A Houston legislator and civil rights advocates voiced opposition this week to a proposed Texas law that would ban some people from designated foreign countries — such as China and Russia — from owning land in the state.

House Bill 17, authored by Republican state Rep. Cole Hefner of northeast Texas, also would apply to some people from Iran and North Korea as well as any other country designated by the Texas governor. Companies headquartered in the aforementioned countries, and governmental entities of those nations, also would not be allowed to purchase or acquire property in Texas under the proposed law.

State Rep. Gene Wu, a Houston Democrat, joined the nonprofit Asian Texans for Justice in speaking out against the bill during a Wednesday news conference at the Texas Capitol in Austin. Wu called the proposed legislation a slippery slope.

“What my big concern is, my real concern, is not just the ownership of land, but this is the very first step that we take on our march back to Japanese internment,” said Wu, referring to the United States government’s detainment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

HB 17 has yet to be voted out of the Texas House Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans’ Affairs. If it is, it would need to be passed by the full House and the Texas Senate and then signed by Gov. Greg Abbott before becoming a state law.

The Texas attorney general would be charged with enforcing the proposed law, which would be a state jail felony punishable by a fine of $250,000 or 50% of the market value of the property associated with the violation.

As written, the law would not apply to U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, citizens of foreign countries who are not domiciled in one of the designated countries or companies or entities owned or controlled by one or more of those people.

Some of the 200-plus Texas residents who spoke about the bill during a Wednesday committee hearing at the Capitol said they supported the proposed law. And some of those supporters said they do not think it goes far enough to protect the state from being influenced or harmed by interests from China, Iran, North Korea or Russia.

“Texas is not for sale to foreign entities,” said Claire Lingenfelser of Waller, which is northwest of Houston.

Added Christine Kalmbach, who identified herself as a realtor from Houston: “The bill must prohibit both citizens of hostile nations from buying real property and not just those domiciled in hostile nations, as this can be easily manipulated.”

A majority of the speakers during Wednesday’s hearing, many of whom are from the Houston area, said they oppose the proposed legislation, with some calling it racist and discriminatory.

Wu echoed that sentiment, saying HB 17 would mark a return to exclusionary laws from the past.

“They were passed for the same reasons, they use the same rhetoric, the same arguments, and they are doing it to basically the same groups of people,” Wu said. “And this is why I’m afraid. We have done this before.”

Celebrate CHMLNKNG DAY at the George Washington Carver Museum! This month, we’re combining two of the Carver’s programs – Solar Saturday and Solidarity Day, to bring the community a full day of free activities! We’ll be partnering with organizations like Illume Healing 7, Beauty over Bruises, and many more as we put mental health and wellness into focus. Honoring the life of Chameleon Brenden Foster, we ‘ll celebrate the City of Austin’s ‘CHMLNKNG Day’, bringing you healing activations in the garden, live music with a special performance by MandiE ft. Stretch Musik Band, community talks with De’Aires Cotton and Jane Obi, hands-on craft activities, financial workshops, and dance classes that aim to encourage open conversations about mental health awareness, how to access resources, and information about ways to support community members in crisis. The Carver is dedicated to creating a safe space for community to share, listen, grow, and heal.

Bring yourself and your loved ones to the museum on Saturday, April 5th 2025 from 10 am to 6 pm. Free and open to the public, all ages. Full schedule and registration. 

Holden Fulco is no stranger to Central Texas barbecue. He’s got a resume that could appease even the staunchest of brisket enthusiasts. His foothold in the world of smoked meats and sides started at Franklin Barbecue in 2019. After a brief but impactful stint where he says he “learned a lot about how green” he was, Fulco moved over to Interstellar BBQ in early 2020, two weeks before the pandemic shut everything down. With the restaurant closed during the height of COVID, Fulco remembers staff tinkering with recipes and taking the time to “try new things, and throw stuff against the wall to see what stuck,” he says. He’s also worked with Pinkerton’s Barbecue, opening its San Antonio location. Now, Fulco is ready to open his own barbecue spot.

Parish Barbecue was born as a series of pop-ups and became his first food truck, launched on March 22, 2025, in collaboration with Batch Craft Beer & Kolaches. The Louisiana-influenced dishes at Parish Barbecue come, in many cases, straight from the recipes of dishes he ate while growing up. The meats include Central Texas beef sausage that he calls “the most traditional thing on the menu.” The brisket, from Creekstone Farms, is coated in Tabasco and finished with Cajun seasonings. The pork ribs get the same treatment as the brisket, plus a bath in Tabasco-infused vinegar and a glaze finish made from Steen’s cane syrup. The ham, made from Creekstone pork butts (Fulco believes his is the only place serving it in Texas), is served with a Creole mustard glaze. “Your traditional ham comes from the leg, which is a lot leaner,” he says. “I wanted to be more luxurious than that… It’s got a lot of moisture, and the fat is nice and creamy.”

The most unusual meat on the menu is the pulled duck with spiced cracklins made from the duck skin. Duck hunting was big in Fulco’s family. “The idea behind it is to do something like pulled pork, because I honestly think pulled pork is boring,” Fulco says. The duck’s skin is removed and used for the cracklins, while the duck itself is seasoned with orange zest and orange pepper, then smoked for three hours. To finish, they confit the meat and coat it in duck fat, fresh orange juice, more orange zest, and Steen’s Cane Vinegar (this light molasses-style syrup also turns up in the ham glaze and the brownies on the dessert menu). Finally, the dish is sprinkled with the crisp skins.

The crawfish cornbread dressing leads the sides, a traditional Louisiana dish Fulco describes as “Thanksgiving meets Mardi Gras.” It contains “all the best things about etouffee” — that is, the cheese, the Cajun holy trinity (minced onion, celery, and bell pepper), and Cajun seasoning mixed with crumbled cornbread. Right now, the team is baking it in their smokers due to limited space in the food truck’s pits. The pimento macaroni and cheese, another hit closely inspired by Interstellar’s recipe, is made by blending slices of red peppers into the dish with pimento cheese and then topping it with Zapp’s Voodoo Chips, a Louisiana favorite. There’s also an Acadiana (a mash-up of Acadian and Louisiana) potato salad, with potatoes boiled in crawfish boil seasoning before it is chopped and slathered in a combination of mayo, Creole mustard, chopped eggs, olives, and topped with green onion. “It’s a little sweet, and a little vinegary… It’s definitely not your traditional picnic [variety],” Fulco says.

Acid, like the vinegary notes in the potato salad, features big on the sides menu. There’s the Parish Pickle Plate, featuring seasonal pickled vegetables to give diners something to help cut through the richness and fat inherent in smoked meats. The remoulade vinegar slaw is a statement — Fulco, who strongly prefers a vinegar-based slaw to mayo, lets the cabbage sit to soak in for a few hours. The Creole tomato salad, available seasonally, offers a nice acidic bite. All of the sides, except the crawfish dressing, are vegetarian. For those who don’t eat meat, there is also a blackened veggie muffuletta made with a blackened cauliflower steak, smoked eggplant, Provolone, and olive salad. The smoked red bean dip, made with confit green and red bell peppers, garlic, the Cajun trinity, and refried camellia red beans, is served cold because that’s how Fulco says it tastes best. “In New Orleans, red beans and rice is a big deal,” Fulco says.

Fulco says he’s careful about sourcing his food because he prioritizes humanely raised and sustainable farms and ranches with high-quality products. While he tries to get locally-raised meats and vegetables, he is currently working with the Kansas City-based Creekstone Farms, a significant brisket producer that he notes Franklin previously used. “They have probably the most ethically raised beef you can get that isn’t from Texas,” Fulco says, noting that he is currently in talks with Texas-based company, Heartbrand Beef.

Fulco is comfortable in the barbecue world after so many years working at it; this wasn’t always his plan. He got his business degree and even toiled around in real estate before deciding barbecue was his passion. He wanted to make it his career. This pivot horrified his parents, he says, but the business degree informed his search for the right opportunity to come around. The owners of Batch Craft Beer & Kolaches already had the food truck and were looking for a business partner to run it. Fulco was looking for an easy start-up and a food truck. Thankfully, Batch had already paid for one. “They invested in the business by getting us a little walk-in cooler that’s right behind our trailer, which has helped a ton for storage and prep,” Fulco says.

Parish and Batch’s owners have also teamed up to produce their own beer, the Parish Weisse, a Berliner Weisse-style brew that Fulco says goes great with barbecue. “We’re going to make some different syrups, depending on the time of year, that the bartender can add in. We may even do a Hurricane-flavored one,” Fulco says.

Correction: Thursday, April 3, 2025, 4:01 p.m.: Holden Fulco’s name has been updated throughout.