Austin Chamber Ensemble Benefit

For the past nine years, Belgian restaurant chef/owner Jean-Louis DeHoux and his wife Marianne have donated a five-course dinner for 48 people as a fundraiser for the Austin Chamber Ensemble. The money raised by the annual dinner is a major factor in the continuation of the organization's regular concert series. On Sunday, November 3, the cozy restaurant's simple European country ambience offered the perfect setting for a delicious five-course meal complemented by carefully chosen wines and expertly rendered chamber music pieces.

The meal began with a crisp mixed field green salad dressed with an understated vinaigrette. The small salads were paired with a 1992 Trimbach Pinot Blanc from the Alsace region of France and four sprightly Irish aires. A tasty trio of shrimp bisque, shrimp provençal and shrimp champagne was accompanied by Auric's Trio #1 and an excellent 1994 Domaine Cherrier Sancerre from the Loire Valley. The evening's best match came next with thin layers of salmon sandwiched around a sea scallop mousse, napped in beurre blanc sauce with julienne carrots. This course called for more glasses of the Sancerre all around while the diners enjoyed Mozart's Viennese Sonata. Most of the guests had their first taste of ostrich in the meat course, medallions of ostrich in sauce bordelaise with duchess potatoes. The very lean meat resembles chewy beef and does not have a particularly gamey flavor. This course was completed with a 1992 Chateau Meyney St. Estephe Bordeaux and Trois Pieces pour une musique de nuit by Bozza.

Before dessert, Glazer's wine representative John Ryan discussed the wines they had graciously provided and introduced the final selection. Warre's Porto, a late-bottled vintage 1982 Portugese port married well with a simple chocolate mousse enjoyed to the strains of Three Winds on the Rocks, a humorous trio of traditional drinking melodies by Danson. Afterwards, the happy crowd provided ovations for the wine merchant, the musicians and the kitchen maestro, chef DeHoux. This event is elegant in its simplicity, combining the best artistic elements of cooking, winemaking and music. Contact the Austin Chamber Ensemble or The Belgian Restaurant next fall to make reservations (Tickets are $75). It will be one of the most civilized evenings you will ever experience. -- Virginia B. Wood