Jeff Houck

The Tampa Tribune’s food writer since 2005, Jeff Houck covers the way people live through their food. He also hosts the Table Conversations food podcast and believes that everything crunchy is good.

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• Generation Food Truck Goes For Guinness World Record For Food Trucks In Tampa
• The Sip: Dawn Heidemann Represents Tampa in New York City At The ‘Bartending Olympics’
• Bill Walsh: Author, Copy Editor, Language Snob Who Finds Plenty Of Peeves On The Menu
• An Inconvenient Convenience Store Truth: Mom-And-Pop Shops Are More Fun
• Weekend Eats: Grouper Tacos, Deviled Eggs With Truffled Salt, Birch Beer Cupcakes
• Join The Plate Licker’s Club; Leave No Morsel Behind
• Greg And Michelle Baker To Follow The Refinery In Seminole Heights With Fodder & Shine
• Weekend Eats: Homemade Moussaka, French Fries With Cheese Gravy, Meatball Banh Mi Sandwiches
• The Sip: Drinking In ‘The Great Gatsby’ With Martinis And Mint Julep.
• Mouth Safari: The Stein & Vine Brings Great Eats, Outstanding Drinks To Valrico
• Weekend Eats: ‏Pork Tonkotsu Ramen, Spicy Chicken And Waffles, Oysters With Crispy Shallots
• The Underbelly Tour Devours Central Avenue Restaurants In St. Petersburg
• Hot Rod’s BBQ In Lutz Serves Up It’s Last Plate Of Barbecue Fruit Bat. Or Whatever It Was.
• Hank Shaw - Hunter, Gardener, Fisherman, Cook - Wins A James Beard Award
• Gary and Amy Moran Out At Wimauma Restaurant In South Tampa

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Breakfast Lasagna, Psychedellic Cupcakes And Napa’tizers [This Week’s Weekend Eats - IT’S A TIE!]

Posted Apr 3, 2012 by Jeff Houck

Updated Apr 3, 2012 at 02:18 PM

Every so often, my mind gets blown by food.

I’ll see something - a new technique - or taste a new flavor or experience something unexpected that will redefine what I think of when I think about food.

That happened this week.

Twice.

As I do almost every Monday, I put out the call to friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter for them to submit their best dishes and drinks from the previous weekend.

And as happens almost every Monday, a flood of great food finds its way to me.

Like these dishes:

@katesawa - Grilled eggplant w/ ginger, miso cod, tempura shrimp & green tea ice cream @ Aburiya Kinnosuk in NYC

@otmdish - Cauliflower w ginger, garlic, soy & Red Boat Fish Sauce. Jeni’s I.C.: goat cheese w Cognac Figs!

@karenmcallister -  Is it aspargus season? Because my Parmesan Asparagus was delish last night.

@GingerCM - Homemade boudin (cooked the pig head ourselves) Smoked pork belly and homemade carnitas w/Ninfa’s sauce! #pigfest!

See what I mean?

Profound.

They don’t always have to be that spectacular. Sometimes, just a hint of something familiar - like an Oreo cookie embedded in chocolate chip cookie dough - is enough to get my attention.

But sometimes ... oh, baby.

Out of the blue, I got these two beauties thrown at me:

@foodpluswords - I made BBQ Pulled Pork Cinnamon Rolls, which basically changed my life completely.

@Droolius - Foie Gras and Pancakes - bacon buckwheat pancakes and maple syrup at the @SustainMIA brunch.

I immediately had the same reaction to both dishes:

I mean, how could you not?

But it caused for me a dilemma.

I’m supposed to award one winner each week. How do I do that with two dishes (and, let’s be honest here, several others as well) that are worthy of the week’s prize?

I pulled a Kobayashi Maru and decided there should be two prizes, something that has never before heretofore prior to ever ever ever happened.

My Twitter compadre @Foodpluswords will receive a copy of “The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook,” by Cheryl Day and Griffith Day.

And the incomparable @Droolius will receive a copy of “Lard: The Lost Art of Cooking with Your Grandmother’s Secret Ingredient” from the editors of Grit Magazine.

Seemed like a better solution than tearing one book in half.

And, as is the custom, both will take their place in the Weekend Eats Hall of Fame.

How stiff was the competition this week? Dig the food in this week’s Gallery of Noms: