Texas Monthly February 2020

During the 2018 U.S. Senate race between Beto O’Rourke and Ted Cruz, Texas Monthly delivered an unusual type of storytelling: a gritty, on-the-ground podcast from the campaign trail. Most political podcasts emphasize commentary, but senior editor Eric Benson focused on reporting. Amid the most-watched, most expensive race in the country that year, Eric lashed himself to O’Rourke as the insurgent candidate toured our state’s 254 counties. The effort was exhausting, and rewarding. We were reminded of the power of the best audio storytelling: the way you can recognize from a candidate’s voice when he’s elated or frustrated; the way ranchera music or the lowing of cattle can lend a sense of place. The podcast, Underdog (a collaboration with Pineapple Street Media), attracted an enthusiastic audience and garnered rave reviews from the…

“YOU CAN SAY THE HAT DIDN’T ORIGINATE IN TEXAS. BUT FOR GOD’S SAKE, NOT THE BOOTS TOO! THE NEXT THING YOU’LL TELL ME IS THAT LONE STAR IS A MEDIOCRE BEER.” Go Go, Boots! The article “The Power of Boots” [December 2019] spoke to me, and I was so excited to see Sandra Cisneros on the cover wearing vintage cowboy boots. My love of boots dates back to my childhood in South Texas. I admired the boots my great-uncles wore at the ranch and for “Sunday best” outings. I moved to the Midwest in 1996 and got rid of my boots—leather soles are no bueno on ice and snow—but in 2014, my husband and I bought a second home in San Antonio. I started collecting cowboy boots, which I display in our…

One of the first fellow travelers I encountered in Galveston was a woman wearing jean shorts, bright lipstick, and a T-shirt announcing, “Oh, Ship! It’s a Family Trip!” I quickly learned that wearing a themed-statement shirt to board your megaliner is a thing. Later that morning at the port, as my children and I wheeled our bags toward the Carnival Dream for a four-day round-trip cruise to Cozumel, we saw shirts proclaiming “I Like Big Boats & I Cannot Lie,” “Seas the Day!,” “Warning: I Bought the Drink Package,” and “Official Cruise Ship Buffet Inspector.” My personal favorite was worn by a tattooed fellow with gelled, spiked hair and aviator sunglasses. His sleeveless black shirt confirmed that he was “Single AF.” ¶ My seven-year-old daughter, Nora, who had just learned…

I jockeyed my car into a parking space on the street, sauntered down the sidewalk, and smugly flung open the aluminum screen door. Wait! What?! Nooooo! Ten people were in line at my hole-in-the-wall taqueria! “The nerve!” I sputtered. “Where did they come from?” Since its opening early last fall, tiny Nixta Taqueria and its house-made corn tortillas and unconventional toppings—soy-and-citrus-cured tuna crudo with chipotle mayo, roasted butternut squash with pickled Fresno chiles—had been a secret known only to a lucky few. Or so I thought. Obviously, since my last visit, somebody had spilled the refried beans. Annoyed, I joined the line, praying that the kitchen wouldn’t run out of its decadent duck confit tacos before I had a chance to order. Nixta occupies a squat cinderblock building about a mile…

Sputnik, Austin Beerworks Back in 2011, the brewers at Austin Beerworks decided to play against type with a new seasonal release. “Our four year-round beers were light and clean,” says cofounder Michael Graham, “so we wanted to do a big, bold winter beer.” Sputnik, a Russian imperial coffee oatmeal stout, is now eagerly awaited each winter in Central Texas. Viet-Irish Coffee, 8th Wonder Brewery This limited-edition imperial version of the Houston brewery’s year-round Rocket Fuel Vietnamese Coffee Porter is slightly bitter and not as pointedly coffee-forward as other coffee porters, with gently sweet accents of toffee and molasses. The beer is aged in Jameson barrels. Cocoa Bueno, Community Beer Co. Inspired by Mexican hot chocolate, the Dallas brewery’s Mexican chocolate stout balances chile heat and deep chocolate flavor with vanilla and cinnamon. Cocoa Bueno is…

The smoke had already cleared when police arrived at Cattleack Barbeque, in North Dallas, on a Saturday morning in March 2015. Owner Todd David was in the back parking lot, peering into his new cooker to assess which parts of the animal inside weren’t yet burnt to a crisp. Minutes earlier, he had accidentally pierced the skin of the pig, which was nearly done cooking, causing hot fat to rain down onto the searing coals below. The smoke from the resulting grease fire caused an alarmed neighbor to call 911. Such was the maiden voyage of his new BQ Grill, designed specifically to cook entire hogs. It was a rough start, but it proved a valuable lesson for a Texas pitmas-ter who has become something of an evangelist for Carolina-style…