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Texas Culinary Masters recap
Work, work, work, work, work. The 24th Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival started with a bang Thursday night with the Texas Culinary Masters dinner at the Four Seasons. Of course American-Statesman food writer Addie Broyles and your booze blogger had to go.
Five of the best chefs in the state, including three from the capital city, designed a menu that blazed with imagination and surprise — and lots of great wine with each course didn’t hurt, either. Uchi’s Tyson Cole offered a second course of buri (Japanese yellowtail) crudo with compressed strawberry, golden beet, hydroponic basil (hydroponic basil?) and olive oil.
“I just wanted to blend the flavors and textures so you can have a party in your mouth,” Cole told the crowd. To which diner Emily Marshall replied: “Happy mouth.”
Paul Petersen of Cafe Cenizo at the Gage Hotel in Marathon followed Cole’s challenge with a smoky wild boar mousse-stuffed quail, accompanied by a 2005 Casa Lapostolle Syrah, described as a “smack-you-in-the-face, bold, lucious red wine” from Argentina.
The showstopper, however, had to be Elmar Prambs’ (exec chef of the Four Seasons) main course, a smoked beef tenderloin cooked perfectly rarish with garden greens, cipollini onion and creamed jumbo lump crab. The unfiltered ‘05 cab sav from Newton killed.
The prettiest course came from Naomi Gallego of Trio, who brought out a dessert of banana Bavarian, mocha sabayon, lemon banana salsa and candied pistachios. The dish was as colorful as an Easter basket.
The fest continues in and around Austin through Sunday, when it wraps with the Sunday Fair at the Salt Lick Pavilion.
Look for coverage of the Wine & Food Festival all weekend from Addie Broyles, Mike Sutter and me on austin360.com/food.
(American-Statesman photo by Patrick Beach)
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