April 06, 2006

Vendana - Texas Culiary Academy Shines

Back in New York, I’ve on many an occasion, have dropped in to dine at L’Ecole – the restaurant attached to the French Culinary Institute. It’s always exciting to see what the students concoct and the low prices serve as a great encouragement to eat up. I’ve never been disappointed and if anything, my worst experience there could be considered uneventful, but certainly not poor.

So when my friend’s boyfriend, who’s kindly taken me under his wing as his lunch ward during my sojourn in Austin, suggested that we go out for lunch at the Texas Culinary Academy restaurant Ventana, I jumped at the opportunity. The menu, coupled with some of the lowest prices for classical French cooking, seemed like a winner and a treat!

We arrived at an unassuming location that was part of a developing land – apparently a fancy mall will be built there. The restaurant itself is bright, spacious and simple. Students in the program wait on tables and are eager to explain the menu, if you so desire. Never confounded by fancy ingredients we ordered a salad, a prosciuto-wrapped cod and a pan-fried trout.

The salad, made with greens harvested that morning from the Culinary Academy’s own garden, blew us both away. Simple greens with figs and pears, drizzled with a 30 year old balsamic vinegar and garnished with orange zest. Light, crisp, with multi-dimensional flavors, the salad was one of the best and simplest I’ve ever had. No need to drench the greens in a complex, heavy dressing – let the greens speak for themselves. The figs and pears added the sweetness as well as different textures to the greens. The orange zest, not to be forgotten, gave a much-needed bite.

Our main course dishes did not disappoint. The prosciuto-wrapped cod came on top of a corn and clam chowder resting atop toasted bread. It is common practice to wrap cod in bacon or other kinds of cured pork – the dish was balanced and solid. No deviation from the tried and true – something the students need to learn how to cook – classic dishes everyone knows and enjoys. My dish, the pan-fried trout came with green beans, semolina fried onions and sauce Choron. While haricots verts would have been a better-suited choice, the green beans proved tasty, albeit a smidgeon too soft. Keeping vegetables crisp can be a matter of a couple of seconds, really – two extra seconds can send your vegetables from being happily crunchy to a tad mushy. What I didn’t understand was the sauce. Choron sauce can be either a hollandaise or béarnaise sauce that has been tinted pink by the addition of tomato puree. I didn’t mind the sauce over my pan-fried trout, but then again, I didn’t see any point to it. Trout is one of those fish where a simple frying and the addition of salt and pepper will do the trick – the fish stands on its own without any complex acrobatics. Don’t get me wrong – the sauce wasn’t a bad addition, but I just didn’t understand its role in the dish. It was there, somewhat piquant, over my fish, its flavor completely unrelated to the rest of the meal.

It would have been lovely to stay for desert – as I always save room for it under normal circumstances. However, my friend’s boyfriend had to get back to work. Something about contributing to the bottom line – something us vacationing folk can’t understand this week. And so we adjourned without any dessert. Given how hot it was outside, we also abstained from sampling their wines, sticking instead to water. I know, it’s very gauche to have gourmet food and no wine to go with it, but such was the case.

Ventana’s menu changes daily, and they are open only a few select days a week. Give them a call to find out their schedule before driving out to the location. However, it’s definitely worth a trip and a sampling. Perhaps, you can do me one better – and order wine as well!

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