Gathering Austin's creative class around the grill

After World War I, the "Lost Generation" gathered regularly and noisily at 27 Rue de Fleurus in Paris, where Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas entertained Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso and other creative characters over feasts of cold soup, whole capon and wine-stewed figs, among other delicacies recorded in Toklas' famous cookbook.

For the past few years, videographer and entrepreneur John Fitch - recently profiled in this column along with Ticketbud business partner Paul Cross - has brought together artists, musicians, filmmakers, writers and other "creatives" at various Austin homes, grilling ingredients purchased at local farmers markets and generating conversations that last well into the night.

"Our favorite thing about food has always been its ability to bring people together," Fitch says. "We started this tradition in college, but now it includes people in film, high-tech, the arts and, still, some students."

In early July, a dozen of Fitch's formative friends mingled at the crook-shaped Tarrytown home of writer and philanthropist Anne Elizabeth Wynn and filmmaker and cheese innovator Joaquin Avellán.

"John put this dinner together by crisscrossing all these cool people," Wynn says. "Three weeks later, we're sitting around a table. That's how open Austin is."

The outdoor dinner was not unlike hundreds of others, where Austin's inventive classes coalesce around food and drink. Yet there was something exceptional about this evening, as stories unfolded in gentle waves, recalling recipes, experiments, adventures and misadventures.

"Everything on this plate has not left Travis County," proclaimed Fitch as we sat down to dinner. "Except for the chicken - and that only a little bit." (The fowl were harvested at Dewberry Hills Farms in Lexington.)

(We'd respectfully add that some of the spices and contributing ingredients came from much farther away.)

Guests, ranging in age from 22 to 56, sipped judiciously from sprightly palomas, then dug into brined, marinated and grilled chipotle chicken and seared vegetables, complemented by peppers and cheese, the final ingredient carefully generated by Avellán in response to cheeses - remembered from his native Venezuela - that hold up under grilling.

"Joaquin introduced us to a world of food and we jumped in," says Elise Avellán, one of the famed Avellán twins who appeared in Robert Rodriguez's "Grindhouse" and "Machete."

She helps out with Joaquin's company, selling Dos Lunas Artisan Cheese at farmers' markets. "It's a just a different art form," she says. "All art is creative energy made physical."

The final dish, Estrella Fugaz, also employs Dos Lunas, this time for a not-too-sweet and lightly fruity dessert.

"Austin is the ideal place to try new things like this," says graphic designer Wes Wooddell. "It's a free-spirited place that makes meals like this feel more organic."

"It's also one of the top cities for healthy food," says economics student Randy Lim. "That's common ground for everyone here. You don't need fancy ingredients."

This particular dinner for creatives did not end with artists and models crashing down the street after the party, as occurred at times following Stein and Toklas' exotically fueled affairs. In fact, it was marked by a subdued and well-tempered good will.

Fitch sums up the collision of food and friendships over the course of these regular, quintessentially Austin dinners: "There's just an ongoing vibe that connects everybody."

mbarnes@statesman.com

La Paloma

2 oz. of Republic Plata or Reposado Organic Tequila

1/2 ounce fresh lime juice

pinch of salt

grapefruit soda

lime wedge

Combine the tequila, lime juice and salt in a tall glass. Add ice, top off with grapefruit soda and stir. Place a lime wedge on the rim of the glass when served.

- John Fitch

Grilled Chipotle Chicken and Seared Vegetables

Chicken brine:

1 gallon warm water