Home > The M.O. > Archives > 2010 > November > 17 > Entry
Sustainable Food Center dinner one of year’s food highlights
What am I really getting for your money? Will the event be a hassle? Outside of simply enjoying myself, where is the money going and whom am I helping? So often food events can involve a lot of standing around in what passes for a line while getting pushed around by people who should know better, and then getting a small bite of food that you have to balance on top of your drink while trying to hold a napkin, not get knocked over and look socially well adjusted. All for at least $40. In short, often (but definitely not always) they can be a beating.
After hearing people absolutely rave about the Sustainable Food Center’s spring event earlier this year, I was intrigued as to whether the fall event could live up to the hype. In simple terms of answering the questions laid out above, the SFC’s Chef Series Autumn Harvest dinner last Sunday night at La Condesa was probably my favorite food event of the year.
As Kevin Ottmers from Ottmers Family Farms writes in some literature handed out at the event, “America is losing an acre of farmland every minute” and “Texas leads the country in the loss of farmland,” having lost almost three million acres in the past 15 years.
In addition to the Austin Farmers’ Market in Republic Square Park, which the SFC has been running for the better part of the last decade, the organization provides education and programs that serve as a valuable resource in sustaining our land and nurturing our bodies and community.
It goes without saying that the cause was one worth supporting.
As for the food, the hassle and value, the Chef Series is an example of how an event of this nature should be run. Before you balk at the $125 price tag, understand that with that comes a cocktail hour of appetizers and drinks at Malverde, followed by a seven-course seated meal at La Condesa. I will say that I was lucky enough to share a table with a group of friends, so if you plan to attend one of these events in the future, do so with a few others. You’re going to spend close to five hours sipping, chewing and chatting, so it’s nice to have familiar company. Or you could just wing it and hope to make some new friends. Since there are seven drinks to accompany the seven dishes, you will be well lubricated to socially connect.
The evening began upstairs at Malverde, where specialty cocktails were served by La Condesa’s Nate Wells and Bill Norris. Formerly of Fino, Norris will be the bar manager and mixologist in charge over at Zack Northcutt’s Haddington’s. The cocktail party was a great opportunity to get a sneak peek (taste) of the gastro-pub on West Sixth Street. If the duck fat-infused Sazerac cocktail, foie dogs (yep, that’s foie gras in the shape of hot dogs, served in sweet rolls) and Scotch eggs are any indication, Austin diners are sure to be awed by the rustic and decadent flavors of the restaurant that is slated to open sometime in December.
For dinner, guests were treated to a wonderful feat prepared by some of the city’s top chefs. Each chef described the meal and the provenance of the ingredients. One of the drawbacks of the meal was our inability to hear the chefs well, so I won’t pretend to know from where each delicious morsel came. The only other slight drawback was the serving time. Some of the courses were spaced out by 30 minutes, but with good drink and good company, it is not a point worth belaboring to intensely. But I would imagine if you were stuck with boring table company, the wait might have seemed interminable.
I won’t go into a blow by blow of each dish, you can get a sense of them by clicking through this photo gallery, but Jesse Griffith’s (Dai Due) smooth, creamy catfish terrine that was punctuated with slivers of jalapeno and Paul Qui’s (Uchiko) perfect quail with persimmons and a fried cashew miso and marigold that tasted like some exquisite kettle corn were both massive hits at our table. That said, every dish — from Todd Duplechan’s (TRIO) ‘surf and turf’ of Gulf shrimp and boar boudin to Laura Sawicki’s (La Condesa) goat’s milk marigold cremeux with apple and quince confit and marcona almond brittle — was a revelation, as these fabulous chefs kept trying to do each other one better.
Following dinner, we all lingered in a mild food coma, kept awake only by the heady tingle of booze, before making our way home. All I could think about was when the next event would be.
For more information on the Sustainable Food Center, visit them at sustainablefoodcenter.org.
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