As I sat in the bar staring at the back of Bruce Springsteen’s head and nibbling on some blue cheese and mussels, I realized that Trio left me a little confused.
I’m not normally one for hotel restaurants but the buzz, combined with the fact that I kept running into the chef de cuisine, Todd Duplechan, at the local markets had me really wanting to check out Trio, the downstairs restaurant at the Four Seasons.
Unfortunately, times is tough, as they say. Trio doesn’t exactly fit in the budget category so I hadn’t yet had a chance to explore the place. Luckily for me, the good folks there have rolled out a brand new, shiny happy hour and they invited me and some other media folk over to poke around.
What I found was a series of compromises, but not necessarily in a bad way.
On the one hand you have a young chef who’s passionate about local food, who wants to serve simple but innovative, even challenging dishes to people who seek it out and appreciate it.
On the other, you have a large corporation that has built its very successful world brand on consistentcy and meeting a certain degree of expectations. They have established a clientele who are loyal to them because they know what kind of amenities and experience they can expect when they show up at a Four Seasons Hotel.
That’s a big boat to rock.
However, Todd and his staff are making some admirable inroads.
Like most good evenings, this one started off with a glass of bubbly.
For instance, the first thing he wanted to talk about was how he had bought a pig from Richardson Farms while it was still teetering around on its little trotters in its pasture just outside of town. Then he bought it all the pecans it could handle and let it finish out its days feasting on the sweet, plump nuts.
Attention to detail like this has a strong history in places like Spain and Italy, but it made me kind of tingly to find out about it happening right here in Texas.
Todd has big plans for most of the hog in some upcoming dinner events, but he was generous enough to share some ribs he had cooked. He slow roasted the rack for several hours and then made sure it got some crispy bits under a broiler. They were further augmented by a spicy garam masala rub and sweet and sour Muscat grape gastric. I licked mine and then Rachel’s fingers, tastefully of course.
But next I tried the tuna tartare. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad, it was just boring. The dish was made up of some nice tuna cubes piled on a huge mound of avocado and seasoned with ginger, soy, sesame, and lime. Fine- but not from the mind of the same man who made those ribs.
I understand why it’s on the menu. It’s probably their best seller or close. It’s certainly a good dish to order in a hotel restaurant.
I was equally unimpressed by the seared beef sashimi. The beef was seasoned with togarashi and served on a glass noodle salad with fava beans, mung bean sprouts and a citrus saba soy dressing. Eh.
The beef was obviously high quality and the fava were nice but the huge pile of noodles and overabundant liquids made the dish muddled and difficult to eat. I think less would be more for this presentation.
The oysters I liked. They were warmed through and topped with a bright ragu of shrimp and bacon and then crowned with some smokey paprika-dusted shoestring potatoes. Surf and turf all in one bite.
Have you ever seen a grown man slurping directly out of a tiny, tiny cast iron pot? Well you missed your chance immediately following my introduction to the Crab Fondue. It was just a simple mixture of gruyere, cream, cream cheese, and a metric shit-ton of sweet lump crab, but they sure came together in high praise of decapod crustaceans everywhere. Creamy, crab bliss on a toast point.
Next were the Lamb Sliders, the Truffle Fries and the Chipotle Cheddar Mac N Cheese. Geez. I don’t think this fancy comfort food trend will ever end. I mean, I totally understand it. People find them familiar and approachable, the kitchen finds them simple to prepare, and the management finds them to have huge profit margins. I guess they’re wins all around.
I don’t know how I missed getting a picture of the Sliders, but it’s just as well. I’m all Slidered out. The one I tried was bland, dry and uninspired.
The Fries were nice but in no way tasted truffley. The fried rosemary on top was a good touch as was the Meyer lemon aioli.
The Mac N Cheese was very cute in its little cast iron pan but it wasn’t a particularly memorable incarnation of the dish.
What was memorable, however, was one of the most peculiar mussel dishes I’ve come across. When I read that they were prepared with Blue Cheese, Prosciutto, and Riesling, I was hesitant to say the least. Blue cheese and shellfish are anathema in a number of food cultures that spring to mind. What the hell?, I thought. Better dig in.
I was totally surprised at how well the flavors worked together. Creamy, salty, piquant and rich, the sauce somehow managed to not overpower the fat, perfectly cooked bivalves. When I asked Todd about the inspiration he told me that the idea was actually developed by a talented young sous chef that used to work for him.
So talented, in fact that Todd shipped him off to Four Seasons homebase in Atlanta. I'm sure he'll be helming his own place any day now.
I will mention that Rachel, my partner in crime, didn’t much care for them. She didn’t spit them out or anything, but she wasn’t fighting me for bowl space. Maybe it’s a girl thing?
Enough about things that aren’t fried. I need to talk about some Smoked Shrimp Croquettes. I didn’t think these little guys were going to be anything special, but I was mistaken. Crispy on the outside and gooey in the middle, these golden brown orbs were attractively accompanied by a green mango sauce, a fennel and chive salad, and some super scrumptious pickled sugar plums.
As the molten shrimp center oozed out around the delightfully sweet-tart plum wedges, this dish rapidly climbed my stuff-I-want-in-my-mouth list. Yes, please, and thank you.
Moving on, I need to give a quick shout out to Trio's local cheese plate. We make some amazing dairy products in this state and it’s nice to see them showcased so well.
While I am lacking photographic evidence, the cheese quartet is made up of three cheeses from Paula Lambert, owner of the Mozzarella Company in Dallas, and the best blue for several hundred miles (at least) from the Veldhuizen Family Farm.
Chef Duplechan works the crowd.
By the way, while all of the wines I tried were quite nice, the cheeses went particularly well with Felsina’s 2005 Chianti Classico Riserva. And since everything is half price at happy hour, it’s only prudent to have two glasses right? You do have two hands.
Finally, while it’s technically not part of Happy Hour, you’ve got to check out Trio’s desserts. Naomi Gallego, the executive pastry chef, is a bona fide badass.
I didn’t get to try most of the offerings as they were quickly ravaged by hordes of appreciative Foodbloggers, but I did get a front row seat for this Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch with peanut butter mousse, milk chocolate cremeaux, grape fluid gel and an adorable milk shooter. Apparently, the recipe came to her in a dream. She should sleep more. Wow.
Blackberry Lemon Napoleon with Sable Breton.
Flourless Chocolate Mousse Cake.
So what have we learned? First, go to Trio for Happy Hour because they have great food and wine for half price and that's no small statement once you see their prices. Also, when you go, order stuff that you don't see at regular hotel joints. Support all the local, delicious, interesting things that Todd and the crew are putting out there. We'll all be happier that way.
Just for the record, I wasn’t kidding about the back of Bruce Springsteen’s head. Revel in its glory.
Trio at the Four Seasons
98 San Jacinto Blvd., Austin, TX 7870
(512) 685-8300
Happy Hour M-S 5-8pm
-L. Pants
