What's Eric Eating Episode 271

The ultimate Tex-Mex draft: We pick our favorite dishes from Houston's most essential restaurants

On this week's episode of "What's Eric Eating," CultureMap food editor Eric Sandler takes a break from his usual format by inviting five Houston food experts to join him in a draft of their favorite Tex-Mex dishes. The goal is to put together the ultimate selection of dishes in the following categories — fajitas, enchiladas, tacos, chips and salsa, queso, and a wildcard that's any dish served at a Tex-Mex restaurant that doesn't fit one of those categories.

The draft's rules define a Tex-Mex restaurant as a place that doesn't charge for chips and salsa and serves queso, which excludes interior Mexican restaurants like Hugo's and fast casual restaurants like Torchy's. In addition, participants may only select one dish per restaurant. Joining Sandler are the following participants: David Cordua, chef-owner of The Lymbar; Bryan Caswell, former chef-owner of El Real Tex-Mex Cafe; Mary Clarkson, owner of Avondale Food & Wine; Matt Harris, a self-described Food Vigilante; and Michael Fulmer, a hospitality industry veteran and a co-founder of the Houston BBQ Festival.

The first round goes in the following order:

David Cordua selects El Tiempo's chicken fajitas
Mary Clarkson selects Molina's Jose's dip
Bryan Caswell selects Superica's puffy taco
Eric Sandler selects Candente's birria tacos
Matt Harris selects Lupe Tortilla's tacos al carbon
Michael Fulmer selects The Original Ninfa's chips and salsa

Photo by Shannon O'Hara

One of the participants selects Candente's fajitas.

Listen to the full episode to hear all of the results. After they completed six rounds, Cordua offers his thoughts on Tex-Mex's importance to Houstonians.

"I can tell by everyone's answers how much Tex-Mex is our comfort food. It's our therapy. We need it, and we live on it," he says.

"If you take a trip for over a week, first thing you want is Tex-Mex," Caswell adds. "That's the first place you go. Maybe on the way home from the airport."

Following the draft, Gringo's Mexican Kitchen founder and CEO Russell Ybarra joins Sandler to offers an opinion about who won the draft (spoiler alert: not Sandler). He then discusses a few of the challenges of operating a successful Tex-Mex restaurant. For example, the restaurant's free chips, salsa, and ice cream account for 6-percent of Gringo's food costs.

Sandler asks Ybarra about how Gringo's stands out in a crowded field of Tex-Mex options.

"We have a philosophy that if we want to push a Mercedes out the front door that we cannot bring in Chevrolet parts in the back door," he says. "We have a focus on quality ingredients. You solve the majority of your challenges by using quality ingredients."

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Subscribe to "What's Eric Eating" on Apple podcasts, Google Play, or Spotify. Listen to it Saturday at 2 pm on ESPN 97.5.

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crawfish season is here

Essential Houston crawfish joint heads to Beaumont for new location

Photo by Paulina Olague

BB's Tex-Orleans is bringing its boiled seafood to Beaumont.

One of Houston’s favorite destinations for crawfish is heading east. BB’s Tex-Orleans will open 12th location in Beaumont.

Slated to open in April, BB’s will occupy the former home of The Park on Calder (2325 Calder Avenue). With 3,200 square feet inside and a massive, 5,000-square-foot patio, BB’s will seat 70 people inside and 175 people outdoors. The patio has enough space for a children’s play area and a 225-inch outdoor screen for showing the day’s games.

“At BB’s, we like to say that our culture is making Maw Maw, my grandmother, proud,” founder and CEO Brooks Bassler said in a statement. “So many of our recipes are inspired by Maw Maw’s cooking, but even more than the great food, it’s a way of living: family, hard work, fairness. Maw Maw was born in Winnie, and her sister still lives there, so BB’s roots actually start in the Golden Triangle. Finally opening a location in Beaumont feels like coming home.”

The menu will feature all of the dishes that have made BB’s a go-to for Cajun fare. That starts will boiled seafood, including crawfish, shrimp, and crab legs — all of which can be enhanced with Prasek’s smoked garlic sausage, alligator andouille sausage, corn, button mushrooms, red potatoes, and BB’s “Monsta Greens.”

Diners also turn to the restaurant for po’ boys, such as the Bedtime in the Bayou (fried shrimp) and the South Texas Fire Po’boy (marinated outside skirt steak topped with melted pepper jack cheese, avocado, sautéed peppers, and onions, topped with a spicy pepper cheese sauce).

Here’s founder Brooks Bassler with a Bedtime in the Bayou.

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Founded in 2007 in Montrose as a late night po’ boy destination, BB’s has grown across the Houston area. BB’s Cajun Cantina in San Antonio adds Tex-Mex flavors to the mix.

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