Eat | Drink

Austin Food & Wine Festival DAY 3

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Today the sun is unrelenting, burning our flesh the moment the yellow burst rises up. As I walk in through the entrance, there sits on the grass a large table with the signature black tablecloth. On it? Stacks and stacks of commemorative glasses for the taking. Shatter-proof and bearing the insignia of the 2013 Austin Food & Wine Festival. Yes, this is the very last day and I look on it with a bit of sadness.

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Austin Food & Wine Presents Rock Your Taco

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The day ends and a different kind of Food Event is about to begin. A culinary world, an incredible global community created to support chefs and their passions and push them to be their best – at all times; Something I wholeheartedly subscribe to. While we are flourishing with the Celebrity Chef nuance, I love to see these chefs dig deep and go back to doing what they love most: COOK.

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2013 Austin Food & Wine Festival DAY 1

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I have been to Austin twice in my life. This April was the 2nd time. This time I was greeted by familiar faces, succulent food, savory sweets, open minds, exquisite talent, momentous friends, and a slew of food, wine, life, travel, and culture lovers to which degree I have quite possibly never encountered before. Passion and a thirst for life was present more so than I can remember on this wonderful trip to Austin all in the name of the 2013 Austin Food & Wine Festival.

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LiveFire Challenge AUSTIN

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Last night I arrived in Austin. Bags in tow, rental car picked up, freeways mastered, and the long FM 150 to Highway 1826 and voila! Salt Lick BBQ, Pecan Grove Pavilion. I arrive to attend the Food & Wine Alliance 3rd Annual Event: Live Fire Challenge! Beef Supremacy & Fire Mastery. With a long line of very talented chefs and pastry chefs, the palate was eager to taste and hungry to satisfy. I tasted just about everything and in the end, it was Sway Thai that won me over.

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LUCCA

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Tucked in the corner of the Quail Hill Shopping Center in Irvine, CA, Lucca Café feels somewhat like a hidden treasure, one you paradoxically long to keep as a secret for only yourself, while conversely wanting to share with everyone even remotely interested in delicious food.

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Zinque Abbott Kinney

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A fairly delectable selection of wines, small plates, fresh ingredients, and this rural rustic chic kind of atmosphere, I stumbled upon a rather perfect place. I wait. Patio is insanely busy but the restaurant, not so much. And I wait. And I wait. But eventually, sunshine (my happy server) comes over and asks me what I want. To begin, you have to give a credit card. Much like a bar, you open a tab or pay and close. A bit different but hey, better than someone drinking too much and not being able to pay I guess. And so, I relent. I begin my curiosities by ordering a glass of Grenacha, Evodia from Spain, vintage ’11.

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Brasserie Cassis

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I am obsessed with all things French: the language, the country, the attitude, Marie Antoinette, and, most importantly, the food. Julia Child, who I also have a slight obsession with, brought the simplistic elegance, and ridiculously delicious, essence of what real French food is all about to the American audience. It wasn’t just the hoity-toity, über expensive fare that most Americans thought it was; it is really about the ingredients and the fatty, acidic, pure flavor of exquisite French dishes.

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A Night of Magic and Wine with David Minkin

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David enters the room and situates himself no more than 2 feet away from the audience. He is up close and personal and without a beat, greets us all in his relaxed and warm way and voila! The magic begins. Literally. It muse be said – again – that I’m a cynic and an over-thinker. I pride myself on wanting to know how everything works.

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A Taste of Dawn RADIO Episode 4

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We are at a pivotal point in time where there are so many potential positives amidst the insanity. Equality, the evolution of foods, wines, the openness to a world waiting for us to explore it … Today I invited a Chef I utterly admire for his creativity and willingness to utilize all of the senses, Chef Andrés Dangond. The premise of the show is sugar and creativity.

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Foreign & Domestic Austin

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I had heard quite a bit about Chef Ned Elliot of Foreign & Domestic. I read about his travels, how he and his wife cook together: Jodi creating desserts and masterful sweet creations | Ned creating flavors that take you on a global journey while not being pretentious. I was going to Austin and I knew this was a stop I wanted to make…

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