If you're still mistakenly laboring under the impression that ballet is dry, dusty and boring, the Dominic Walsh Dance Theater would like the chance to persuade you otherwise. This Saturday and Sunday night at Miller Outdoor Theatre, the Dominic Walsh company is putting on a decidedly modern and contemporary production of the classic ballet Sleeping Beauty, set to Tchaikovsky's original score but with choreography and costumes that are anything but traditional. Dominic Walsh himself......

News broke this morning that all 300 restaurants in the Texas-based Bennigan's chain had mysteriously and suddenly closed overnight, all across the nation. Confused staff reported showing up to work and being met by shuttered doors, while some managers spent their morning calling employees to inform them of the situation. Thousands of waitstaff, line cooks, bartenders and bussers across the country are simply stranded, waiting for any news from Bennigan's on whether or not......

The fastest way to a culture's "heart" is through your belly and proper dining etiquette (lest you offend, which may explain some "bad" service), and via bus. Yes, that sounds wrong, as anyone who has ever utilized a bus to travel a long way can tell you, you can and will stop in every wide spot in the road that appears inhabited. Perhaps that is why it's an inexpensive manner in which to travel. We......

The first of the summer corn has arrived, along with a bounty of other summertime goodies! If you've never been to the Midtown Farmers Market located at t'afia, Monica Pope's award-winning signature restaurant in -- that's right -- Midtown, then this is the weekend to go! Every Saturday morning from 8:00 a.m. to noon, the parking lot and restaurant itself host a small but potent farmers market offering everything from fresh, local produce, honey and......

The infamous Texas Crawfish and Music Festival is scheduled to take place in Spring this Saturday. What goes better with crawfish than an ice cold beer? Now the tricky question is exactly what beer goes best with crawfish on a hot and muggy Saturday afternoon? After much research at Sam's Boat every Monday night for several months, Houstonist has found the answer. Blue Moon with a slice of orange to garnish. Yup - this......

Great news!! If you have not checked the list of participating eateries in the Dining Out For Life list, Niko Niko's is participating!!! Houstonist had lunch w/ a couple of peeps this week. As always, it was delish - we chose rice for our starch to accompany the gyro plate, it's creamy and flavorful - we'd love the recipe, just saying. We've had the potatoes and the fries previously, both are very good choices, as......

The last time Houstonist offered up a drink recipe, we were hailing the coming of a new and warmer season. If you're like many longtime Houstonians, you've been enjoying this recent mild weather and spending as much time in the great outdoors as possible before the dreaded heat and humidity that is Summer comes rearing its ugly head around the corner. Alas, all good things must come to an end, but not like you......

Houstonians, mark your calendars now to participate in Dining Out For Life on Thursday, April 24th. What a fabulous way to raise funds for a cause, you lift your fork, feed your face and pay for dinner like you always do - whammo, you just donated! All you have to do to make a donation is go out for breakfast, lunch, dinner or "D: All of the above" on the designated day at a participating......

Molina’s Cantina, a family-owned and operated Tex-Mex Restaurant chain headquartered in Houston, announced yesterday that they will not renew their lease at 5227 Buffalo Speedway, located at the northeast corner of Buffalo Speedway and Bissonnet. The last day of business will be Saturday May 24, 2008. The Molina family is proactively seeking a new location within the same geographic region and intends to be back in business in the West University area soon. Meanwhile the......

Young Texans Against Cancer 4th Annual Spring BBQ & Silent Auction Seven years ago, forty-four young individuals in the Houston area banded together with one thing in common: Cancer. Young Texans Against Cancer (YTAC) was established in 2001 by this group of passionate individuals, who some have personally battled cancer while others have witnessed loved ones struggling with illness. Inspired by these struggles, the Founding Members created YTAC to increase cancer awareness among the generation......

Last week marked the start of the Spring season. It's time to put away the winter coats, boots, gloves, and scarves. Wait, we're in Houston, right? So, it's actually time to put away the long sleeved shirts, jeans, and to shave away that stubble from your face (or legs as the case may be) that kept you warm on those lonely brisk 60 degree evenings. Break out the cargo shorts, polo shirts, sun dresses,......

Oh yeah, it's what we wait for every year, soft shelled crabs. They are in season and delicioso! No pesky cracking of shells, no picking out the meat - just eat the whole succulent crab. One of our favorite places to go for them is Pico's Mex-Mex, where Arnaldo prepares the "Al Mojo de Ajo" - lightly breaded and pan fried in olive oil. They are very limited, so be sure to phone first for......

Easter is this Sunday!!! Just like we do every year, we will hide eggs in improbable places for the kids, devil the ones they find, gorge on chocolate bunnies (bite the heads off first, it's therapeutic) and feast on baked ham. We have espoused our love of bacon, particularly on a burger, and now, we will bamboozle you with a recipe for the best ham you ever wrapped your soup coolers around, unless you hate......

Tomorrow is Saint Patrick's Day! To help you celebrate, we bring back a classic drink for everyone to enjoy this weekend. Whether you'll be huddled by a TV watching college basketball or celebrating with the masses in Rice Village, make sure you're throwing down Irish Car Bombs to celebrate Saint Patrick and all of his accomplishments (whatever they may be). Irish Car Bomb+ 1/2 pint Guinness stout + 1 oz. Jameson Irish Whiskey +......

As a public service announcement, don't forget that tomorrow night marks the beginning of Daylight Saving Time. At 2:00am on Sunday morning (late Saturday night for us party-going types), we will all be forced to set our clocks ahead by one full hour. As a result, we'll have one more hour of sunlight in the evening and one less hour in the morning. You know what this means? No more early cracks of dawn......

Happy Leap Day! For those that have always wondered, but never cared to ask about the purpose of leap day, please allow us to expound. Now we don't know about you, but we think that this man-made phenomenon is an occasion to drink! While out sipping away the twilight hours at a bar last night, we obtained a recipe for a "Leap Year" drink from a lovely young lady. When we asked why the......

It's the most wonderful time of the year Sure, when Andy Williams first uttered those words he may have been praising the birth of Jesus Christ. But for us, that same expression can be applied to Girl Scout cookie season! And wouldn't you know it, just this week five boxes of Thin Mints (amongst other variations) were delivered to our front door. After feverishly consuming the first box in a single sitting, we implemented......

Fried grasshoppers in Houston?! Apparently it's all the rage at Hugo's. We didn't have the craving, but it did pique our curiousity. So off to Hugo's we went. After a round of the bartender-recommended sangria margarita (a nicely balanced marriage of flavors), we were seated and ready to get our grasshopper on. But it must not have been grasshopper season since they didn't have any to serve us. Though secretly relieved that our Fear Factor......

It's an American tradition, just like representative democracy and childhood obesity: the Super Bowl. Even people who aren't football fans usually find a way to watch the game (or the commercials, depending on your priorities) and the die-hards view Sunday as some combination of Christmas, graduation, and the non-lame parts of the Olympics all rolled into one. If you don't have plans for the big game already, here are a few options around town: -......

Okay, okay, we know, you don't need to remind us (we are sensitive about our largesse), we're in shape - round, round is technically a shape. We cannot help ourselves at all, will power schmill power, who needs it? There is one perfect food, a luscious bundling of all of the food groups. The burger, the tasty, juicy cheesy with bacon and all of the veggies and a schmear of mustard and a double-schmear of......

Despite the Thai food trend that seems to be sweeping the nation, we somehow never jumped on the bandwagon. Even though it has been all the rage for the last ten years, we could not get over the. . .stench of pad thai. All our friends kept recommending pad thai so we just wrote off Thai food as a lost cause. That is, until we were dragged to Thai Spice last week. We entered and......

• Whooping Cough is at its highest levels since the 1950's and local hospitals are inoculating parents and family members in an attempt to help stop the spread of this infection. • Three thieves stole $16,000 during a northwest Houston robbery at a Food Fair grocery store. • A man and a woman are both dead after an apparent murder-suicide last night. The incident occurred on Chewe Street near Hershe Street around 12:30 a.m.......

Houstonist has an active and amazing Flickr photo group. We receive many, many photos of Houston and the surrounding areas every day and unless you are an active visitor to our photo pool many of these photos go unnoticed. So in a weekly effort to bring you more amazing photos from Houstonist readers and photographers, we are going to feature a block of photos submitted to our Flickr photo group. The images will be dug......

Upscale Barbecue. Sounds like an oxymoron, right? BBQ, the real sport that precedes major sporting events, the Five Elements (Brisket, Link, Beans, Tater Salad, Sauce), the food group that evolved out of the simple necessity of cattle drives: surely it can't be froofy without ceasing to be bbq. Monica Pope, proprietor and mastermind behind the beloved t'afia, decided to see if she could make the two words fit together in a converted icehouse in the......

As part of our many resolutions made at this time every year, we thought we should get our hands on some tarts -- and luckily, Central Market is there to oblige us. Confident Cook: Tarts (Hands On) Saturday January 19th from 10AM to 12:30PM A bargain at $45 The Central Market Cooking School has a variety of classes from the practical Knife Skills and Seafood 101 to Souffles Galore and those couples cooking classes (Hmmm,......

Pack your bags, grab your passport, check your visa. We're taking you outside the loop for a taste of Japan, folks. Houstonist, on the wise recommendation of the Fearless Critic, recently made the trek out to Westheimer and Fondren to dine at Sasaki. The restaurant is incognito in a dumpy strip center, nestled right next to your typical shady cell phone store, an insurance office and a hair salon (with 100% real human hair extensions!).......

We do a lot of impromptu cooking and baking. Typically it'll strike us at some late hour of the night when we're debating the merits of watching bad reality TV versus just going to bed, when suddenly we realize that our lives will not go on unless we make a spicy peanut stir fry or strawberry shortcake cupcakes or whatever else right now. And then we plunge headfirst into creating Second Dinner or Third Dessert......

French restaurants have been very kind to Houstonist. They reside in quaint little locales, offer crusty bread and real butter, and cook up delectable and delicate fares. We were delighted to learn that a new french restaurant opened on Colquitt just two weeks ago. The owners and chefs of Au Petit Paris, Eric Legros & Dominique Bocquier, have created a 'casual' neighborhood restaurant with a distinct Parisian feel. Though the restaurant lacks the pretentiousness of......

Christmas is a week away (great googlymoogly - we still have some last minute gifting to get) and if you had planned to have lots of different cookies on hand, or made up to take to your rotten coworkers, and haven't quite managed to bake, a lot. This is a super simple, very fun way to host a gathering, have a good excuse to get your nog on, and have a respectable assortment of goodies.......

This looks to be the last big release week of the year, and 2007 is going out with a bang. We'll see you in '08! The Cool is Lupe Fiasco's follow-up album to last year's fantastic Food and Liquor. The record is filled with clever and forward-thinking tracks like “Dumb it Down” that manage succeed on both an underground and commercial level, and features noteworthy contributions from Snoop Dogg, UNKLE, newcomer Matthew Santos, and Food......