Home > The M.O. > Archives > 2010 > April > 17 > Entry
Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Fest: Stars Across Texas Grand Tasting
The Stars Across Texas Grand Tasting, the centerpiece of the Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Fest, went off without a hitch Friday night at the Long Center despite the nasty weather. Dozens of Texas chefs and local and national wine and booze distributors kept hundreds of attendees from being distracted by the 100% humidity, as people floated between tables inside and out, grazing and gaping at the flavors.
Located at the west end of the hall inside were chef Tyson Cole and his crew from Uchi, which were serving a delicious amberjack sashimi. Not surprisingly, Cole’s table looked to be the most popular on the inside lower level.
The balcony on the second level offered great views of the skyline and respite from the sticky humidity of the tented area downstairs.
The Jason Dady group from San Antonio served an amazing New York strip steak tartare with roasted peppers, sea salt, black pepper and white cheddar foam.
With cooking options limited, tartares did seem a popular choice Friday night. Local French standout Aquarelle offered a eye-opening tuna tartare with a bright avocado mousse, bits of zucchini bites and a mango coulis. The dish went wonderfully with a cocktail made of Belvedere vodka, cucumber, mint and lemonade — perfect on a steamy evening.
Although the music from Reggae Rainsplash 2010 across the street lent a uniquely Austin vibe to the evening, I felt kind of bad in my dry clothes as I looked out at the couple of thousand people who had to endure such awful weather to get their groove on. At least we were able to hear some of the music from the upstairs patio, which fortunately drowned out the cheesy ambient house music playing at the Wine & Food Fest. The piped in tunes were so incredibly un-hip, one friend told me he was worried that someone was going to bust into the room and take away all the Miller High Life.
Locals Whole Foods served a very pleasant and surprisingly complex watermelon salad topped with yellow tomatoes, feta cheese, pickled red onions, microgreens and a balsamic reduction. Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts of Austin also had a very fine showing at the Long Center. The culinary school was even skilled enough to slip some tofu by unassuming participants Friday night with their delicious pork-tofu slider served with a rich ponzu aioli and crunchy pickled daikon, the tofu doing a great job of keeping the meat nice and moist. And to prove that not all good food as to take itself too seriously, the team from Le Cordon Bleu also offered a sinfully rich whoopie pie.
Other standouts of the night not pictured included La Condesa’s lump crab meat served with mango, tomato and a spicy chipotle mayo; Hudson’s on the Bend’s venison with potatoes; and David Garrido’s braised pork with shaved manchego, black truffle aioli and dried cranberry. I probably had a half dozen of Garrido’s offering. When I suggested he put it on the menu he said he couldn’t put everything on the menu because then he wouldn’t have these flavors to play with at special events. Fair enough; just tell me when the next special event is.
Not all of the participants were local. The woman on the left from Belvedere mixed the delicious cocktails I mentioned earlier. The man on the right was manning the Makers Mark table. When I asked what his role was with the company, he told me he did “whatever was left over.” Turns out it was Makers Mark president Bill Samuels, Jr. I told him I probably helped put his grandkids through college, and the affable Kentucky native — who should definitely be played by Gary Busey if a movie is ever made about his life — and I shared a toast to his first (but I bet not his last) time at the Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival.
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