Home sweet (and savory) home!

There’s that old cliché—you can never go home again—which is partly true because what you once knew as home inevitably will change. Of course, some things stay the same, but on my recent trip to Houston I was pleasantly struck by the merging of the familiar with the new.

When I arrived in Houston late on a Friday night, I was certain that since all the restaurants were closed (save for Whataburger and Taco Cabana), I would be going straight to bed. But my magnificent mother had stopped by one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, Amalia’s, and ordered my usual dish, enchiladas verdes (carnitas stuffed into corn tortillas, drowning in tomatillo sauce, sliced onions and avocados) to go. Plus she had thrown in a pint of green sauce and a batch of fresh flour tortillas—a wonderful welcome indeed! Even though it was after midnight and I had to wake up early on Saturday to drive to Austin, I stood at the kitchen counter devouring my meal, not even taking the time to heat it up. “Do you want to sit down?” Mom asked me. “No,” I replied, “I just want to eat!” I was very happy. She acknowledged the comfort of the familiar and in between stuffing my face I agreed.

I spent less than 24 hours in Austin at my friend’s catfish fry to celebrate her marriage, and that was a whirlwind of catching up with old, dear friends. And even though we’re all a few years short of 40, the lot of us piled up in two hotel rooms, sleeping in all sorts of crazy arrangements such as four in a king-sized bed. The slumber party took us back to our college years, even though I eventually decided that four to a bed was bit much and that the floor was probably a better option. I had to return to Houston very early on Sunday, so by nine o’clock in the morning I was on the road making a stop in Elgin, home of some of the best sausage in Texas. Even at that hour there was already a long queue at Southside Market, but it was worth the wait as I loaded up on fresh links to bring back to NYC.

In Giddings, I stopped for gas and next to the station was a combo Mexican meat market and taqueria. I ordered a breakfast taco comprised of a homemade flour tortilla, porky refried beans, scrambled eggs and spicy sausage—a perfect balance. And while I had not seen this sort of combination butcher/taqueria before, I was soon to learn that this is a new trend in Hispanic shopping—at least for me. When I returned to Houston, it seemed not a strip mall was complete without one of these stores—a delightful and flavorful addition to the state’s shopping bounty.

Sunday afternoon found me in south Houston, enjoying a tour of Houston’s exploding Asian Town under the expert guidance of the inimitable food writer Robb Walsh. As we made our way along Bellaire Boulevard, I was struck by the endless stream of strip malls filled with Asian shops and restaurants. After a quick pit stop for pork dumplings, we arrived at our destination: Hong Kong City Mall.

If you’re not familiar with Hong Kong City Mall, it is said to be the largest covered Asian mall in the south. We started our tour in the food court, and as it’s crawfish season, every table was piled high with those tasty red crustaceans. Robb noted that after Katrina, almost 15,000 displaced Vietnamese living in New Orleans were taken in by Houston’s Vietnamese community, making it the second-largest Vietnamese community in America. And bringing their seafood tradition with them, you can find food stands with names such as Crawfish & Beignets, which is a hybrid of classic Louisiana food married with Vietnamese spice.

The anchor of the mall is Hong Kong Food Market, a vast grocery store filled with every Asian ingredient imaginable—countless varieties of bok choy and bitter melons, mountains of the world’s stinkiest fruit—durian, fresh herbs such as fish mint and curry leaves, tank upon tank of live seafood and countless bins filled with fish sauces that were, shall we say, extremely pungent. Seeing so many exotic (to me) ingredients under one roof was mind-boggling. And you can find almost anything you want there, except, perhaps, cheese.

As the week wore on, I ate my way around the city, probably having at least six (small) meals a day. For instance, after downing a plate of Larry’s cheese enchiladas, I'd stop and nosh on bbq brisket and sausage at Galvan’s Sausage House. Or I’d order a cup of roasted corn topped with sour cream and salsa at a stand outside of Fiesta followed by a tamale from a Mexican butcher and a cheeseburger from Whataburger. Mom took me out for an early birthday lunch (because I was in town exactly two months from my upcoming birthday in June and she won’t see me on the actual day) to the gracious and lovely Ouisie’s Table, where I ordered its signature chicken-fried steak. We followed that with a trip to a farmer’s market set up in a parking lot at Rice University, where there was brisket, Monica Pope’s lavender bread and fresh strawberries to be sampled. Heck, even a trip to Mom’s church for a Holy Week service was a chance to eat, as I savored the homemade communion bread irreverently wondering what the recipe was instead of thinking about Jesus.

But while most of the food I ate was at restaurants, taquerias or stands, I also spent some time in the kitchen. Mom kept me full at home with her sublime baking skills. She made ginger scones, no-knead bread (a shocker for me since she was the one who had taught me how to knead and bake bread, but after finally trying it, I now understand its appeal) and her famous raspberry bars. I also had the opportunity to learn how to cook rabbit with Robb Walsh (which I will write about in more detail in a few days).

So while the ubiquitous taco trucks, Hispanic markets and endless Asian strip malls were not as prominent when I was growing up in Houston, their presence today adds a fresh layer of delicious delight to a trip home. I can not only get my old standbys of enchiladas and green sauce but I can also eat elote con crema and Vietnamese crawfish, too. Home may not be exactly what it once was, but it’s refreshing that not only are the old comforts still around but there are endless new food adventures to be had in my hometown as well. What a wonderful way to spend a week, savoring both the old and the new!