The next time you go looking for your heart’s desire, as the old movie line puts it, don’t look any farther than four great Texas-connected chefs making their best stuff at a super-luxury resort on the edge of the Pacific in Cabo San Lucas. There are two-hour direct flights from Houston and Dallas, and you’re sure to get to the resort called Capella Pedregal right about mealtime. Then again, during the second annual Food and Wine Festival held last week, just about every time was mealtime.
Somewhere between breakfast and lunch, for instance, we sampled the “Parisian” gnocchi pictured above, which appeared as part of a cooking demonstration by chef Philippe Schmit of Houston. The chef-owner of Philippe Restaurant + Bar, a guy who likes to call himself the “French Cowboy,” demonstrated how to make a version of the rustic Italian potato dumpling that actually had more in common with fancy French pate choux and then how to drizzle it with a vinaigrette gone uptown via truffle essence and shaved truffle. Schmit made several jokes about how much this salad dressing would cost if he were offering it for sale. Or indeed, if he and not Capella Pedregal had paid for the ingredients.
To understand how the Capella Pedregal Food & Wine Festival was born, you need look no further than the imposing figure at the center of this picture - chef Kent Rathbun of Dallas, he of Abacus, Jasper’s, Blue Plate Kitchen, etc. Rathbun loves to travel, and he loves to lead groups of his fans to places he loves. A conversation with the resort led him to suggest a festival at which high-profile chefs would come here and do what Rathbun does so well. He was joined this year by Schmit from Houston, Dean Fearing of Fearing’s in Dallas and Tim Hollingsworth, formerly of the French Laundry in Napa. While Hollingsworth grew up in California, he was born - that’s what counts, right? - in Houston. These guest chefs worked closely with Mexican-born Capella exec chef Yvan Mucharraz and Singapore-born pastry chef Lauren Sung.
One of the real victories of Capella Pedregal during the festival was never forgetting the Real Mexico. After all, the vast majority of the resort staff is from Mexico - from, as one employee joked, “just about every part but here.” Young culinarians in particular got to strut their stuff during a barbecue on the beach, as well as at a “loncheria” set up one day alongside the infinity pool overlooking the roaring Pacific. If you were the World’s Most Expensive Mexican Food Truck, this is pretty much what you’d be serving.
Many regulars at this year’s Food & Wine Festival signed up immediately for next year’s, chefs unseen. Where else, they were asking, can I purchase access to so many terrific (and famous) chefs, visit so much with each one-on-one, and pepper them with all my dumbest cooking questions? Tim Hollingsworth, in addition to making great food like the aquachile (yep, that means “pepper water”) pictured above, talked about life after French Laundry. This life includes his impressive plans for a fast-casual, multi-unit restaurant to drive the brand, a line of salsas in the supermarket to bask in the brand, and a TV series involving motorcycles to, well, have a damn good time being the brand.
Far from being the envious “working stuff,” Yvan Mucharraz proved a charming host to all his festival buddies, both longtime and freshly minted. In addition to making this incredible tuna dish with salmorejo sauce and a Spanish-style ham he cures right at Capella, Mucharraz introduced each chef and, later at the gala dinner, each chef’s dish. He provided intelligent, good-natured glue to the event’s diverse pieces - yet seldom more so than talking about Hollingsworth, who had mentored him during a stint at Thomas Keller’s landmark in Napa. Never have the words “my chef” sounded so respectful as when Mucharraz spoke of Hollingsworth. Both had learned their Keller lessons well.
And then, far too soon and far too suddenly, it was all over but the eating. All the chefs (including those-in-training from every part of Mexico but here) collaborated on a dinner that didn’t disappoint, even after three days of eating and drinking the good stuff. Highlights of the gala - staged outdoors, like just about everything around Cabo San Lucas - included Rathbun’s pan-seared scallops Benedict with fried green tomato and Fearing’s chile-spiced buffalo tenderloin with sweet corn puree and sour cherry sauce. Despite great wines from Duckhorn in Napa and Mariatinto in Mexico, and despite way too much Maestro Dobel Single-Estate Tequila, there was a lot to remember about the second-annual Capella Pedregal Food & Wine Festival. And remembering is the perfect thing to do during a long walk along the Pacific before your reluctant trip back to the airport.
Great Article. Looks like tons of fun.