Since we decided last week that Friday would henceforth be Fried-day, we couldn't go too many weeks without featuring one of Waco's favorite fried treats, the George's crazy wing.
A crazy wing — a boneless chicken wing stuffed with jack cheese and jalapenos, wrapped in bacon and, here's the kicker, deep fried — is fantastic on its own. But is there anyway to improve upon it?
As I read the cover story in the February issue of Texas Monthly early Wednesday evening, my fingers still smelled of barbecue. Well, to be honest it could have been that my fingers smelled of barbecue, or it could have been that the barbecue smell resided in my beard, which collected plenty of grit and sauce at lunch almost six hours earlier.
Or it could have been that the smell lingered in my brain as a smoky imprint left by delicious ribs.
[ Guest blogger Sarah Lake writes her own blog "Life of Love," is working toward her PhD in behavioral neuroscience at Baylor, and is significantly more qualified to write a Valentine's Day blog than Chad ]
By Sarah Lake
For Valentine’s Day, I challenge you to do something you’ve never done before.
Because I’ve never been one to dare others to do things I haven’t done, I wanted to celebrate the holiday by going someplace and doing something I never had before: wine tasting at Tehuacana Creek Vineyards and Winery.
We had a blast at the Cafe Homestead prime rib farm-to-table dinner on Saturday night. And so, we would like to present the video highlights and some commentary from WacoFork friends.
Thanks to Cameron Weed, Caleb Roberts, Katie and Tye Barrett, Anna and Mark Waldrop, Stephen Evans and Phong and Thanh Le who contributed to the video.
Of course, thanks to Derek Varejcka and the whole Cafe Homestead staff for hosting us and preparing a fantastic meal. Derek told us the next farm-to-table menu could be out as early as this week. So if the food and fun in this video looks like something you want to be part of, check back here for further details.
It's Friday, but I declare it to be Fried-day.
From now on, Friday blogs will feature fried food (reader's note: by "from now on," I mean that it will mostly be Fried-day on Friday, unless there is breaking news that takes precedence on the blog or my doctor puts an end to Fried-day). That's the reason for the beautiful photo of fried catfish from Krispy Chicken that accompanies this blog. Blue skies, the Alico building, french fries and fried catfish. Glory, hallelujah, what a day.
Just a quick story today that will serve as both a tip and a look back at the WacoFork adventure.
A little more than a year ago, I placed a call to my friend, Tye, who was working at Baylor and asked him if he intended to go to the Baylor-Kansas basketball game that night. He was going and because he worked for Baylor he could claim two tickets. But he thought his girlfriend might want to go with him. However, fortunately for me, his girlfriend, Katie, yielded her ticket to me. They're married now and I was invited to the wedding, so I'm assuming she was cool about me taking her ticket.
Every time someone in my vicinity starts to wax poetic about the virtues of barbecue from some Southern state (reader's note: this means "The South" and not Texas), these eyes of mine reflexively roll.
If you're standing close enough to me at one of these times, you might be able to hear me utter some combination of words under my breath. No need for specifics. You have an imagination. This is because I am a Texan and my grandfather is a cattle rancher and, therefore, when it comes to the core of a barbecue plate, I prefer good old Texas beef brisket.
I celebrated Super Bowl Sunday in Austin and have actually frequented our state's capital quite a bit lately. That's nothing new. In any given year, all totaled, I spend about 3 weeks in Austin. I don't know all the hot spots and I would never claim to be hip enough to call myself an Austinite.
But I've been around a bit.
I enjoyed dinner one night this week at Lone Star Tavern.
If you're jones-ing for a good steak, whether it's a sirloin, ribeye, filet or chicken fried, at an easy price, definitely think about Lone Star Tavern this weekend. It's quality, inexpensive fare in a chilled-out, country setting.
It also made me consider definitions of eateries. What is a tavern and how is it different from a saloon? How is a bistro different from a cafe? How do I know if I'm in a deli?
Another month is pretty much in the books and so it's time for another installment of "The Month In Reviews."
Just a reminder, when we get to 1,000 reviews we're going to give away the latest version of the iPad to one of you reviewers. Every review counts as an entry and we still need about 300 before we get there. So there's time, but still, write some reviews this month.
Here's the Top 10 from January:
