Great Texas Chefs
Hill Country winery harvests dinner series highlighting Texan James Beard Award winners and nominees
The Great Texas Chefs series highlights James Beard Award winning and nominated chefs in Texas.
The vastness of Texas is one of its greatest qualities, and that extends to its cuisine. Sometimes we group foods by cooking style, ethnic group, or ingredients, but we are fortunate enough to have a wealth of great chefs in another category based on esteem: James Beard Award winners and nominees.
Instead of choosing a culinary theme for its next dinner series, Fredericksburg winery Becker Vineyards decided to just go for the cream of the crop, and reached out to chefs in the latter category to launch a new series starting on September 24, called 2023 Great Chefs of Texas.
The three-month series is kicking off with an attitude befitting such a lofty curation theme, promising via a press release a "holistic dining experience that cannot be replicated in quality and nature." Each week will feature new chef partners serving unique multi-course menus to up to 100 guests.
“All food and wine is theater,” said Becker Vineyards founder Dr. Richard Becker in the release. “The alternatives can be dim. We are now in rehearsal to be on stage with the great chefs of Texas.”
Of course, wine pairings will even further elevate the feast. More than just serving some delicious wines, the winery is interested in showing off its status as a group of wine and culinary experts, and educating visitors accordingly. Heading the culinary side will be new resident estate chef Jean-Claude Balek, who brings more than three decades of experience in fine dining to the Hill Country establishment (which sometimes hosts less intense events that emphasize its heritage as a farm).
2023 Great Chefs of Texas highlights four chefs on three dates this year:
- September 24: James Beard Award Finalist, Chef John Russ, and Chef Elise Russ of Clementine
- November: James Beard Award winner Tom Perini of Perini Ranch Steakhouse
- December (holiday dinner): James Beard Award winner Dean Fearing of Fearing's
The series plays into Becker Vineyard’s industry campaign, "Ask for Texas Wines," which aims to bring Texas wines to the table, literally and figuratively, where people don't always think of them. Becker winemaker Jonathan Leahy spoke of the underrating of Texas wines on the Texas Wine Lover blog a few years ago: "It’s not the quality of the fruit or where the fruit comes from. It’s probably PR overall. People in Texas love Texas wines. They’ve discovered it; they know what’s going on. People outside of Texas on the other hand still need a lot of hand holding and convincing....”
Tickets ($160) to the inaugural event with chefs John Russ and Elise Russ of Clementine are available on Tock. Becker Vineyards is located at 464 Becker Farms Rd. in Fredericksburg.
