Sunday, January 01, 2006

nye postmortem

overall, one of the better ones i can remember.

started out with dinner at fred's. outlaw chef terry chandler was puttin' on a special new yr's eve feast -- something that could become a new tradition here in the fort, judging by the responses of all the folks who were fortunate enough to partake. the deal was reservation-only, with candlelight and servers snappily attired, transforming fonky fred's into the five-star joint you always knew it was.

each successive course was a new medley of flavors: oysters rockefeller-stuffed 'shrooms on toast with just a hint o' wasabi; wild greens with balsamic vinaigrette and an agreeable collision of goat cheese 'n' walnuts; a duck soup with roasted tomatoes and green chiles that was both smokey and spicy in a way that lingered pleasantly. the bacon-wrapped beef tenderloin in a port wine au jus was the best piece of meat i've eaten in a yr, while the grilled swordfish in buttered pear sauce my sweetie had was full of subtle pleasures. for dessert, the chocolate papito torte with dark chocolate guinache and raspberry sauce was almost _too_ good; i'm a dark choco fanatic anyway and as my sweetie pointed out, mixing chocolate and raspberry was pure genius.

thanks to terry, every meal i eat in 2006 is gonna get compared to this one. they're not taking reservations for next new year's eve yet, but as soon as they do, we'll be among the first to sign up.

while we were waiting to be seated, the electric mountain rotten apple gang did their bluegrass 'n' mountain string music thang (one of these days adam kobetich is gonna explain what the diff is, but that day was not yesterday) to waiting diners and confusatron musos / friends (vibing up for their wreck room extravaganza). because dinner ran a li'l late, we had to forego stopping by saloui's to see dave karnes' trio (with clint strong on gtr), but instead went straight to el wreck, where the confustron boyzzz were already hittin' their groove. c-tron's jams are like terry's food: a combination of distinctive elements that compliment each other well. as always, they threatened to levitate the joint, and were gracious enough to help us out with a li'l surprise we're preparing for dave karnes' brit pal milt, who had to forego a planned visit to the fort this week. and then pablo.

we stopped by jesse sierra hernandez' studio to see some new work, hear the recording of sleeplab's "live rehearsal" from a few weeks back, and say hi to jesse's pal greg riley and his lovely wife, visiting from espana, where greg now has legal residency. woo-hoo!

there seems to be an epidemic of marriages breaking out. sally majestic front scott vernon was in the house with his new bride of, um, about 7 hrs (they tied the knot at 5pm yesterday -- congrats!). goodwin frontguy and fort worth arts consortium mainman tony diaz stopped by fred's to announce _his_ impending nuptials to his g-f michelle (and remind us his band is headlining at the wreck on saturday, january 14th), while pablo and the hemphill 7 frontman joe vano proposed to _his_ sweetie carrie on christmas day, and she accepted. looks like we're gonna be going to lotsa weddings in '06.

was happy to receive an invite to ph7 bassist marcus lawyer's third "speakeasy" afterparty, as it sounds like a fun 'n' musically interesting event, but had to pass this time 'cos we have a brunch and another party to go to today (at which my sweetie plans to do more milt-related stuff), plus it didn't seem like a good night to be driving crosstown at the same time all the bars were closing. next time.

if the rest of 2006 goes the way last night did, it's gonna be a real good yr indeed.

1 Comments:

Blogger andrew m. said...

that's a meal and a half! so nice to be able to get high end chow without having to bite the bile-tipped bullet that comes with eating at those stuffy, "velvet rope" type pads. just walking by them and seeing the crumpled humanity all neatly pressed and lined up to plunk down major $$$ for small portion grub served as "art" makes me lose my appetite everytime. long live the "no 'tude" chow pad!

nice to hear you got to chow a little bacon and steak too, as i know you miss them much...

7:42 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home