Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Annual Taste of the Nation in Dallas serves 200 expensive meals on Sunday

By Teresa Gubbins

The 2009 version of Taste of the Nation, an annual fund-raising food event whose proceeds go to fighting childhood hunger, took over F.I.G. Gallery on Ross Avenue on Sunday with:

Marc Lee

Bar at Taste of the Nation serving beer and champagne was the first thing you saw once you got inside.

• four-course meals prepared by Dallas top chefs
• too much beer and wine
• big-spenders who paid $500 per ticket or up to $10,000 for an entire table.

Chef Stephan Pyles served as Honorary Chair, as did Paper City regular Carmaleta Whiteley.

But the night's attention-getter was chef John Tesar. Along with publicist Terri Provencal, he signed on to be a chair while still at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek. But then he left the Mansion in January. Not a Dallas chef anymore! Still, he came back. Because we still care about him -- deeply. At T.O.T.N., he announced that he's opening a restaurant called Tesar's Modern Steak and Sustainable Seafood in The Woodlands in August.

Marc Lee

Stephan Pyles addresses crowd at Taste of the Nation. Event chair Terri Provencal is next to him while chef John Tesar is at left.

Tesar was one of 20 or so chefs at the event, a roster that included Sharon Hage of York Street, Scott Gottlich of Bijoux, Julian Barsotti of Nonna, Tracy Miller of Local, Lynae Fearing of Shinsei.

Why this was better than the usual "tasting": They did a sit-down dinner. True, you didn't get to sample bites from every chef -- but your table of 10 did get a nice four-course meal. Some tables (hello, Nonna) got five courses.

Other participating restaurants included Craft, Charlie Palmer, the Landmark, Nobu, Fearing's, Cibus, and Sangria.

The tables that went most quickly were Tesar's, Fearing's, and Charlie Palmer. We got Sangria, which was filled entirely with other deadbeats non-paying attendees, including the guys who did the AV/slide show and three cowboy-hatted auctioneers from South Texas who did not say "hi" when we sat down.

Just like in Madrid, Sangria paced its four courses really slow. Everyone drank a lot of wine. But ha, those unfriendly auctioneers had to start the auction before the last two courses were served. I ate their fava beans; someone had to do it.

Marc Lee

Appetizer tapas at Sangria: stuffed olive, patata brava (fingerling potato with spicy tomato sauce), shrimp popper skewer with Riojana sauce, chicken croquette, and terrine with foie, apple, and caramelized goat cheese

Marc Lee

Sangria's olive stuffed with white anchovies and piquillo peppers

Marc Lee

Honorary Chairwoman Carmaleta Whiteley (right) with publicist Sharon Adams (center)

Marc Lee

Poetry Texas egg tart, truffled white asparagus, local artichokes with testun di piedmonte, and fennel at York Street

Marc Lee

Charlie Palmer's Colorado lamb loin with sweet pea puree, lamb sausage, and morel and fiddlehead ragout

Marc Lee

Sushi chef Shuji "Elvis" Sugawara and server Amanda Fauller, both of Shinsei

Marc Lee

Chef John Tesar's tenderloin of Texas Kobe beef on whipped potatoes with wild mushroom ragout. Fancy fancy plates.

Marc Lee

Sushi at Nobu, Taste of the Nation

Marc Lee

Tracy Miller, chef-owner of Local, and her staff assemble blackberry shortcake dessert at Taste of the Nation.

Marc Lee

Sangria's arroz Meloso de Montana -- a creamy mountain-style rice dish with rabbit, chicken, quail, and fresh fava beans, mmmm

Marc Lee

White gazpacho of Malaga made with almonds and served with grapes. That's tangerine granita in the middle. Intriguing experience.

Marc Lee

Sangria's dessert mini-trio: churros with thick hot chocolate, cava cake, and tocino de Cielo, a sweet thick custard

See more stories in:

• Charity
• Food and Drink > Dining / Restaurants
• Food and Drink > Wine
• Society Charitable Benefits

Comments

OEsophagus Anonymous

What happened to the picture of the olive? I really liked that.

5 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Travis Bush Verified

Heh..brunette hooch looks like she started on the champagne early..

5 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Billusa99 Anonymous

Bar?! The first thing I would have seen is the women behind a table.

Any Copper Canyon Chard? Any Copperhead snake? Any Copper River Coho? Any Coppers?

Don't cop out on us.

5 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )