Gone are the days of hayrides and pumpkin picking at fall festivals. Welcome to the adult festival, where hot apple cider is kicked up a notch with rum and BBQ sandwiches are replaced by Perini Ranch Steakhouse mesquite smoked peppered beef tenderloin. Stephan Pyles celebrated his restaurant’s fifth year in the Arts District with just this kind of fall festival last night. Local farmers and vendors served up delicious samplings of cheeses, wines, meat, coffee, chocolates, and desserts, while the restaurant prepared various flatbreads, ceviche, butternut squash soup, and more.
Some highlights included my first taste of pure honeycomb from the Texas Honeybee Guild. Besides being naturally sweet and indulgent, local honey is nature’s immune system booster. Another first for me was a taste of Scardello’s cheese with a lavender- and coffee-coated rind, an odd yet unexpectedly good combination.
My sweet tooth got the best of me with tastes of Dude, Sweet Chocolate’s “Crack in a Box” (salted and candied whole hazelnuts, almonds, macadamia, and soy nuts covered in dark chocolate) and Pure Chocolate Desserts by Zach’s “Passionata” (milk chocolate tangerine mousse, passion fruit gelée, white chocolate banana mousse, and chocolate almond sacher cake soaked with dark rum).
A live cooking class gave guests the chance to make last-minute tweaks to their Thanksgiving menus with Stephan Pyles’ original recipes for roast turkey and blue corn chorizo stuffing, cranberry mojo, chocolate bourbon pecan pie, and blue corn-serrano muffins.
With live music playing while guests ate, drank, and were merry, there really was a festive atmosphere at this fall festival celebration.
Some highlights included my first taste of pure honeycomb from the Texas Honeybee Guild. Besides being naturally sweet and indulgent, local honey is nature’s immune system booster. Another first for me was a taste of Scardello’s cheese with a lavender- and coffee-coated rind, an odd yet unexpectedly good combination.
My sweet tooth got the best of me with tastes of Dude, Sweet Chocolate’s “Crack in a Box” (salted and candied whole hazelnuts, almonds, macadamia, and soy nuts covered in dark chocolate) and Pure Chocolate Desserts by Zach’s “Passionata” (milk chocolate tangerine mousse, passion fruit gelée, white chocolate banana mousse, and chocolate almond sacher cake soaked with dark rum).
A live cooking class gave guests the chance to make last-minute tweaks to their Thanksgiving menus with Stephan Pyles’ original recipes for roast turkey and blue corn chorizo stuffing, cranberry mojo, chocolate bourbon pecan pie, and blue corn-serrano muffins.
With live music playing while guests ate, drank, and were merry, there really was a festive atmosphere at this fall festival celebration.