Amanda Albee

Texas food & drinks writer @TexasMonthly @TexasHighways @Resy @HoustoniaMag | Loves assignments
[email protected] | she/her

[Amanda Albee @eateramanda]

When I joined this site four years ago, I expected it to be a social platform to share my work. I was uplifted by important journalists around the nation who followed me and liked my stuff, especially as a lone wolf freelancer. That's the main reason it was hard to leave when others did.

[Texas Monthly @TexasMonthly]

The VIP kickoff to the eighteenth annual show attracted a well-heeled and well-booted crowd. https://t.co/SGgxzNj4H3

[Emma Balter @EmmaBalter]

You may have seen the headlines—acres of land being raffled off for just $6! The reality, shocker, is much more complicated. @eateramanda looked into it for @TexasMonthly https://t.co/XTZ6n76J50

[Amanda Albee @eateramanda]

https://t.co/ToTWRqMs6N

[Amanda Albee @eateramanda]

@afrosypaella Same! I look forward to staying in touch 💞

[Amanda Albee @eateramanda]

When I joined this site four years ago, I expected it to be a social platform to share my work. I was uplifted by important journalists around the nation who followed me and liked my stuff, especially as a lone wolf freelancer. That's the main reason it was hard to leave when others did.

[Amanda Albee @eateramanda]

@afrosypaella Thank you, Nneka. 💖 I’m @eateramanda on Instagram. Not sure about 🦋yet...

[Amanda Albee @eateramanda]

@andyorrock Thank you for engaging and commenting, Andy. The few people out there who still enjoy reading stories is what keeps us going.

[Amanda Albee @eateramanda]

I'll keep trying to get my stories out there on Instagram and LinkedIn. Thanks to everyone who supported me.

[Amanda Albee @eateramanda]

But now this site makes me feel more alone. This journalists' space was ruined by a power-hungry man, so until I establish a personal website to keep track of my stories, I'll continue posting everything I write, but I'm only here for record-keeping from now on.

[Texas Highways Magazine @TexasHighways]

This coffee shop in Richardson channels Yemen’s beauty while sharing what many professional tasters consider to be among the world’s best coffee beans. ☕️

By @eateramanda: https://t.co/esLvWljf13

[Amanda Albee @eateramanda]

As Michigan-based Yemeni coffee shops have seen Texas as the next frontier, locally-owned Arwa Yemeni Coffee is now franchising. A look at North TX’s Yemeni coffee shops and its booming Arab American population, according to the @AAIUSA, for @TexasHighways https://t.co/UxQ2N93dVe

[Misha G. @tastybits]

Not going to lie - I am very sad to see @alisoncook hang up her spurs as a restaurant critic for @HoustonChron.

She has been a long time friend, a frequent dining companion across the globe, and on the business end of many debates about food I have started (and only sometimes won). But Houston will desperately miss her impact, and most people are not aware of the work she did for Texas behind the scenes.

I will try to explain.

1). Critics matter for development of a vibrant restaurant scene, perhaps more than awards. Houston today is a nationally recognized restaurant powerhouse, but there was a 22 year stretch where no Houston chef won a James Beard award. It wasn’t that we had bad chefs, but James Beard was structurally broken, lumping Texas in with far away tourist regions like Las Vegas.

Alison Cook was a regional chair at the time and could not get the foundation to change the structure. So she resigned in protest.

It took a few years, but Texas was finally carved out as a James Beard region, followed by those Chris Shepherd, Justin Yu, Hugo Ortega and Benchawan Jabthong Painter Best Chef wins, not to mention Aaron Franklin, Tyson Cole and Paul Qui (all influenced Houston).

2). Recall every story you’ve read about the rise of Houston in national press by Brett Anderson, Bill Addison, Pete Wells, Pat Sharpe, John T Edge. These critics were directed to the best in Houston by Alison, and she provided the cultural context on some of those dinners.

James Beard Award nominations? It works differently now, but it was then a negotiated process between the committee members. The first round was democratic by a public vote. But the short lists were hotly debated along the critics and writers arguing for the best candidates in their region. Alison was there again, steering Texas nominations and making sure Houston chefs did not get buried in the noise.

3). Beyond the awards and national press, the weekly criticism from someone who knows food is essential. You need to understand so about food, have so much context, yet also have a grasp on how modern cooking is evolving.

And at one point I made a case that if Houston wants to be a world class restaurant city, it has to be judged against the best in the world.

So she got on the plane and went to experience the best chefs on the planet, mostly paying her own way. We ended up going to ground breaking restaurants together in Paris, San Francisco, Copenhagen and places like In de Wulf deep in Belgium. If there was an exceptional restaurant somewhere, she was going with or without @HoustonChron backing.

That’s how we ended up at Noma Mexico together in Tulum, which was a turning point for a lot of Mexican cooking becoming recognized as a world cuisine worth elevating to the highest level.

I still think it was a small act of professional courage for her to hilariously write about Guy Fieri’s bizarre restaurant at the Cancun airport instead, because everyone and their cousin was doing such awful takes on Noma Mexico, another piece would have only added to the inanity. Donkey sauce is part of food culture too.

So I expect to see more food writing from @alisoncook, and my kids will still call her Aunt Alison.

But Houston is losing the best restaurant critic we’ve ever had, and I honestly don’t know what happens next.

[Amanda Albee @eateramanda]

@lrnlrsn @TexasMonthly @RossMcCammon lol, congrats, Lauren! It will be nice to read more from you again.

[Kimya Kavehkar @kimyanattalie]

Michelin rumors have been swirling for months, and are only ramping up the closer we get to the event tonight in Houston. @TexasMonthly will have lots of great wrap-up coverage this week, but here's what we've reported since July, when the guide announced it was coming. 🧵

[Amanda Albee @eateramanda]

The Hotel Plaza Pioneer Park has majorly "El Paso-ed Up" with new Agave Room, holding a $10,000 bottle of tequila, all the celebrity brands, as well as a few still being made the old-fashioned way. Yet another reason to visit Sun City. For @TexasMonthly: https://t.co/KmxX5wzrzF

[Amanda Albee @eateramanda]

Dallas’s Katy Trail now has a restaurant to match its charm with Orient Express-themed Le PasSage, an Asian-French concept with big name chefs and high-profile designers. For @TexasMonthly: https://t.co/vYSmtqpHOz

[Amanda Albee @eateramanda]

My dad has joked about me writing about him for a long time & the deadline got a lot shorter this year after an ALS diagnosis. So when @blockpartydd reached out for a first-person guide to my fav pizza delivery in Dallas, I knew exactly how I'd start. https://t.co/UIPcu3oRek

[Amanda Albee @eateramanda]

This exhaustive guide to the @StateFairOfTX, the nation's biggest and best fair, has it all. Scroll down for where to find cheap, even free, beer and my favorite part, the vendors' tips. My service to my country for @HoustoniaMag🎡 https://t.co/LHCuMcuMZe

[Amanda Albee @eateramanda]

For @TexasMonthly, @jesspryles and I got down to the meaty-gritty of her hunting and barbecuing essentials, her rise to becoming a true Texan, and her new show, Hardcore Carnivore, that begins airing this week on the Outdoor Channel. https://t.co/Kjpg2FlZQE

[Amanda Albee @eateramanda]

@Kayla_S_Stewart This is amazing.