Tag Archives: Galveston

by Steven Doyle | September 26, 2025 · 1:54 pm

Weekend Trip Through Texas Hill Country & Galveston

Texas is big, bold, and full of surprises, and the best weekends are often the ones where you wander off the map a little. Imagine chasing mysterious mansions, hiking through unique forests, discovering hidden art, and ending the day with sand between your toes and the sound of waves crashing in the background. This weekend itinerary is for adventurers who love a little weird, a little history, and a lot of local flavor—a chance to see a side of Texas most travelers miss entirely. Pack your curiosity, a sense of humor, and maybe a camera, because these stops are memorable in ways you won’t forget.

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Gaido’s is a Galveston Seafood Treasure

Gaido’s Seafood Restaurant, a foodie landmark in Galveston, Texas, has recently earned the prestigious James Beard Foundation’s America’s Classics Award. This honor is given to restaurants that have long served their communities with outstanding food and an enduring charm. Gaido’s, which has been a part of Galveston’s cultural fabric for over a century, is the only Texas establishment to receive the award in 2025.

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Travel Report: Galveston, Not Just Fried Fish Dinners Any More

galveston by Andrew Chalk

We can accept that Galveston is a great place to get a fish-fry, run on the beach, visit the impressive Moody Gardens with aquarium and rain forest, or even just board a cruise ship. What may not as well-known is that Galveston is undergoing change that makes it a quite satisfying long weekend destination for the gourmet traveler.

By ‘gourmet’ I mean not just restaurants, but also food purveyors, hotels, breweries, wineries and distillers. Gourmet as a whole lifestyle of fine eating, drinking and travelling. All other versions of these things fit under the description of ‘work’. Recently, the Galveston Island Convention and Visitors Bureau (the organization responsible for galvanizing for Galveston), tiring of their prime catchment market (the rest of Texas) not knowing the truth about them, gathered some media and showed us what the Galveston of today has to offer. As a first-time visitor, I was intrigued but had little idea of what to expect. Continue reading →

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Filed under Andrew Chalk

Tagged as Galveston, restaurants, Texas, What to do in Galveston

by Steven Doyle | February 10, 2014 · 9:18 am

An Appellated Gulf Oyster?

IMG_20140204_184159.640x480 A Whitehead Reef Oyster

by Andrew Chalk

Eaten a gulf oyster recently? Where, in the thousands of square miles that constitute the Gulf of Mexico, did it come from? You probably were not told. The person who sold it to you probably did not know. I never considered it mattered before.

It turns out it does. Where in the gulf an oyster grew up affects its size and taste. If we know where oysters come from, we can choose between them based on quality, or size, or flavor profile. If we choose oysters from particular locations then oystermen will know what types to harvest. Continue reading →

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Filed under Andrew Chalk

Tagged as Dallas, Galveston, Gulf of Texas, Oysters, Stampede 66, TJ's Seafood Market

by Steven Doyle | February 5, 2014 · 8:22 am

Galveston Entrepreneur Puts Margaritas In The Bag

Lt. Blender AKA Ralph McMorris

by Andrew Chalk

This is Ralph McMorris, better known as Lt. Blender. He got that name because, when he served in the U.S. Army, he was the only one with a blender during one tour of duty. When it broke, he improvised by making margaritas in a bag. That made him very popular. He parlayed his drink making skills into Lt. Blender’s drink mixes. In case you think that an entrepreneur’s life consists solely of jetting around in private planes like one of the Sharks, ask Mark Cuban what it was like when he started, selling door-to-door. Or Barbara Corcoran what it was like waiting tables in NYC. In a similar vein, below is Lt. Blender’s one and only production facility. It is situated in a Victorian house near the Galveston historic district. Continue reading →