John Storace has been named Mineola Citizen of the Month for May, 2012. The nomination we received speaks of John’s “six consecutive years of dedicated service on the city council. Mr. Storace represented the city of Mineola with the best interest of the citizens in mind.” Mr. Storace’s term ended this year and he did not seek another term on the Mineola City Council.

Recipients of the award receive a $25 gift certificate from East Texas Burger Company, two movie tickets from Mineola’s Historic Select Theater (now fully digital video with digital surround sound audio) and a plaque from Hometown Trophies in Mineola.

If you would like to nominate someone for Mineola Citizen of the Month, click here. If you nominated someone who did not win, please nominate them again. Nominations are not carried over from month to month.

Many thanks to our sponsors of Mineola Citizen of the Month:

• East Texas Burger Company
• Historic Select Theater
• Hometown Trophies

On May 14, 2011 the people of Mineola approved two local options. One of the cleared the way for stores to sell beer and wine in Mineola. The other option cleared the way for Mineola restaurants to have a full bar. June 28, 2011 was the date of the first beer sold in Mineola.(video)
Today, the Paredes Family Restaurant opened its bar. Tina and Felipe Paredes could not be more proud and rightfully so. It’s a nice place.
The bar is attached to Paredes Family Restaurant and will be open until 10 PM weekdays and midnight on weekends.
Paredes Family Restaurant has undergone several upgrades in the past year, from floors to their new bar.
Come check it out. It’s clean and nice. The prices are good and the service is always great at Paredes.

Felipe and Tina Paredes - Proprietors

The bar is nice. It has plenty of room and it's bright. It's a great place to meet with friends.

Mineola Texas has many fine eating establishments. The pizza at Taste of Italy is second to none. Their pasta dishes are also very good, very nice portions, all homemade with fresh ingredients and their prices are great. Best of all, when dining at Taste of Italy, you are supporting a locally-owned establishment where the owner of the restaurant is in the kitchen cooking your food.

Taste of Italy
113 East Commerce Street
Mineola, TX 75773-2047
(903) 569-9666

Wing Dingers is also a nice place for pizza and wings in Mineola. They are a take-out restaurant. At this point, I have not tried their pizza, but their wings are delicious.

Wing Dingers
1110 N Pacific St
Mineola, TX, 75773-1840
(903) 569-1113

The other pizza place in Mineola apparently does not want to serve beer and/or wine, even though most of their restaurants that I have been in serve beer.

Let’s face it, pizza and beer go together. Apparently, the local management of this restaurant does not see it that way and chooses to act against Mineola collecting the sales tax it needs to prosper. They have a choice and so do we.

Location of Taste of Italy

Location of Wing Dingers

You can add other ingredients if you want. This pie is really, really good.

This is a simple, inexpensive and delicious way to feed several people something that tastes great and is easy to serve.

Delicious Potato Soup. Easy and cheap.

Few things are better on a cold day than a bowl of hot potato soup.

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Want this recipe plus 4 other homestyle recipes in written form? Send two $1 bills and a self-addressed, stamped** envelope to:
BrightSide Media
Potato Soup Recipe
PO Box 944
Mineola TX 75773
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** SASE. How’s that for old school?

(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Sinfully easy banana/carmel pie recipe.

The days of the pizza monopoly in Mineola are gone. Francisca’s Pizza, located next to Ranchero, is now open and delivering good pizza to your home. The crust they use is the closest thing to New York style pizza that I have seen since I moved here. It is tasty, has just a little bit of brown on the bottom and a good consistency.

Considering the fact that there has only been one place to get pizza in Mineola for some time and the fact that nobody delivers, this is quite a breakthrough for our town.

Right now you can get two large pizzas with unlimited toppings and a 2 liter soda delivered to your door for $19.95

Francisca’s also has:

• Wings
• Calzone
• Pizza by the slice
• Salad

They are open and deliver Monday through Thursday from 11 AM to 9 PM and Friday and Saturday from 11 AM to 10 PM.

Delivery – Drive thru – Dine in

Francisca’s Pizza
1110 N. Pacific St.
Mineola, Texas 75773

903-569-8000

This is a locally owned and managed business, not a corporate restaurant that cuts corners because they are the only pizza place in town. Support them. Call today!

If you are looking for a place to have a burger and wet your whistle, look toward Papadales in Quitman. Papadales is an established eatery and is consistently good food-wise. You can get BBQ, Mexican food, your favorite American dishes or even choose from these on their buffet on some days. 

Now Papadales has become a private club so you can have a drink with your meal if you want. Their bar area is completely separate from the restaurant. This keeps the restaurant customers happy and out of the bar atmosphere if they wish not to partake. You can also eat in the bar if the opposite is true and you wish to eat in the bar area.

Either way you go, it’s nice to have somewhere to have a burger and a beer that is close-by, consistent and friendly.

If you ever find yourself wandering Mineola at lunch time on a Friday or Saturday, wander over to Johnston St. just north of US 80 and find Melissa Till of Dragonfly Art Studio operating her hot dog stand. The Mineola Hot Dog Stand is quickly becoming an icon of our town. With 100+ fans on their Facebook page and lots of friendly conversation with Melissa and other patrons, it’s a great idea for a lunch outdoors. There are quite a few varieties of hot dogs and sandwiches, chips and sodas all at a great price.

Come on out and have a dog!

Mineola Hot Dog Stand & Dragonfly Art Studio

105 N Johnson St
Mineola, TX 75773
(903) 569-9209

Enchiladas:

• 1 – 1/2 lb. hamburger meat
• 1 Tspn onion flakes
• 2 Tbspn Oil
• 2 Tbspn Flour
• 2 Tbspn Chili Powder
• 2 Cups water
• 15 oz. tomato sauce
• 1/2 Tspn salt
• 1/2 Cup sour cream
• 2 dozen corn tortillas & oil to fry them in
• 1 lb. grated cheddar cheese
• 1 lb. grated monterey jack cheese

Brown meat with onion flakes. Add just a dash of chili powder.

Make the Enchilada Sauce:

Heat 2 tbspns oil and add flour & the rest of the chili powder, similar to making a roux. Add 2 cups water and stir until the sauce is thick. Add tomato sauce and simmer on low for 20 minutes. Next, add sour cream and remove from heat, keeping pan covered with lid.

Fry Tortillas in oil. Brown each one on both sides for about 15 seconds, then dip it in the sauce. Fill with meat & cheese, roll up and place in pan. Continue until all ingredients are used, then pour remaining sauce over enchiladas and bake @ 350 until hot. Serve & enjoy.

You can either add diced jalapenos or top with sliced jalapenos as desired.

Caution, do not overstuff the pan. You need 1/2 inch between each enchilada to keep them from baking all together and you ending up with enchilada casserole.

Crabmeat Au’ Gratin:

Can also be chicken or shrimp.

• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 stalk  finely chopped celery
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1-13 ox=z. can of evaporated (Pet) milk
• 1 Tspn salt
• 1 tblspn salt
• 1 Tblspn chopped parsley
• 1/2 Tspn cayenne pepper
• 1/2 Tspn black pepper
• 2 beaten egg yolks
• 1 pound fresh crab (or chicken or shrimp)
• 1/2 lb. shredded velveeta cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Saute onions & celery in butter over low heat. Add green onions & fry slightly. Blend in flour & stir well. Gradually add milk, seasonings & while stirring. 

Cook until thickened; remove from heat. Now add beaten egg yolks & stir more.

Cook on low heat for 5 minutes or until thick. Remove from heat and gradually fold in crabmeat.

Pour mixture into greased 1 1/2 qt. casserole dish, top with cheese & bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

I was recently at a party at a friend’s house when they made some microwave butter popcorn and ate it with dill pickles. You grab a handful of popcorn, toss a pickle slice on it and eat it up. It might not sound real good, but I have to say it is a nice combination.

Give it a try the next time you make popcorn.

Today we launched our first cooking video in our In the Kitchen series. It is a 23 minute video detailing our resident chef, Chef Rich, making Chicken Parmesan. 

We are planning more cooking segments to follow at least twice monthly, possibly each week. Each episode will either be a single dish or will have a theme such as sauces, soups or whatever.

We are doing this in an effort to reach those who are interested in cooking and we hope that these videos will inspire viewers to spend more time being creative in their own kitchen. We’ll try to keep the total playing time of each episode down to 30 minutes or less. Some will no doubt be shorter than others.

If there is anything that you would like to see Chef Rich take on in the Mineola Buzz kitchen, please leave a comment below or on the In the Kitchen page and we’ll certainly do what we can to accommodate your request.

According to this sign at Papadale’s in Quitman, the city has apparently granted, or is in process of granting them a license to sell alcohol. 

This photo, taken from my phone (hence the not so good quality) says “Hiring Bartender”.

It appears that East Texas is catching up with the times. Allowing the sale of alcohol will attract restaurants to the area because most of the national chain restaurants depend on bar sales to stay  in the black.

This will have effects on both sides of the coin. Those who wish to drink alcohol will now have a place to go to have a drink with, or without, dinner. While adding new revenue, this decision also presents new challenges for local and county government with an increase in alcohol-related incident calls and a possible increase in DUIs.

What’s your opinion of this?

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What about package sales?

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Dinner at Taste of Italy on Lake Hawkins is a good choice. About 12 miles from city center, TOI is on the waterfront and has a nice deck.
BYOB for dinner and come on out to Taste of Italy on Lake Hawkins. If you get lucky and have a warm winter night, you can dine al fresco sans mosquitoes.

The pricing is moderate ($12.95 for my meal) and the service has always been good. Taste of Italy had a location in Mineola that burned a while back and has not been re-built.
I had the Chicken Parmesian shown below. It was delicious.

(6 votes, average: 3.83 out of 5)
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