The position of pastry chef at Congress, the new and much-lauded fine dining venue in downtown Austin, didn’t stay open long. Thirty-one-year-old Erica Waksmunski has slipped into the opening left by the departure of Plinio Sandalio (who went to the Carillon, in Austin). She started on January 22.  Two days ago I sat down with Waksmunski to sample her wares (what’s the opposite of hardship pay?!) and chat about her love of making desserts and how she came to Austin for a visit and ended up with a job offer.

TM: How did you get started cooking sweet things?

EW: When I was a kid, my mom and I would begin baking at Thanksgiving to have gifts ready for everybody on our Christmas list, which included the mailman and the check-out clerk at the grocery store as well as friends and family. It was all scratch baking—breads, cookies, that sort of thing.

TM: What was the hardest?

EW: Rugelach! These are small rolled pastries filled with things like nuts and raisins. My mom is from New York—they are popular in the Northeast—and I remember spending hours and hours and hours rolling out that cream cheese dough.

TM: For you, was it always pastry, from the beginning?

EW: Actually, I cooked a lot of savory [unsweet foods] as a kid.  I remember a cooking show on TV taught by some German chef (at least, I thought he was German). I would watch it religiously, write down all the ingredients, and call my dad at work and tell him what I needed him to pick up on his way home. Then I would cook dinner.

TM: Where did you go to school and work before moving to Austin?

EW: I grew up in Virginia Beach and I went to Johnson & Wales University, which is a culinary school in Charlotte, North Carolina. After that I got an internship at Everest in Chicago—I was really lucky. I called the kitchen every single day until Chef Perry told me yes, and later I got hired there. After a couple of years, I went to Flyte World Dining & Wine, in Nashville, which was kind of crazy. I was so young in my career and it was a demanding job, but I told myself, it’s sink-or-swim time.

TM: How did you get to Texas?

EW: I had been working at Chez TJ, which is in Mountain View, in the San Francisco Bay area, and was visiting friends in Austin at Thanksgiving. I happened to be at a party talking to another chef, who mentioned that David Bull was looking for a pastry chef at Congress. I thought, Well, why not? I sent my resume on Monday night and on Tuesday morning, I got a call from chef Bull!

TM: That’s fast.

EW: It was crazy! We emailed back and forth, and then he said they were going to fly me out for an interview. I packed up some special or unusual things I knew I would need, in baggies, and got on the plane. I went straight to the restaurant and they threw me right in! I worked Friday service. Then I slept four hours, got up at 8 a.m., and made a couple of desserts for them to taste. Right after the tasting, he offered me the job.

TM: Do you fit the cliché of the pastry chef who’s a control freak?

EW: Once upon a time I would let the anxiety and stress get to me. But I took a step back, and at this point I feel like I have a way more laid-back approach to my food and management style. I’m not curing cancer; I’m just making people dinner, or dessert! (Laughs.)

TM: What is the best thing about your job—licking the spoon, plating the final result, or something else?

EW: All of the above! Come on, I make candy and sweets for a living. It’s great, it’s fun, it tastes good, and it makes people happy. I love it from start to finish.

TM: What do you think about bacon as a dessert ingredient?

EW: Oh, gosh, I am rolling my eyes here. That is a trend I find obnoxious. Yes, it’s funny. Yes, bacon tastes great with maple syrup. But, please, let’s leave bacon for breakfast.

TM: Which of your creations do you love right now?

EW: That yogurt and lime sorbet dessert. I like to end a multi-course meal on a light, palate-cleansing note. Your tongue has been bombarded, and you need to lighten it back up. That combination is fruit-forward and acidic and has punchy flavors. I’m pretty proud of it.  [Dear readers, she’s referring to her amazing Greek yogurt mousse with lime–Thai basil sorbet; they are accompanied by small cubes of compressed Asian pear in yuzu syrup, super-thin mango slices, dabs of mango purée, and feuillitine crunchies tossed with white chocolate and black lava salt. Your life will not be complete until you have it.]

TM: Last question: Dark or milk chocolate?

EW: Dark.

(Photo of Erica by Scott Walker; Photo of Dessert by David Bull)

Tagged: Congress restaurant, David Bull, Erica Waksmunski, Plinio Sandalio

From Left to Right: Ron Yates, June Rodil, Dan Gatlin, Mark Hyman, Dr. Richard Becker, Ed Auler, Kim McPherson. Photo by Callie Richmond

As part of the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival, the pioneers of the Texas wine industry convened on Saturday, April 2nd at Austin’s Hyatt Regency to share a taste of their top wines paired with a six-course lunch by Executive Chef Kevin Dee.

Among this assembly were Kim McPherson of McPherson Cellars, Ron Yates of Spicewood Vineyards , Mark Hyman of Llano Estacado, Ed Auler of Fall Creek Vineyards, Dan Gatlin of Inwood Estates Vineyards, and Russell Smith of Becker Vineyards. June Rodil, beverage director of Congress restaurant and one of the state’s top sommeliers, led each course pairing and moderated an engaging discussion on the current state of Lone Star Wine.

Below are the pairings:

Baby spinach salad with roasted chiogga and white beets, local strawberries and champagne vinaigrette – McPherson Cellars Syrah Rosé 2009 (~$10)

Quail Confit over baby arugula and butternut squash Risotto with toasted pumpkin seeds – Spicewood Vineyards Semillon Reserve 2007 (~$18)

Chicken scallopine over roasted sweet potatoes and watercress citrus salad with Meyer lemon caper sauce – Llano Estacado Viviana 2009 (~$23)

Strube Ranch shortribs, Pure Luck polenta, braised chard – Fall Creek Vineyards Meritus 2006 (~$40)

Bleu cheese selection – Inwood Estates Vineyards “Cornelious” Tempranillo 2007 (~$40)

Local Strawberries with chocolate torte – Becker Vineyards Vintage Port 2009

Of the courses, our favorites included the chicken scallopine, which presented bright, citrusy flavors that balanced perfectly with the acidity and mild sweetness of Llano Estacado’s Viviana white blend.

We also liked the rich braised shortribs rounded out with the full-bodied, dark cherry notes of the Fall Creek Meritus. (Although the big dark fruits in the Inwood Estates Tempranillo also worked well with this dish.)

Our favorites out of the wines?… all of them. Each of them could hold their own against similar varietals world wide.

In the past year, each of these wineries have had at least one of their wines featured as a Texas Monthly Wine of the Month—half of which were paired with this lunch. And with good reason. Not only have these wineries figured out the key to making good wines, they’ve figured out the key to making good Texas wines, which as the past 15-20 years have shown, has been a long and painstaking process in finding the grapes that work best in the state as well as enduring the unpredictable Texas weather patterns.

And while some of the larger wineries have found consistency and high volume sales with wines such as the Becker Vineyards Viognier, the Fall Creek Chenin Blanc, or the Llano Estacado Chardonnay—all of which sell for around $15 or less—all of the wineries have a selection of wines that reflect a more “hand-crafted,” artisan style that have brought each of these winemakers high esteem through the state including Inwood’s “Cornelious” Tempranillo and Fall Creek’s Meritus.(Both of these have smaller production and fly off the shelves for $30-$40.)

But as Fall Creek’s Ed Auler revealed, “Wines across the state have gotten to a point where the quality and value are balancing out,” meaning you can rely on the merit of the wine you’re buying whether it’s a $10 or $30 bottle… Just one more thing to make Texans proud.

Tagged: Becker Vineyards, Congress restaurant, Fall Creek Vineyards, Inwood Estates Vineyards, Jessica Dupuy, June Rodil, llano estacado winery, McPherson Cellars, Spicewood Winery, Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival, texas wine