Sunday, August 19, 2012

I Drove 2,000 Miles for this???

What's right: I got back from vacay in SoCal and saw a post from @TheMontereySA about an @SAChefcoalition pop-up dinner on Alamo Plaza. Eighty-five bucks. I had been dreaming about this day since the first LuminariaSA in 2008. That very first Luminaria was amazing. Houston Street, Alamo Plaza and the Alamo (and the Hilton Palacio del Rio) were bathed in ever changing light and lasers, replete with approachable contemporary local art. As my brother, my sister-in-law, my young niece, my mother and her husband, my daughter and her friend, Faith walked south along Alamo Street from Houston Street, in front of the Alamo, I said, "Wouldn't it be a great thing to have a pop-up dinner here? You know, like in the spirit of the French plantation scene in Apocalyspe Now Redux, with long tables, candelabra, proper service and great food?"

Last night, that dream came to fruition through no effort of mine. As far as I know, there was no talk of the First Indochina War or even the shitty war we are still waging in Afghanistan (being consumed by green on blue homicide). Aside from the lack of candelabra, proper service and great food were in abundance. The SA Chef Coalition put in tons of hours and sweat to prep the dinner.

Alamo Plaza pop-up dinner prep
What did one get for an $85 entry fee? Plenty. First course was pickles in tens of ways:
giardiniera with pigs' ears, pickled haricots vert, spicy pickled tomatoes and pickled zucchini, 

in the light of the Alamo.

Second course was multiple salads. The salad at my neck on the table was romaine hearts with two types of grapes and almonds. Pedestrian salad to contemplate our pedestrian but elevated seat at the table of the Alamo.

The third course comprised of wood coal fired whole bronzini and red fish served piled high on butcher paper. Super fatty fish, punctuated with clean smoke. As chef Dady implored, "serve with your hands." In the end, that's what we did. We used our hands to serve ourselves incredible, and seemingly endless portions of super fatty specimens. I'm not sure why the fork is in the picture, as I ate with my hands all night long.
The fourth course was a cake-wrapped custard. As I'm not a fan of cake, I fingered the custard out of the cake, leaving a very unhappy cake on the plate.
This benefit is what is completely right in our little city. We are not Manhattan. We are not San Francisco. We are not DC. We will never be a great city in the global world. But we can be an amazing city of Texas, an amazing city of the south, and an amazing city of the new progressive movement.

What's left: City council must obliterate the raspa-only Alamo Plaza licencing. Open up the plaza for @rollinpig, @TheChiliQueens @LagniappeToday and all local food trucks at least once a month and not mid-week. Allow for a pop-up dinners at least once a quarter. Invite food truck and taqueria coalitions to bid based on stakeholder input (i.e. barbacoa dinner, sushi dinner, bbq dinner, box chicken dinner, soup dinner, comfort food diner, etc) 

What's wrong: The DRT, as eloquently posed here. And the fact that Texas is open for business, as long as your business doesn't interfere with established brick and mortar business.