FOOD & LIFE

Culinary stars from across the Lone Star State

Visiting chefs include Paul Petersen, David Bull, Kent Rathbun, Monica Pope, Jason Dady and more

By Addie Broyles
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The Hill Country Wine and Food Festival showcases food from 50 of the best chefs in the state. You might recognize the big names from Central Texas — from Tyson Cole to Damian Mandola to Josh Watkins and Rebecca Rather — but here's a primer on some of the other chefs from the state:

For three years, chef Paul Petersen has called Marathon home, but this year's Wine and Food Festival will be among his last efforts as executive chef at Cafe Cenizo at the Gage Hotel. He's already moved the family back to Central Texas, where before working at the Gage he ran Little Texas Bistro in Buda. "Austin's my town, and I love it," he said last week. Rumors swirled last year about a new restaurant he might be opening in Austin. "I've got some things in the works," but he's quiet on specifics. He's participating in four events at the festival, including the Sunday Fair, where musician Patrice Pike will cook with him and he, a longtime drummer, will play on stage with her.

David Bull also will be returning to Austin for the festival, but just for the Stars Across Texas event on Friday night. After leaving the Driskill Grill in 2007, Bull opened Bolla at the Stoneleigh Hotel in Dallas, where he's cooking modern Italian food for Dallasites who knew him before only as the James Beard-nominated Austin chef who competed on the Food Network's "Iron Chef."

If Efisio Farris' Houston and Dallas restaurants Arcodoro and Arcodoro & Pomodoro don't ring a bell, maybe you saw Farris in a recent issue of "Cooking Light," where he explained why people of his homeland, Sardinia, live so long. Sardinian cuisine is the subject of his new cookbook, "Sweet Myrtle and Bitter Honey." Expect a sampling of Farris' passion for regional Italian cuisine at Stars Across Texas and the Sunday Fair.

To say Monica Pope is into local food is an understatement. Pope's restaurant t'afia, in addition to being one of the most acclaimed restaurants in Houston, is the site of a weekly farmers' market, and nearly all of the ingredients she uses come from sources fewer than 300 miles away. In addition to serving at Stars Across Texas, she'll join Austin chefs Elmar Prambs, Cole, Naomi Gallego and Petersen to present the Culinary Masters dinner on Thursday night.

Kent Rathbun is one of the most celebrated chefs in the state. Abacus in Dallas is his signature restaurant, where he can still be found orchestrating the kitchen, but diners in Austin might be familiar with him through Jasper's at the Domain, which is one of three Jasper's locations in the state. He just opened Rathbun's Blue Plate Kitchen in Dallas last month. He's a regular at the Wine and Food Festival, and this year he'll be cooking at Stars Across Texas and at lunch Thursday at Fall Creek Vineyards in Tow.

Representing San Antonio at the Stars Across Texas, chefs John Brand (Las Canarias), Jeff Balfour (Citrus @ the Hotel Valencia), Jason Dady (the Lodge Restaurant) will create bite-sized tastes of their restaurants. Dady is to San Antonio as Larry McGuire (Lamberts Downtown Barbecue, Perla's) is to Austin. Young and often called a rising star, Dady trained in California's Napa Valley before opening the Lodge Restaurant of Castle Hills in 2001 when he was just 24. Brand specializes in regional meat, which means he's serving game raised in the Hill Country at Las Canarias at La Mansion Del Rio. Balfour was a student at the University of Texas when he decided to move to Houston to become a chef. It was a good move; now his restaurant Citrus is one of the most high-profile in San Antonio, using local game and Gulf seafood.

abroyles@statesman.com; 912-2504