Y'all Would Have Loved the San Antonio New World Wine & Food Festival

I'm back in significantly cooler San Francisco, after three great days of food and wine (and beer and tequila) at the San Antonio New World Wine & Food Festival.

I was invited by the San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau to come and check out this annual event, and I'm sure glad I did!

Above and beyond all the delicious food and drink we got to enjoy, I really loved the look and feel of San Antonio. Super nice people, tons of history even beyond the iconic Alamo, and the famous River Walk was just as cool as everyone told me it was.

To be able to walk along the banks of the San Antonio river, past so many interesting shops, bars, and restaurants, was unique to anything I've experienced before (and if you're not into the walking thing, you can jump into a river taxi). Like most of these trips, there's just too much to cover, but here are a few of the highlights.

We drove deep into Hill Country for a winemaker's lunch at Becker Vineyards, where we enjoyed a very nice multi-course menu paired with Dr. Richard Becker's award-winning European-style wines. Having had zero experience with wines from Texas, I have to say I was pretty impressed.

One of the afternoon's highlights was this pork belly with parsnip puree and braised sweet and sour Swiss chard. I have to admit, I'm getting a bit bored with pork belly these days, but this was outstanding.

Later that evening, we attended the New World Grand Tasting. The area's top chefs and restaurants served their best bites alongside over 100 wines from Texas and around the world. You know I love a good Grand Tasting, and this did not disappoint.

I found it fascinating to see how the chefs combined influences from around the food world with local Tex-Mex classics. The offerings ran the gamut from simple and delicious, like a spicy fig and apricot-glazed chicken legs, to this very sophisticated Hawaiian striped marlin served with togarashi, yuzu, radish, and coconut, from Pesca.

One of my favorite bites of the weekend was this unique take on the Cuban sandwich from Achiote River Cafe & Bar. Ham, cheese, pork belly, and pickles were placed into split gougères (cheese puffs). It was a great idea, and to me represented the best that these events have to offer.

The next day we had the chance to tour the historic Pearl building. This former brewery is being converted into a culinary center, and cultural gathering place. We had a chance to taste some locally produced olive oils from Texas' growing olive industry, which I enjoyed a great deal. I had no idea there were 300 different varieties of olives grown in Texas.

In addition to new apartments, restaurants, artisan shops, and a farmers market, the complex is home to a new Culinary Institute of America campus. This is only the renowned school's second location outside of Hyde Park, NY. For a city with such a vibrant culinary scene, having a world class culinary school will only accelerate San Antonio's standing as a foodie destination.

After a tour of the school, we enjoyed an amazing lunch at Chef Johnny Hernandez’s brand new restaurant La Gloria. The menu is a sort of Mexican street foods "greatest hits," and we enjoyed a huge selection of tacos, quesadillas, panuchos, ceviches, and something called a tlayudas from Oaxaca, which is a sort of ultra-thin, crispy (and very addictive) pizza.

We joked with the chef about just sending out one of everything. I'm not sure the chef could tell we were joking, as we literally got to sample items from every category on the menu. I really need to be careful about that whole keeping a straight-face thing.

Speaking of Mexican-inspired food, later that day we headed out to The Best of Mexico celebration at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa.

We enjoyed more great wines, beers, and premium tequilas, all paired with favorites like red moles, fried tostones topped with beans and beef, and spicy shrimp taquitos.

You’d think I would have been weary of Mexican food after our epic lunch at La Gloria, but not even close. I never get tired of that style of food. I wish I had better photos from this event, but did I mention the tequilas?

The last big highlight was a trip to Totally Texas at Rio Cibolo Ranch. You could smell the barbecuing beef as we drove up the long road to the event.

In addition to all the usual wine and food pairings we enjoyed all weekend, there were a half dozen of the area's top barbecue teams getting their smoke on.

I enjoyed some great traditional Texas barbecue including pork ribs, chicken (which the pitmasters kept telling tourists was armadillo, rattlesnake, or alligator, much to my great amusement), hot sausages, and the undisputed king of the smoke-ringed meats; beef brisket.

Sitting under a huge shade tree, eating brisket and sipping on a Lonestar beer, I couldn't help but look down and picture what I might look like in a pair of cowboy boots. After a couple moments I decided I'd leave the pointy footwear to those more suited, like Anthony Bourdain.

The trip ended with drinks and hors d’oeuvres at Acenar, adjacent the amazingly beautiful Hotel Valencia. In the spirit of full disclosure, I will say that my stay was complimentary, but in all honesty, it really was a world-class hotel experience. Great service, gorgeous rooms, and the best 3/4-pound room service sirloin burger I've ever had.

I’d like to thank the San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau and Geiger & Associates for making this trip possible. I had a wonderful time, and I will be back for sure.

If you want more info about this event specifically, or San Antonio's food scene in general, here's the Visitors Bureau's official website. Enjoy!

2010 Foodbuzz Food Blogger Festival – Impossible to Describe…Literally!

This post is a perfect indication for how much things have changed for me since last year's Foodbuzz Food Blogger Festival. Last year, knowing that bloggers who had never seen my blog before would be reading it (most to see how/why they were mentioned), and with plenty of free time to put it together, I did a very detailed recap with photos of just about everything I ate.

This year, I'm so busy producing video recipes already promised to multiple corporate overlords, I'm afraid this will have to do. In addition to not having nearly as much time, any full-blown recap would have taken me four to five times as long to do this year. Why? Because of a breakout session I attended called The Write Taste.

Led by friends (and total kick-ass bloggers), Brooke (right) from Food Woolf, Linda (left) from Salty Seattle, and Greg from Sippity Sup, the panel focused on a long list of trite words that we food bloggers are no longer allowed to use – or as Brooke put it, were "Verboten!" There's regular forbidden, and then there's German forbidden.

This long list of words included: delicious, tasty, yummy, moist, tender, creamy, unctuous, and awesome. Since this represents roughly 87% of my food adjective vocabulary, writing a complete recap would have virtually impossible. It was a really fun session, but unfortunately ended before I had a chance to ask the panel what the hell I'm suppose to use in their place.

Foodbuzz Food Blogger Festival 2010 – Gala Dinner Photo Recap

Saturday night was the Gala Dinner at the 2010 Foodbuzz Food Blogger Festival, and it was quite an evening. The setting was San Francisco's beautiful Ferry Building, and if I knew how to use my camera at night, I would have had some amazing photos.

The festivities started with a cocktail hour in the plaza, and there are very few things I enjoy more than being surrounded by hundreds of chatting food bloggers enjoying wine and passed hors'douves. A couple of my favorites were these zucchini and parmesan madeleines filled with crimson cured salmon and lemon crème; and creamy polenta cups with goat cheese and Provencal vegetables.

After just the right amount of snacking, we moved upstairs to the Grand Hall. The food was done by one of San Francisco's top caterers, Paula LeDuc, and for a crowd this large, I thought the meal was executed very well.

The first course was a roasted golden beet tart with feta, wild arugula, and puree of basil. I've never been a big beets guy, but nevertheless enjoyed this very much. The satisfying tart was impossibly light, almost weightless. The diced red beets alongside provided an excellent textural and visual foil.

Next came my favorite course of the evening, a perfectly seared diver scallops with braised fennel, fried fennel fronds, and a verjus beurre blanc. Knowing how hard it is to serve scallops with such a perfect consistency, even for a small party, I was beyond impressed. I believe I described the texture as how pinching God's cheeks would feel. I really don't know what that means either, but at least I didn’t say "tender."

The main course, rack of lamb loin with pinot noir sauce and butternut squash puree, was expertly prepared also, but suffered from the bad luck of having to follow the scallops. The meat, infused with rosemary and garlic, was flavorful and retained an appropriate level of hydration (man, I would have loved to use "moist" right there). The local wild mushroom ragout alongside was spot on, and the butternut squash puree was butternut squash puree.

Above and beyond the [whatever another awesome word that means delicious] food and wine, I was lucky enough to get several great tastes of home-brewed beer smuggled in by my favorite beer blogger (which I can't confirm or deny was Jesse from Beer and Nosh).

The dessert course featured a "Tarta de Almendras" – a buttery almond cake with oranges, figs, and sherry sabayon. The plate was topped with what I initially though was a "shredded wheat crisp" (thanks a lot, too much wine), but what turned out to be a tangle of caramelized parmesan.

Luckily, my buddy Joel, from Six by 10 Tiny Kitchen, corrected me before I made a fool of myself in front of the table, which would have been highly embarrassing since it included food blog rock stars, Pim from Chez Pim, Elise from Simply Recipes, and Mark from No Recipes.

It was an enjoyable evening of great food, wine, and conversation, made even more so when I won a $100 prize for having one of the weekend's best tweets. During the The Write Taste session we were told to use the Twitter hashtag #fbzwrite for our tweets describing bites at the Grand Tasting, after which the five best would be chosen. Here's my winning entry:

Pefect pears plucked with bare fingers, licked clean longer than need be, don't blame me, blame the tree. #fbzwrite

By the way, I've decided to donate my winnings to a holiday charity. I'm not doing this to be nice, or socially responsible, but because Tweeting may one day become an Olympic event, and I want to maintain my amateur status.

A hearty thanks to Foodbuzz for a fabulous weekend of food blogging fun!

*Bonus Coverage!

Here is a great video recap by Lynn Chen from The Actor's Diet. Enjoy!

S’more Ice Cream Pie – Who’s Your Daddy’s Favorite Celebrity Dessert Chef?

Trick question; he doesn’t have one. That type of thing is more for women and food bloggers. In fact, your dad may not even have a favorite dessert, but if he had to pick one, I think a lot of fathers would go with s’mores – the campfire classic that inspired this frozen Father’s Day dessert.

S’mores are a simple, yet brilliant treat that represents everything most males, dads or otherwise, seem to love. It’s made over a crackling fire, the building of which triggers the release of all kinds of manly neurotransmitters in the brain. The same goes for sharpening sticks with knives, impaling things, and burning stuff.

And while you’re not experiencing those primitive pleasures here (except for the blowtorch, which is never not awesome), I think just the connection with the venerable s’more alone will be enough to have dad loving this pie.

If not, there’s always the crispy, buttery graham crackers, chocolate ice cream, and toasted marshmallows to make him proud of you anyway. Whether you make this for Father’s Day dessert or not, I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups finely crushed graham cracker crumbs

6 tbsp melted butter

1/4 cup white sugar

1 (28-oz) container chocolate ice cream

2-3 handfuls mini marshmallows, or enough to cover the top

View the complete recipe

Learning the Easy Way at Kingsford University

This past week, Michele and I spent three wonderful days at something called Kingsford University. "KU," as it's called in charcoal-related academia, is an event sponsored by Kingsford Charcoal in which food writers and bloggers are brought together to learn all about how charcoal is made, watch demos on the finer points of grilling and barbecuing, and of course enjoy lots of great food and wine.

I'm happy to report we all passed with flying colors (although a few of the other bloggers paid some nerds to do their homework). We even received a diploma! After I finish this post I'm going to start looking into some grad school options.

The master of ceremonies was world champion pitmaster Chris Lilly. Chris is vice president of the legendary Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, Alabama, and Kingsford Charcoal spokesperson. He was really fun to listen to, and I learned quite a bit. I've sprinkled in a few videos of Chris below, so you can get a little taste of what we enjoyed.

The trip began Tuesday evening. After checking into the beautiful Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, we headed out to dinner and introductions at Pican in Oakland. We met our fellow bloggers (a complete list of attendees with links to their blogs will be added to the bottom of this post as soon as available!), Kingsford reps, and other dignitaries, and enjoyed a delicious dinner prepared by Chef Dean Dupuis.

Dinner began with a perfectly crispy fried chicken appetizer (now that's the way to start a meal!). I was even asked to demo my now famous chicken wing de-boning technique. I assume they were mocking me, but I did it anyway. Will this chicken wing trick become my "Freebird?" (FYI - that was a vague, dated Lynyrd Skynyrd reference)

I enjoyed a nice piece of grilled Loch Duarte salmon with root veggie puree and smoky savory cabbage. Michele had the southern classic, shrimp and grits. Everything was great, and as we ate we chatted with our fellow foodies – discussing the differences between food blogging and food writing, and how it's been years since any of us has actually had a hot meal.

At these affairs, no one eats until the pictures are taken, lots of pictures, at every conceivable angle and composition. This shouldn't be taken as a complaint – it's a very small price to pay for the great food and even better company.

The next morning we headed to the Clorox Technical Center in Pleasanton, CA to learn all about charcoal briquets. I'll be honest, of all the things I'd always wanted to learn more about, charcoal briquets wasn't one of them. But I was honestly fascinated by the process, and what could have been a long morning went by quickly.

Like most wannabe backyard grill masters, I already use Kingsford charcoal and really didn't need any convincing it was superior. My own anecdotal evidence the few times I've had to use the bargain brands showed that this stuff is clearly better, but I didn't know why. Now I do.

We watched them make a batch from scratch, and also got to see this really cool room were they do hundreds of burn tests a day. They were really excited to show off a newly designed, "ultra briquet" that promises even better performance despite being lighter and more eco-friendly.

We were not allowed to take photos inside the labs where they showed us the secret proprietary methods with which Kingsford charcoal is made and tested, but outside we did see live comparison demos and testing verses the alternative brands. It wasn't even close. Give or take a few minutes, their briquets lit twice as fast, were ready in half the time, and lasted twice as long. Class dismissed.

After lunch we headed up to the gorgeous Hotel Healdsburg, located in the middle of Sonoma's beautiful wine country. The remainder of KU was held at the Seghesio Family Vineyards and hosted by Peter Seghesio and the rest of his amazing family. The family has been making wine in the area for four generations, and to be able to enjoy their wine during the next two days of classes and demos was a great treat.

We attended a special dinner prepared by Chef Jon Helquist, formerly of the venerable Chez Panisse, in the winery's beautiful Redwood Room. The food was classic northern California fare – fresh, local, seasonal food simply prepared and served family style.

The highlights included Chris Lilly's barbecued pineapple sweet ribs, grilled Tuscan-style game hens, locally foraged wild mushrooms, and charcoal grilled fingerling potatoes with salsa rustica. Chef Jon's offerings were paired with an array of Seghesio's highly regarded Zinfindels.

That evening Chris Lilly showed us his famous low and slow method for cooking pork shoulder (see video). In between his many tips and tricks, we were treated to some very entertaining war stories from the championship barbecue circuit. A live band and s'mores cooked over small fire pits brought the evening to a sweet and smoky end. By the way, this is a man clearly willing to suffer for his art, as he had to get out of a warm bed and come back at 3 AM to tend the fire!

Chris Lilly's Low and Slow Barbecued Pork Butt



Note: this video shot with an iPhone in the dark.


The next day we enjoyed the fruits of Chris' late night labor with what was probably the tastiest and most succulent pork butt I've ever had. After being pulled and chopped, the moist, smoky meat was turned into slaw-topped sliders. Speaking of fruits, they were served with chili-rubbed skewers of grilled banana, pineapple, and persimmon. I thought this was an ingenious and inspired pairing.

After lunch we participated in two hands-on demos. We got to blend our own Zinfandel varietal with the help of Pete Seghesio and his talented team, and yes, it was as fun and interesting as it sounds!

We also formulated our own custom dry-rub spice mix. Chris Lilly showed us a great 4-step process for making a spice rub, which I will explore in more detail in an upcoming article for my American Foods site.

Kingsford University came to a delicious and interactive end as we made and grilled our own pizzas over charcoal. After Chris demo'd an insanely tasty Asian-influenced spicy shrimp pizza (see video), we headed around to the back of Seghesio's wine cellar where a long line of kettle grills waited for us with already glowing charcoal topped with pizza stones.

Chris Lilly's Charcoal Grilled Spicy Shrimp Pizza



After everyone had made a pizza (or three), into the wine cellar we went to share our offerings with each other. The meal was made complete with an impressive array of salads and side dishes from Chef Jon's kitchen, as well as more of Seghesio's delicious wine. What a special way to end a very memorable experience.

Special thanks to Chris Lilly and everyone at Kingsford Charcoal! Who knew learning about charcoal and grilling could be so fun and delicious? I'd also like to extend a very special thanks to the Seghesio family for being such gracious and generous hosts!

You can find a lot more information at the Kingsford Barbecue Facebook page. Enjoy!

Read other recaps on Kingsford University by these very talented bloggers:
The Bachelor Guy
Use Real Butter
Food Woolf
Pork, Knife, and Spoon

Kingsford University Class of 2009!

Spicy White Bean and Chicken Chili - A White Chili to Battle the Winter Blues

This white chili video recipe was inspired by a cup of spicy chicken and white bean soup I had during my recent trip back east.

I love chilis (yes, that's how you spell it) of all shades and spices. While beef is most familiar to my chili kettle, pork, turkey, and even lamb do make the occasional appearance. But, what about chicken?

I rarely think of using chicken, so I was glad that cup of soup came along to remind me how great a chili, chicken can make - if you stay away from the horrible ground stuff. For me, chicken makes for a very poor ground meat. It's too lean, too dry, too chalky, and too "I wish this was ground chuck."
The key here is chicken thighs - moist, shapely, boneless-skinless chicken thighs. The difference they make in taste and texture is significant.

By the way, don't substitute chicken breasts. In my opinion, the small amount of fat savings are not worth the step-down in flavor. Enjoy!


 
Ingredients:
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thigh, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground chipotle pepper
2 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
cayenne pepper to taste
1 red bell pepper, seeded, diced
1 green bell pepper, seeded, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, diced
1 can (10-ounce) diced tomato with green chilies
4 cups chicken broth
2 (15 ounce) great northern, or navy beans, drained
chopped fresh cilantro to garnish, optional


Other Super Cool Chili Recipes:
Spicy Three-Bean Chili
Chicken Chili Verde
Turkey Chili

* Please help support free video recipes, and visit my new sponsor, MOZO Shoes. Find out why chefs (like me) are buzzing about their great shoes!

An Epic Dinner at the Foodbuzz Community Table

Last night at Epic Roasthouse, I attended the San Francisco stop of the Foodbuzz Community Table sponsored by Visa Signature. Foodbuzz has been holding these events across the country, bringing together select Visa Signature cardholders and local food bloggers for an evening of fine food and drink.

We were treated to a great meal by Chef Jan Birnbaum, which I captured in all its flash-lit glory, as you can see. If you've never dined at a large table of food bloggers before, here's the drill.

The servers bring the plates to the table. The bloggers commiserate with each other over the fact that while the room is beautifully lit, it's too dark to get any decent shots (at least for the photographically-challenged).

Then, as the food cools and sauces congeal, plates are photographed, passed around so others can photograph, tilted for better angles, and eventually returned to the rightful owner.

Finally, a good ten minutes into the meal, forks and knifes finally go to work. After two or three bites, as is the custom, small bites are exchanged all around the table so everyone can say they tasted everything.

I ordered the cedar plank smoked wild king salmon, which came with baby butterball potatoes, sicilian olives, butter pears, and piperade of sweet onions and late summer peppers.

It was very good, but I looked with envy at the other two entrée choices nearby. Thanks to Alexa, one of our hosts from Foodbuzz, I got to taste her "Steak-n-Cake," a beef filet with spicy crab cake, dungeness crabmeat hollandaise, and ragout of summer tomatoes. It was really good (although I have to admit, the dish did annoy me only because I was upset I've never thought of the name Steak-n-Cake!)

The other main course choice was a very sexy looking wood fired rotisserie pork rack chop with asparagus flan, roasted chanterelle mushrooms, and a smoky, gingered ham hock sauce. The pork could not have been cooked more perfectly.

After a brief meeting of the minds, I offered a small bite of my salmon to Doug Collister, Executive Vice President of Foodbuzz, who promptly returned with a bread plate containing a marvelously constructed sample of pork.

One way you can tell a true foodie, is by how they put together a taste. You just don't hack off a piece of whatever and pass it over. The bite must have a little bit of each component on the plate to give a true sense for the soul of the dish.

Not only had Doug (aka DACFresh on twitter) served up the right mix of meat, sauce and chanterelle, he had included a perfectly sized piece of crispy pork skin. This simple act of culinary consideration was the highlight of my evening.

The salad course was an iceberg wedge with shaved radish, creamy gorgonzola crouton, and something called "rustic garlic." I forgot to ask the server what that meant, so it remains a mystery. Rustic garlic? Do you know?

Dessert brought a delicious, but not too decadent duo of warm chocolate banana cake with caramel sea salt ice cream and a bread pudding with ricotta and fresh peaches. I've decided that every dessert should be served with caramel sea salt ice cream.

In addition to all this great food, there was of course wine. I had some pink, some white, and some red, and enjoyed all three colors very much (sorry, but I'm always so involved with the food and conversation that I'm usually oblivious to the wine pairings, and this meal was no exception).

The meal came to a graceful and satisfying end as we sipped hot coffee, traded twitter handles, and made dubious promises to check out each other's blogs. Thanks to Alexa and Doug from Foodbuzz, Visa Signature, and the Epic Roasthouse for such a great meal!