Commencement Exercises

This is too good a story not to share. Seven years ago, Jean-Louis DeHoux, chef/owner of the Belgian Restaurant, invited Belgian Culinary Institute instructor Christian Echterbille to visit his restaurant and develop some recipes. Echterbille took the resulting recipes home and taught them to his students, instilling in them an interest in the cuisines of Texas. So much so, in fact, that it was decided that the annual end-of-school field trip to France would be abandoned for a much longer trip to the Lone Star State, even if the students had to work an entire school year to raise the extra funds needed to travel overseas. The first trip was so successful and became such a legend at the Institute that subsequent students also requested to travel to Texas for their graduation trip; many even stayed in school just to have the opportunity. Here in town DeHoux has always played host, arranging accommodations in the homes of students at the local Le Chef College of Hospitality Careers. It was there that future Cafe Armageddon owners Herb Dishman and Chester Campbell met chef Echterbille.

Now that the two entrepreneurs have their own restaurant, they invited their friend and his students (the graduating class of 1996) to prepare a special dinner for the Cafe Armageddon clientele. Not only did they overtake the kitchen, but many students -- white chef coats and all -- made their way out to the dining room to help serve and to visit with patrons as much as their English would allow. The meal began with an appetizer plate of tasty shrimp with garlic cream sauce, a vegetable-stuffed beef roll in devil sauce and oysters pocha on a nest of minced scallions. The fish course was a delicately poached white fish and salmon cordon bleu in a swirled puddle of pale red and green pepper coulis. The entree, tender medallions of roasted pork tenderloin in a savory bing cherry sauce, was accompanied by a grilled pear garnish and twice baked potatoes, the only weak point in the meal. The dessert was an artful creation of three mousses (chocolate, mocha and raspberry) on sponge cake, cut in decorative shapes and garnished with fresh fruit.

It says quite a lot about how inviting Austin must be that a group of students would work hard all year to raise money to pay for the opportunity to cook in our 100+ degree heat. It was an honor to witness the results of all their hard work. -- Virginia B. Wood