James Talarico picked at the brisket with his bare hands and polished off a rack of pork ribs. Sausage links and “Texas Twinkies” — stuffed jalapeño peppers wrapped in bacon — crowded the butcher paper on his overflowing tray of smoked meats. The best bite, he said, was a lemony concoction of pork chunks called “brakes.”
Joe Lovinger is a Texas Reporter at various esteemed publications. He covers a wide range of topics, including elections, government, politics, public policy, and the local economy, with a particular focus on regional interest and world news in North America and LATAM. Joe's work has been featured in prominent outlets such as Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg News, and The Seattle Times, among others.














