Red Hot & Blues BBQ

Barbecue is one of my favorite foods and the blues is one of my favorite forms of music. BB Kind singing and a plate full of Memphis style ribs, smoked sausage, pulled pork, and barbecued turkey is a pretty damned good meal. But to be honest, I like both the Blues and barbeque in measured doses. While love them both, I wouldn't want to live on a diet of bbq alone or only have a blues station on my radio. But once in a while, they go together and make life worth living again.

Red Hot and Blue is a barbecue joint with a blues soundtrack and a lot of musical instruments and Lps hanging on the walls. Its a bright, clean family style place-unlike many great bbq joints that have more of a long haul trucker feel to them. Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City is in a pretty rough neighborhood and it looks like the clean the place with garden hose, when they clean it. Angelo's in Fort Worth used to be famous for the sawdust floor, as well as the dusty and slightly creepy stuffed animals-but the health department made them get ride of the sawdust as the mice found it irresistible. They both have pretty good barbecue though.

Red Hot and Blue is a chain, and for many barbeque purists that means it just can't be a great bbq joint. Texas Month recently gave their nod to the Best Barbaque in Texas to a place that is open one day a week and serves until they run out of food and then closes. To me the best barbecue is barbecue that I can eat when I want to eat it, not when the owner feels like cooking it. But hey, maybe that's just me.

The menu at Red White and Blues is the size of an old LP, for you kiddos out their an LP was a long playing record made out of vinyl that came in a 12" by 12" sleeve-you might have seen one of these being scratched at a dance by a DJ. There is some great stuff here.

For some reason when I write about barbecue I often get hits for people looking nutritional information-which kind of makes me laugh a bit. After all, you really shouldn't be eating bbq if your worried about silly things like nutritional info. But for the curious, Red Hot & Blues has a page of Nutritional Information.

Drink Coffee-Live Longer

"Our results suggest that long-term, regular coffee consumption does not increase the risk of death and probably has several beneficial effects on health," said lead researcher Dr. Esther Lopez-Garcia

While not exactly a ringing endorsement that swigging down six cups of coffee a day will make you immortal, it is nice to know that my occasional excesses on the Java front will not kill me any quicker.

The study says that for men, drinking two or three cups of coffee a day made no real difference to health one way or the other-but six cups-well, that might help prevent heart disease and cancer. Curiously the benefits of drinking coffee were achieved even with Decaf-though it is hard to imagine why anyone would drink six cups of Decaf a day. I prefer the extra caffeinated coffees myself.

Stories about the benefits of coffee are not new, but they are often balanced with a few warnings that drinking coffee in excess is a bad thing. In the age of the Giant Latte I guess drinking six cups of coffee a day is not really all that excessive. I do like coffee, but I like the jolt I get from the coffee a lot more than I like the flavor or health benefits. Of course, I take my coffee with a lot of cream and sugar, which likely counter-balances any good effects anyway.

Drink coffee, it's good for you-oh wait, that was Moxie.

Top Ten Best Pizzas in America

Yeah I know, you can't really write a list of the Top Ten Pizzas in America and make everyone happy. Maybe the Top Ten Pizzas in New York City, or Top Ten Pizzas in Chicago-but then, they do make pizzas outside of New York and Chicago, the debate would be whether they are worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as The Greats.

I like chains, Uno's and Mazzio's and even the cheap pizza buffet place, Cici's. I like chains because they let you get a taste of pizza, even if it isn't always world class pizza. But I was less than impressed with the overpriced California Pizza with their bizzaro world toppings. Like barbecue, either a pizza is good, or it just flat out awful, there is no real middle ground. Awful would the stiff you find in gas stations and school cafeterias. Great, well, there are a lot of greats out there.

There are three places I have personally eaten at and found above and beyond the normal fare-
Mama's Pizza-which started off in the Ft Worth, TX neighborhood of Poly and I grew up with. The Mama's Special Supreme was the one we always got-everything but Anchovies-ah that is a great pizza.

Last time I went to Disneyland there was a mall surrounding the park called Downtown Disney and there was a pizza joint that wanted something like $35 for a regular pizza-but damn that was a good pizza. This was also one of the first times I went to an restaurant where they served hard bread with a dish of olive oil and vinegar. Great stuff.

La Casa Pizzaria in Omaha is one of the best pizza places in America-really great pizza. This crust and crisp and great fresh toppings.

Lombardi's has has to be mentioned, if only because of that commercial were the New Yorkers want to get away from it all and find New Yorkers everywhere they go.

Buzzy's-Pizza and a giant waterfall, what more could you want from life? Buzzy's in Niagrar Falls has some big pizzas and great prices. They taste pretty good too.

1. Grimaldi's Pizzeria in Brooklyn, NY. Transcendent pies at a family-friendly Brooklyn landmark.

2. Lou Malnati's Pizzeria in Chicago, IL. Whether you crave deep-dish or thin-crust, this comfortable, casual pizza joint serves up some of the best in town.

3. Everybody's - Decatur, GA. From College dive to Family Restaurant. But the Pizza only got better.

4. Pizzeria Regina in Boston, MA. This North End landmark is widely hailed as Boston's capitol of pizza.

5. Pizza Luce in Minneapolis, MN. Hip Warehouse District pizzeria that's a perennial favorite with the late-night set.

6. Pie Pizzeria in Salt Lake City, UT.Weighty pies and pitchers of beer make for the ultimate college dining scene.

7. Escape From New York Pizza in Portland, OR. A slice to satisfy a true New Yorker.

8. Piecora's Pizzeria in Seattle, WA. New York-style pizza with urban ambience and punk rock attitude.

9. D'Amore's Pizza Connection in Canoga Park, CA. Grateful East Coast transplants flock in for authentic Boston-style pizza.

10. Pauline's Pizza in San Francisco, CA. Gourmet slices, organic salads and crayons on the table highlight this Inner Mission pizzeria.

Breyers Triple Chocolate

It's the rare ice cream that I don't like. I like everything from the simple purity of vanilla and chocolate to the wonderfully complete Rocky Roads and Moose Tracks. I have been a fan of Breyers since they first showed up in Texas several years ago. Of course, Blue Bell is the home state favorite, but all ice cream is good ice cream. I have never been a huge fan of Ben and Jerry, as I am a huge cheapskate for the most part.

The Wife keeps her eyes on the sales and we often find all kinds of odd flavors at a good discount. One such recent find was Breyers All Natural Triple Chocolate, possibly the best ice cream even put on sale in grocery store freezer. This milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate. I am reminded of the Simpson's episode where Homer whines that they need more chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla ice cream-even though all he eats is the chocolate. Here is an ice cream to make Homer swoon with delight.

Smooth and creamy-Breyers Triple Chocolate is really good.

Prepared Meals

It's always been about the food, isn't it?

But it's not always easy to create great recipes on your own - everything from soups and appetizers to complete meals and desserts. So why not have someone else do the hard part? Using only the finest ingredients, of course and preparing everything, with skill, know-how, and artistry, just for you. There are lots of places that do all the time-consuming things. You can get anything from grilled steaks, roast lamb, or cooked lobster. All you need to do is follow the simple instructions to heat and serve the meals. It's that easy.

The magic? It rests in all those new and innovative processes, preparing gourmet meals isn't as hard as it used to be. Vacuum sealing and flash-freezing at precisely the right moment to lock in the full flavor and texture you'd expect at only the finest restaurants. It's taken years to get ti right. Now you can enjoy these restaurant quality recipes at home. Simply warm the meals, in the specially designed packaging, by placing on the stovetop or in the microwave.

By following simple instructions, your dining experience will be just as intended. Bon Appétit!