Bottoms Up

Hungry Rodeo fans sip and savor at Roundup + Best Bites event

Killen's TMX won the Lone Star Entree Award.

Photo courtesy of HLSR

Last month, more than 5,000 — yes, you read that right — Rodeo fans packed into NRG Center to sip and sample from nearly 100 Houston restaurants and food trucks at the 2022 Rodeo Uncorked! Roundup & Best Bites Competition.

In addition to the amazing food, approximately 400 wines from the 2022 International Wine Competition were poured.

This annual event put on by the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo is a fan favorite, with top chefs and world-class wines coming together to duke it out (in a friendly way) for the championship titles.

Here's the full list of winners:

People's Choice Award
First place: Cotton Culinary: Figgy Piggy
Second place: Guard & Grace, A Modern Steakhouse: Oak grilled Creekstone Farms Prime New York Strip with loaded baked potato

Tasty Tradition Award
First place: Joyce's Seafood & Steaks: White chocolate bread pudding
Second place: Taste of Texas Restaurant: Certified Angus Beef tenderloin and Megan’s mac & cheese

Trailblazer Appetizer Award
First place: Omni Houston: Pork belly skewer, Moroccan BBQ, carrot puree, chicharrone
Second place: Songkran Thai Kitchen: Thai steak salad (Neu Nam Tok)
Third place: Revival Market: Cauliflower crositini – cauliflower hummus, homemade giardiniera, za’atar, chives

Lone Star Entree Award
First place: Killen’s TMX: Brisket suadero taco with black garlic salsa guacamole and queso fresco, and charro beans with jalapeno sausage
Second place: Gus’ Fried Chicken: Fried chicken wing
Third place: Russo’s Italian Kitchen: Lobster maestro – lobster essence, bianco, talegio, capelietti, maine lobster, smoked pecan

Two-Steppin' Dessert Award
First place: Egghaus Gourmet: Texas pecan croissant
Second place: Ragin Cajun: Bread pudding with rum sauce
Third place: Ashley Cakes: Carrot cake

Rookie Award
Craft Creamery: R-C Ranch wagyu brisket ice cream sandwich

Trail Boss Food Truck Award
Cruisin Sushi: Cruisin Special Roll – fried roll inside chicken, zucchini, carrots, Monterrey cheese, Tampico, cream cheese and avocado, drizzled with homemade spicy mayo and eel sauce (homemade soy and jalapeno sauce on the side)

Outstanding Showmanship Award
First place: Eculent
Second place: Texas Harvest

Killen's TMX won the Lone Star Entree Award.

Photo courtesy of HLSR

Killen's TMX won the Lone Star Entree Award.

Farewell, ElRo

Creative Montrose pizzeria will shutter after only a year-and-a-half

Photo by Julie Soefer

ElRo Pizza & Crudo

An acclaimed Houston pizzeria will soon serve its final pies. ElRo Pizza & Crudo will close after service on December 31.

In a post on Instagram, chef-owner Terrence Gallivan thanks his staff for their dedication and his customers for their support. “We hope to see you all over the next couple weeks. Come celebrate with us,” he writes.

Open since June 2023, ElRo intrigued diners who enjoyed Gallivan’s work at pioneering Houston restaurant The Pass & Provisions. At ElRo, the chef served a modified version of the Provisions pizza recipe alongside crudos and shareable small plates such as arancini and housemade sausage. It earned four nominations in this year’s CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, including Best New Restaurant and Chef of the Year.

Sadly, Gallivan tells CultureMap that business has seen “a steady decline in business for many months.” Recently, the restaurant had tried a number of initiatives to draw in diners, such as steak night on Tuesday and fried chicken on Saturday.

The early announcement gives diners two weeks to make one more visit (or two) to the restaurant before it closes. Customers may want to time their visit for happy hour, which takes places from 3-6 pm Tuesday-Friday. It includes half-off glasses of wine, $4 draft beers, $9 select cocktails, and food specials.

Gallivan adds that he doesn’t know yet what his next move will be. Hopefully, he’s got one more comeback in him. Houston is a more fun town to dine in when Gallivan is cooking in it.

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