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Good Dining, Vietnam

by Meredith Bethune
photography by Kate LeSueur

The most memorable bite from a recent trip to Vietnam was a single scallop, grilled in its shell and eaten at a low plastic table beside a street roaring with motorbikes. The vivid color and scent palette of red chili, chopped mint, salty peanuts and sour lime juice draped over the unbelievably fresh seafood created the perfect harmony to its tender sweetness. To me, this dish embodied the beguiling food of Vietnam that Pat Lee—owner of the local chain of PhoNatic restaurants—describes as simple but bold. So simple, in fact, that Vietnamese food is easy to cook in home kitchens, as long as there’s a basic understanding of the ingredients, prepara...

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Wurstfest

by Rebecca Persons

Caught in a whirlwind of twirling dirndls led by lederhosen-wearing partners, while chicken hats bob atop a crush of sausage lovers, visitors to New Braunfels’ Wurstfest might find themselves temporarily transported to another time and place. This beloved annual festival celebrating a continent-hopping, generations-deep love of all things sausage, sour and steeped-in-tradition, is in full swing, and music and dancing are ubiquitous. Cries of “Prost!” are jubilant, loud and frequent, and over the course of this five-decades-old, ten-day hurrah, tens of thousands of visitors will fill dance halls, the biergarten and the many, many lines leading to authentic German delicacies....

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Marching On

by Layne Lynch
Photography by Chasity Ann Noel

Twenty years ago, Saint Arnold Brewing Company (named for the patron saint of hop-pickers and brewers) set out to establish itself in Houston’s Warehouse District. Fast forward to the present day and the award-winning craft brewery has accomplished that and much more. The urban brewhouse’s sales have soared over the past few years (reaching an average of nearly 55,000 barrels last year), but it’s the widespread influence the ale enterprise has bestowed upon the Texas brewing industry as a whole that makes Saint Arnold’s headquarters a traveler’s destination. 

When Brock Wagner launched Saint Arnold Brewing Company in 1994 with just a simple am...

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