Food-o-File

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Festival Highlights

Last weekend, organizers of the Saveur Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival made it clear the 18-year-old spring soiree has gotten a shot of new blood. The enthusiastic sponsorship of Saveur magazine demonstrated by Editor Colman Andrews (plus the attendance of 22 staff members and magazine owners Donna and Terry Snow) coupled with the dynamic synergy of festival president Kevin Williamson, director Fernando Saralegui, and public relations maven Pam Blanton created an exciting new energy for the event. There were new parties, newly discovered great venues, and a genuine celebration of things local and regional. The Lone Star State of Mind kickoff party at the Broken Spoke featured a fine lineup of local musicians with culinary talent as well as a band of chefs who love to play music. The best bites were Joe Gracey's Tex-Mex enchiladas, Dean Fearing's tasty brisket on potato rolls, Marcia Ball's étouffée, and the mouthwatering peach fried pies from Catherine Clapner of the Mansion at Judge's Hill. The Chronicle Food posse was out in force that night, and it was our consensus that, while we won't be looking for the Barbwires to headline at the Spoke on their own, it was fun to see chefs Fearing, Robert Del Grande, Tim Keating, and Chris Rote rocking out to open the show... Deborah Madison and Larry Butler led a great class at Central Market as well as a spirited discussion of the importance of sustainable agriculture and farmers' markets at the Barr Mansion... The new pastry chef showcase, complemented with dessert wines on Thursday afternoon, was full of delightful sweet treats, including Sticky Toffee Pudding from Katherine Tuason of Biga in San Antonio, a delicate hazelnut bombe with orange caramel sauce from the Houstonian, luscious caramel truffle mousse on vanilla shortbread from the Driskill's Jimmy McMillan, a refreshing candied grapefruit sorbet from Paula Disbrowse of Hart & Hind Resort and Rebecca Rather's divine Dulce de Leche crème brûlée. Next year, I'd love to see them partner each pastry chef with a winery for better dessert and wine pairings and make this a component of the Friday night Grand Tasting when they finally break down and move that to the Convention Center, where they can comfortably accommodate a crowd of 1,200... Friday's revelation was the Back at the Ranch midday party at the Texas Disposal Systems Wild Game Ranch & Party Pavilion (www.texasdisposal.com), just south of the city near Creedmoor. Who knew this amazing facility even existed? We drove through pastures filled with an incredible collection of exotic game animals to a comfortable hilltop party facility and were treated to great hospitality. Turns out the owners of TDS built the ranch to entertain their employees and also make it available to approved charities and nonprofits as their way of giving back to the Austin community. What a jewel! Jeff Blank's buffalo tenderloin was undoubtedly the hit of the afternoon... After last year's six-hour Saturday night Culinary Master's Dinner, I swore I'd never attend that excruciating event again but lucky for me, I was honored with an award this year, and my attendance was required. I say lucky because it turned out to be one of the best parties I've been to in ages, and not just because I got so much personal attention. The menu was wonderful, with each course expertly executed by the local and visiting celebrity chefs, the musical entertainment from Darcy DeVille and the Bluegrass Nibblers set a jaunty, lighthearted tone and, to avoid overall mutiny, the hotel provided a television hookup and projected the Longhorn's Final Four basketball game at each end of the ballroom. It was a serendipitous demonstration of all the things I love about living here. It wasn't Austin trying to be Dallas or New York, just Austin being Austin in spite of itself.