Celebrating 20 Years of Minxeats

Celebrate!

It’s hard to believe we’ve kept this blog afloat for twenty years! That’s a whole lot of recipes, restaurant reviews, reality TV musings, and general restaurant chatter along the way.

the original banner for Minxeats. Yes, it was this tiny.
Screen resolutions and monitor sizes weren't as monstrously large back then.

A lot has happened in those two decades, but I'm going to mention just a few things.

We wrote three books: Food Lovers' Guide to Baltimore; Baltimore Chef's Table; and Maryland's Chesapeake. We would’ve loved to write more, but after a less-than-ideal experience with our publisher, we’re definitely leaning toward self-publishing in the future.

We’ve recapped plenty of food-related reality shows over the years, including Next Food Network Star and several seasons of Bravo’s Top Chef. In fact, we were even invited to appear on an episode of Top Chef. Unfortunately, with only 24 hours’ notice, work commitments kept us from making it happen. Definitely a missed opportunity!

Then came COVID-19, which ravaged the restaurant industry. While some feared permanent damage—and indeed, some restaurants never reopened—I’m grateful that personal favorites like True Chesapeake and La Cuchara have hung in there and are still thriving. I personally avoided the virus until late 2023, but it left me with tinnitus and a subtle but persistent brain fog that I’ve only just begun to shake.

I tried to redesign the banners frequently.

The food world lost many culinary legends over these years: chefs Anthony Bourdain, Anne Burrell, Floyd Cardoz, Kerry Simon, Homaru Cantu, Naomi Pomeroy, Gary Rhodes, James Kent, Gray Kunz, David Bouley, Paul Bocuse, Joel Robuchon, Michael Chiarello, Mark Peel, and writers Josh Ozersky and Jonathan Gold, among others. It’s been a tough stretch.

On a brighter note, the explosion of allergy-friendly commercial food products has been remarkable, especially for celiacs and those of us with lactose intolerance. Never before have grocery stores carried such an array of alternative dairy and gluten-free options, and artisan non-dairy cheeses from shops like Rebel Cheese are truly game-changers.

Sometimes they were changed monthly.

Most recently, I took a creative leap and wrote my first novel, Killer Sillage, a cozy mystery set in Baltimore’s Fells Point. While the protagonist owns a perfume shop, the story is packed with food shout-outs—from Barcocina and Ekiben to Pitango Bakery + Café, Sacré Sucré, Rec Pier Chop House, and The Point. Killer Sillage is available for pre-order on Amazon Kindle and will publish on September 13th.

How much longer will Minxeats keep going? Who knows! We might keep sharing for a few more years, or maybe this is the perfect moment to pause. Either way, we’ll always be proud to be one of Baltimore’s OG food blogs.

One of my favorites. Unfortunately, I didn't seem to keep my all-time favorite.

Thanks so much for sticking with us all these years. And if you’re new here, dive into the archives. There’s plenty to explore.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Restaurant Review - R & R Taqueria

We've been going to the R & R Taqueria on Honeygo Blvd for years now, but I've never written about the place. Mostly because I became Instagram-lazy and fell into the trap that I tried to avoid for a long time. Because, yeah, it is easier just to write a few word caption than to think analytically about something. "This is pretty. Like and follow me for more."

I'm sorry. But I can't guarantee I'll be better about it.

look at this pretty picture of tacos!

Anyhoo, we love the tacos at R & R --and most other stuff, too. But the tacos especially, for one main reason: the meat is always tender. I've had tacos in lots of other places, both "authentic" and "inauthentic," and across the board, most chicken and beef tacos could be filled with shredded leather and I wouldn't know the difference. Not only is the meat usually tough, but it also has no flavor. (I'm not sure why restaurants still insist on using chicken breast meat for everything when they know damn well they're going to overcook it. Dumbasses.) 

At R & R, however, the meat is tender and well-seasoned. I enjoy the carnitas the most, made with fatty little hunks of pork. The buche, or pork belly, is also outstanding, as is the lengua, or tongue. Talk about tender meat! I also appreciate that the tacos are simple street tacos, topped with white onion and cilantro, served with wedges of lime and small pots of moderately spicy green and red sauces. 

big-ass torta

I also enjoy their tortas, served on bolillo bread and stuffed with beans, cheese, pickled jalapenos, mayo, avocado, lettuce, tomato, and a protein. The one pictured has Milanesa de res, or breadcrumb-coated and fried steak (like chicken or veal Milanese), but can also be had with carne asada, blackened chicken, pork al pastor, carnitas, or chorizo and egg.  

more pretty tacos!

Another one of my favorite things to eat at R & R is a tamale. So many of the ones I've tried in other places were dry and bland. Recently, at a restaurant that specializes in birria dishes, I had tamale that was a crumbly abomination. R & R's tamales are quite the opposite--fluffy clouds of steamed masa and lard dough with either a pork or chicken filling and topped with salsa verde, salsa roja, or mole. (Pork and mole for me, please!)  And they are $3.50 each. For a modest eater, one makes a very fine and super cheap lunch.

not as pretty, but super delicious - tamales

We've tried several other items at R & R, including huaraches, sopes, alambre, parrillada, and the steak and queso-smothered fries. Everything was delicious. There's so much more to try, but I get a bit paralyzed looking at the vast menu so I default to tacos. Someday I'd like to go for breakfast and get a burrito, or chilaquiles, maybe a chorizo omelette. I'm curious about the burger, which combines ground beef with chorizo, but they serve it on a frackin' brioche bun. (WHY???) Wonder if I could get it on bolillo, like a torta?

Only one way to find out.

R & R Taqueria

5005 Honeygo Center Drive

Perry Hall, MD 21128

https://honeygo.rrtaqueria.com/

There are also locations in Baltimore City and Elkridge.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Minxeats' Most Popular Post

This post is the top google search result for "leftover french fry hash browns," and Minxeats' most popular post since it was published in 2012. Who knew so many people had leftover fries that needed to be repurposed? Especially since I see so many of them left uneaten.

We still take ours home, every time, and still enjoy these crispy potatoes with our eggs on the weekend. These days, I don't bother with the onion, and have replaced the regular paprika with smoked paprika. But the charnushka is non-negotiable. 

 

Fast-casual burger joints like Five Guys tend to give customers a plethora of fries, far too many for the two of us to consume at one sitting. Rather than waste food, I save the excess potatoes for a weekend morning and use them for a hash brown-type preparation.

I like my breakfast potatoes crispy, so I'm often disappointed when I order hash browns and receive a big pile of steamed potato with the barest hint of a crust on the top. Leftover french fries always have some extra grease clinging to them, so they fry up crispy without even trying. And then I season the heck out of them with whatever spices strike my fancy on that particular day. My favorite combination of flavors usually includes charnushka, also known as black caraway, nigella, or kalonji, which adds a nice onion-y flavor.

Leftover French Fry Hash Browns

chopped onion (a couple of tablespoons, depending on how many fries you have)
olive oil
salt
leftover french fries
seasonings

Over medium heat, sauté chopped onion in a dash of olive oil and a pinch of salt until translucent. Chop fries into small pieces and add to skillet. Toss well and cover pan. Cook, stirring frequently, until potatoes start to crisp up. Season to taste - I like to use a mixture of regular paprika, onion powder, cayenne, charnushka, and black sesame seeds. And of course salt and pepper to taste.

Continue to cook until most of the potatoes are crispy. Serve with eggs.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Taking a Breather

You all might have noticed that I've taken a bit of a breather here at Minxeats while I've been concentrating more on my fragrance blog, Minxstinks. I haven't given up on blogging here quite yet - Minxeats is 20 years old this August, and I hope to write about food for several more years to come. It's just that 20 years is a long time, and while I still have ideas for recipes and I still watch Top Chef, sometimes I just don't feel like writing. But the Fancy Food Show is coming up next month, so I'll have the opportunity to try lots more new products and bring them to you here. (I was sad to miss last year's show.)

In the meantime, here are some of my somewhat food-related perfume posts for you to read or not. No, really...there are lots of perfumes that are food-y. It's a thing these days.

Here's a post about my thoughts on "gourmand" fragrances--ones that smell like food, primarily of the dessert variety. Read that one here.

One perfumer put out three dessert-scented frags at a time last year. These sounded like they could have potential, but I was largely disappointed when I actually put my nose to them. Read that post here.

A number of companies have produced pistachio-scented fragrances in the last handful of years. Or scents purported to smell like pistachio. I've yet to find one that does, but D.S. & Durga Pistachio smells so amazing, I'm willing to give it a pass. Read about that one here.

Dessert fragrances make sense though, right? How about savory stuff like potatoes? There is actually a potato note in this scent. Read about it here.

As if potatoes aren't strange enough, how about a perfume that smells like pizza? Read about that one here.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.