Food for Thought

Eat, Read, Die: Authors use food (sometimes even a topped chef) as a novel way to solve a crime

I read. A lot.

I used to go to the library once a week and get four or five books and haul at least one of them around with me at all times. Then I got a Kindle. It’s a lot easier to carry in your purse than a library book. Did you know that if your Kindle dies you just hold the on button in the on position for 50 seconds and the device will reboot? Really, this works. Trust me.

Anyway, I love to read food books, autobiographies, zombie tales…and mysteries. I have my favorite authors but I am amazed at all the genres out there. Talking dog mysteries, mystery books written by dogs — and cats — mysteries about people who solve puzzles and run crochet shops.

In particular there are dozens and dozens of series with a food theme, some even come with recipes.

And, of course, mysteries with culinary themes.

In particular there are dozens and dozens of series with a food theme, some even come with recipes. Mostly these are cozies, a cute little term that simply means the works are pretty much bloodless and sexless. Not that people aren’t murdered, but not violently and not in great details. It’s like watching a Hallmark movie.

So here’s some culinary cozies you might enjoy:

Ellery Adams writes the Charmed Pie Shoppe mystery series, about pastry chef and pie shop owner Ella Mae and her Jack Russell terrier who solve crimes while baking magical pies. It’s a little far fetched, but cute. And the titles are maybe the best part: Pies and Prejudice, Peach Pies and Alibis and Pecan Pies and Homicides.

And yes, the pie recipes are included.

Lucy Burdette writes the new Key West Food Critic series. This is one of my favorites as I love to eat out and she bases all the restaurants and their food in the series on real Key West restaurants. Hayley Snow is the restaurant critic for the Lifestyle magazine Key Zest. In the debut novel, Topped Chef, Snow herself is accused of murder and has to solve the crime to clear her name.

For oenophiles there’s Ellen Crosby’s Wine Country mystery series. Set in the lush Virginia wine and horse country, vineyard owner Lucie Montgomery solves murders while sipping Merlot.

There are mystery series about coffee shop and tea shop owners who sleuth, series with a White House chef, a supper club and a cooking class. The most popular ones deal with sweets and baked goods and the oddest one is set in an Amish bed and breakfast and includes Mennonite recipes the heroine cooks up. I could not make this stuff up.

Of course, sometimes I like something a little less cozy. That’s when I check out the latest Patricia Cornwell. Her medical examiner, Kay Scarpetta, is as good in the kitchen as she is in the autopsy room and although there are ample, well-written food scenes in the book there are no recipes. But Cornwell takes care of her fans. She’s written two Scarpetta cookbooks.

So, bon appétit and good luck solving the murders!

Ellery Adams writes the Charmed Pie Shoppe mystery series with great titles like Pecan Pies and Homicides.

Pecan Pies and Homicides food book by Ellery Adams

Amazon.com

Ellery Adams writes the Charmed Pie Shoppe mystery series with great titles like Pecan Pies and Homicides.

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What's Eric Eating Episodes 459 and 460

Meet the men behind Houston's most under-the-radar Italian restaurant

Courtesy of Mimo

Chef Fernando Rios and sommelier Mike Sammons are this week's guests.

On this week’s episode of “What’s Eric Eating,” sommelier Mike Sammons and chef Fernando Rios join CultureMap editor Eric Sandler to discuss Mimo, their Italian restaurant in the East End. The duo, whose history goes back to when they worked together at iconic Houston fine dining restaurant Da Marco, opened Mimo in 2023.

The conversation begins with Rios explaining the progression of a career that took him from Backstreet Cafe to Da Marco to Weights + Measures, where he worked as the chef de cuisine while Sammons was a partner who oversaw the beverage program. Since they both live in the East End, they saw an opportunity to team up by claiming the former Kanomwan space on Telephone Rd.

They discuss several aspects of the restaurant’s business, including Rios’ changes to the menu, the evolution of Mimo’s wine list, and how its been received by residents of the East End. A digression about Da Marco prompts Sandler to ask about its chef-owner Marco Wiles, who generally stays out of the media spotlight. Sammons shares that Wiles is the only chef or restaurateur who makes him nervous when he dines at Mimo.

“He’s really not forgiving about things. This is very consistent with the Italian way of looking at things — there’s a right way to do things and that’s it. If it isn’t done that way, it’s wrong. A lot of my other mentors and friends can be more forgiving, but the standards Marco has kept for years has motivated me,” Sammons says.

“He’s still the same way,” Rios adds. “That was insane to me. I thought, you get older, you’d be more relaxed, but the way he looks at you makes you nervous. Working in the kitchen, there was times he’d throw all my stuff away and say ‘start over.’”

Was he right, Sandler asks.

“Absolutely, yes. He was right all the time. I just think he was one of the best to do it,” Rios affirms.

Listen to the full interview to hear both men discuss the one thing they’re most proud of about Mimo. They also discuss their plans for the future.

In this week’s other episode, Sandler and co-host Mary Clarkson discuss the news of the week. Their topics include Houston’s finalists in this year’s James Beard Awards, the owners of Jūn adding a daytime concept called Third Place, and Aaron Bludorn promoting chef Allie Pena to be Bludorn’s new executive chef.

In the restaurant of the week segment, Sandler and Clarkson visit Camaraderie, chef Shawn Gawle’s new restaurant in the Heights. They share their thoughts on the restaurant’s prix fixe menu, as well as its decor and beverage offerings.

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