(out on the balcony - cheese! from Whole Foods; great presentation and fun gals with whom I could discuss the whole French/raw milk deal and my indecision of which cow to adopt in Normandie to support local (in Normandie, France) Camembert producers)
Last night I finally attended, after years of ignoring the flier I get every year, the Austin Film & Food Dinner held as part of the Austin Film Festival's week or so of films. It was a fairly economical opportunity I figured to sample food stuffs from all the restaurants I've been meaning to try (Swift's Attic), or already like (Foreign and Domestic), or had forgotten about (Sienna; Ranch 616; Ruth's Chris) or never really seriously considered even trying as a serious food destination (Trace, at the W Hotel), or had never even heard of (Jack Allen's Kitchen, in Oak Hill).
I had to get over the realization soon upon arriving that this was not a sit-down dinner, duh, and did so with one of the Speciality Cocktails (unclear if the spelling was for real on that), involving local Tito's Vodka and St. Germain. I was dressed all wrong for walking through the Driskill Hotel grand lobby and foyers, going room to room, sampling foods, while balancing iPhone notepad, camera, drink in plastic cup, and plastic plates of various foods. And that fact that my poorly chosen attire of a clutch bag and a long scarf did some damage at the Carillon table and their gorgeously plated tiny little feta cheesecakes with basil puree, apple butter, juniper streusel & candied marcona almonds did not help matters.
We finally got into the groove of things and just started eating. First stop was Foreign and Domestic: BBQ Pulled Pork on a Bacon Cheddar Biscuit with B&B Pickles. And a pumpkin pie macaron. Odd combo to offer, but a lot of places had a savory and a sweet item. Good thing we tried the macaron then and there. One hour later, when we were sated enough to go for dessert items, they were gone.
Right after the pulled pork biscuit was a table featuring Pork Cheek Hash Empanadas, with Jalapeno Sauce. Out of the first two items I had tried, this was my favorite.
But what's with the pork? It did not stop there. Over at Trace, there was pork belly. Over at Jack Allen's Kitchen, some pulled pork. We were obviously in the pork room, a room dedicated to The Other White Meat. I had two helpings of what Jack Allen's Kitchen was dishing up: roasted corn salad, served alongside that pulled pork in a nice stewy sauce, alongside giant rustic chip with spicy pimento cheese. Two, yes two helpings.
(The Jack Allen's Kitchen Team...they would later offer me a third helping, but by then I really had nothing left...so sad...really fantastic combo and served up stylishly in that brown paper box bowl.)
Worst food mistake: opting for the Frito Pie over at Ranch 616's table too soon in the evening. Not because it was not delicious - though spicy hot with some hot pico de gallo - but because like they told us, and they were unfortunately right, it was stick to your ribs type food. But we loved the presentation - served up in the mini-bag of Fritos corn chips and all the ingredients all coming together in that little bag - the crunch of chips, warm with chili, cooled off with spicy pico de gallo and sour cream.
Good thing that right before that our palate enjoyed the spicy fried lobster of Ruth's Chris. They fry up the lobster pieces, then roll them around in what I could have sworn she said was a serrachi pepper mayonaise. Like I said, balancing plates, phone, purse, that darn scarf, and trying to write down things my autocorrect on the iPhone garbled into something concerning "lepers" - it was rough.
Over here, at the table for the Driskill, in addition to the popcorn-esque snack in the clever red Burger King-meets-Chinese-take-out packaging, they would have some ginger ice cream floats, over which they were pouring a blackberry sorghum soda. Odd tasting, still not sure if I liked it, but the ginger ice cream was just the thing for calming the tummy.
We did a decent job on the food items, but really did not do much justice at all to one entire room. I did enough to grade, however, before the palate was overloaded. My incomplete, totally biased and subjective list of winners and losers:
Best savory food item: That roasted corn salad, pulled pork, etc. from Jack Allen's Kitchen.
Best sweet food item: Pumpkin Pie Macaron from Foreign and Domestic
Best convo with chef folks: Swift's Attic. I loved that he prepared a separate tasting of his dish for my friend with intolerance for spicy foods. But then, alas, it just did not taste just right. I also loved how he was so not judging of my over-40/hate to drive at night self and was helping me understand the parking situation for those guys. So going there. Soon.
Biggest surprise disappointment: Olive & June. Love that place; right near chez moi, but that pasta was way too salty.
Best French/France-related food: Whole Foods.
The only Camembert I have ever liked has been in France, the nicely flavored raw milk kind. But this, this Camembert with that bit of sweet in the confiture and that touch of Marcona almonds, well done. I may even check out the cheese counter again at Whole Foods because of this (as I am generally always typically at Antonelli's for any cheese purchases).
Will I go next year to the 11th Annual Austin Film Festival Food & Film Dinner? Maybe. But going with friend(s) is key, as are good walking shoes and a healthy appetite. And your favorite stomach-soothing holistic medicine item, in the event you have been on no carbs or sweets for a week when you start eating fried lobster, frito pie, and pork belly, also is highly recommended.
(one last look at the cheery team from the Driskill and perhaps the best display of their food items)
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