Celebrating the Restaurant's 40th Anniversary as well as Texas heritage, our 200+ page, hardcover coffee table style cookbook features over 100 of our favorite recipes, written and tested for the home cook to prepare, as well as gorgeous photographs from Houston's top food photographer Debora Smail. Restaurant owners Edd and Nina Hendee share stories from their forty years in the restaurant business throughout the book. And, you will learn to grill a perfect steak every time in a section devoted to our famous Steak School. The cookbook also features Taste of Texas¿ world-class artifacts from its Texas museum as well as the story of Texas independence.

A Texas cookbook that reflects the history of the state, with the influence of the Native American, the Spaniard, the Mexican, and the Frenchman.

Rooted in tradición mexicana and infused with Texas food culture, tacos are some of Texans’ all-time favorite foods. In The Tacos of Texas, the taco journalists Mando Rayo and Jarod Neece take us on a muy sabroso taco tour around the state as they discover the traditions, recipes, stories, and personalities behind puffy tacos in San Antonio, trompo tacos in Dallas, breakfast tacos in Austin, carnitas tacos in El Paso, fish tacos in Corpus Christi, barbacoa in the Rio Grande Valley, and much more. Starting with the basics—tortillas, fillings, and salsas—and how to make, order, and eat tacos, the authors highlight ten taco cities/regions of Texas. For each place, they describe what makes the tacos distinctive, name their top five places to eat, and listen to the locals tell their taco stories. They hear from restaurant owners, taqueros, abuelitas, chefs, and patrons—both well-known and everyday folks—who talk about their local taco history and culture while sharing authentic recipes and recommendations for the best taco purveyors. Whether you can’t imagine a day without tacos or you’re just learning your way around the trailers, trucks, and taqueros that make tacos happen, The Tacos of Texas is the indispensable guidebook, cookbook, and testimonio.

In ten impassioned essays, veteran Texas environmental advocates and conservation professionals step outside their roles as lawyers, lobbyists, administrators, consultants, and researchers to write about water. Their personal stories of what the springs, rivers, bottomlands, bayous, marshes, estuaries, bays, lakes, and reservoirs mean to them and to our state come alive in the landscape photography of Charles Kruvand. Allied with the Texas Living Waters Project (a joint education and policy initiative of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Environmental Defense Fund, among others), editor Ken Kramer joins his fellow activists in a call to keep rivers flowing, to protect wildlife habitat, and to save tax dollars by using water efficiently and sustainability. INSIDE THIS BOOK:Introduction: the Living Waters of Texas—Ken KramerWhere the First Raindrop Falls—David K. LangfordSpringing to Life: Keeping the Waters Flowing—Dianne WassenichHooked on Rivers—Myron J. HessFalling in Love with Bottomlands: Waters and Forests of East Texas—Janice BezansonOn the Banks of the Bayous: Preserving Nature in an Urban Environment—Mary Ellen WhitworthA Taste of the Marsh—Susan Raleigh KaderkaBays and Estuaries of Texas: An Ephemeral Treasure?—Ben F. Vaughan IIIRio Grande: Fragile Lifeline in the Desert—Mary E. KellyLeaving a Water Legacy for Texas—Ann Thomas HamiltonTexas Water Politics: Forty Years of Going with the Flow—Ken Kramer

There are many things that are big in Texas: Wide open spaces, personalities, hair, but above all, there's flavor! United Tastes of Texas is your geographical guide to Texas cuisine based on five distinct culinary regions: Central, Coastal, East, South, and West Texas; as well as the culinary influences brought by settlers from countries including Czechoslovakia, Germany, Mexico, and Spain. Each chapter starts with a brief history of the region, as well as plenty of interesting facts and bits of history including notes on cooking equipment, stories on local chefs and restaurants that have helped shape each of the regions, and pages of beautiful photography and imagery. But foremost is the food: 125 recipes featuring traditional and regional-specific dishes and cooking methods including Texan takes on Black-Eyed Peas, Skillet Cornbread, Shrimp Creole, Smoked Brisket, Smoked Tortilla Soup, and one of the most classically Texan dishes - Chicken Fried Steak, just to name a few. Whether you're a native Texan in need of recipe inspiration, a Texas ex-pat longing for a taste of home, or a culinary adventurer ready to explore the Lone Star State, United Tastes of Texas packs plenty of history, travel, and food into one book!

The reader is invited to experience the friendliness of the people, discover the richness of their heritage, hear their dedication to the ranching lifestyle, and savor the sort of food that has fed generations of Texas cowboys.

"Includes Tex-Mex recipes!"--Page 4 of cover.

Among the more than 150 recipes are upscale interpretations of traditional favorites like chili and barbecued brisket as well as adventurous dishes such as Grilled Portabello Pizzas, Shark Steaks Grilled in Hoja Santa with Sun-Dried Tomato and Walnut Pesto, Texas Chicken-Fried Rib-Eye with Tabasco Cream Gravy, Quinoa with Lentils and Curry, and Texas Trifle with Raspberries and Custard Cream. The lavish color photographs of scenic photographer Bob Parvin and food photographer Ralph Smith capture the glory of the Lone Star landscapes and foods.

Delectably steeped in tradition, a living culinary heritage

Illustrations and rhythmic text celebrate edible treats that characterize Louisiana, such as beignets and po boys. Includes facts about the foods mentioned and a recipe for red beans and rice.