A La Carte
"Take Note of These"
Get out and vote! Your opportunity to vote for Houston’s Culinary Awards sponsored by My Table couldn’t be easier. The voting for the Culinary Awards is online this year and the voting page went live July 21 on www.my-table.com. The 2008 Houston Culinary Awards will be held on Sunday, October 5, at Glass Wall restaurant (933-A Studewood at 10th). Cocktails at 6 pm, dinner at 7 pm, awards at 8:30 pm. Tickets are $150 each and went on sale August 1. This event sells out every year, so avoid disappointment and get your tickets early. Email culinaryawards@my-table.com.
Come, sit, stay for a cocktail hour that’s going to the dogs…and to the cats! Now, during Houston’s dog-days of summer and until the end of the year, experience truly unique specialty cocktails while helping Special Pals animal shelter provide temporary housing and healthcare to homeless dogs and cats. As you enjoy hand-crafted cocktails in the Hilton Americas Houston’s Lobby Bar (1600 Lamar), you’ll be making the world a better place by helping homeless puppies and kitties. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of each specialty cocktail will be donated to Special Pals, a Houston area non-profit, limited-intake, no-kill animal shelter.
Tommy’s Seafood Steakhouse is offering 30% off on wines by the bottle every Monday from 5-10 p.m. Tommy’s is located at 11660 Westheimer, Suite 129 (east of Kirkwood), and at 2555 Bay Area Blvd. (near Space Center Blvd.) in Clear Lake.
It’s harvest time again in Texas and Flat Creek Estate in Marble Falls is featuring a Texas Harvest Tasting class during the weekends of August 15-17 and 22-24. Cost is $25/person and reservations are required. The class will include an educational tour of the winery and vineyard as well as a private tasting class. Call 512-267-6310 to make reservations and obtain directions.
Are you a FaceBooker? If so, look for your favorite local food magazine next time you log-on! My Table has a member page on Facebook.com, and we want you to be one of our fans! Simply log in, type “My Table” in the search field and our page should pop up. Once there, click “Become a Fan”. Just one more way we
can bring you the news on Houston’s food and drink scene!
Culinary Calendar
"Foodie & Wine Events"
The Divas at Flat Creek Estate invite you to joine them on Saturday, August 16 at 6 p.m. for a Gourmetn Cooking Class and Wine Pairing with Chef Jeff Brown. Lobster and blue cheese quesadillas is only one of the delectable items on the menu. Cost is $59.95 per person ($5 discount for Estate Club members). Call 512-267-6310 for reservations and directions to the winery in Marble Falls.
Haak Vineyards & Winery in Santa Fe is offering two upcoming events that you won’t want to miss. On Saturday, August 16 from 6:30-9:30 p.m. is Tapas Night at $35/person. And on Sunday, August 17 from 3-7 p.m. is their very first Czech Festival featuring great food and entertainment. And check out their special 20% extra discount on most wines that date. Call Kathleen at 409-925-1401 for reservations and more information. Haak is located at 6310 Avenue T in Santa Fe 77510.
The Wine & Food Foundation of Texas is offering a special “Field of Dreams” night on Thursday, August 21 at the United Heritage Center, Dell Diamond, in Round Rock Texas. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. and goes to 9 p.m. Tickers are $45 for the general public. Featured are foods from 18 of Central Texas’ hottest chefs, plus wiines from the Francis Ford Coppola winery. And Nolan Ryan’s Beef will compete against Earl Campbell’s sausage in a sizzling cook-off. For every ticket purchased, guests will also receive two free tickets to an August 25, 26, or 27 Round Rock Express home game. For reservations, call 512-327-7555 or visit www.winefoodfoundation.org.
Hugo’s Restaurant (1600 Westheimer, east of Dunlavy) is presenting a Tezon Tequila Dinner on Tuesday, August 26 at 7 p.m. The dinner will feature a reception followed by a four-course dinner. Price is $87 per person plus tax & gratuity. For reservations call 713-524-7744.
Masraff’s, the Euro-American Restaurant, at 1025 South Post Oak Lane (north of San Felipe), will be hosting a five course dinner featuring King Estate wines on Wednesday, August 27, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $85.00 per person, plus tax and gratuity. For reservations, call 713-355-1975.
Hold the dates of October 10-12 for the 2008 Rockport Seafair in Rockport, TX. The Seafair is three days of fun-filled excitement and entertainment including races, boat show, cooking demonstrations, a dessert bake-off, and live music. More than 120 art, craft, market and antique vendors are expected to participate. More details to come.
Mark your calendars for the fourth annual “Home Safe Home” gourmet gala benefiting Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse (AVDA), November 6, 2008. The event features 15 of Houston’s top chefs, each preparing three showcase dishes, paired with wines from Mandola Estate Winery by event sommelier, Antonio Gianola of Catalan. Specialty Grey Goose cocktails will also be paired. Guest winemaker for the event will be Greg Harrington of Mandola Estate Winery and Gramercy Cellars.
- The event will be held in a private home. Tickets are $500 person and attendance is limited to just 300. Sponsorship packages range from $2,500 to $25,000. Thanks to generous underwriting from Hess Corporation and Bracewell & Guiliani, 100% of ticket and table sales will go to underwrite AVDA’s services. To purchase, contact 713-224-9911×222 or email cprieto@avda-tx.org
My Recipe
"Grilled Shrimp Mango Pasta Salad"
Ingredients per serving
7 ounces cooked, cold bowtie pasta
5 slices fresh kiwi
7 slices of fresh strawberries
7 slices mandarin orange pieces
6 grilled shrimp
Cilantro Mango Vinaigrette
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
¼ cup mango puree (available at health food stores)
Combine all ingredients, dress with Cilantro Mango Vinaigrette, toss and enjoy.
Kitchen Stuff
"Belgian Waffle Maker"
Want to make perfect, large, restaurant-style Belgian waffles at home? Try the Waring Pro Belgian Waffle Maker. It offers a 180 degree rotary feature to ensure even browning and consistent baking. Extra deep pockets hold fruit, syrup, or ice cream and sauce for dessert. It offers audible signals and six settings. About $80. Available at Hollandaze Gourmet in Georgetown (512-864-0076) and other fine kitchen stores.
From the Wine List
"Getting More Out of Your Wine Budget"
Are you as tired as I am of escalating wine prices? Most top wines from France have gone ballistic. California boutique wines, especially premium Cabernets, are going through the roof. Even value leaders, such as Chile, are trying to hop on the band wagon with high-priced premium reds. Sure, some costs have gone up, but a lot of these prices are ridiculous. What’s a person to do?
Fight back, that’s what, with your two most powerful weapons: your purchasing decision and your voice. To assist you, here are some tips and “inside” information that may help you get more value for your wine dollars.
For everyday wine purchases, magazines such as The Wine Spectator and The Wine Enthusiast (not to mention My Table’s Corks column) are good sources of “best buy” wines that deliver a high quality to price ratio. Many of these are $10 or less per bottle and usually are rated at least 85 on a 100 point scale. Since you need to make your own decision about what tastes good and offers high value to you, try a bottle to see if you like it before buying more. You can taste many wines without even having to buy one bottle. Take advantage of free or low cost tastings by wine retailers. Many well made, inexpensive, fruit forward “value” wines are available from Chile, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Wines from many of these countries help keep you within you wine budget.
Restaurant wine-by-the-glass programs are popular since they provide the opportunity to try a wine without buying the whole bottle. They also are profitable and more and more restaurants are pushing up the by-the-glass price as high as they can. At 25.4 ounces per bottle, you can get five, roughly five-ounce glasses of wine from the normal bottle. If the bottle is priced at $35, today’s glass price is probably going to be around $7. But if the bartender doesn’t give you a full five ounces, the restaurant is really getting about six glasses per bottle, or an equivalent of $42 or more per bottle. Be sure you get a “decent sized” (as they say in Minnesota) glass of wine.
What else can you do to get more value? First, check the wine list carefully. It will take some time, tasting experience, and study to get to the point where you can readily spot the “value” bottles on the list, but usually there are several. For example, among the $20 to $40 wines you may spy one at $27 that is a real deal. Maybe it’s a lesser known wine, or less popular grape, or a good but not great vintage. Whatever the reason, there are usually some winners on the list that will save you money.
Also, ask the sommelier or manager for help. Be direct: “I want a good wine to go with my osso buco and I don’t want to pay my own shank to get it. What do you have that will complement the food and be a good value?” If the sommelier is knowledgeable, he will help find the right wine for you.
If none of this works—if you’re not getting good wine at reasonable prices—let out the cry of the wounded wine warrior. Let the manager know that the prices are just too high and that as much as you would enjoy some wine, you are going to drink something else tonight. Also let him know that if the situation doesn’t change—and soon—you’ll be taking your business elsewhere.
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Copyright My Table magazine, 2008
Protected by U.S. Copyright Law {Title 17 U.S.C. Section 101 et seq., Title 18 U.S.C. Section 2319}: Infringements can be punishable by up to 5 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
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