By Jane and Michael Stern Originally Published 2009 Gourmet Magazine One essential characteristic of any worthy hamburger is democracy of spirit—it should be accessible to all and not cost an arm and a leg. That’s why our list of the nation’s best burgers doesn’t include the foie-gras-filled one at DB Bistro Moderne, in New York … Continue reading 20 Burgers to Eat Before it’s Too Late
20 Burgers to Eat Before it’s Too Late
August 20th, 2019 by Lorelai Dunn
Czech Please
August 20th, 2019 by Lorelai Dunn
By Jane and Michael Stern Originally Published 2009 Gourmet Magazine In central Texas, kolaches outshine doughnuts. Just north of Waco, the small town of West (known for clarity’s sake as “West Comma Texas”) is the state’s kolache capital, where descendants of Czech immigrants make little square pastries that hold a dollop of fruit rimmed by … Continue reading Czech Please
Cue the Smoke
August 19th, 2019 by Lorelai Dunn
By Jane and Michael Stern Originally Published 2008 Gourmet Magazine Texas is brisket territory, but it is no lone-meat state. Pit-cooked sausage is also required eating, especially in the barbecue shrines south and east of Austin. Peppered, coarse-ground beef is packed into pork gut that is porous enough to suck in flavor from woodsmoke as … Continue reading Cue the Smoke
Texas Pharmacy
August 14th, 2019 by Lorelai Dunn
By Jane and Michael Stern Originally Published 2005 Gourmet Magazine Few combinations of smells are as evocative as the scent of hamburgers sputtering on a hot grill intermingled with aromas of liniment and cologne. To that salubrious bouquet add the racket of a milkshake mixer and of fizzy soda spritzing into chocolate syrup at the … Continue reading Texas Pharmacy
Deep in the Heart
August 5th, 2019 by Lorelai Dunn
By Jane and Michael Stern Originally Published 1999 Gourmet Magazine Can I have everyone’s attention, please!” calls a waitress. It is the height of the lunch hour at Vernon’s Kuntry Katfish. She puts her hand on the shoulder of a white-haired matriarch sitting at a large table with her children, grandchildren, and two newborn great-grandchildren. … Continue reading Deep in the Heart
Tioga Texas
August 1st, 2019 by Lorelai Dunn
By Jane and Michael Stern Originally Published 1998 Gourmet Magazine In Texas in the late 1960s, wholesale garment salesman Warren Clark devised a shrewd tactic to lure buyers to the hotel room where he displayed his line of clothes. He brought a whole barbecued brisket and a whole smoked ham, which he had cooked himself … Continue reading Tioga Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
July 31st, 2019 by Lorelai Dunn
By Jane and Michael Stern Originally Published 1998 Gourmet Magazine The Army encampment on the fork of Texas’s Trinity River was officially named Fort Worth, but drovers on the Chisholm Trail knew it as Hell’s Half Acre, an iniquitous layover populated by outlaws and frontier rowdies. Like some humans with a wicked past, the city … Continue reading Fort Worth, Texas
Gimme Shelter
July 29th, 2019 by Lorelai Dunn
By Jane and Michael Stern Originally Published 1997 Gourmet Magazine After a good day of boldly eating where no food writers have eaten before—truck stops, diners, smoke shacks, even the occasional scurrilous road-house that anchors its chairs to the floor so they can’t be thrown through windows—we have to fight the urge to seek out … Continue reading Gimme Shelter
Cheap Eats in Dallas
July 24th, 2019 by Michael Stern
By Jane and Michael Stern Originally Published 1996 Gourmet Magazine We venture off the road this month for another in an occasional series of city guides. Our goal is to direct you to restaurants plain or fancy, famous or little known, that provide a memorable taste of America ‘s good-eating towns. Do you want corn … Continue reading Cheap Eats in Dallas