James Beard Foundation - "Best Chef - Texas" Semifinalist - 2023 Archives - Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog

Curry Boys BBQ – San Antonio, Texas

Gil Garduno — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 06:01:24 +0000

The 1970s were characterized by writer Tom Wolfe as the “Me Decade” and derided by cynics as the “Disco Era.” It was an era of contrasts: the national crisis of confidence described by President Jimmy Carter as a “malaise” and the ubiquitous yellow smiley face; the melodic, velvety stylings of the Carpenters and the edgy, funky beat of disco; an explosion of copycat fast food chain restaurants and the introduction of innovative fusion cuisine in many contemporary restaurants. Fusion cuisine is the inventive combination of diverse, sometimes disparate culinary traditions, elements and ingredients to form an entirely new genre. In large metropolitan areas, particularly in California, the fusion of different cuisines became commonplace. Restaurants featuring the melding of French and…

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Burnt Bean – Seguin, Texas

Gil Garduno — Sun, 15 Sep 2024 06:01:29 +0000

Legend has it that shortly after the horrendous mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Burnt Bean pitmaster and co-owner Ernest Servantes was asked to serve barbecue to law enforcement officials in Uvalde. According to sources, Servantes, himself an Uvalde native, refused to serve anything to the milksops whose cowardly inaction resulted in the fatal shooting of 19 students and 2 teachers, and the injuring of 17 others. Servantes wasn’t around when my new friend and dining companion Melinda Martinez and I finally completed our time in the purgatory of a queue that snaked to the end of the block. We asked one of the restaurant’s servers, but he was unable to either confirm or refute the story. At any regard, it’s…

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ELEMI – El Paso, Texas

Gil Garduno — Sun, 26 Feb 2023 05:01:11 +0000

My friend Steve Coleman, owner of the well-written and impeccably researched Steve’s Food Blog has become quite a culinary anthropologist. Not only does he provide his readers with comprehensive reviews of restaurants throughout the fruited plain, he explores the genesis of the foods he writes about. One of his passions is to define what constitutes El Paso style Mexican cuisine–its provenance and the cultural role that cuisine has played over the generations. As he’s discovered, El Paso style Mexican style is still evolving and redefining itself. Some of that has occurred organically as other cultures have influenced dynamic changes. Evolution has also been forged by the rediscovery of ancient ingredients and cooking techniques, some of which may once have been…

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