DEL RIO – Inside this tiny kitchen in Central Del Rio, Tirzah Starnes is creating some incredible culinary cuisine with her sister, Kendall. “All of our lives, I’ve been bossing her around,” said Tirzah with a laugh while acknowledging her sister. “She loves it,” she finished.

Don’t let Tirzah’s tomfoolery take you for a loop, because these two get along great. “Honestly, I couldn’t do this without her,” said Tirzah. “She’s my right hand girl.” Always hip to hip in the kitchen, these two sisters have to be close because they don’t have a whole lot of room to work with. Basically a small room with a kitchen, a counter, and a lone table for customers. “It’s a little space,” said Tirzah. “We use every single nook and cranny of it. So many times, you are curious what goes on behind those closed doors, and when they swing open, you want to peek in and see what’s going on back there,” said Tirzah. “But I wanted to create a space where you could see what we were doing. I thought that was fun.”

Being in such close quarters, one must always respect the cooks and give them a little bit of space. “They’ll come over behind the line and ask you something,” said Tirzah. “I’m like, ‘Can I help you with something? It’s really hot over here. Please don’t touch anything,” joked Tirzah.

Fragola’s may be a very small venue, but they crank out some incredible food creations thanks to Tirzah’s tenacity. She had a dream of opening her own restaurant and she made it happen. “I knew that I loved food,” said Tirzah. “I knew that I loved food, and I knew that I was a damn good cook. I knew that if I was going to do it, I was going to go big or not do it at all.”

In 2018, Tirzah went big with her bites, but not so much with her space. But business is still good, and just being able to do what she loves has been as divine as her dishes. “It is a blessing,” said Tirzah. “I will say that this is a fruition of what I have prayed for. This is an answered prayer, and God is just continuing to answer prayers for me.”

With a constantly changing menu, you never know what will be on the board when it comes time for lunch. “We’re trying to get people out of their box,” Tirzah said. “They live in a little box, and we’re trying to slowly take them outside of their flavor boxes. It’s working! It’s working.”

But there is one specific sandwich that can’t fly the coop, because it’s way too popular. “Jalapeño honey-drenched crispy chicken sandwich. It’s a mouthful in more ways than one,” said Tirzah. “We have to do it every other week, or we’ll have some upset customers. We came up with this jalapeño infused honey that we make fresh in-house. We put some hickory smoked bacon on it, on a piece of buttermilk fried chicken and called it a day. It is all of the delicious things that you want in a fried chicken sandwich. It’s crunchy, it’s sweet, it’s salty, it has the creaminess from the mayonnaise. It’s the perfect chicken sandwich,” said Tirzah confidently.

Tirzah starts the sandwich off by frying up some magnificently marinated chicken in her tiny air fryer. “As soon as it comes out of that hot oil, we’re going to give it a little dunk in this,” said Tirzah. “This is our jalapeño infused honey. It’s so good. It’s not too spicy. The sweet kind of balances the heat, but we make this fresh in-house. It’s awesome.”

Then the chicken is ready to get baptized in the hot, sticky sauce. While the chicken sits in the honey and jalapeño spa, a toasted brioche bun gets covered with may, a gargantuan piece of lettuce, vine ripened tomatoes, and then comes the chicken with a few extra jalapeños on there. “The first day that we did it, we literally sold out. We were looking at each other like,’oh my gosh, I think they like it,” said Tirzah.

“Substantial piece of chicken. It’s hard to get your hands around it but harder to get your mouth around it. But yeah, once you get it in, it’s awesome,” said customer Quinn Chandler.

A lot of times when you think of fried chicken sandwich, it’s kind of a heavier chicken sandwich, but this is nice and light and it’s all about that jalapeño honey dressing that just goes throughout the breading. Sweet, savory, absolutely perfect. Once again, the chicken sandwich wars did not make their way to Del Rio, because this would have reigned supreme. “I’ve had it I can’t tell you how many times since I’ve been here, since I’ve discovered this place, and every time, I love it,” said Quinn.

Well, if you happen to be down in Del Rio looking for a great place to dine, come into Fragola’s for this incredible jalapeño honey-drenched crispy chicken sandwich. It’s definitely well-worth the stop on The Texas Bucket List.

“Let my cup overflow, and because my cup overflows, let it fill up other people’s cups,” said Tirzah. “That is exactly what it has done and it continues to do.”

San Antonio – San Antonio truly is one of the most fantastic places in the great state of Texas.  You’ve got history, the culture, and of course the Riverwalk. Then again, I might be a little bit biased towards this town because the Alamo City is where I got married.  I’ve also got massive number of memories from coming here as kid to celebrating the 200^th episode of The Texas Bucket List at the Alamo back in 2021.

All those stories revolve around time spent on the Riverwalk and just a few feet from the La Vallita River Theatre, where my wife and I took our engagement pictures, you’ll find Fuime. “Great atmosphere, great view, right by the river, couldn’t get any better,” said customer Keith Clark.  “This is so awesome to be so close to the water, have people walking by,” said customer Cheri Clark.

Benjamin Callahan is the Executive Chef at Fuime and the self-proclaimed Army brat moved to San Antonio during Elementary school. In 2012 he graduated from the Culinary Institute and has been in the industry ever since.   His goal when it comes to great food. “Trying to elevate the food and the culture here,” Ben said.

He said it’s difficult having many competing restaurants down the river, but if you have something that people can relate to, something that people want, then you’re just giving comfort food something new that they haven’t seen before. It doesn’t hurt having your pizza oven and kitchen right on the Riverwalk. “That’s one thing that draws people to Fiume. I think a lot of them are from different cities, different countries even, and they come, and they see the oven and they see it on the Riverwalk and they’re like, ‘Oh, wow, this is the first place I’ve seen that’s like home,’” Ben said.

Now Fuime doesn’t just make run of mill pizza, oh no, these pies have Texas pizzaz. “Whatever we can add to it to make it more Texas-infused with local farmers,” Ben explained.

All good pizza starts with a dough, right? With the help of fellow chef Cynthia, Ben got things started on three different types of pizzas all of which consist of house made dough with Texas grains.

The first tossed-to-order pizza pie Ben put together is the Sweet Texas Heat. “We’re going to start with our white sauce, which is ricotta-based. It’s got some black garlic in there, too, which we get from Texas,” Ben said. Mozzarella cheese, bacon smoked for 48 hours and Calabrian chilis are added.

The Chorizo Quesa Flameado pizza starts with roasted poblano cream sauce, chorizo, and roasted corn.

Finally, the Funghi pizza has ricotta based white sauce, locally sourced mushrooms cooked in garlic and oil, and caramelized Texas onions.

Those three pies head into the oven. Ben heats the oven to 650, sometimes 700 degrees to speed up the baking process. He said turning up the speed at which the over rotates gives the pizzas a more even heat. “So, it’s extremely hot in the center, that’s kind of our finishing area, so we try to go on the outside and then we just kind of rotate in as it’s cooking.”

The baking process doesn’t take long. “As you can see, they start to bubble up, crisp up. So, once I see that all sides are kind of bubbling off that floor, I’ll start to move them around and hit another hotspot.”

Ben pulls out the pies and finishes them all off with olive oil and special seasoning on the crust. The Sweet Texas Heat gets then gets basil and local honey, the chorizo pizza puts on queso fresco, in house pickled onions, micro cilantro, and chipotle crema. Finally, the Funghi is finished with a little lettuce and truffle oil.

All right, so here we have three fantastic pizzas in front of me, and I can tell you the truffle oil coming off that Funghi smells fantastic, so I want to save that one for last and go straight into the Sweet Texas Heat. Well, the flavors of the Texas heat just keep going. You bite in, you get an initial bit of that sweetness, but then the heat just lingers, and it is fantastic.

“The bacon on it is delicious, the crust is perfect, and then it has that little drizzle of honey, which just gives you the sweet and savory all at the same time. It was awesome,” said customer Cheri Clark.

“It had great spice to it, that little sweet of honey. It was fantastic,” said customer Keith Clark.

 

Now that we have a little mariachi music behind me, it’s time to dip into the chorizo pizza. That’s what I love about the Riverwalk, right here.

I’ve never had corn on a pizza before, it is very interesting, all that little popping there. Not a real spicy pizza, just more of a Southwest flare to that one. That crust is fantastic. You definitely do get a little doughy, a little crispy, and then that seasoning on top just gives it another kick.

And then finally, the Funghi. I’m not going to lie; the truffle oil has got me extremely excited for this one. All those locally grown Texas mushrooms of different shapes and sizes combined with the caramelized onions, give it an incredible flavor profile.

Fiume definitely serves up some unique pizzas. “It gives you a chance to have that Texas flair to the Italian pizza, it’s a little bit of a different take,” said customer Cheri Clark.

Well, if you’re ever in San Antonio and looking for some pizza with some Texas pizzazz, come in to Fiume on the Riverwalk. It’s definitely well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List. “Trying to be unique and different and have a voice. I think every chef, every cook wants that, and it’s nice to do it right here, downtown on the Riverwalk and have a space to do it in,” Ben said.

Fort Worth – Over in the South Main Village side of Fort Worth, you’ll find an eclectic mix of locally owned businesses.  Among them is Game Theory, which at first might seem like a game store but there’s so much more to this place. “Really, the goal of Game Theory is to have family game night every night, and you just don’t have to cook and clean,” said general manager John Michael Johnson.

Turns out that Game Theory is a restaurant where grubbing over games for a great time is the goal. “Really, the goal of Game Theory is to have family game night every night, and you just don’t have to cook and clean,” John says. “We’re a restaurant and bar first, and we have awesome food from scratch kitchen, craft cocktails. It’s the same concept if you go and watch the Cowboys play for three hours and sit at a bar and have food and drink and wings and beer or whatever, kind of the same concept.”

Now when you first arrive at Game Theory, your first decision is what kind of fancy drink you prefer to play with. Then you get to choose what your battle with be.

You guys have games I’ve never heard of or seen before. I mean, Obscurio. That’s very obscure. “Yeah, exactly. Over here you’re going to have more intermediate strategy games. In the middle is going to be more of our featured games, and then the far-left library is going to be more party games.”

Not sure how to play a game?  Not confident in your knowledge of a game?  Don’t worry, they got you covered here. “We have what we call game gurus on staff, and their job is to teach games during their shift,” said John.

As you get your game on, you start to notice something about this place. There’s no boredom in this bistro of boardgames. This is all fun and games, until it brings out people’s competitive spirit. “It’s a great first date spot. Nothing like figuring out if someone’s compatible than playing a board game. Are they willing to let you win? Are they intelligent? It’s a good place to come and without distraction, get to know someone and spend time with them,” said John. If I would’ve brought my wife here, I don’t think I would’ve married her, because she’s way too competitive.

The thrill of victory or agony of defeat is palpable here and if you had enough, you can always get a bite to eat. When you’re ready to order, you’ll want to have a game plan and the pies here are ahead of the game. Don’t let the golden layers of buttery crust get you off your game.  The meat concoctions they make here truly are game changers. Watching the pies warm up in the oven is a waiting game but once there ready it is game on.

The smell of the buttery pastry is incredible. The pies savory and soft. Perfectly cooked. Who knew little pies like this could pack so much of a savory punch?

If you’re looking for a mini meat pie or just a place to get your game on, come into Game Theory in Fort Worth. It’s well worth a stop on the Texas Bucket List!

“Great tasting food, awesome atmosphere, and the people here are just amazing. And you got games. Yeah, and games. You get to fellowship with people in a different way with playing games,” said John.

UPDATE – Portis Kountry Kitchen has moved out of the basement and to a stand alone location at 213 South Chaparrel St.

When you first see the massive building with a dark facade at 615 North Upper Broadway Street in Downtown Corpus, it’s hard to imagine the history it’s seen.  Built in 1941, it was originally a Driscoll Hotel but not like the one in Austin.

Over the years it’s been converted to office space and if you’re ever looking for a bite to eat in the sparkling city by the sea, just head on it, take an elevator down to the basement, turn a couple of corners and you’ll find Portis Kountry Kitchen. “Yeah. We call it the hidden gem,” joked owner Joseph Stith.

Stith served in the Air Force for 12 years but now he bunkers down with his wife Katina in this downtown, downstairs dinner that’s the place to go for soul food in south Texas. “We wanted to do a restaurant because food brings people together,” said Joseph.

“Not very many soul food restaurants in Corpus Christi. This is one of the best ones and it’s been around for a long time,” said customer Tina Butler.

“It is fresh, it is down to earth and it’s wholesome,” said another customer, Guy Nickleson.

After his years in the service, Joseph held down several jobs in the energy industry and that brought him to Texas but sent him all over the state.  He wanted to drill down and stay home with his family so when the opportunity to take over this basement bistro popped up, he couldn’t pass it up. “Because I’ve spent so much time away from home working that every time we’re able to do something together, it’s pretty special,” said Joseph.

“Before we got married, I didn’t like him at all. We used to work together at the Navy Air Station,” said Joseph’s wife, Katina.

It’s safe to say that today Katina is smitten with her soul food soulmate. “I am so grateful that we did leap to go into this together. There was no other way that I would’ve wanted to do it than with my husband, partner, friend,” said Katina.

Here at PKK, you’ll find something different everyday but there are a few staples on the southern food menu. “Fried pork chop, collard greens, cornbread,” said Nickleson.

“Pork chops. Pork chops are good,” said customer Orion Blow.

“It’s all phenomenal, but I’m partial to pork chop,” agreed Joseph.

I’m starting to see a consensus for pork chops at this place!

“We have the works, so you won’t leave hungry,” said Katina.

Katina loaded me up plate full starting with their famous pork chop smothered in gravy, of course. Then we added their five-cheese mac and cheese, some green beans, and a slice of their sweet cornbread. Then Katina topped everything off with a piece of fried chicken, because what’s a meal without one, right?

Once my plate was built, I dove right into the mac and cheese! Let’s just say that’s the way you want to start things off. Absolutely fantastic! It’s cheesy, it’s gooey. It’s got a little sweetness to it. That is some unique mac and cheese.

“Mac and cheese is great. To be honest, not everybody can make mac and cheese. A lot of them claim they can until you put your fork in it, then something happens,” said customer Guy Nickleson. “It’s great. The food here is great. “

Then it was on to the pork chop! Fantastic. The pork chop is cooked perfectly. It’s tender, delicious, and the sauce is sensational. Talk about the perfect pork chop in Corpus Christi.

“You can’t pick the bone up when you got your gravy on it because you get gravy all over yourself. But some of them still do. They grab that bone and look around and get the last bite in,” said customer Guy Nickleson.

“There’s no shame in my game. I will sit here and let you watch me eat it. I was being nice today using a knife, but yes, I will use my fingers and as I have hot sauce on it,” said customer Tina Butler.

Well, if you’re looking for some down home country cooking in the middle of the coastal bend, just come downtown and find Portis Kountry Kitchen, PKK for short. It’s well worth the stop on The Texas Bucket List.

“It’s a part of Corpus Christi, part of African American history and it’s comfort food and it’s soul food and you need to come down and visit with the people that you see here from all walks of life,” said customer Tina Butler.

“Before people even come through this door, we are already praying. We want people to come through here and be able to just feel at peace because the world is just so hectic. So, we can bring people together, together with food. That’s what we mean about soul. Soul to us is about eating for your soul,” said Katina.

When it comes to east Dallas most people think first thing about Deep Ellum but just a stone’s throw north of this gentrified part of town, you’ll find old east Dallas and the feeling here is a little more authentic to the area. “More authentic. Yeah. Definitely,” said customer Jose Ventura with a laugh.

“Yeah, yeah. It’s a little sketchy, but I think it adds to the charm,” said customer Chance Mullins.

“I know it might be a little scary place, or depending how people perceive of it, but people are friendly here,” said customer Hector Soto.

One of the friendliest folks in this area is Gustavo De Los Rios, owner of Mami Coco. Gustavo came to Texas in January of 1996 at the age of 25 because of—get this—the Dallas Cowboys! This hard to the core Cowboys fan has a few loves in his life. His mother-in-law and namesake of the restaurant, Mami Coco, is one of them. His other love, working in the restaurant industry.  “I’ve been working in this industry since day one. I been dishwasher, cook line, grill, bus boy, bartenders. All the positions that you can imagine in this industry, I’ve been through,” said Gustavo. “I think I’m passionate about food. I’m passionate about this industry.”

When Gustavo opened Mami Coco, he had one rule. Thanks to the plethora of places to get a taco around him, he wasn’t going to sell tacos. So, Gustavo focused on authentic enchiladas and flautas. The only problem with not putting tacos on the menu?  It seemed that’s all customers wanted. “Stepping inside the store and it’s like, ‘hey, I need tacos,” and I don’t have tacos. And they were just leaving away. I knew how to make them, and I had to start making them and thank God that I did that,” said Gustavo.

Turns out making tacos took Mami Coco to another level thanks to popular travel websites claiming Gustavo’s place as one of the top 10 places in the country to get tacos. When it happened, Gustavo had no idea. Mami Coco claimed a spot on the top 10 taco shops in the entire United States and the article was featured on the Dallas Morning News. “It feels nice to be recognized when you are not even expecting that,” said Gustavo.

Gustavo got things going in his tiny taco shop with his famous tacos of course.  One made with bistek,  chicharron prensado, and barbacoa.  Bistek is simple beef taco but if you never knew where the word bistec came from, it’s pretty self-explanatory. “Bistek is because of the Spanish actually. It’s beef steak. Since we don’t know so much English, it’s bistek,” said Gustavo.

The chicharron prensado is a little more of an adventurous taco being pressed pork.  “Whenever they are making the carnitas, everything is falling apart. They kind of put it together, they press it, they squeeze it, and they make it like a cake. You have everything. You have fat, you have skin, you have meat, you have everything. It’s so good,” explained Gustavo.

And finally, the barbocoa.  As those meats cook, Gustavo dips the corn tortillas in guajillo oil and warms them up on the grill.  Once hot, he finishes them off with a simple combination of cilantro and onions.

My first bite of bistec was beyond belief.

“You’ll for sure have good, authentic food,” said customer Hector Soto.

The chicharron prensado is light, flavorful. Got a good crunchy texture too. Absolutely fantastic taco. “The carnitas on it, it’s just, I guess, a saltiness on it or the natural saltiness on it makes it just taste good,” said customer Jose Ventura.

Gustavo’s take on enchiladas is authentic as possible and that might be a little different for some folks. “Those are the regional enchiladas,” explained Gustavo. “They’re pretty much stuffed with queso fresco, which is soft cheese, chopped onions, and then we top them off with more queso, sour cream, lettuce, carrots, and potatoes, and it’s sauteed on guajillo sauce.”

One bite and I knew these enchiladas had a completely different flavor profile. Just fresh light, not heavy. When you think enchiladas, you always think, ‘man, I’m going to walk out of this place,’ but not here. These are amazing.  “The enchiladas do bring me back home as well,” said customer Jose Ventura.

And finally, Gustavo insisted we try his famous flautas topped with homemade avocado sauce and tons of cabbage. Turns out these flautas have an incredible crunch. They are awesome. I normally dislike flautas because they’re not meaty and just real, just bready. But these are perfect. “This is definitely in the top five taco places in Dallas,” said customer Chance Mullins.

“I always am a believer that good food builds memories. When I was a kid, my dad used to take me to this good taqueria. So that’s what I wanted to bring,” said Gustavo. “I want to bring memories to my new customers, and to my friends, and to my existing ones.”

Definitely well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List.

“It’s pretty cool having little spots like these, just because they’re convenient for the neighborhood,” said customer Hector Soto.

“I always love these little dive places and never miss an opportunity to get a good taco,” said customer Chance Mullins.

 

In a part of our state known for the King Ranch, one would think country cooking would reign supreme. But when it comes to food in Kingsville, it turns out Indian food is the talk of the town.

“Consistency is really important to me. If it’s not consistent, it’s not going to last,” said owner Zohair Charania.  Zohair knows his name is unique, so he’s found a way to make it memorable.  “Everybody knows me as Z,” he said with chuckle.

Z started this business at a young age and that’s after he already got his college degree from Texas A&M. “I was 20, 21, I don’t remember. 2014, November,” Z recalled.

Z’s father moved the family to College Station from Pakistan when Zohair was a boy. That change of scenery has been a big blessing, in many ways, to his entire family. “There’s more freedom here. You can do a lot more, whatever you want to do. In Pakistan, I would’ve ended up being a doctor, but a bad doctor. But here, I wanted to be a chef since I was a kid, like three- or four-year-old, working with my mom in the kitchen, this, and that. And then, this, it came true,” Zohair explained.

Cooking truly is Z’s calling and at the Spice Station he gets to do it with his whole family. “There’s a lot of people telling me that, ‘Hey, what are you doing in Kingsville?’ I tell them the story,” Z said. “It’s really diverse here. A lot of people come in, but you got to be diverse and try it. People are like, ‘Nobody will try your food; they don’t like it. They only like salt, pepper on their food.’ That’s true. A lot of people there do not like spicy at all. But whoever does, when they’re coming, they will never go back. We have people coming three times a week.”

“This is a South Texas town. We’re used to a lot of brisket, sausage, fried chicken, basic. I mean, to find Indian food, and authenticate that? Yeah, and it’s a winner,” said customer Chriselda Gonzalez.

Now if you’re not sure if you’ll like Indian food or if you never tried it, not to worry. Z lets you sample whatever you want. That’s how he’s built his business. “It’s a tradition to give you a sample. So, you try it, then you buy it. I don’t want you to get something that you don’t like, and I will not serve anything that I won’t like. So, if I won’t eat it, I won’t serve it,” Z said. “And 99% people love it.”

“Having never had any of it before, it’s a very good move, to make sure you know what you’re going to get or try, and then like,” said customer Eric Bornschlegl.

“First day we opened up, it was all Indians because they know their food already, and then, I start making butter chicken. I started giving out samples of butter chicken. My dad was like, “What are you doing? Why are you giving samples out?” I said, ‘hey, they don’t have money now, but when they have the money, they will come and get it,” recalled Zohair.

“The sampling plate. That’s how he gets you,” joked customer Mac Medina.

Well, Z wanted me to try everything, of course, but we had to narrow it down to his most popular dishes and we started with Herb Fish Stew, under the watchful eye of Z’s mom, Rahila. The dish starts with olive oil, extra virgin, diced yellow onions, cumin seeds, and fenugreek. Then comes ginger garlic paste. Next up tomato paste, ground in house, coriander seeds that roasted and ground in house. Salt and pepper, chili pepper from India, crushed peppers, turmeric, and mom’s secret blend of seasonings.  The Alaskan pollack then hits the pan as does heavy cream, fried onions, cilantro, and serranoes.  Put it on a bed of rice and viola. It is so incredibly tasty, tender, and delicious. Those flavors are amazing, and the spice is just right. As soon as you swallow it, it just hits you, and then it goes away. Awesome.

Now, I had to try a couple of things off the buffet and Z recommended the green chicken roast, some meatballs, and 65 chicken. He also really wanted to show off his loaded fries.  “Really, really popular here. We sell 800 pounds a week,” said Z. “This is our called medium plate, it’s 2.3 pounds. This is life changing, I’m telling you.”

Z starts with fries battered in rice flour and douses it with mango habanero sauce, a chipotle and garlic aioli, tzatziki sauce, throws on some butter chicken and 65 chicken with cheese and tops it with cilantro.

So, we have an assortment of amazing dishes here at the Spice Station. Z made sure we got a little bit of everything. So, we’re going to start with the green chicken roasts with that beautiful color, and it tastes amazing.  Tender chicken covered with that cilantro sauce; only three ingredients, so not considered a curry. It’s more of a stew, but it is stupendous.

“Anything that you get is good. I’ve tasted it all. You can’t go wrong,” said customer Chriselda Gonzalez.

The beef and lamb meatball, also known as kofta, has a kick and fantastic flavor.

“Once you go curry, you never have to worry,” joked Zohair.

The 65 chicken is almost like sweet and sour chicken, but with spice, and just tender as can be.

Finally, the loaded fries. That is an explosion of flavors!

Well, if you think the King Ranch casserole is the only thing to come out of Kingsville, you are incorrect, because now, you can find the Spice Station.  “If you don’t come by here, you are missing out, I promise you that,” said customer Chriselda Gonzalez.