October 28, 2011
"The Ultimate Food Lover's Guide to Houston" Debuts in November
Robert Doyle READ TIME: 4 MIN.
HOUSTON, TX - Following the success of "The Ultimate Food Lover's Guide to Houston," which premiered in August 2008, Houston's Lazywood Press is publishing a completely updated second edition that will debut in November 2011.
"Houston's vibrant culinary scene is constantly changing, which makes reporting on it both interesting and a challenge - and a danger to the waistline," jokes editor/publisher Teresa Byrne-Dodge, who also owns My Table ~ Houston's Dining Magazine, now in its 18th year of publication.
"Like our original guidebook, the new edition has listings on hundreds of places to eat, drink and shop, from casual to upscale, 'main street' to mom-and-pop spots, and everything in between. It's intended to introduce newcomers to our fascinating food city, as well as provide deeper insight for Houstonians who want to broaden their food experience."
More than simply a restaurant guidebook, The Ultimate Food Lover's Guide (Second Edition) [Lazywood Press, $19.95] is an insider's manual that celebrates everything edible in Houston - restaurants, bakeries, wine bars, ethnic grocers, coffeehouses, butchers, farmers' markets, fishmongers, cooking schools, craft beer bars, sweets shops and much more.
The new edition features 350-plus pages of more than 700 separate entries, all-new black & white photography, dozens of sidebar features and expanded indexes for quicker searches and cross-referencing. Just as in the first edition, each listing has map coordinates that correspond to a fold-out map at the back of the guidebook.
And talk about local! This is not another guidebook produced by a far-away publisher - it is written and edited entirely by Houston-based food critics and professionals. The book's editor/publisher Teresa Byrne-Dodge, associate editor Nikki Metzgar, graphic designer Jennifer Blanco, editorial contributors, photographers, data processor and director of distribution all live and work in Houston. In fact, the book is even printed in Houston (not the Far East). By any measure, this really is the ultimate insider's guide to America's fourth largest city.
The 5"x8" book - easy to slip into a handbag, briefcase, glove compartment or gift bag - is divided into five chapters: Coffeehouses & Tea Shops (includes boba tea shops); Bakeries & Sweets (includes bakeries, pastry shops, chocolate and candy shops and frozen confections); Markets (including ethnic markets, butchers, fishmongers, farmers' markets, kitchen outfitters and specialty shops); Restaurants (a huge chapter that includes everything from fine-dining establishments to quirky ethnic eateries off the beaten path); and Wine, Beer & Spirits (includes wine bars, pubs, craft beer bars, wine/spirits retailers, breweries and icehouses).
Why a food guidebook to Houston? While many cities like to think of themselves as a "foodie town," only one can hold the distinction of the being the city that dines out more than any other in America. And that one city is Houston, Texas. It's true! According to the editors of the Zagat Restaurant Surveys, Houstonians dine out more often than do residents of any other major American city. That being said, the simple question, "What do you want to eat?" is not always that simple when you have approximately 10,000 dining establishments from which to choose.
Says Patricia Sharpe, senior editor of Texas Monthly, "What a neat trick-The Ultimate Food Lover's Guide to Houston revels in the variety and richness of Houston's restaurants, markets, shops, coffeehouses, wine bars, and breweries without overwhelming the reader. It is both authoritative and fun. I think of it as the Goldilocks and the Three Bears of guidebooks: Not too much. Not too little. Just right."
The Ultimate Food Lover's Guide to Houston (Second Edition) will be available at available at Central Market, Bering's, Phoenicia, Costco and many other Houston-area bookstores, gift shops, airports and better supermarkets; and online at www.my-table.com and www.amazon.com. A digital version of the guidebook will be available as well.
For more information on the guidebook and a complete list of retailers, visit www.my-table.com.
Long-term New Yorkers, Mark and Robert have also lived in San Francisco, Boston, Provincetown, D.C., Miami Beach and the south of France. The recipient of fellowships at MacDowell, Yaddo, and Blue Mountain Center, Mark is a PhD in American history and literature, as well as the author of the novels Wolfchild and My Hawaiian Penthouse. Robert is the producer of the documentary We Are All Children of God. Their work has appeared in numerous publications, as well as at : www.mrny.com.
