Best Brunch: Tre Downtown

Free valet, the biggest and oldest yellow lab mix you will ever see, dollar mimosas, and food by Jason Dady. What more could you really ask for in a brunch? Seriously, though, I am curious. What more? NOTHING MORE.

A post about brunch at Tre Trattoria Downtown has been a long time coming, folks. I have dutifully done my research, visiting this fine establishment with ladies and gents, parents, a classy bachelorette party… you get the idea. After having tried close to everything on the menu, I now must deliver the following message: GO THERE FOR BRUNCH. That’s really all you need to know, but feel free to let me convince you by continuing to read.

The food. You really can’t go wrong, but I’ll share some notes on my top three (actually four because there’s a tie for number one… always a good sign).

• Number three: Creamy Marscapone Polenta. As the name indicates, it’s a rich, creamy, tomato-y polenta (definition: slow cooked cornmeal) with Italian sausage and a fried egg. Doesn’t a fried egg on top make everything better?
• Number two: Goat Cheese, Pistachio and Balsalmic Cipollini pizza. Just the right mix of sweet and salty, this pizza is potentially large enough to take some home for post brunch snackin’.
• And tied for first place: Pan Seared Gnocchi and Crispy Duck Confit. I love the gnocchi best in the creamy gorgonzola sauce, but if red is your thing there’s a San Marzano tomato option. The pan seared potato dumplings are beautiful, soft, and too delicious to share. As for the Crispy Duck Confit, this stack of corn, sweet potato, and duck confit (definition: duck that’s been slowly cooked in its own fat; translation: falling-apart tender and ridiculously flavorful), with a fried egg on top will definitely inspire entrée envy among your fellow brunchers, so eat quickly. Taking this dish and the DUK Truck into account, it’s safe to say that ducks should fear Jason Dady.

Crispy Duck Confit

Pan Seared Gnocchi

The booze.  Mimosas! Get your first two for one single dollar each. You have your choice of several variations (classic, Bellini, pomegranate, etc.), but my favorite (meaning it’s your favorite, too, right?) is the Tropic Thunder with pineapple, OJ, and a kick of Tabasco. Always delightful and sometimes makes me cough.

Tre Mimosa. Holla fo a dolla.

The scene. Located next to the Fairmount Hotel at 401 South Alamo, Tre’s downtown location is beautiful, spacious, and boasts plenty of windows for observing the two Occupy Hemisfair Park protesters (three on a good day). The park is also nice to look at. Brunch on Saturday and Sunday runs from 10am to 3pm and is equally well-suited for a midmorning nosh with friends, parents, out-of-towners, significant others, or by yourself. An added bonus: as you walk through the hotel lobby into Tre, you’ll get to meet The Fairmount’s Director of Pet Relations, Luke, an ancient, sweet, and gigantic lab mix. Yes, he has his own business cards.

Any questions? Here’s Tre Trattoria on Facebook and Twitter. See you there!

LIVING (san antonio) on Facebook

Great news, internet: LIVING (san antonio) now has it’s very own Facebook page! Welcome to the future, right? I invite you to go give it a Like!

Not Food. Still Awesome.

DISCLAIMER: The link below does not contain a post about food, booze, or restaurants in San Antonio. So don’t get your hopes up for any of those.

It DOES, however, contain a story about something equally as rad: 3 Day Startup, a weekend-long startup tech company boot camp, of sorts. 3DS programs happen all over the place, and the fourth San Antonio 3DS just took place this past weekend at Geekdom, a collaborative workspace in Weston Centre downtown. You can read all about it in my article on The Rivard Report.

If you are feeling cheated by this post not containing anything related to eating, drinking, or dancing, please enjoy the picture below that I took at Geekdom of a bunch of snacks for the 3DS participants. You’re welcome.

Snacks for Geeks (picture from 3 Day Startup at Geekdom).

 

Restaurant Gwendolyn on The Rivard Report

Today, I invite you to turn your attention to The Rivard Report, an independent and local online news source for San Antonio that covers a myriad of interesting topics from the center of our city. I had the opportunity to write for The Rivard Report about Restaurant Gwendolyn and the changing gastronomic landscape of SA. Check it out here!

A Group to Watch: The SA Chef Coalition

As you may have already read in 140 characters or less, there’s a new posse in town. The big shots of our city’s food scene have teamed up to form the SA Chef Coalition (@SAChefCoalition). Depending on whom you ask, the group intends to celebrate and promote high quality food and restaurants in the city, interact philanthropically with the community, throw some awesome parties, and entertain the digital masses with frequent and hilarious Twitter wars. After a pricy but successful first event (a $95 per person family style dinner, the proceeds of which will buy a piece of kitchen equipment for a local high school’s culinary program), the SA Chef Coalition held a $10 midnight shebang this Thursday featuring fried chicken, biscuits, and Ranger Creek beer at Ave. B and W. Jones Ave., future home to The Luxury (a new project from Andrew Weissman, allegedly opening soon).

The nebulous group consists of at least the following, and possibly others (updates welcomed):

• John Brand, Las Canarias and Ostra
• Chad Carey, The Monterey
• Jason Dady, Tre Trattoria, Bin 555, Two Bros BBQ Market, the DUK Truck
• David Gilbert, Sustenio
• Gabe Howe, sommelier of Il Sogno
• Steven McHugh, Lüke
• Jesse Perez
• Michael Sohocki, Restaurant Gwendolyn
• Andrew Weissman, Il Sogno, The Sandbar

It even comes complete with a mission statement [sic]:

Community involvement and dedication to charitable work
Helping Local Farmers and Artisanal Producers
Education of our Craft, Passion and Drive behind Chef Driven Restaurants
Food & Fitness, Leading the way for making positive changes for our youth

One hundred of their closest fans and friends attended the affair, where the condiment table overflowed with tasty and, not surprisingly, nonstandard concoctions of honey and jam. The chicken, which arguably overshadowed the somewhat bitter biscuits, kept dedicated foodies lining up at the kitchen trailer well into the morning. Twitter was on fire, attendees hash-tagging #SACC as fast as Siri would allow. Michael Sohocki fraternized with a few friendly and hip (good hip, to clarify) former colleagues from his days at the Cove while Jason Dady (everyone’s SA chef crush, amiright?) strode around, smiling at fans who longed but didn’t dare to ask for a picture with him. Several talkative cooks from one downtown restaurant to remain unnamed unexpectedly struck up conversation: “Do you ladies know where somebody can take a piss?” (Free tip for networkers: the old “Where’s the loo?” line. Works every time!) Chad Carey did some delicious damage in the kitchen while David Gilbert played paparazzi (photos available in the Facebook album here). And perhaps best of all, a server from another center-city establishment told me I have handwriting like a computer, only distinguishable from type by the differences in my lowercase letter i’s. (What?) (And thanks.)

So here are my questions, chefs. Whose idea was it to make the mission statement an acronym? What’s next in terms of charitable, youth- and education-oriented work? Do you intend to add any female chefs to the mix? Must one be invited into the group? Do you foresee it growing in number? And most importantly: when is the next event?

Gluten Busters

Whether you are gluten averse (actually or just recreationally, like Gwyneth Paltrow) or a super-consumer of the stuff who shudders to think of a world without Texas Toast, The Little Aussie Bakery and Cafe will fill your tummy with delightful, delicious, and deceivingly gluten free food.

Off Broadway near the Witte Museum, this gluten free heaven serves brunch, lunch, dinner, beer, and offers an impressive array of desserts, all without gluten.

I’m going to tell you more about The Little Aussie, but (this time) I’m not going to do it here. Ladies and gents, please direct your attention to the San Antonio Current!

Tamales at Pearl!

My fellow foodies, take note of this fabulous event at Pearl:

“The 2nd Annual Tamales! Holiday Festival returns to Pearl Saturday, Dec. 3 from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm.  Guests will be invited to explore a holiday Mexican streetscape full of the sounds, sights and tastes of the holiday season.”

If it’s anything like last year’s festival, you can expect tons of people, activity, and a huge variety of tamales. Bring cash and your appetite!