Growing up in Texas, the state where experienced my first hangover, you learn, eventually, that some of the best foods when you are sober are also the best for your hangover. Nothing better sums up Texas eats for me than these three items: brisket, queso*, and Fritos. The first two I only recommend eating in Texas and the third, while nationally available, is a Texas original. More

I still don't know why anyone would put mayonnaise on anything that could be better served by mustard or sour cream—which is to say, everything—but I finally realize that I don't have to know why. I just have to keep asking my sandwich handlers to please skip the mayo, with the understanding that they will listen to me maybe a third of the time. And the other two thirds of the time, lunch still gets eaten and the show still marches on. More

There's nothing quite like the agonizing pleasure of shopping to make a cup of coffee sound that much more wonderful, or even like the only thing left that could possibly keep you alive. Rather than settling for the nearest chain-store swill (and bumping seasonal gift totes with all the sheeplike masses), why not search out one of the city's finer coffee establishments to break for that most appreciated cup of quality coffee, espresso, tea, or hot chocolate? Here are a few of our top recommendations, by district. More

Yup, it's THAT time of the year again, our favorite holiday, the one that gives us license to eat copious amounts of food cooked with fat of every variety. More

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At Serious Eats, we've given you all kinds of ideas for wines to pair with your Thanksgiving meal, beers to do the same, cocktails to kick off the meal, and more. For a few more recommendations? We asked 15 bartenders what they'll be drinking on Turkey Day. Here's what they had to say. More

It's game time, but you had a busy week, and not everything got done in advance. Don't panic. Even if your designated Thanksgiving wine-buyer flaked out at the last minute, it's going to be fine. Even if you don't have a single bottle on hand, you're in luck—just take this list to the local liquor store or wine shop, and ask a friendly salesperson to help you find bottles like the ones we've taste-tested for you. More

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It's all too easy to talk about Utica, New York as the industrial town past its prime. Where have all the jobs gone? What's keeping this place alive? Utica's hardly the manufacturing hub of central New York that it used to be. But asking those questions as condemnatory rhetorical remarks ignores some truths. It ignores the locals who've developed small businesses to revitalize the community they love. It disregards the people who've moved to the area to start new companies. And it forgets about those who never left, like the 124 year-old FX Matt Brewery, the home of Saranac and Utica Club beers and the second oldest family-owned brewery in the U.S. More

Emily and I are hosting our first Thanksgiving dinner this year; it was just going to be the two of us until she found out our dear friend the Greene Bastard intended to go it alone at a hotel buffet. More

Montana might seem like an unlikely place to find horchata, but that's where I tried it first. Kern's horchata isn't exactly like Mexican horchata, which I'd discover later and enjoy less. Kern's is thick and creamy, like melted ice cream, and silted with sugar and cinnamon. I bought it for the first time on a snack run some weekend in the late summer, and kept buying it as temperatures plummeted well below zero and our weekends became more and more about the television in our living room. More

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The Long Island Iced Tea is the perfect delivery system for a large volume of booze, a Trojan Horse, if ever there was one. Four ounces of spirits are delivered under a veil of secrecy by chemical sour mix and a splash of Coke. Despite being sweet and seductive, she is a fickle beast that will turn on you in an instant—every time you order a LIIT, you are one sip away from a bad decision. Could this potent punch be tamed and yet still retain its delicious bite? More

The wall of craft beers and ciders at your local liquor store can seem daunting at first. But with a few guidelines, pairing for Thanksgiving can be exciting rather than stressful. We worked though a dozen-odd ciders and beers to find out what works best for your feast. More

Now that you're getting pretty darn good at identifying different hop varieties, it's time we looked at another major flavor contributor in beer: malt. You've seen how its made, and if you've ever had Grape Nuts, you've got a pretty good idea of how it tastes on its own. But how can you tell which malts you're drinking when you're drinking beer? More

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Even if I am as sick as everyone else is of hearing about "tattooed hipster baristas," I'll cop to also being kind of impressed that anyone loves making coffee enough to, you know, get it permanently inked onto one's skin. Here are a few of our favorite pieces. More