This is the second part of the recording in Austin, TX with three local Chefs. We are here at the Fairmont in Austin and I have with me around the table three chefs from Austin. Chef Kevin Fink from Emmer & Rye, Chef Fiore Tedesco from L'Oca D'Oro and Chef André Natera from The Fairmont Hotel. We are continuing the conversation on creativity and the local food scene in Austin. Just before the series of rapid-fire questions, the 3 Chefs will talk about local ingredients.
What we covered in this episode 3 Chefs in Austin Part Two
Question Everything

Kevin Fink - "The ability to question is to me what we need to follow and the ability to seek enough knowledge to have context to this questioning. And I think that what Ferran did. I know that what Rene did. The irony of this all is, as creative as it is, it just makes sense. Question the molecular structure or why things happen or what it takes for our world to do it. They just gave us glasses to understand different elements of our world."
"Don't look for others and try and mimic what they're doing. Question why you're doing everything that you're doing and make sure that everything in that makes sense because the person that is going to be the next Ferran on Rene is not going to find somebody they're what they're gonna do instead is they're going to have a perspective different enough about what we do that others will be captivated by."

Look For Soulful Experiences

Fiore Tedesco - "I'm constantly in seek of soulful experiences. There is something about for me seeking out these soulful intimate experiences in all the places that I go that really turned the lights on for me and helped me answer those questions."
"And generally when I'm going somewhere I want I want to go where I see families laughing and where I see a bunch of people gathering in what seems like like a natural way people existing in the world. I want a window into what is not authentic but fuel's right to them and feels normative when we go down to like fancy restaurants."

Food Scene in Austin

Andre Natera - "Right now you have almost as in between chef driven interpretation of Mexican food. And I would say probably right now locally that's what I see the most. And if I was going to open up a restaurant in Austin right now to make a lot of money what would I open. I would say Mexican cuisine is having its moment probably not in Mexico I don't think having a Mexican food moment in Mexico but here in Austin.
Kevin Fink - "When it comes to food we in many ways have the Danish complex and what I mean by that is we don't have a style of cuisine that was ours. The Austin food scene offers a tremendous amount of creativity. It offers some limitless possibilities of things. It offers a camaraderie that we have here and because it's not so saturated and set in its ways it also offers a nimbleness to it. We have permissions here to try things that are different."

Austin Local Ingredients

Herbs and flowers: Hoja Santa (sassafras), Devil's Claws, Prickly Ash/Toothache Tree, Moringa, 
Citrus: Wild lime and Persian lime
Berries: Hackberry, Jujube dates
Native Cactus, Monk's Pepper, Mesquite, Burr Oak

5 Rapid-fire questions:



Chef André Natera
from Fairmont Austin
If you are interested in discovering more about the Austin restaurant scene, check out these two additional episodes by clicking on the respective pictures:   Chef André Natera from the Fairmont Hotel and Chef Fiore Tedesco from L'Oca d'Oro.


Chef Fiore Tedesco 
from L'Oca d'Oro

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Chef Andre Natera and @flavorsunknown





3 Chefs from Austin and I