Best Foodie Websites

Online foodie dreams: The best websites for food lovers looking to give

OK, Halloween is over, the costumes are put away and you’ve eaten all the candy. Well, at least the good stuff, no one likes those hard candies.

So maybe now it is time to look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

Maybe even do a little gift buying.

Not that I’m into marathon mall shopping, leaving the family on Thanksgiving to hit the sales or going into debt to buy materialistic crap for people who don’t need it and will probably return or regift it anyway.

No, I don’t pay attention to Christmas creep or watch or read ads that say this is the must have/buy for the holidays. I much prefer to give the gift of good food, good company and holiday cheer.

I wish more people believed in the old ways when a holiday was best celebrated with a feast, a nice wine or homemade gifts.

I might give a bottle of wine or extra virgin olive oil to a dear one but my preferred gift is to schedule a holiday meal with someone so we can celebrate with a feast at somewhere fun and spend time catching up. My treat.

I wish more people believed in the old ways when a holiday was best celebrated with a feast, a nice wine or homemade gifts and not with a generic gift card or some expensive doodad no one really needs. Face it: Is there really anything we need but more time with our loved ones?

And what better way to enjoy their company than to bond over food. Whether you prepare it for them yourself or you invite them to a favorite restaurant.

And if I can’t do that because of geography, than I will send them food to share with those they are around. I start doing that in November so they can share with their local family and friends on Thanksgiving or Hanukkah or whatever holiday or football game they are celebrating at this time of year.

Here are some of my favorite food sites for holiday shopping. No parking problems, no long lines at the post office.

Dean & DeLuca started in 1977, before the current foodie craze, offering New Yorkers edibles from across the globe. The website offers wonderful gift baskets, whole holiday feasts, kitchen gadgets and cookbooks galore. Surely you know someone who would delight at opening a box of specialty caviars and pates?

Even older, dating from 1934, is Harry & David. Known for its Royal Riviera pears and fruit-of-the-month club, this company today features a ton of holiday gift baskets, savory foods, sinful desserts, wines and even flowers and plants. This website has a little something for everyone on your list.

But if your list, like mine, includes Texans, wannabe Texans and ex-pats, there are two Lone Star companies whose websites you’ll want to visit.

First is the local Goode Company web store where you’ll not only find their famous mesquite smoked brisket, slow smoked ribs and sausage samplers but also gift boxes with Texas seasonings and cookbooks and, of course, the famous Brazos Bottom pecan pie. This delicious dessert made with Texas pecans and farm eggs comes in a wooden box branded with “Made in Texas.”

What I love are the gift baskets, full meals and simple extras that range in price from easily affordable to huge spreads that will make your recipients think you’re from oil wealth.

Goode Co. BBQ has been baking this from the Goode family recipe since the first store opened in 1977. It makes a great gift.

And then there’s my go-to site: New Braunfels Smokehouse. No, I wasn’t around in 1952 when the family owned ice house/ former brewery opened its first tasting room in New Braunfels, but as a teen in San Antonio my family regularly ventured north to shop in New Braunfels and stop by the smokehouse for lunch. Since those days the little smokehouse has grown into a major catalogue/web business selling its hickory-smoked meats, cheeses and snacks around the world.

What I love are the gift baskets, full meals and simple extras that range in price from easily affordable to huge spreads that will make your recipients think you’re from oil wealth. Whole smoked turkeys and game hens, serious sausage packages, boxes of jerky, smoked cheeses, bread and butter pickles and jalapeno stuffed olives . . . and more.

Do add on some sweet and spicy mustard and maybe a jar of pickled okra. Oh, and when I order gifts from here, I also order a “celebration in a box” full of multiple Texas treats for my own holiday entertaining.

Dean & DeLuca offers wonderful gift baskets, including the Gourmet Turkey Essentials, shown here.

Dean & DeLuca Thanksgiving basket gourmet turkey essentials

DeanDeluca.com

Dean & DeLuca offers wonderful gift baskets, including the Gourmet Turkey Essentials, shown here.

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Coming soon to Fredericksburg

Houston restaurant vet serves up Roman-style eatery in the Hill Country

Photo courtesy of Bottega Salaria

Valerio Lombardozzi is opening Bottega Salaria in the former home of La Bergerie.

Valerio Lombardozzi’s culinary career has taken him to the world’s finest kitchens, including restaurants owned by icons like Alain Ducasse, Giorgio Locatelli, and Joël Robuchon. In Houston, he led La Table and Tavola, where he earned a reputation for being one of the city's most engaging front of the house personalities.

But his latest project might be his biggest accomplishment yet. The hospitality veteran is opening Bottega Salaria, a homey Italian osteria and artisan market, in the former home of La Bergerie at 312 E Austin St in his adopted home of Fredericksburg.

Lombardozzi says the restaurant, expected to arrive in winter 2026, fills a gap in the Hill Country dining scene, but, more importantly, it's a reflection of his personal history and time spent working at his family’s restaurant in Rome.

“[It’s about] where I grew up, how I grew up, and how I eat,” he shares.

The three-concept experience is inspired by Italy’s Via Salaria, the ancient route Italians used to transport salt from the Adriatic Sea to Rome. The menu acts as a sort of travelogue, borrowing from the different cultures along the road, and the way village fishermen and shepherds ate.

Lombardozzi is quick to say he didn’t want to open a chef-driven restaurant. Instead, the osteria will serve traditional Roman staples such as cacio e pepe, amatriciana, carbonara, saltimbocca with sage and prosciutto, and branzino carved tableside.

“I was one of the last to be exposed to the old generation of professionals who knew how to carve elegantly for the guests,” he says.

The adjacent bottega will stay open during restaurant hours, offering fresh pasta made on-site, house-made sauces, imported Italian pantry items, cheeses, salumi, breads, and biscotti. Patrons will be able to shop for individual items or put together custom gift baskets.

Outdoors, La Fraschetteria will debut a new hospitality experience in the U.S. The self-guided experience invites diners to grab wine directly from garden shelves, gather a spread of meats, cheeses, bread, or pasta, and linger around long communal tables lit by string lights.

Keeping the chit-chat going will be a thoughtful beverage program anchored by a primarily Italian wine list and imported beer. Lombardozzi says the cocktail menu might be a surprise, offering only gin and tonics, spritzes, and negronis. The latter has been made into a game where diners roll dice to determine the evening's combination of gin, vermouth, and bitters.

After dinner, guests can select an amaro from a rolling cart, sip grappa and limoncello, or sip a neat whiskey.

Lombardozzi shares that he wants Bottega Salaria to be just as comfortable for Fredericksburg locals as it is for destination travelers. Beyond daily service, Bottega Salaria plans community events such as garden wine nights with live music, Sunday movie nights, and hands-on cooking classes.

The space is designed for ease with a warm palette combining olive green and pomegranate reds. The decor blends heritage and modernity, bringing in objects like antique mirrors, plates, custom-made lamps, and even old tablecloths and curtains for an Old World feel.

"We’re not just opening a restaurant,” Lombardozzi says. “We’re creating a gathering place. A home for everyone who loves Italian food, culture, and the joy of sharing a meal with others.”

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