Farm to Table @LakeWayResort and Sustainable Food Center Autumn Harvest @LaCondesaAustin

A big thanks to Josey's and Chef Jeff Axline for having me over for dinner.  Eating local and sustainable is a pretty popular movement these days.  If you haven't heard of the reasons why you might want to start eating locally and sustainably, it is high time to get a move on it! Josey's is doing a weekly Farm to Table Dinner that changes every week.  The weekly dinner is at Wednesday Nights starting at 5:30 pm.  This meal is a steal at just $25 for locally sourced ingredients.  Take a look at the November 2nd menu. 

Chef Jeff Axline purchases the ingredients himself at the downtown Saturday morning market.  He goes incognito (sorta, not really) so don't expect recognize him quickly. 

The meal starts with fluffy biscuits with butter.  Nothing says Texas like warm biscuits. 

This salad was my sister's favorite part of the meal.  Grilled Texas Pears served with organic arugula, shaved Van Sormon cheese, French Breakfast Radish, Poached Farmer's Egg, and a Fig Vinaigrette.  The grilled pears was my absolute favorite part of the dish.  I love grilled fruit (pineapple, strawberries, and peaches), and these pears were no exception.  The pears were sweet and smoky which contrasted well with the bitter greens. 

The second dish was my favorite - Pan Roasted Copper Shoals Red Drum with baby squash, sweet peppers, green beans, tomato fumet, and sweet herbs.  Taiwanese cooking at home consisted of whole fish skin-on.  Living on the coast made having crispy skin on fish a regular dinner item when I was growing up.  It has somewhat of a comfort food quality for me.  I know, I have the most unusual comfort food preferences.  This fish skin was wonderfully executed and seasoned.  The red drum was from Copper Shoals Farm located in Palacios, TX.   

The dessert course was a rich version of a classic - Pumpkin Pie with House Made Buttery Crust served with Persimmon Mascarpone Cream and Persimmon puree.  Adding persimmon flavor to sinful mascarpone cream can only be good.  Did I mention that I love persimmons? 

If you're looking for another Farm to Table event, the Sustainable Food Center Chef Series Austin Harvest is right around the corner.  On Nov. 12th, you'll get to taste food from:

• Tyson Cole, executive chef at Uchi and Uchiko
• Andrew Weissman, executive chef of Il Sogno, The Sandbar, and The Luxury
•  James Holmes & Andrew Francisco of Olivia
• Shawn Cirkiel, executive chef at Parkside and Backspace
• Jason Donoho and Andrew Macarthur of Fino and Asti
• Todd Duplechan of forthcoming Lenoir
• Monica Glenn of Uchi Houston
• Rene Ortiz of La Condesa

I attended the Spring Bounty Series, and it was pretty fantastic.  If you want to  be amazing by local chefs and local produce, get tickets for Sunday, Nov. 12th.  You'll love it!

GABF 2011: Farm to Table Pavilion's Tasty Bites

The popularity of food and beer pairings is still growing.  It was evidence by the swarm of people in the Farm to Table Pavilion at the Great American Beer Festival.  The food this year looked fantastic, but I had to run around quickly to take photos of it before the sun went down.  Lighting inside the building can be a problem for photos.  This year's pavilion was so crowded that I was unable to get any photos of the food next to their proper descriptions or next to the appropriately paired beer.  Nonetheless, the food I tasted was pretty darn good.  Next year, I shall try to arrive earlier and bust my way through the crowds like a hungry honey badger.  This came from a pig.  Enough said.  This was one of my favorite offerings.  A lamb burger on an incredibly soft bun.  Lamb belly.  Like pork belly, but with lamb.  This was also pretty fantastic.  I don't think I actually got to eat one of these.  Chorizo on a stick.  I remember it being tasty, and I remember it being served with some Dogfish beer.  This was really fantastic.  I grabbed one as during my first round of photos.  I'm sure it had a fancy proper name that I didn't remember.  I remember it being like a sweet cream custard with chocolate and brittle.  I didn't get to have one of these.  Or any of these.  I didn't get to try any of these either. Or this.  I'm one sad blogger. All photos, very little tasting.  However, the ones I did try were pretty fantastic.  This little guy gets the cutest boy at GABF award.  What a cutie pie! And here's a picture for Rich from New Holland Brewing.  We met at Tales of the Cocktail a few months prior.  Did you know that New Holland also makes spirits?  They have one called Hopquila that is made with hops!