Food Matters: Hill Country Wine and Food Festival wrap-up, a new pizzeria from the Parkside guy, Louie's 106: Closed?, what's in chef Bryan Caswell's fridge

Reports from the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival

The 25th anniversary of the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival last weekend will be remembered more for a different kind of liquid: rain. Storms forced the cancellation of the Texas 25 tasting Thursday night, drove the Culinary Masters dinner inside at the Four Seasons and made for the second consecutive soggy Sunday Fair, which still drew an estimated 3,000 people (some of whom were unhappy when the wine samples stopped flowing a half-hour shy of the 4 p.m. cutoff; some vendors told the American-Statesman they'd bring more next year). Here's a sampling of our reports from the festival and corollary events.

• Out and About blogger Michael Barnes, on Saturday's Rare and Fine Wine Auction at the Four Seasons: This year's most charismatic-looking package consisted of five Bond Estates wines, estimated value: $3,500. But that lot didn't take the top cash. That was dinner in the cellar of auction founder Larry Peel and prepared by the Four Seasons' Elmar Prambs, which went for $4,500. Total take: $213,630, primarily for culinary scholarships. More at austin360.com/outandabout and Thursday in Life & Style.

• Relish Austin blogger Addie Broyles, on Thursday's rained-out Texas 25: The sold-out event was scheduled to start at 7 p.m., and just after 6 p.m., festival officials decided to cancel it due to safety concerns from the afternoon downpours, a festival spokesperson said. Several vendors tweeted that they weren't sure what to do with the product they'd prepared. Retro Bizzaro and Izzoz Tacos spread the word through Twitter that they were giving away tacos and snack treats at the nearby Kung Fu Saloon. More at austin360.com/relishaustin .

• Broyles, on chef John Besh's cooking demonstration Saturday: The affable and award-winning chef has had a successful year, appearing on "Top Chef Masters" and publishing his first solo cookbook, "My New Orleans." He now owns six Louisiana restaurants, most in New Orleans. In August, Besh will opening his first restaurant out of Louisiana - another Luke, named after one of his sons - on San Antonio's River Walk.

• Liquid Austin blogger Patrick Beach, on Saturday's Palate Cleansers tasting: You know the push-back against crazy bold wines is going full tilt when the festival books a room for lighter, more delicate tasting of rieslings, roses, chenin blancs and more. I was particularly taken with a dry rose from McPherson Cellars of Lubbock. It was long on strawberry, airy and delightful for mid-afternoon sipping. Owner Kim McPherson said the grapes come from Brenham. More at austin360.com/liquid .

• The M.O. blogger Matthew Odam, on Friday's Stars Across Texas Grand Tasting: Chef Tyson Cole and his crew from Uchi were serving a delicious amberjack sashimi. 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. Other standouts included La Condesa's lump crab meat served with mango, tomato and a spicy chipotle mayo and David Garrido's braised pork with shaved manchego, black truffle aioli and dried cranberry. When I suggested he put it on the menu he said he couldn't, 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. More at austin360.com/themo .

Parkside's chef- owner planning a pizza venture right next door

After bringing refinement to Sixth Street dining with the fresh, clean flavors of Parkside, chef-owner Shawn Cirkiel is preparing to expand his culinary corner. In July, Cirkiel plans to open the Backspace, a pizzeria in the space at 507 San Jacinto Blvd., adjacent to his restaurant at 301 E. Sixth St. The small space will seat about 30 people. With the simplicity of just a wood-burning oven, Cirkiel said the Backspace will serve about five Neapolitan-style pizzas (including a marinara and a margherita) along with a few appetizers, such as prosciutto-wrapped mozzarella. Cirkiel said the inspiration for the Backspace, was fairly simple: "Cook for your friends and for yourself and then hope everyone else enjoys it." The Backspace, which will be designed by Austin restaurant icon Michael Hsu, will initially be open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 5 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., but Cirkiel says they plan to be open for both lunch and dinner by the fall.