30 January 2005
GM's Sequel will not appear at Houston auto show
Moving on from Washington Post columnists who criticize Houston, how about major automakers disrespecting Houston by declining to show some of their more innovative offerings at the Houston auto show?
John C. Roper reports that GM's hydrogen-powered Sequel will appear at several "major" auto shows, but not Houston's:
The 2005 concept car generating the most buzz in the auto industry, the hydrogen-powered Sequel from General Motors, is not appearing at the Houston Auto Show.
But in the not-too-distant future, it could have a dramatic effect on the energy capital of the world.
The car, which emits clean water vapor from its exhaust pipe, first appeared at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January and will make several stops at major shows in coming months.
GM won't say where it will appear, but the Houston show didn't make the cut.
I haven't been to the Houston auto show in years, but past experience has been that companies rarely rolled out their most innovative offerings for it -- which is why I haven't been in years. That seems unlikely to change this time.
Thanks to Laurence Simon for alerting me to this news.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/30/05 09:03 PM |
28 January 2005
Food and drink roundup (01-28-2005 edition)
Houston's food and drink reviewers put out a fair amount of copy this week.
Robb Walsh continues his ongoing quest for Houston's best dim sum.
Alison Cook is off this week, but Dai Huynh returns to the Chronicle (after an absence) with various restaurant news, and an article on Indian chaat.
Ken Hoffman has the scoop on Pizza Hut's new dippin' pizza (among other things).
And Gracie Ochoa checks in on the Galleria's Fox Sports Grill, a bar with a fine decor that is, unfortunately, not enhanced by the uncomfortable couches, slow service, and expensive drinks.
That's it for another week. Enjoy your food and drink this weekend!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/28/05 12:19 AM |
24 January 2005
Still thinking about the Astrodome
The Dallas Morning News ran an article by Bruce Nichols on the fate of the Astrodome over the weekend.
The article breaks no new ground, but maybe Dallasites are as used to reading "olds" in their newspaper as Houstonians.
Nichols closed with this:
Taxpayers still owe about $50 million for Dome renovations in the 1980s and, so far, no one has talked seriously about demolishing what many still see as an asset.
But no one talked seriously about new baseball and football stadiums until Oilers owner Bud Adams told Houston it was time and hit the city with a symbolic two-by-four by moving his team to Nashville, Tenn.
He should read more blogs.
UPDATE: A very gracious reader (the author!) emailed that I cut off the end of the article, which I had done (inadvertently). I've pasted in the last sentence of the article, which should have been there from the start! Mea culpa.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/24/05 10:07 PM |
21 January 2005
Food and drink roundup (1-21-2005 edition)
Houston's food and drink reviewers report on mostly good experiences this week.
Alison Cook seems to like Velio Deplano's Antica Osteria, located in the two-story structure that once housed the Detering Book Gallery.
Robb Walsh reports on hits and misses (some literal) at Le Fendee Mediterranean Grill in Montrose.
Gracie Ochoa visits the bar at Canyon Cafe.
And finally, Ken Hoffman checks out Dairy Queen's chocolate dipped strawberries blizzard, and its whopping 900 calories, 40 grams of fat, and 119 grams of carbs.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/21/05 11:30 PM |
13 January 2005
Food and drink roundup (1-13-2005 edition)
Houston's food and drink reviewers are just plain ... nice this week.
Alison Cook plans on returning to Saffron, despite the weak wine list, inconsistent service, shortages of menu items, and other problems described in her review. The "moody" room and those $9 exotic mixed drinks must really be all that. Back in November, Robb Walsh wrote that the food really was all that. So maybe it is.
Walsh doesn't bother with that much detail in this week's review of Cajun Town Cafe, run by a Salvadoran-American who learned "Cajun" cooking by working his way through the Greek-American Pappas faux-Cajun chain. The snapper isn't Red snapper (but some fish that comes from somewhere, according to the restaurant), the red beans and rice with Cajun sausage were disappointing, and the gumbo was "wimpy." But Walsh liked the cafe's rendition of those Cajun mainstays, cornbread and fried catfish.
Ken Hoffman posts a review of Dunkin' Donuts' impressive "limited time only" Steak Egg and Cheese breakfast sandwich. The thing packs a massive 590 calories, 24 grams of fat, and 66 grams of carbs!
Finally, Amanda Orr posts a generic review of a generic English pub, Baker St. Pub in the Village.
Enjoy your food and drink this weekend, and watch out for those freeway tow trucks! (the mayor's changes do not take place until council approves them next week)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/13/05 10:50 PM |
International festival returning to downtown Houston
The Houston International Festival will be returning to downtown, after a one-year stint on the parking lots of the Reliant sports complex.
Kudos to city leaders and festival officials for coming to agreement so that Houston's festival could return to the downtown streets and parks it has called home for most of its history. It never made sense for the festival to move to a generic parking lot given the renewal going on downtown.
This year's theme will be India, and the dates of the festival will be April 23-24 and April 3-May 1.
RELATED COVERAGE: KTRK-13, KHOU-11.
UPDATE: Here are further thoughts from prolific blogHOUSTON commenter Laurence Simon.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/13/05 07:58 AM |
09 January 2005
Walton and Johnson to return February 15?
Matt Bramanti calls my attention to a note on the Walton and Johnson website, in which they promise a return to the Houston airwaves on February 15.
Walton and Johnson were left without a Houston station when KLOL-101 made its abrupt switch from album-oriented rock to Latino.
According to a commenter at the Houston Architecture Info Forum, a new adult-oriented rock station is in the works and will be W&J's new home:
Feb 15th is the date for Walton & Johnson to be back on the air in Houston. The station will be 97.5 till the new 103.7 tower is fully functional. The format for 97.5 will be Adult Oriented Rock. Alittle more upscale then the old Rock 101 KLOL format. Hope this clears things up. Looking forward towards the change.
My source is John Walton of the Walton & Johnson show.
If this truly comes to pass, it will be nice to have an adult-oriented rock station back on the air.
UPDATE (01-10-2005): DenimDoll notes the following in the comments:
While watching Fox26 News tonight, Jim Pruett confirmed that not only will Walton & Johnson end up on 97.5, Outlaw Dave will be the afternoon DJ and Mr. Pruett himself will be the midday jock. The new management of 97.5 did an on-camera interview but could not confirm any of these rumors due to non-compete agreements.
The rumors seem to be growing more substantive. Excellent.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/09/05 11:42 PM |
08 January 2005
Food and drink roundup (1-8-2005 edition)
Usually, we post a roundup of local food and drink reviews on Thursdays, but we got a little sidetracked by tow trucks this week.
Here's what our local reviewers had to say:
Robb Walsh visits west Houston tapas restaurant Rioja, and likes their combination of tapas, paella, and Spanish wines.
Alison Cook offers praise for the Strip House, which Robb Walsh also praised earlier.
Lance Scott Walker checks out the mysterious sounding Absinthe Lounge:
The Montrose-area establishment certainly doesn't look like a club: The gray stone exterior echoes office buildings of years past, and its name doesn't appear out front -- only an age-old dry cleaner sign the owners decided to leave in place.
That brings to mind the venerable Marfreless, whose unmarked door looks more like the side entrance to a warehouse than a hip, artsy, dark bar.
Finally, Ken Hoffman tries out the new Starbucks chocolate dessert drink:
The creamy texture is pure cocoa butter. The rich flavor is pure cocoa powder. The hefty price is pure Starbucks.
That's it for this week. Happy eating and drinking!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/08/05 11:40 PM |
06 January 2005
Men's Fitness: Houston fattest city once again
Men's Fitness once again has named Houston America's Fattest City, after our city "lost" that dubious distinction last year.
Mayor White reacted with his best John Kerry impersonation, attacking the ranking as "propaganda" while at the same time announcing a city initiative to attack the problem. Who knew our mayor relied on propaganda in setting city policy?
The Men's Fitness survey isn't propaganda. However, as Rob Booth points out, it's not really a model that truly measures what it claims -- how "fat" a city is. Here are the variables used in determining the model's rankings:
Gyms/Sporting Goods
Nutrition
Exercise/Sports
Overweight/Sedentary
Junk Food
Alcohol
TV
Air Quality
Climate
Geography
Commute
Parks/Open Space
Recreation Facilities
Health Care
Some of those variables are more easily measured than others. Some of the measurements are relatively subjective, to be sure. But those are limitations of most social scientific models. The big problem here is that an index of all of those variables really provides a better measure of something akin to "quality of life" or "general potential for wellness" than it does an area's "fatness." Indeed, one of the variables within the model purports to measure how overweight/sedentary an area is, which is what the magazine claims is being measured overall.
As a general measure of the potential for wellness or quality of life of an area, it's not a horrible model. One could quibble with some of the variables and construct a model that produces wildly different results. But the main problem with this model is that it doesn't measure what Men's Fitness claims.
And as quality of life goes, we think Houston has some advantages that aren't being captured by the Men's Fitness model. So have a laugh at it, and enjoy the fact that Houston is a great restaurant town with plenty of bars, AND plenty of opportunities to get fit.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/06/05 10:04 AM |
03 January 2005
Houston talkers focus on Mayor White's SAFEclear program
With the New Year's festivities behind, Houston drivers took to the freeways today, and many of them were confronted with Mayor White's expensive and intrusive new SAFEclear program (which we've dubbed $AFEclear), by which an oligopoly of wrecker services patrol Houston's freeways at all times of the day, and are charged with the task of forcibly towing all disabled vehicles for a $75 fee (unless the car must be towed to a storage facility, at which point storage fees will begin to accrue). The Mayor's program makes it a Class C misdemeanor for any other wrecker service outside the $AFEclear oligopoly to tow vehicles within the $AFEclear zone. The program launched without any facility for those with insurance or auto club programs to be directly billed for this "service."
As one might expect, the $AFEclear program was a hot topic on Houston's political talk shows during drive time this afternoon.
Posted by blogHOUSTON @ 01/03/05 11:38 PM |
31 December 2004
Thinking about Houston neighborhoods
The Houston Architecture.Info Forum has an interesting discussion going about neighborhoods in the near southwest of Houston (and of other development more broadly).
I added the website to the blogroll on the sidebar a while back after discovering that the name is a bit misleading. While architecture is an interest, the forum is a much broader discussion board about Houston and the goings on here. The board has a large, active membership, and much of the commentary is well written and insightful.
As the local print media continues to neglect coverage of local matters, I would guess that we're going to see sites like the Houston Architecture Info Forum and blogs like this one continue to gain readership. A smart media source would try to use cheap blog/forum technology to leverage the interest of people in their communities, and involve them in the journalistic process. Houston's leading information source, on the other hand, seems to think layout changes and insipid non-blogs will do the trick.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/31/04 10:15 AM |
30 December 2004
Food and drink roundup (12-30-2004 edition)
We skipped the food and drink roundup last Thursday, with Christmas approaching.
With a New Year's weekend coming, this seems like the right time for a double dose of food and drink reviews.
Robb Walsh concludes that Sunday night is the best time to visit Annapurna South Indian Cuisine on NASA Road 1. And he finds Grand Lux Cafe in the Galleria area fun, if a bit "hollow."
Alison Cook stays in town, visiting Stamps Superburgers.
Gracie Ochoa checks out The Underground Bar in west Houston.
And finally, Mona Shoup has a couple of weeks' worth of Whine and Dine (here and here).
Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year full of good food and drink (or, to quote Marvin Zindler, "whatever makes you happy").
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/30/04 11:58 PM |
28 December 2004
Cirque du Soleil arrives in Houston
KHOU-11 reports that Cirque du Soleil has arrived in Houston.
Shows begin on January 6.
More information about this unusual traveling circus can be found here.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/28/04 10:03 PM |
19 December 2004
Doesn't Robison have something in Austin to write about?
The Chron's Austin news bureau chief is acting as Mayor White's PR man at the newspaper again this week, rambling once more in favor of cameras at traffic lights.
The "argument" doesn't go much beyond last week's effort, which effectively said "red light runners are bad, and the city should go after them."
But Robison does concede one point to opponents, even as he takes shots at them because they might be conservatives:
What's wrong with the city raising money, to be used for public needs, from people who willingly endanger other people on the road?
Here's what's wrong -- a little thing called accountability. The private contractor has an incentive to raise revenues, and the city wants those revenues -- for what? Nobody has bothered to answer that question, because they all insist this is a safety issue (as I've pointed out before, when politicians say it's not about the money, of course it's about the money). There's all sorts of potential for mischief when our city officials engage in public-private partnerships, as those of us who have lived here for a while understand quite well. Since Mr. Robison spends so much of his time in Austin, he may not realize that. Maybe he should be writing pro-camera editorials for the Austin American Statesman and telling Austinites how to raise more money for their city? Except that newspaper tends to have better taste on its editorial page.
Further, since the paranoid Austin bureau chief imagines a right-wing conspiracy against him, here's an unlikely ally of that conspiracy:
"This is a case of the city looking for money, and they're looking for the money in the wrong way," said ACLU attorney Randall Kallinan. "No study has shown that the safety is increased with red light cameras."
Of course it's about the money.
Robison concludes with another condescending lesson in American constitutionalism:
A popular misconception to the contrary, we don't even have an unrestricted, constitutional right to drive, much less to ignore basic rules of traffic safety.
You mean the Chronicle editors who embrace the constitutional privacy penumbras that protect the "right" to kill fetuses do not embrace the logical extension of said penumbras to traffic cameras? I'm so very disappointed in their selective embrace of constitutional fiat!
All joking aside, here's something for Robison to chew on: citizens do have a right to oppose bad public policy, policy that is designed to further liberal ends of expanding municipal government by raising revenues that are not earmarked for any particular purpose, and is presented under the guise of public safety. And even citizens who might be Republicans (or -- shock -- ACLU members!) enjoy that right, no penumbras necessary.
You would think the Austin news bureau chief might have something in Austin to write about, especially as the upcoming legislative session approaches. Maybe he was busy Kwanzaa shopping, and it was just easier to write a column belittling the people who sent him emails than come up with anything more substantive.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/19/04 10:25 AM |
16 December 2004
Food and drink roundup (12-16-2004 edition)
Houston's food and drink reviewers have been busy this time.
Alison Cook stays in town (really!), paying a visit to Red Onion Seafood y Mas. Oddly enough, Molly Glentzer commented on the restaurant in October, but the Chron's link is dead. That's certainly useful to diners.
Robb Walsh likes the steaks and sides at the Strip House.
Elsewhere in the Press, he comments on Robert Gadsby and his new restaurant, Noé. He's a month later than Dai Huynh on this topic.
Dai Huynh posts the weekly restaurant buzz.
Gracie Ochoa visits the bar at McCormick and Schmick's, and doesn't seem to have much to say about the experience.
That's all I found. Happy eating and drinking!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/16/04 10:39 PM |
Houston live music
Most weeks about this time, I point readers to David Cobb's live music roundup, and supplement his rock-oriented list with some alt-country/Americana type offerings.
Up to now, I didn't realize that KPFT was putting out a music calendar. They used to do it during the Sound of Texas days, but I just assumed the Trotskyite Revolution over there killed it. And maybe it did for a time, but it's back now, and really comprehensive.
We may still point to notable live music from time to time (this weekend, Alejandro Escovedo at the Continental Club on Friday and Django Walker at the Firehouse on Saturday are probably good bets), but at some point we'll probably just add the KPFT calendar to the links on the sidebar and leave it at that.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/16/04 10:04 PM |
15 December 2004
PETA Bludgeons Wet Seal
PETA staged a protest today at the Galleria to draw attention to retailer Wet Seal's (Nasdaq: WTSLA) use of rabbit fur. Several earnest young people and one tall bunny were handing out literature next to a casket and some small, bloody, pink bunnies. Houstonians took the flyers and politely thanked them in between bites of thick juicy prime rib. Possibly as a result of the protest, Wet Seal, Inc.'s stock tumbled .02% as the market close neared. Meanwhile, Wet Seal employees were unperturbed:
Me: Did you know that people are protesting your store outside?
Adorable Sales Girl #1: (head tilt) Really?
Me: Yeah. They say you kill bunnies.
Adorable Sales Girl #2: They should protest Wilson's Leather!
From the mouths of babes...
Posted by Ethan Glading @ 12/15/04 03:34 PM |
14 December 2004
News flash: It's cold!
We're about to have our first hard freeze this fall, and the local media are out of control.
For those of you who may be new to Houston, please disregard them.
They get this way every year for the first big freeze.
Contrary to what you may hear, it's not going to be the coldest evening in decades -- it may get down to the 20s.
Your pipes probably are in no danger of bursting, unless they are completely exposed to the elements (if that's the case, then you probably have bigger concerns this evening).
You probably should cover any outside plants that you hope to keep alive.
And be careful not to burn your house down with a space heater.
There you go -- the blogHOUSTON cool weather advisory.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/14/04 10:09 PM |
12 December 2004
Houston. It's Worth It (cont'd)
The unorthodox Houston. It's Worth It campaign continues to pay dividends.
That campaign, as readers are surely aware, turns traditional marketing on its ear by conceding Houston's various shortcomings up front -- and then giving Houstonians a chance to point out all the reasons we love this crazy city.
Apparently, it convinced Christopher Solomon, the "frugal traveler" for the New York Times, to give Houston a second look.
Here's an excerpt:
For years, snarky dismissal - "A few days in Houston isn't a getaway; it's a sentence" - has pretty much been my response to any mention of the nation's fourth-largest city. Never mind that I'd never seen the place save once, as a blur framed by a rental car's windows as I headed elsewhere, fast.
But this fall, a curious newspaper article caught my attention. David Thompson and Randy Twaddle, partners in a Houston marketing firm called Ttweak, had started an unofficial campaign to boost their city's image by laughing at the realities of this city on the swamp. The Web site tumbles through 20 of the things that make Houston, uh, memorable - "The cockroaches; the flooding; the no mountains." - before finally arriving at the thumbs-up message: "Houston. It's Worth It."After the campaign's first few months, Houstonians and former residents had posted more than 1,200 comments on the Web site, www.houstonitsworthit.com. There were the comics: "The cleanest jail cells of any major metropolitan area." (Reason No. 539.) There were also, however, bayou poets: "If Houston were a dog, she'd be a mutt with three legs, one bad eye, fleas the size of corn nuts and buck teeth. Despite all that, she'd be the best dog you'll ever know." (No. 297.) In between, many people sang paeans to favorite haunts. Taken together, these comments formed an accidental guidebook to the Houston beyond the stereotype. A city that could snort at its shortcomings and still throw sweaty arms around its humid, traffic-choked, sprawling self couldn't be without redemption, could it?
The entire story is here. A certain favorite icehouse gets a nice mention, and is featured in the photo at the top of the story.
This is the kind of positive publicity that Jordy Tollett hasn't been able to achieve despite spending millions of dollars over a number of years. Since he can't even be bothered to take reporters' phone calls, maybe it's time to outsource Tollett's job to the folks over at ttweak.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/12/04 01:06 PM |
11 December 2004
Disappearing meters thwart efforts to boost city revenues
KHOU-11's Amy Tortolani reports that industrious downtown thieves have been busy stealing parking meters:
Free parking places are popping up all over downtown Houston. Someone has been stealing parking meters and that's taking a bite out of an already tight city budget.[snip]
Friday morning, police found another eight missing meters. Over the last three months, 70 have been stolen from Houston streets.
[snip]
Undercover agents say it's not easy to steal the meters. Each meter and pole weigh about 75 pounds. In some cases, the the bad guys even pulled out the concrete with the meter adding another 20 pounds.
It can't be easy to steal the meters, and it doesn't reflect well at all on downtown policing that 70 meters have disappeared in three months. Indeed, we suspect it's another (unreported) manifestation of HPD's manpower shortages, which continue to be ignored by Mayor White and his council.
It is slightly ironic that downtown meters are disappearing, since Mayor White and crew just recently blanketed downtown with new downtown meters in an effort to boost municipal revenues.
Predictably, the Chronicle editorial board weighed in on the side of "good guy" Mayor White, shooting down those who criticize the proposal on privacy concerns. Those concerns are not irrelevant, but of greater concern is the fact that the private company that will provide the equipment will get a cut of revenues generated by citations, thereby creating an incentive to write citations, but not necessarily an incentive to improve traffic safety and enforcement.
Given the nature of public-private partnerships in this city, this is one proposal that should get more scrutiny than Mayor White's proposals to enrich private interests generally have received from the current members of Council. The matter will be considered on December 15.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/11/04 10:53 AM |
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