News and notes from the San Antonio food scene
The handsome steed and chain mail adorning the knight on King Arthur Flour bags always reminds me of the Sunday funnies and Prince Valiant, but you don’t have to have a page boy haircut and tights to participate in King Arthur’s baking class. On January 25, the flour company will host baking classes at the Hilton Hotel, 611 NW Loop 410, with Carolyn Hack. Hack was an actress for 10 years before moving to Thetford Center, Vermont, where she now manages the family workhorse, milk cow, calf, chickens, and gardens as well as four children.
Though not a baker by profession, Hack has made a hobby of baking pies, pastries, and bread at home. Her class is a combination of baking science, time-tested tips, and culinary theater, in which attendees learn how to make sweet dough and crunchy-crusted artisanal bread. Free. Information: 802-649-3881.
All the world’s a stage, apparently. If whole-wheat farm-goodness doesn’t do it for you, consider the Legends of Bartending competition, 7:30 p.m., January 17, at Sherlock’s Baker St. Pub & Grill, 16620 U.S. 281 North.
During the competition, “flair bartenders” from Texas and Oklahoma will flip, toss, shake, and stir their way through a list of cocktails as they try for $5000 in prizes and a trip to the world finals “Legends of Bartending” in Las Vegas. For more information, call 572-9307.
On December 28, Grey Moss Inn chef Jeff White, won the considerable honor of a trip to the James Beard House in New York City. As guest chef, he prepared a six-course “Wine Lovers’” dinner that included grilled Northern Alaskan caribou bratwursts, oxtail menudo with coriander, white hominy, and Bandera quail eggs, and a lemon-black pepper crème fraiche ice cream.
This month, Grey Moss Inn, 19010 Scenic Loop Road, hosts a tasting dinner featuring 15 red zinfandels and a menu reminiscent of a 16th-century game still life: chorizo-stuffed Bandera quail, rabbit confit, elk and wild mushroom ravioli. Dinner takes place at 7 p.m. on January 12. Reservations: 695-8301.
Closer to home, the Radius Café, 106 Auditorium Circle, reopens on January 9, under the management of Lisa and Dawn Brooks.
The sisters have revamped the menu to include some of Lisa Brooks Catering’s signature sandwiches and desserts — lemon bars! — as well as themed daily lunch specials, including meatloaf, pasta, King Ranch chicken, pot pie, and sushi.
The café will offer both take-out and sit-down service. “We are going to offer healthy, museum-quality fare, which is hot right now,” said Dawn Brooks. “It will be the kind of place where you know you can get good food fast or you can sit if you want. We are thrilled to be in the Radius Building: On any given day you might walk in and hear someone playing the piano or practicing an aria.”
The café is working on its beer and wine license, Brooks told the Current, and the sisters hope to have wine and beer happy hours on the outdoor patio. Until then, patrons are encouraged to bring their own bottles of wine. Radius Café is open from 11 a.m-2 p.m. for lunch Monday-Friday, and from 5:30-9:30 p.m. for dinner Wednesday-Friday. •
