Waco has had murals for a long time, but the debut of the Wacotown mural in 2012 brought attention and excitement to this art form in and around downtown Waco. Now it seems like new murals are popping up all over the place. Either that, or we just didn't notice them before. Kind of like when you get a new car, and suddenly you start seeing that model everywhere. But I digress.
After a friend posted a picture of the Starry Night mural at 10th and Columbus on Facebook yesterday, my wife and I decided to take the kids on a bit of a scavenger hunt yesterday evening to see how many murals we could find and photograph, culminating in a trip to Hey Sugar for some ice cream and candy. Side note: the kids got a little bored with driving around town, but the treats at the end made up for it. Also, I've decided to try all of the root beers at Hey Sugar. Last night's entry, Sprecher, was fantastic. But I digress. Again.
Actually, let me digress one more time. We've sort of hinted at this on Facebook and Twitter, but we're working on something big here at WacoFork, and you're going to want to be a part of it. Help us out by signing up for our brand new newsletter (click here), and you'll be among the first to learn about what we're working on. We're really excited about it, and we think you will be too!
My wife and I stopped by Hey Sugar last night with our kids so we could try out the new candy shop and ice cream parlor on Austin Avenue, and it didn't disappoint. They offer a huge assortment of candy, retro sodas, popcorn, gourmet chocolate and old fashioned ice cream. There's enough sugar in the store to give you a contact sugar high just from entering.
The Waco Trib reported earlier this week that Chip and Joanna Gaines, stars of HGTV's Fixer Upper, have purchased Elite Café and have plans to do something with it. The Gaines didn't provide any details on exactly what they plan on doing with it, but given their history of turning old, run-down houses into dream homes and turning old, run-down silos into a tourist Mecca, we feel pretty confident that whatever they do will be great. But since we love all things Waco, and especially Waco restaurants, we thought we would offer 10 suggestions on what to do with the historic restaurant.
The Methodist Children's Home is hosting the MCH 5K and 1-Mile Fun Run on Saturday at the Waco MCH campus. The event will raise money for MCH, which serves 1,400 children each day through residential programs, foster care and family outreach services.
Are you going to the Texas Food Truck Showdown this weekend? Of course you are, along with likely thousands of other Central Texans looking for some great food and a lot of fun. Pokey O's owner Austin Meek did a write-up for us on their preparation for the event along with a look back at how they missed last year's event.
Last week the Hippodrome held a premiere event for their very own launch of a new upscale dinner menu to be available in the restaurant dining section of the Hippodrome. We had been invited the week before and were excited to try a tasting and were not disappointed in the least.
A couple of weeks ago I headed out to a pub gathering at The Dancing Bear, knowing I was going to multitask by gathering info on an update on The Crazy Horse Grill.
Back at the end of last year, we told you about Crazy Horse, the barbecue-fusion-esque food truck in the back garden of The Dancing Bear. With the new year, chef Nabor Leal introduced a new menu, so that particularly piqued my interest.
TSTC Let us know last week that they are starting their lunch service training program. I ventured up to the TSTC Waco Campus Culinary Arts center at Campus Drive and 8th Street to explore this weeks theme of West Coast USA cuisine. Each week has a new theme and the students in the program rotate around to cover all duties. While most are studying for back of the house (sous chef/line cook/Food Service Manager) with this program they get to experience and know how the front of house wait staff and servers deal with the customers. This helps them in the long term to know the front end staff concerns and problem resolution techniques and how they need to keep them informed and supplied from the kitchen.
If you enjoy Mexican foods and don't know of Rufi's Cocina, you are missing out on a hidden gem here in Waco. I was told of Rufi's in early January and dined the next day. I then returned again on 'Tamale Friday' and thoroughly enjoyed the freshly made tamales of savory chicken and pork, as well as sweet dessert versions which are rare to find. Cocina, for those of you that do not know means 'Kitchen' and is a perfect name for Rufi's, because it is quite like stepping right into their family Kitchen cooking up Michoacán(Mexico) style foods sometimes with a modern fusion twist for specials. Nestled along the north central area of Waco at the intersection of N 25th Street and Lasker Ave it can be a bit hard to find the first time you go, but not a place you will forget once you have experienced.
I have since tried several dishes and while they may not have the familiar names you will see on the local Tex-Mex menus their food is authentic and flavorful. Step up and ask if you have a specific request or question about a dish, the family staff will gladly help you and explain the dish. Since every dish is cooked only after you order, if there is something you don't think you would like in a dish, they will gladly change it, tone down the spice, heat it up to extreme heat, or other changes you may desire.
As I began the year ready to write about college basketball and sustain myself with an endless parade of guacamole tostadas and chicken burgers, I needed to be challenged but wasn’t going to do it myself.
And then my friend Dr. Shawn Skeen asked me to come to a dinner hosted by The Grape chef Jason Rolf and event coordinator Michelle Henkel.
And they put a goat heart in front of me, albeit on a bed of farmers market ragu and beside watermelon radish and Bibb lettuce salad, so it seemed less threatening.
