Truffle me this

Twas the night before Santa Rampage, and all the creatures were stirring, even a Mouse.....Photos by John Knox.

The night of Santa Rampage, @windaddict and I decided to have a Happy Hour dinner at Trio in the Four Seasons.  It had completely slipped my mind that it was also the day that Trio would be offering a special truffle dish with real alba truffles for $65.  These alba truffles were a hefty $3,300 per pound.  That is in USD.  Chef Todd somehow talked us into placing an order for the truffle dish.  This dish, according to Todd, is very simple and very tradition.  Comprised of only duck egg pasta, butter, parmesan, and truffles, it was absolutely fabulous.  The duck pasta was long flat noodles that had the same width as the shaved truffles.  It was also cooked al dente so that it also had the same texture of the shaved truffle pieces.  It was genius.  Everything tasted like shaved truffles even though there was just a bit shaved on.  Also, if you haven't tried real truffles yet, just try it once.  It is absolutely divine. 
 
The precious, precious white alba truffle.

Todd shaves alba truffles on the duck egg pasta.

The delicious truffle dish.

The empty bowl. 

GO TEXAN Chef Showdown Results with Tummy Rumbling Photos

Last Wednesday night, 3 skilled chefs and hungry diners gathered at the Hyatt for the Go Texan Chef Showdown. I was lucky to be invited to this event as a judge as it was an event you didn't want to miss. Now get your eyes ready for a feast. All photos by John Knox.

Each chef was given a set of ingredients to prepare an appetizer and an entree.  The dishes were scored on flavor, Southwestern flair, and use of local ingredients. Here's the judges, huddled at our table.  I'm in the gray, second from the right. The menu for the evening follows. 

Chef Todd Duplechan of Trio

Appetizer – Shrimp Ceviche with cucumber and persimmons

Entrée – Poached Shrimp with smoked shrimp croquettes, corn puree, and market vegetable slaw

Chef Stephen  Bonin of Driskill Grill

Appetizer – Sous Vide Egg yolk with jalapeno shrimp noodle, cilantro sorbet, brown butter powder, and local greens with mustard and smoked paprika

Entrée – Pan Roasted Snapper with roasted tomato vinaigrette, sweet cilantro, sautéed okra, and grilled corn foam

Chef Kevin Dee of Southwest Bistro

Appetizer – Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with goat cheese mousse, pecan arugula pesto, and bacon lardonnes

Entrée – Elderberry Braised Lamb Shanks with Pure Luck hopelessly blue frits and persimmon chutney

The shrimp in Chef Todd's ceviche was especially fresh and sweet.  Perfectly paired with toasted pumpkin seeds. 

 

This winning entree of poached shrimp by Chef Todd reminded many judges for the Texas State Fair corn dogs.

 

Chef Todd plating it up. 

 

Deliciously buttery red snapper from Chef Stephen had a fresh and clean flavor.  It tasted like melting butter. Can't go wrong with butter. 

 

The Driskill plating up the Eggyolk Sous Vide along with that wonderful cilantro sorbet.

 

Butternut squash soup with a Pure Luck goat cheese mousse, arugula pesto, and bacon by Chef Kevin. The man has it right. Bacon and Cheese.

 

Roasting up the snapper in butter. 

 

Roasted lamb shanks with permission chutney and elderberry sauce by Chef Kevin.

 The cilantro sorbet by Chef Stephen was cool, refreshing, and one of the most surprising dishes that night.  I did love the cilantro sorbet.

For the People's Choice, Chef Kevin from Southwest Bistro won both the appetizer and the entree vote.  I also have to mention that the ice cream served that night at Southwest Bistro was amazingly creamy and delicious.  Do try the ice cream when you visit SWB.

For the Judge's Choice, Chef Todd from Trio won with his for the tasty shrimp dishes.

A big congrats to all the Chefs for their wonderful creations, and a big thanks to all who put this event together.  GOOOO TEXAN!

GO TEXAN Chef Showdown at the Hyatt - Sept. 30th, 7 pm!

It's Chef Showdown time at the Hyatt! How can you skip this event? Three highly skilled Austin chefs will gather at The Hyatt for a show down, chef style.  Given local ingredients, these chefs will have to whip up an appetizer and an entree.  Judges include local food writers from Austin American-Statesman, the Austin Chronicle, Edible Austin Magazine, Austin Monthly Magazine, Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Foundation, Yelp Elite and Tribeza Magazine.

The three chefs include Kevin Dee of SouthWest Bistro, Todd Duplechan of Trio, and Stephen Bonin of The Driskill Grill.  If you haven't had delicious offerings from these chefs yet, you're missing out.  Seats are limited so you better get a move on reservations.  The cost per ticket is $80 plus tax and gratuity.  A great steal for three fine meals and unlimited wine.  Reservations at http://opentable.com or by calling 512-480-2035.

Birthday 2009: Adventures in Eating

Having a voracious appetite, birthdays are just an excuse for a me to indulge in some of my favorite eats. This post chronicles how a food blogger spends her birthday weekend.

Friday, August 21

7:00 am - played with the dogs and ate half a cantelope. It really isn't photograph worthy.

8:00 am - arrive at the Four Seasons to begin my Daycation, a thoughtful gift from my other half. A daycation at the Four Seasons rocks! You are constantly being waited on hand and food. It is luxury at it's best with a view of the lake from the relaxation room. Men, are you reading this? This is how you impress your lady. Once settled, I immediately jump on the elliptical machine on the fitness room before my 9:30 body treatment.

9:02 am - I'm startled by the staff and almost fall off the elliptical. My appointment was at 9, not 9:30. My bad. I chose the grapefruit body scrub which involves a full body scrub, shower, and lotion application with massage. It was absolutely fabulous, and if you haven't been in a rain shower, try it. You are deprived until you try. After my treatment, I went to hang by the pool for some sunshine.

12:30 - Lunch with my beau. In case you've missed it, I love Trio at the Four Seasons. My birthday lunch was nothing less than amazing. I could write about it, or I could post drool worthy photographs. I had to be rolled back to the spa and took an afternoon siesta in the relaxation room.

Tomato Watermelon Salad, Tamarind Basil Yogurt Foam

Crab Louie, Avocado, Horseradish Aïoli

Prime tenderloin, Sautéed Spinach, Shitake and Raisin Crouton, and Wild Mushroom Medley

Another view.

Prime Steak Burger

Birthday dessert: Macaroon, truffles, candy, cookies, and chocolates on a stick. I almost had an oxytocin/estrogen moment.

3:30 pm - Wakey time and back on the elliptical. My sweet friend, Debbie (@snax) gave me a call, and decided to join me for a glass of bubbly at Happy Hour. If you haven't been to Trio's Happy Hour, you are deprived. Check out the photos on this post, and you'll see why.

7:30 pm - Dinner with the family at Ho Ho's Chinese BBQ.

Pawns with Special Salt

B.B.Q. Combination

Sauteed Chinese Vegetable

Seafood and Bean Curd Hot Pot

Fish Fillet with Plum Sauce

Shredded Pork In Garlic Sauce

Beef with Chinese Broccoli

Peking Duck

9:30 pm - Dessert at Max's Wine Dive. We got the Half and Half.

Saturday, August 22nd

2:00 pm - Better than Sex Pie at Sugar Mama's. Thanks, Olivia!

3:00 pm - Lunch at Milano Cafe. Mmmm........ I LOVE me some Milano Cafe.

Lobster Ravioli, Veggie Pizza, Roast Beef Panini

Lamb with a rosemary wine sauce. Yummy!

7:30 pm - Dinner and drinks at Fino Austin with @thebeerwench, @sharayray @baconator. I haven't written much about Fino, but it is one of my favorite places in Austin. Over the course of my visits here, I've gotten to know Bill, Caroline, Jimmy, Chris, Lisa, and Emmett here. While chatting with dear friend of mine about Fino, he mentioned that he visited Fino a couple of years ago with a large group of friends the night before a particularly risky procedure and life threatening procedure. The staff overheard the reason for their "celebration," and bought their meals that night. Even if I had never visited Fino myself, a gesture like that buys Fino a million good karma points. Anyways, the food is fabulous, the staff is great, and the drinks are outstanding.

Crab Stuffed Piquillo Pepper, Halloumi & Sherry Poached Figs, Pan Con Tomate The scallop and prawn dish made vegetarian. It also had chick peas, peanuts, and a fantastic, absolutely wonderful spice blend of spices they call tan-tan. I loved this dish. Vanilla Yogurt Mousse Tart with Boozy Cherries Candied Marcona Almonds Pinapple al Reves PX Sherry-Vanilla Ice Cream Boozy cherries.... oh sooooo good! 10:45 pm - Off to @baconator's house for @ProjectYine interviews and some more @twisted_oak vino!HTML clipboard A big thanks to Four Seasons, Trio, Milano Cafe, Max's Wine Dive, Fino Austin, Sugar Mama's, my family, @snax, @windaddict, @baconator, @twisted_oak, @sharayray, and @baconator for making my birthday weekend a great one!

A Night at Trio

Prime Beef Sashimi

It is no secret that I love TRIO. The food is fabulous, the view is gorgeous, the service is just fantastic. What's not to love? After the last food blogger event, I was in heaven. My review is here. I thought there was no way TRIO could out do that event, but they made a liar out of me. A big thank you to Paul, Mark, Camile, and Susie for making the evening absolutely phenomenal.

A group of ladies had Happy Hour at TRIO at the Four Seasons on a Monday night - organized by Allison. Just to show you how far TRIO went to make sure our evening was heavenly, not only did the staff expect us, they recognized us. If I didn't already have a lustful relationship with TRIO, I would have thought that they were stalking us. I started by a visit to the bar (I had chit chat with my favorite bar tender, Susie) and a glass a Reisling. When we got to the table, Allison and Jaye let the cat out of the bag. We were all presented with gift bags containing a $50 gift certificate to their spa services (can we say bomb diggity awesome??!!?) as well as some lotion and soap.

Baked Gulf Oysters, Shrimp, Bacon, Shoestring Potato

After the ladies had some drinks and eats, we were given a tour of the spa facilities by Paul. I'm a woman. Women like spas. The spa had large floor to ceiling windows that literally brought the outdoors right inside. Imagine getting a massage with a beautiful view of Lady Bird Lake and flowers. Eh? You like? I like. Also, available was cucumber water and granola bars. All spas should be like this.

Artisan Cheese Plate

Following the tour of the spa was a tour of the kitchen. Um...... yes. I love food. Need there be more words? Really.... Jennie in the Kitchen is a Happy Jennie. Oh, and I spotted a gigantic jar of Rooster sauce. *Insert rauncy joke here* After the kitchen tour, we are taken to the pool area. On the way, we pass by a chimea, and Paul tells us that they do smores with the kids out there on Friday and Saturday nights. Whoa, Stop. Smores at the TRIO? The ladies get excited. Is there an age limit on being a "kid?" We all want a part of this! Paul must be a ladies' man because he senses our adrenaline rushing. Paul insists that they build a fire and bring out smore ingredients. The ladies cannot resist, and we are all grinning like Chershire cats.

We finally get to the pool, which is absolutely paradise. Sunblock in pump dispenser, big fluffy white towels, and lounge chairs were all at pool users' disposal. Paul also told us that frozen grapes and Evian water spritz (to mist your skin) is offered every half hour. I think Allison nearly passes out from glee.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

The party moves back inside to order our last glasses of wine before paying our check, and Paul walks us and presents us with $25 gift certificates. He then proceeds to build a fire in the chimea while wearing his suit. I've decided that TRIO doesn't want to impress us, they want us to all marry Paul. Allison and I are taken, but the other six lovely ladies are still available.

We ended our happy 5 hours with smores on the gorgeous backyard of the Four Seasons over looking Lady Bird Lake. You're tired of reading text, you want more pictures. Makes you kind of mad that you skipped out, doesn't it? If you're a man, you're probably wishing that you were Paul.

Look at that Excitement!

Paul and Kris roasting marshmallows.

I'm happy. Jessican and Kris are happy. Are you happy?

We look like cheerleaders.

*Note: We didn't eat all the food pictured. Those pictures are from previous TRIO visits.