Eat My Words Archives – Texas Monthly

Three Texas Chefs Made the ‘Food & Wine’ Best New Chefs List

Patricia Sharpe — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 17:38:53 +0000

Three Texas chefs grabbed spots on Food & Wine’s prestigious Best New Chefs in America list, which was announced April 3. The honorees are Yoshi Okai of Otoko in Austin and Diego Galicia and Rico Torres of Mixtli in San Antonio.Both restaurants have been prominently featured in Texas Monthly. In February, we named Otoko to our list of the ten best new restaurants in the state, writing, “Four days a week, a dozen or so lucky souls wend their way to an aerie above South Congress Avenue. Awaiting their arrival are young sushi chef Yoshi Okai and his merry band, ready and eager to slice the best fish in the city. . . . Two menus are offered: on Wednesdays, globally sourced sushi and sashimi;…

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Lineup For Aaron Franklin’s Hot Luck Festival Out Now

Patricia Sharpe — Tue, 07 Mar 2017 16:50:18 +0000

Apparently Austin can never have too much fun or too many festivals.Tickets go on sale at ten in the morning on Tuesday for the brand-new Hot Luck Festival, a round-up of casual food events and live music performances happening May 18 through May 21. The fest is the brainchild of Austin barbecue guru Aaron Franklin, Guerilla Suit principal and Mohawk owner James Moody, and Mike Thelin, cofounder of Feast Portland, a successful Oregon festival.Unlike most fests, which center around one central location, this one will be dispersed around Texas’s capital city and environs, from Franklin Barbecue to the Mohawk to the Wild Onion Ranch and more.The just-released talent lineup has strong local and national components. Among the more than twenty Austin culinary stars—besides Franklin—are Andrew…

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Texas Chefs Claim 19 Spots on James Beard Award Semifinalist List

Patricia Sharpe — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 23:17:04 +0000

Texas could be in for a very good year in the James Beard Foundation’s Restaurant and Chef Award competition, the culinary industry’s equivalent of the Oscars. In the list of semifinalists announced on February 15, Texas chefs and restaurants landed in eight national categories, with another eleven restaurants (representing twelve chefs) vying for honors in the regional contest for Best Chef: Southwest. Winners will be announced in May.Houston nabbed the most national semifinalists, with four, including Anvil Bar & Refuge (for Outstanding Bar Program), Hugo’s (for Outstanding Service), chef William Wright of Helen Greek Food and Wine (for Rising Star Chef of the Year), and restaurateur Tracy Vaught of Hugo’s, Caracol, and others (for Outstanding Restaurateur).Next up was Dallas with two national nods: Flora Street…

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Home, Home on the Bend

Jessica Dupuy — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 20:34:46 +0000

A few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to step into Hudson’s on the Bend, a longtime far west Austin fine dining restaurant, as it was rapidly undergoing the final steps of a remodel. As painters literally rolled fresh color on the walls and workers wielding construction drills secured drawer pulls and other raw-steel finishings into place, it became clear that my guest and I were quite literally the first dinner guests before Hudson’s big re-opening in late November.I’ve seen my fair share of restaurant pre-openings, but this remodel was particularly special. Perhaps because it’s the re-opening of one of Austin’s long-standing icons. Or perhaps because of my enthusiasm for the new crew of young and polished restaurateurs behind the new unveiling. But I’m pretty sure it’s because of the…

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Coffee and Chocolate Salami at Oporto’s Portuguese Pop-Up Bakery in Houston

Patricia Sharpe — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 21:11:37 +0000

I’m not sure when the revelation hit me: It may have been when I was stuffing my face with the adorable pastéis de nata, a crackly-crisp puff pastry shell lavished with cinnamon-spiked egg custard. Or perhaps it was when I was gorging myself like a bear in autumn on the sugar-drenched bolos de Berlim (or Berlin balls). But at some point I looked across the community table at my friend Felicia, who seemed to be in a state of sugar shock. “This is genius,” I said, perhaps a bit too loudly. “Genius!” To which she muttered, her mouth full, “Why has no one thought of this before?”The two of us had met early on a Saturday morning in late October to try out the first day…

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The Rosé Revolution

Jessica Dupuy — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 17:43:25 +0000

Throughout the world of wine, great regions are synonymous with a certain style. In Napa, it’s the big flavors of Cabernet Sauvignon. In Burgundy, it’s elegant, earthen Pinot Noir. In Germany, it’s pristine Riesling. And in Texas, it could just be refreshing rosé. That is, if Saturday’s inaugural Texas Wine Revolution has any sway. A first of its kind, hosted by founding winery William Chris Vineyards, in Hye, the afternoon festival kicked off a celebration of what the participating 26 wine producers call Texas-grown wine, or wines made with 100 percent Texas grapes.The event featured nearly three dozen Texas rosés made from grapes grown in all corners of the state—from Fort Stockton to Tyler. Attendees could wander among three tented rows of booths serving tastes of pink wine, mostly served by volunteers…

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The Top 10 Texas Rosés

Jessica Dupuy — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 13:43:39 +0000

To borrow the food-writing cliché, rosé is having a bit of a moment. Last year, dozens of articles pointed out the rise of rosé, including this info-packed piece from WinePair.com (America drinks 13 percent of the world’s rose, second only behind France) and this it-borders-on-parody post from GQ on the “Brosé” trend. No sense of how much influence Brad and Angelina’s Miraval Provence label, launched a couple of years ago, has had on the market.And so the trend continues, and, in fact, extends to Texas. As the Telegraph in the U.K. points out, in England “rosé is drunk winter and summer and goes stratospheric every time the sun shines.” Considering the propensity for sunshine in Texas, it’s only fitting that we do our part to follow suit.It’s believed that…

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Texas Gets Its Eighth Master Sommelier

Jessica Dupuy — Fri, 20 May 2016 17:36:19 +0000

Wednesday night, at The Little Nell hotel in Aspen, the Court of Master Sommeliers added three more to its stable of less than 250 master sommeliers around the world. The distinguished diploma is offered upon finishing what what has been referred to as one of the world’s hardest exams. This year, one of the three was Texas’ own David Keck of Camerata wine bar in Houston.Keck brings the state’s total number of masters to eight, joining June Rodil of McGuire Moorman Hospitality, who earned her diploma just last year, as well as Guy Stout (Glazer’s), James Tidwell (Four Seasons Resort and Club at Las Colinas), Devon Broglie (Whole Foods Market), Craig Collins (ELM Restaurant Group), Barbara Werley (Pappas Bros.), and Melissa Monosoff (Court of Master Sommeliers).Though originally from…

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How Mighty Swell Cocktails Is Disrupting the Drink Domain

Jessica Dupuy — Thu, 12 May 2016 14:52:54 +0000

Drinkers of a certain age might recall the golden era of the wine cooler. During the mid- to- late-eighties, wine coolers enjoyed a boom in commercial success, with 122 million gallons of the stuff sold in 1987. There were numerous ad campaigns that still stick out in our collective memory, like the famous “Thank you for support” spots by Bartles & Jaymes, Bruce Willis singing about Seagrams, and television stars shilling for Sun Country in a polar bear suit (yes, that really happened).These were the beginnings of the days of wanting convenience in a glass, and the idea of popping the top off of a bottle and pouring a refreshing pre-mixed cocktail over some ice had a lot of appeal. But as the new decade began, sales of wine coolers were on the decline, dipping nearly 17 percent…

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Texas Author Toni Tipton-Martin’s Book, ‘The Jemima Code,’ Wins James Beard Award

Patricia Sharpe — Tue, 03 May 2016 21:58:18 +0000

Texas publication The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks recently won the James Beard Foundation’s award for the best cookbook published in 2015 in the reference and scholarship division. The award was announced April 26 in New York. The author is Austin-based journalist Toni Tipton-Martin, and the publisher is the University of Texas Press.Speaking recently at the Foodways Texas annual symposium in Austin, Tipton-Martin talked about accumulating, over the decades, a massive collection of historic and new cookbooks with recipes from black cooks from all over the country. These books often capitalized on the massive appeal of so-called soul food recipes, like fried chicken, pork ribs, and black-eyed peas. But at the same time, they gave little or no credit to the cooks who had perfected…

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Justin Yu Wins James Beard Award for Best Southwest Chef

Patricia Sharpe — Tue, 03 May 2016 16:41:04 +0000

The chef-owner of tiny Oxheart in Houston, Justin Yu, was named Best Chef: Southwest at the 2016 James Beard Awards gala in Chicago on Monday. In his acceptance speech, he thanked the city of Houston for supporting a great dining scene. He had been nominated for the Southwest honor last year and was a finalist for the Rising Star Chef of the Year awards two years ago.Yu founded Oxheart in the spring of 2012, and his innovative, extremely precise, vegetable-forward food immediately came to the attention of food enthusiasts and restaurant critics. We wrote about it in May 2012 and included it on our list of the best new restaurants in Texas in 2013.The young chef was up against three other chefs from Texas (Bryce…

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Mind the Gap: 5 Takeaways From A First-Timer At The Buffalo Gap Wine and Food Summit

Jessica Dupuy — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 18:10:55 +0000

Clear skies and cool breezes provided the perfect conditions for the twelfth annual Buffalo Gap Wine and Food Summit last weekend. Despite its longevity, the festival is perhaps one of the state’s best kept secrets. Officially a Texas non-profit organization founded by Tom Perini of Perini Ranch Steakhouse, the late Fess Parker of Fess Parker Winery & Vineyards, and Dr. Richard Becker of Becker Vineyards, the three-day event is put on every April with a mission to cultivate appreciation of fine wine and food through education and industry discussion.And though it very well may be one of the best food and wine festivals in the country, it’s also one of the most intimate. Within about 10 minutes of their release in February, the weekend passes are snatched up by a…

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Austin Food & Wine Festival Chef Q&A: Aarón Sánchez

Layne Lynch — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 17:41:01 +0000

It’s that time of year again.The Austin Food & Wine Festival is only weeks away, and a lineup made up of extraordinary local and national chefs is about to descend upon our capital. As in years past, the festival has set its sights beyond the city limits, inviting a slew of gifted food and beverage personalities from around nation to showcase their incredible talents. This year’s lineup is perhaps the best yet, with James Beard Award Winners Hugh Acheson and Aarón Sánchez, Austin’s own Tyson Cole and Bryce Gilmore, the ever-jovial Tim Love, Andrew Zimmern, and many more.To kick off the festivities, Texas Monthly caught up with some of the attending chefs to gauge their views on Texas’s culinary scene, the pros and cons of…

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A Woman’s Place Is In Kitchen History

Abby Johnston — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 23:07:55 +0000

There’s a strange paradox when it comes to women and food. More often than not, in the home women are seen as bread makers rather than breadwinners. Yet in the age of the celebrity chef, the face of the restaurant industry is predominantly male. It’s no different in Texas: the James Beard Awards—the Oscars of the culinary world—have named Texas chefs or restaurant professionals as semifinalists 79 times over the past five years, but only eight of those semifinalist spots have gone to women. Seems that there are still glass ceilings (or stemware, perhaps?) to break.But as any Texan who’s been to a church potluck knows, women have a remarkable influence on the history of our state’s food. As you thumb through vintage community cookbooks from various regions, you’ll find the epicurean wisdom…

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Austin Food & Wine Festival Chef Q&A: Thai Changthong

Layne Lynch — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 18:28:16 +0000

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Austin Chef Makes The ‘Food & Wine’ Best New Chef List

Patricia Sharpe — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 16:52:35 +0000

Once again, Texas is represented Food & Wine’s prestigious Best New Chefs in America list. This time it’s Kevin Fink, of Austin. His restaurant, Emmer & Rye, also made Texas Monthly’s list of the ten best new restaurants in Texas that we published in March. At that time, we wrote: “There’s local and then there’s local. At Emmer & Rye, starry-eyed food fanatics grow exotic mushrooms in raised beds beside the restaurant, grind non-GMO heirloom grains for breads and pastries, and butcher pigs and lambs in the kitchen instead of buying them ready-cut into chops and roasts. . . . . The heart and mind behind the operation belong to 31-year-old Kevin Fink, who spent time at the French Laundry, in California, and Noma, in Denmark.”The winners…

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Austin Food & Wine Festival Chef Q&A: Sonya Cotê

Layne Lynch — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 16:32:00 +0000

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Austin Food & Wine Festival Chef Q&A: Adam Dorris

Layne Lynch — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 19:16:05 +0000

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Austin Food & Wine Festival Chef Q&A: Tim Love

Layne Lynch — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 19:11:14 +0000

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The Flemish Fox Brewery Looks Back to Move Forward

Jessica Dupuy — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 21:31:28 +0000

This week it was announced that a new brewery in North Austin—the Flemish Fox Brewery & Craftworks—would be breaking ground, news of yet another craft brewery joining Texas’s relatively crowded field of such enterprises. Yet, despite the regularity of such openings, this one is particularly noteworthy. Mainly because the brewery’s founder, Christine Celis, is the daughter of Pierre Celis, one of the people who kicked off Texas’s craft brewing trend in the early nineties.Many Texans—in particular, Austinites—will remember Celis Brewery, an early nineties startup that put witbier, a 400-year-old style of Belgium wheat beer, on the map in the United States. Prior to that, Celis was noted as having literally saved witbier from extinction when he began producing the brew in its hometown of Hoegaarden, Belgium, in 1965…

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The James Beard Award Finalists Have Been Announced, & Texas Chefs Cleaned Up

Patricia Sharpe — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 22:30:24 +0000

Austin has had a banner year in the lead-up to the James Beard Awards: Launderette, headed by Rene Ortiz, is one of five finalists for Best New Restaurant. Grae Nonas, co-chef of Olamaie, is in the running for Rising Star Chef of the Year (given to a chef 30 years of age or younger). The names were announced March 15.In the southwest regional competition, Texans snagged four of five finalist slots. The Lone Star nominees are Bryce Gilmore of Barley Swine in Austin, Steve McHugh of Cured in San Antonio, Hugo Ortega of Caracol in Houston, and Justin Yu of Oxheart in Houston.The winners will be announced at the James Beard awards gala on Monday, May 2, at Lyric Opera of Chicago. The ceremony will…

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Texas Chefs and Restaurants Make Impressive Showing in James Beard Award Semifinalists

Patricia Sharpe — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:54:11 +0000

The James Beard Foundation, the nation’s best-known culinary organization, released the list of semifinalists for its prestigious annual chef and restaurant awards on Wednesday. Texas made a highly respectable showing, with twenty individuals or restaurants making the cut. Finalists will be announced on March 15, and the winners on May 2 at the Beard Foundation’s awards ceremony and gala in Chicago, widely and justifiably described as the Oscars of the restaurant industry.In the Best New Restaurant category, Texas semifinalists are Launderette in Austin, and Helen Greek Food and Wine in Houston. For Outstanding Chef, Tyson Cole of Uchi, with locations in Austin, Houston, and Dallas, was given a nod.Two Texans were recognized in the Rising Star Chef of the Year category: Grae Nonas of Austin’s…

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A Toast to Texas Sparkling Wine

Jessica Dupuy — Sun, 14 Feb 2016 16:15:28 +0000

Texas wineries have made great strides producing award-winning red, white, and rose wines. And now, some are turning their attention to the sparkling variety.Sparkling wine is generally consumed during celebrations, a beverage used to toast a special occasion. It can also be a day-to-day beverage, one of the best wines for pairing with just about any food, like fried chicken or chicken paillard, steamed salmon or salmon croquettes, even smoked brisket or a juicy burger.This is because good sparkling wines have a lot of acidity, which means they can handle a lot of body when it comes to food. The crisp acidity and texture of the bubbles lift heavier foods off the palate and whet your appetite. Skeptical? Try a glass of standard Italian Prosecco with a plate of crispy french…

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Texas-Sized Super Bowl Party

Texas Monthly — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 15:12:18 +0000

We’ve mined our recipe archives for the best dips, snacks, and drinks to fuel your Super Bowl party. Hey, just because you’re an Atlanta or New England fan doesn’t mean you have to eat like one.Dips Chile con Queso Guacamole Snacks Fried Jalapeños Chili Onion Rings Spicy Grilled Shrimp and Scallops Southwest Potato Salad Frijoles Sabrosos Main Dishes Chili Grilled Sweet Potato, Chorizo, and Corn Hash Frito Pie Drinks 2900 Sangria Mexican Martini Margarita Variations Chic-Choc Old Fashioned

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A First Look at Top Knot, Dallas’s New Restaurant From The Uchi People

Patricia Sharpe — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 21:56:55 +0000

Most of the big cats are out of the bag.Top Knot, the new Dallas restaurant from the Uchi group, will open on February 3, with dinner only at first, lunch and brunch to be added later. The concept is, of course, Asian, with Mediterranean and Latin American influences. A few days ago we got a first look at the space and some of the featured dishes, which sound delicious.The second-floor area, located above Uchi, is defined by a long wooden bar on one side. Unlike its downstairs sibling, which offers only beer, wine, and sake, Top Knot will serve booze. “One thing we are very excited to showcase is Japanese whiskey, because the Japanese are very into Scotch,” says beverage director Chris Melton. He adds that Japanese…

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