Keep Austin Weird

Barbecue has its own dress code, its own language, its own religion.  We stumbled onto the Green Mesquite, a local Austin favorite. Entering this deliciously shabby shack we slid into a booth next to a photo of Delbert McClinton who … Read More

Accomplished Mission

Next to San Antonio’s Riverwalk, at the end of Wavy Crockett Street, this mission may be guarded more closely—but not as fierce—as it was in 1836. I dropped a rental car off here, but they turned me away, so I … Read More

Have An Agave

Anchoring San Antonio’s Market Square, Mi Tierra makes Mariachi music and Mexican food 24 hours a day. They’re proud of their margaritas, and why not? Margaritas cure ricketts, wealth and marriage.

Pumped In For Your Pleasure

The desert flower waits for months to bloom. Forgive me, great spirit of agua: We rolled into a desert oasis grimy with the soot of snow removal after sliding sideways out of a Flagstaff snowstorm at 7,000 feet. Through a … Read More

Print

Walked into a bar in Las Cruces, saw a young man sitting at a table, tattoos over most of his exposed skin head, face and arms protruding from dirty biker leathers. He was reading a book. Reading a book. We … Read More

Patron Saint of Your Kitchen

I spied San Pasquale through a chile shop window in Santa Fe. He smiles from a wooden retablo painted by David Ross. A bon Sante. Ta failte. Bon appetit.

Cold Front

Snow moving in over the Sangre de Christo Mountains, New Mexico.

Tread Lightly

I slowed. What could this be? The sign was at the end of a seldom-traveled blacktop…no reason to use caution, out here on the edge of a thick stand of trees that marked the fringe of a mountain forest. Maybe … Read More