A Birthday at Trio

For my first birthday dinner, Jennie took me to Trio at the Austin Four Seasons.

You may remember that Jennie and I were on Sommelier Mark Sayre's team for the Wine Ride. During that event, we observed and documented Mark pairing wine with some of the best food in Austin -- but we didn't get to try any of Mark's pairings.

This was our chance. Instead of a normal meal, Jennie and I had a extravagant tasting menu complete with wine pairings. It was a flavor symphony orchestrated by Mark and Chef Todd Duplechan.

Trio put together an amazing experience for my birthday, and to top it off, I'm pretty sure they generously sent us quite a few complimentary dishes.

It is sadly difficult to do justice documenting an experience like this in photos. Even more so when I'm enjoying an amazing selection of food and wine. Even so, take a peek at the rest of my dinner photos here.

A Birthday at Uchiko

I think Jennie and I must have celebrated my birthday at three or four different restaurants. One of them was Uchiko, definitely a top choice for their awesome people, great atmosphere, and creative dishes.

If you look to the left you can see Chef Phillip Speer's rather amazing dessert that night. You're looking at a cold carrot soup pouring out of an edible molded egg shell that I cracked open with a spoon. Interactive dessert -- I love it. I'll never look at carrot cake the same way again.

You can see a few more of my photos here.

Thanks to Uchiko for sendiing out a few complimentary treats from the kitchen!

Rare Beer Tasting Party

You've seen beer commercials on TV. You probably imagine that only beautiful models and handsome jet setters attend beer tasting parties. In this case you're correct.

Check out some fun photos from a recent party which might have featured a hand labeled test batch bottle which had been carefully cellared since the 90's. It also might have featured a pair of not-sold-in-Texas bottles of Bull & Bush which flew in from Denver the same day.

In addition to rare beers, you might just spot a few Austin beer and cocktail celebrities. Enjoy!

Cocktails and Sweets at Bar Congress

You might think that a relatively new hangout like Bar Congress would need some time to find their feet, but folks like barman Adam Bryan already have a lot of experience under their belt.

Adam not only makes cocktails, he makes a few of the ingredients used in their coctails, including the quinine mixture for the Congress GT. He let me try a litle taste of his quinine with soda and I was amazed at it's complex flavor. Austin now has some really killer barmen and barwomen pouring crafty coctails. I love it.

Congress Pastry Chef Plinio Sandalio was kind enough to send out a few samples of his dessert creations. Thanks Plinio! I think it is fair to say that Plinio invents desserts. From what I can make out, he toils for countless hours in the kitchen trying to make the perfect dessert. Yum.

You can see a few more photos of Plinio and Adam's creations on flickr.

Dinner at FINO

Food, cocktails, and atmosphere. Three good reasons to visit FINO. FINO is one of my favorite places to forget the world and it's troubles.

Be sure to check out the rest of my FINO photos from this visit.