Tag: jason dady

How do we sign up to be guinea pigs?

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With all the restaurants chef Jason Dady has to run in San Antonio, how in the world can he still find the time to play with his food?  

Ed Tijerina of the San Antonio Express-News was privileged to attend one of Dady’s recent more experimental dinners at Bin 555 employing “molecular gastronomy” in a tribute to the passion of chef José Andrés.  Writer Harold McGee defines molecular gastronomy as the “scientific study of deliciousness.” 

photo by Jennifer Whitney
Jennifer Whitney's photograph from the Express-News of Jason Dady's deconstructed strawberry shortcake, a regular menu item at Bin 555.

Photographer Jennifer Whitney‘s slide show capturing some of the evening’s scientific approaches to cooking makes one eager to sign up as Dady’s guinea pig any time one is needed. 

If only I could have taken Deliciousness 101 to fulfill my science requirement in college instead of struggling through Physics.  Naturally, the only way to engage me in science would be through my stomach.

‘New York Times’ Making Amends?

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Austinites gloated, but San Antonians exploded over the blasphemous claim made by John Edge on March 9 in The New York Times:

When it comes to breakfast tacos, however, Austin trumps all other American cities.

What? 

I have tried to refrain from jumping on the anti-Edge bandwagon, but….

Theoretically, Edge comes with impeccable foodie credentials, such as the upcoming Truck Food Nation (I confess.  I love this website.) and the fact that he currently is a finalist for the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award from the James Beard Foundation. 

But Edge was way off base with that line.  Reminiscent of the old Pace Picante advertisement blasting Cookie for serving “foreign” hot sauce (“This stuff is made in New York City.”), the headline itself is a dead giveaway:  “Tacos in the Morning?”  That is not a question; it is an assumption for a huge percentage of San Antonians and has been for their entire lives. 

Personally, I am partial to Tito’s thick, freshly made-by-hand, white corn tortillas way-overstuffed with chilaquiles, but there are a multitude of choices in virtually every neighborhood.  Veronica Flores-Paniagua of the Express-News writes that the paper’s food editor, Karen Haram, received nominations for more than 200 different breakfast taco destinations as the “best” in the city this past year.  San Antonians probably were eating breakfast tacos before upstart Austin was founded.

Dan Saltzstein‘s article, “36 Hours in San Antonio” in today’s New York Times, makes the paper more palatable to pick up again.  Saltzstein wandered far and wide off the beaten track to spotlight both upscale and quirky spots in San Antonio (although no breakfast tacos are mentioned).   He recommends a platter of the “succulent, charred-on-the-outside brisket” at The Smokehouse on Roland Avenue and the Texas burger, a Texas Monthly cover girl, at our favorite car wash, The Cove.

He dined on shrimp enchiladas at Aldaco’s Stone Oak, and waited in line for wild mushroom lasagna at Andrew Weissman’s Il Sogno.  He hit the Green Lantern on Stone Oak Parkway and wandered into Casbeers for a bit of “church music that goes way beyond hymns.”  In this whirlwind trip, he squeezes in museums and shopping at The Twig Book Shop and Melissa Guerra’s at Pearl.

Phew!  How could anyone do all that in 36 hours?  Saltzstein must have been zipping around faster than a New York minute, a phrase Barry Popik claims actually originated in Texas.  But, more importantly, why would anyone spend only 36 hours in San Antonio?  Then I looked back; the vacation schedule, despite the headline (Who writes these headlines for the Times?), stretched out over a 48-hour period – actually even longer because it ended up precisely 48 hours later upon arrival at the San Antonio Zoo, which has way too many acres of animals to see in a New York nanosecond.

Hey, New York, thanks for extending us a Texas minute to explore some of our charms.  Next time, try the breakfast tacos.

The Texas burger referenced in “The New York Times” graced the cover of a 2009 “Texas Monthly” (photo by Randal Ford).
“36 Hours in San Antonio” in “The New York Times” included a stop at Casbeers, and Erich Schlegel stood at the back of the former church to catch Michael Martin and the Infidels on stage.
San Antonio: historical home of breakfast tacos. Postcards from San Antonio No. 5, “Without Them the City Would Be Pan Blanco,” digital collage by Gayle Brennan Spencer

Some recent great meals around San Antonio, from a non-New York perspective:

  • The Cool Cafe, 123 Auditorium Circle:  A crepe filled with spinach, mushrooms and liberal amounts of olive oil served with sweet and crisp roasted potatoes; huge chunks of salmon cooked shish-kabob-style and served over basmati rice; half-price wine on Sunday.  Better hurry, because the new owners of the Havana Hotel seem inclined to want the Mediterranean cafe out of the way.  Liz Lambert has completed work on the hotel to instill it with the same coolness factor as the San Jose in Austin, and I am happy to learn the great basement Bar will no longer be filled with dense clouds of cigar smoke.  If Lambert can make a former “motor court” hip, she certainly should be able to make a building with the architectural bones of the Havana inviting.  Did I mention the Cool Cafe knocks 50 percent off all wine on Sundays?  Call first to be sure it has not been evicted:  210.224.2665. 
  • Tre Trattoria, 4003 Broadway:  Considering I have not been blogging long, it might arouse suspicion for me to mention this meal again.  Sorry, but this is my vision of a perfect Saturday lunch for making a couple feel as though they are on vacation:  grilled radicchio with lemon vinagrette; a pizza topped with goat cheese, pistachios and balsamic cippolini; and a bottle of A Mano Primitivo.  One might think Jason and Crystal Dady were bribing me, but they would go broke if everyone who came in placed such a budget order.  Price for two, including the bottle of wine:  $41.30.
  • Azuca Nuevo Latino, 713 South Alamo:  For a while, the kitchen seemed to suffer from attention-deficit as management focused on a northside location, but everything appears back on track.  Few restaurants present food with more artistry.  Would highly recommend garlicky tostones, tender grilled squid and the tropical fruit garden for dessert, much more decadent than it sounds.  The caipirinha is a nice change from margaritas or mojitos.
  • The Filling Station Cafe, 701 South St. Mary’s Street:  The place to grab a sandwich, such as the turkey habanero on rolls made in the teeninsiest kitchen.  There might be all of three tables tucked inside, but there is additional seating outside.  Have used Jon’s services several times to provide sandwiches for meetings, and everyone always raves. 
  • Zinc Champagne, Wine & Spirits, 207 North Presa:  The name immediately lets you know the beverage side of the menu is well-stocked; yet the bartenders do not complain about making something off-menu – such as what I have christened a “tequito,” a mojito with tequila instead of rum.  Zinc is open during the week for lunch, but seems to be trying to keep that secret.  Pears, goat cheese and pecans perk up a small Zinc salad, and the portobello patty melt with spinach, nopalitos and cheese is hearty fare.  The sweet potato fries arriving on the same plate keep me from exploring the menu much farther, despite the high praise friends lavish on the Texas salmon salad with pearl couscous. 
  • Easter lunch was bountiful, but my sister-in-law asked me not to give out her address.
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Books so flavorful you can taste them

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A sold-out barge full of women laughing their way around the river bend launches the San Antonio Public Library Foundation’s 2010 round of Literary Feasts, which translate literature into words you want to eat.  Diane Mathews and JoAnn Boone are hosting tonight’s floating feast based on the ultimate feel-good book for women, The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  Ironically, though, Rubin recently blogged that she is far from being a foodie:

I must confess that I have very little interest in the ruling passion of Julia Child’s life. Food has never been very interesting to me. I love certain foods, of course, but I like very plain food best. I don’t get much of a kick from visiting new restaurants, or from eating a wonderfully cooked meal. Some people love exploring farmers’ markets or learning about how foods’ origins or cooking – not me. One of the sad aspects of a happiness project, for me, was to Be Gretchen and to admit to myself that this area of experience, so vibrant for so many people, leaves me cold.

Fortunately, JoAnn and Diane are, and so is Jason Dady.  Dady is opening four of his restaurants for feasts, with the first one at Insignia in the Fairmount on Tuesday, March 23, focused on a book firmly fixated on food, High Bonnet: A Novel of Epicurean Adventures by Idwal Jones.  According to Publishers Weekly:

This is a novel about food with a capital F, about meals, extravagant meals, had in fine dining rooms, country gardens and filthy taverns alike. As Anthony Bourdain (author of Kitchen Confidential) says in an introduction, in this book “everyone” from Jean-Marie’s confectioner uncle to the Gypsy coppersmith who mends the kitchen pots “is a gourmet or a gourmand, racing through life oblivious to all creature comforts but the pursuit of flavor.”

Celtic music, Irish food and plenty of spirits will be featured in the feast hosted by Joan Cheever and Trisha Tobin on April 15.   McCarthy’s Bar: A Journey of Discovery in Ireland serves as the inspiration for the dinner.  MacMillian describes author Pete McCarthy’s approach to his journey:

…traveling through spectacular landscapes, but at all times obeying the rule, “never pass a bar that has your name on it,” he encounters McCarthy’s bars up and down the land, meeting fascinating people before pleading to be let out at four o’clock in the morning.

Erasing the stereotype that all children are picky eaters is the thrust of Nancy Tringali Piho’s My Two-Year-Old Eats Octopus, the theme of Dady’s family-friendly feast on April 17 at Two Bros. BBQ Market.  AP writer Michele Kayal described Phio’s book:  “If you’re bent on raising a gourmet, this is your Dr. Spock.”

In a Publishers Weekly post, Frances Mayes writes,  “The happiness that suffuses my Tuscan days drove my pen.”  It drove her pen to describe many a good meal in Under the Tuscan Sun, the theme for a feast at Dady’s Tre Trattoria on May 18.  Note to self:  After returning from Merida, head to Tre for my favorite meal to split with Lamar –  grilled radicchio; goat cheese, pistachio and balsamic cippolini pizza; and, for dessert, a grilled peach with marscapone.

Other dinners include South Pacific on May 6 at Zinc Wine and Champagne Bar; Napa: the Story of An American Eden  on June 22 at Bin 555; and The Great Gatsby on July 27 at The Lodge.  Jill Giles Design created appetizing “bookplates” as the online invitations for each feast.

The Lavenders and the Molaks are hosting a feast on May 6 at Zinc.

Proceeds from the Literary Feasts benefit the San Antonio Public Library Foundation.