Food for Thought

It's grilling season! A top chef's expert tips on how to make the best backyard steak

Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House’s chef Steve Haug cooks seven days a week for work.

So when he’s at home, he lets the kids do most of the work.

“My kids are 10, 12 and 14,” he says. “And their favorite things to eat are grilled steaks with corn on the cob and mashed potatoes.”

Backyard grillin’ is a family affair, a right of passage, a tradition and way of connecting food with family and friends.

Haug fires up the grill (he has two, a gas grill for quick meals and an old school charcoal grill that he adds a little hickory to for a nice smoky flavor) and then supervises the kids as the food cooks.

Backyard grillin’ is a family affair, a right of passage, a tradition and way of connecting food with family and friends.

Who doesn’t have childhood memories of watching their dad fire up the grill and slap on big, thick steaks and maybe shove some foil wrapped potatoes and corn on the cob into the coals? Mom is pouring sweet ice tea from a pitcher and the kids are sitting around in shorts and sneakers, drooling as they watch dad, in some silly apron, being the man, with fire and big knives and tongs.

These are the childhood summer memories of the South.

And now is the perfect time of year to recreate those memories with your own family.

Haug has a few tips to make the experience a delicious memory.

First, select a good cut of meat. Haug likes a big rib-eye, but, “you have to be really, really careful because of the fat content, it can really flare up, I keep a squirt bottle handy to keep the flames down.”

“Don’t be flip happy. You want to get the grill really hot before you put them on. Then wait about four to five minutes to get a good blister on the presentation side before you flip.”

Personally, I always like a filet mignon, maybe wrapped in bacon for extra flavor.

Oh, and do take your steaks out of the fridge 30 minutes before you put them on the grill. Season them well, as they will lose some of the seasoning when you flip them.

And now a word about flipping.

“Don’t be flip happy,” Haung says. “You want to get the grill really hot before you put them on. Then wait about four to five minutes to get a good blister on the presentation side before you flip. Then about another two to three minutes on the other side. That’s it.”

And don’t forget to let the meat rest for five to seven minutes so the juices don’t run out when you cut into it.

I know, I know, it’s hard to wait when those gorgeous steaks are calling your name, fresh off the flame, but pour a drink and get your sides ready and you’ll be fine.

So what plates well with a backyard steak? Crispy Brussels sprouts with onions and bacon, garlic mashed potatoes or baked taters with all the fixings and, of course, corn on the cob.

“We love to throw corn on the cob on the grill,” Haug says of his family feasts. “It just takes 15 to 20 minutes.”

No muss, no fuss and you’ve got a grilled dinner. Here is Haug’s recipe for some delicious corn. Enjoy.

Grilled Corn on the Cob with Chipotle Lime Butter
 Serves four
For the Butter:
 ½ pound salted butter, room temperature
 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped fine
 ¼ cup sriracha sauce
 1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped fine 
1 tablespoon fresh garlic, chopped fine
1 tablespoon fresh limejuice
 1 teaspoon salt
 ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
 ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika 
¼ teaspoon granulated sugar

Peel off the first layer of the corn’s husk, leaving a few for protection. Soak the corn cobs in cold water for 20 minutes. While corn is soaking, mix everything in a small mixer for the butter until well blended. Fire up your grill to achieve a temperature around 375 degrees. After the corn has soaked, remove it and gently pull the husk away keeping it attached at the bottom. Pull off as much silk as possible. Brush the cobs with the chipotle lime butter, recover with husk and set aside.

Place the corn on the grill, rotating the corn to keep it from getting too charred on one side. After two to three minutes put the corn off to the side of the grill, away from the direct heat. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. When the husk becomes slightly charred and pulls away from the tip the corn is done. Remove the corn from the grill. Let cool slightly, pull back the husk and serve.

Backyard grillin’ is a family affair, a right of passage, a tradition and way of connecting food with family and friends.

Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House Houston Facebook

Backyard grillin’ is a family affair, a right of passage, a tradition and way of connecting food with family and friends.

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visiting popup bagels

A highly opinionated take on Houston's venture-backed new bagel shop

Courtesy of PopUp Bagels

Houstonians are lining up to try PopUp Bagels.

It’s hard to remember the last restaurant opening with as much fanfare as PopUp Bagels. Houstonians lined up in the heat for the bakery’s grand opening on Saturday, June 13.

Shawn the Food Sheep included a glimpse of the line in his review below.

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Eager to see what the fuss is all about, I stopped by around 10 am on Thursday, June 18. Thankfully, only about a dozen people stood in line ahead of me, and I had a bag of six bagels in less than 20 minutes.

The frequency with which it boils and bakes it bagels sets PopUp Bagels apart from Houston’s traditional, mostly family-owned bagel shops. Instead of making large batches early in the morning that may get refreshed once or twice per day, PopUp Bagels is constantly boiling and baking smaller batches of a couple dozen bagels at a time throughout its operating hours. That's why customers will hear the cry of “hot bagels” echoing through the small, counter-service space every time more emerge from the oven.

PopUp is different from traditional bagel shops in a couple of other important ways. First, the menu only list five varieties — plain, poppy, salt, sesame, and everything, which is topped with poppy seeds, salt, and sesame seeds. And, it only serves whole bagels — no slicing or toasting. The store’s motto of “grip, rip, and dip” explains how it expects customers to consume their bagels. Packaged lox are available, but diners have to assemble the sandwich themselves — either off-site or at one of the couple of cafe tables outside.

PopUp Bagels also doesn’t sell individual bagels. Instead, diners must order a minimum of three bagels and a schmear — various cream cheese and butters are available — for $15. Six bagels and a schmear costs $24. A dozen bagels and two schmears is $46. As a point of comparison, the Bagel Shop Bakery in Bellaire charges $25 for 13 bagels and two, 8-ounce schmears.

So, how is it?

Fresh, hot bagels are inherently superior to hours-old bagels. That’s a real advantage for PopUp Bagels. On my visit, the fresh-from-the-oven plain bagels were so hot that they needed a couple of minutes before we could "grip and rip" them.

As for the bagels themselves, they certainly look the part. The outside is deeply caramelized with an even distribution of toppings that adhere well to the exterior.

But the biggest shortcoming is texture. Bagels, obviously, are supposed to be chewy, but all six of the bagels that an ex-pat New Yorker friend and I ordered walked the line between chewy and underbaked. That may be deliberate, as softer bagels are easier to “grip and rip.”

It's also possible that the bakery’s new employees are still dialing in procedures, and that a different day would yield bagels with a crispier texture. Colloquially, friends who have also visited the shop — both in Houston and other cities — disagreed with my assessment of the texture.

The plain is just that, with a very mild flavor. Both the scallion cream cheese and salted butter had a pleasantly creamy texture and boosted the dining experience.

Overall, PopUp is competitive with Houston’s best bagels. That’s promising, since Stripes — the equity growth firm that bought PopUp Bagels in 2023 — has announced plans to open more than 300 locations nationwide.

But you won’t see me driving half an hour or standing in a long line to get another taste. Houston’s locally-owned bagel shops are more convenient, less expensive, and just as good.

Courtesy of PopUp Bagels

Houstonians are lining up to try PopUp Bagels.

openings news-you-can-eat breakfast popup bagels