on breweries and restaurants that make beer on-site, a study prepared by the brewers claims. That compares with the estimated $608 million economic impact that smaller, independently owned [...]
Wash hands or wear gloves?
There’s an interesting debate going on in Oregon about the best way to ensure food safety in restaurants and other eateries. Oregon restaurant owners and chefs recently earned a small victory, delaying by several months a new state rule that could make dining out more expensive, create waste and, despite its good intentions, do little [...]
Take the train to your dining destination
Katharine Shilcutt writes about how she gets to some of her favorite restaurants. When owner Staci Davis decided on a location for her restaurant, Radical Eats, one thing was extremely important to her above all: Davis wanted her vegan paradise to have access to the new Metro light rail North Line that’s currently being built along Fulton. When [...]
Our stupid beer laws in action
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Owners of the popular Eatsie Boys food truck will open their first stand-alone restaurant later this year on Montrose Boulevard, serving everything from breakfast items to sandwiches to house-made gelato. Closer to downtown, and possibly around the same time, the young entrepreneurs will cut the ribbon on [...]
Checking in with the cottage foodies
Recall again that last year home bakers were able to get a law passed that allowed them to legally sell their products in the state – see here for all the background. After the law was passed there was another uproar as the Texas Department of State Health Services proposed regulations for home bakers that [...]
“Zero waste” grocery store set to open
Coming soon to Austin. The idea for a package-free organic grocery store started years ago when brothers Christian and Joseph Lane were discussing a simple business idea: refilling beer and wine bottles. From there, they decided to include other basic grocery store offerings — meat, dairy, produce, bulk items and bread. Next thing you know, [...]
If you can’t beat ‘em, eat ‘em
Texas Monthly proposes a way to deal with those bothersome invasive species. Keep your invasive species sweet; you may have to eat them. Late last week StateImpact Texasput together a list of the “Top Ten Invasive Species in Texas.” But what’s the best way to trim back their numbers? Helping eliminate invasives by eating them is an idea [...]
Well, at least they’ll be able to burn off the calories
News item number one. Papa John’s pizza, Blue Bell ice cream, and fluorescent-colored Slushies. For some kids, those may be the ingredients of a perfect school lunch. But for at least one Houston school district trustee, they may be the makings for a food fight. At a board meeting Monday, trustee Juliet Stipeche questioned the [...]
Pink slime
I don’t know if you’ve been following the “pink slime” debate, but Bettina Siegel, who is one of the main catalysts behind it, had an op-ed in the Chron that summarized the main arguments. Last week, the online publication The Daily set off a media firestorm when it reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture [...]
Snorting caffeine
The next frontier in caffeination: Caffeinated air. U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials plan to investigate whether inhalable caffeine sold in lipstick-sized canisters is safe for consumers and if its manufacturer was right to brand it as a dietary supplement. AeroShot went on the market late last month in Massachusetts and New York, and it’s [...]
The next battleground for cottage foods
You may recall that last year home bakers were able to get a law passed that allowed them to legally sell their products in the state. (See here for all the background.) Now that the legislative work is done, the next step is to deal with the rulemaking, and the regulations that have been proposed [...]
New school food coming
No more mystery meat. School lunches, long saddled with an unhealthy reputation, are getting a makeover. Instead of salt-doused fried foods, highly processed white bread and sugar-laden desserts, cafeteria trays will be carrying whole wheat pizza, leafy green and orange vegetables and fresh fruit. The changes, announced Wednesday by first lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture [...]
The year in beer
Scott Metzger offers a look back on beer news from 2011, and makes some predictions for this year. Of the most interest to me is this:
“Says I, I’ll try cider, I’ve heard that it’s good”
We know all about the local beer-brewing scene here, but did you know there was a burgeoning trade in cider as well? By the time Jake Schiffer was ready to incorporate Leprechaun Cider Co. in the spring of 2010, he had a business plan, enough funding to cover startup costs and an orchard lined up [...]
Beyond turducken
You’ve had turducken. You’ve had turbaconducken. Where do you go from there? How about the Quaducant, with Creole sausage? That’s just one of several options presented to you at that link. I may have to ask for that next year. This year, we’re having turkey enchiladas, made by my most excellent mother-in-law. Oh, and pie. [...]
Food trucks
The city of San Antonio is preparing to overhaul its regulations of food trucks. In San Antonio, strict mobile food vending laws make it difficult for food trucks to flourish. Acknowledging the need for change, officials are jump-starting a process to get more moveable feasts on the road. City Manager Sheryl Sculley has ordered a [...]
The macrobrewers are expanding, too
In addition to all the new microbrewers that are sprouting up, giant international conglomerate Anheuser-Busch InBev will be spending a bunch of money to improve and expand its operations. The local Anheuser-Busch InBev brewery is using a major capital infusion from its corporate parent to reduce water usage and boost the amount of beer it [...]
Still more microbrew options
Our flagons runneth over, as new microbreweries keep springing up. If each opens as planned, Buffalo Bayou, 8th Wonder and Yard Sale Brewing companies would bring to eight the number of plants making beer within an hour’s drive of downtown Houston, up from two less than four years ago. The newcomers hope to profit from [...]