Austin - - Page 6

by Emily

La Dolce Vita Food and Wine Festival

It’s common knowledge that Austin’s culinary scene has been blowin’ up. We have Top Chef Texas winner Paul Qui and his Asian fusion empire, Austin Food & Wine Festival, and the flagship Whole Foods. Not to mention the wonderful restaurants constantly cropping up, and all the famous barbecue.

And of course… LA DOLCE VITA. I’ve always wanted to attend La Dolce Vita since I moved to Austin and first heard about this glorious event. The magnificent Laguna Gloria, an absolutely beautiful outdoor venue, is swarmed by over 50 of the hottest Texas restaurants and wineries, and attendees are tasked with the stressful chore of tasting everything. And by “stressful” I clearly mean “AMAZING.”

Whoever said the best things in life are for free has obviously never attended a high-end culinary event, because tickets to La Dolce Vita will set you back $150 (or $200 for a VIP ticket including access to an exclusive cocktail lounge) but it’s worth it if you want to sample the cooking of some of the region’s best chefs. If you, unlike me, don’t like throwing large sums of money at indulgent dining opportunities, you’ll be happy to know that the ticket price also goes to support the arts—all proceeds go to The Contemporary‘s educational programs.

By the end of the event, I was Thanksgiving-level full. (And we all know I can EAT on Thanksgiving.) Seriously, I just kept stuffing myself until it was over. I felt like I was walking through one of those big, elegant Top Chef elimination events where all the cheftestants are vying for best dish and shoving beautiful plates of food at the judges. Just call me Padma!

Read on for some photo highlights of my oh-so-delicious evening:

by Emily

Thai-Inspired Kale and Carrot Salad

Last week, I participated as a featured food blogger (woo!) in a kale-centric event at kor180, an indoor cycling and pilates studio in downtown Austin. It was a blast! I demo-ed one of my recipes, met a ton of awesome members of the Austin fitness and cooking community, and generally had a great time.

Obviously I was jazzed to attend a party ALL ABOUT KALE, and also unsurprisingly, I put an Asian twist on my salad recipe. What can I say? Sometimes I’m pretty predictable. In this case it was a good thing, as my recipe turned out really well, if I do say so myself. It’s crunchy, salty, sour, a little sweet, and a little spicy. Plus it’s veeeerrry easy to make and totally good for you. What’s not to love?!

Thai-Inspired Kale and Carrot Salad

in Recipe / Veggie 0 comments

by Emily

Brussels Sprout Caesar Salad

There’s a cute place in Austin’s Manor neighborhood called the Salty Sow. Their slogan is “swine + wine + beer” so clearly I’m on board. (I love Salty Sow so much that I actually wrote a bit about them in an ES post last summer!) This head-to-tail gastropub specializes in all things porky and meaty, of course, but surprisingly one of my favorite things on their menu is a salad! Go figure.

This isn’t just any salad, though. It starts with brussels sprouts, always a winner in my book, and makes them into a take on the Caesar salad, topped with dried cranberries and candied almonds. It’s salty, savory, slightly crispy, and just a tad bit sweet. My mouth is seriously watering just thinking about it.

I loved this salad so much that I begged the recipe out of ’em, and now I want all of you to experience its magic.

Brussels Sprouts Caesar Salad

in Cheese / Featured / Recipe / Restaurants / Veggie 3 comments

by Emily

Artsy Photo of the Day

The perfect macaron is lightly crisp on the outside, rich and chewy on the inside, with a perfect layer of luscious filling gluing the two sides together. It should melt in your mouth. This, my friends, is the perfect macaron. One of my very favorite places in Austin, Contigo, perfected the popular cookie with their Strawberries & Cream macaron. On one hand they’re so good that you just want to stuff handfuls of them in your mouth like popcorn, but on the other hand they’re worth savoring every bite.

in Photos 0 comments

by Emily

Artsy Photo of the Day

This is not your high school’s prom fundraiser bake sale…

This is Austin hotpost Foreign & Domestic‘s Saturday morning bake sale, boasting humungous, house-made pastries from chef Jodi Elliot, who just won Food & Wine’s People’s Best New Pastry Chef. You might not be able to tell from the photo, but those buttery caramel apple croissants are about the size of my head. Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration, but they’re definitely bigger than my hand. Oh… and it should go without saying that any baked good you pick up here is absolutely heavenly.

in Desserts / Photos 0 comments

by BS

Artsy Salad of the Day

The best salads have fried food in them.

Egg roll salad. East Side King. Austin, TX

in Food Travel / Photos / Restaurants 1 comments

by Emily

Wine and Cheese: A Match Made in Heaven

Two of my favorite indulgences in life are a good glass of wine and a good hunk of cheese. How can those things get any better? When you enjoy them together, of course. The thing is, I’m not an especially discerning critic when it comes to cheese and wine combos. Hand me a fat glass of red and any cheese nicer than a Kraft Single (ick) and I’m pretty good to go.

My anything-goes palate was treated to a special wine pairing evening hosted by Kendall Antonelli of the fantastic Antonelli’s Cheese Shop here in Austin and Lisa Mattson of Jordan Winery, who paid us a visit all the way from Sonoma County. Along with a small group of fellow Austin food bloggers, I enjoyed an evening of amazing artisan cheeses carefully paired with an assortment of Cabernet Sauvignons (and one rogue glass of Chardonnay) from Jordan. Luckily for my eccentric palate, one of the most important lessons I learned is this: when it comes to wine plus cheese, there is no single right way to pair. Let your taste buds be your guide, because everyone’s flavor profile is different.

Keeping this in mind, here are some interesting tidbits and suggestions I picked up over the course of the night:

in Cheese 1 comments