Former Sera chefs team for pop-up beer dinner
Two of Fort Worth’s most well-known chefs will combine their culinary wizardry for an intimate pop-up dinner Monday.
Jen Williams and Victor Villarreal — who have worked at some of the area’s best restaurants, including Clay Pigeon Food and Drink, Grace and Magnolia Cheese Co. — will host the “Bosom Buddies” beer dinner at the Collective Brewing Project on Fort Worth’s south side.
Cost is $65 per person for the five-course meal, or $75 for food plus a beer tasting with each course.
“Victor and I have been kitchen compadres off and on for years,” says Williams, who worked with Villarreal at Sera Dining & Wine and Magnolia Cheese Co. “Outside the kitchens we’ve been like family. You can often hear us being ‘too loud’ at a local restaurant.”
After departing from Sera last year, Williams focused on her then-upcoming marriage. With her nuptials now behind her, she’s redirecting her energy to her culinary career. (Sera, a Forest Park Boulevard restaurant, closed in October 2015.)
“I’d been wanting to do a dinner with her for a long, long time,” says Villarreal, who is the sous-chef and assistant general manager at Max’s Wine Dive Fort Worth. “But she was always busy or I was always busy. But now that’s she’s back from her honeymoon and wanting to get back in the kitchen, the timing just seems right.”
The beer, of course, will be provided by the year-and-a-half-old Collective Brewing Project, founded by Mike Goldfuss and Ryan Deyo and co-run by the two of them and Tessa Deyo. A different beer will accompany each dish, and each has been handpicked to best complement the family-style courses.
“It’ll be very similar to a fine-dining wine dinner, but with more of a friends-and-family vibe,” says Tessa Deyo. “We’ll have two big, long high-top tables where everyone will sit, side by side, and the food will be served on big plates, family style.”
Food will be prepared mostly by hand, using a minimal amount of modern equipment.
“We’re definitely using a minimalist, campfire approach,” Williams says. “I like to call this an ‘urban farmhouse’ dinner.”
The menu was partially inspired by Williams’ recent trip to Italy but also influenced by Villarreal’s interest in elevated American food. The two collaborated on each dish and will prominently feature seasonal ingredients, a staple of both of their cuisines.
First course will be housemade breads served with citrus-habanero marmalade and foie-gras butter.
“Both Vic and I have always enjoyed doing breads,” Williams says. “It’s definitely a lost art that plays a part in cuisine throughout history and cultures.”
The second course will be a salad consisting of charred shrimp, green garlic, jicama, pink peppercorns and golden raisins. Its dressing will be a vinaigrette made from the beer with which it is paired, the brewery’s Petite Golden Sour.
Course No. 3 will be what Williams and Villarreal call “magical gnocchi.”
“Victor makes the best gnocchi I’ve ever had, and that includes the gnocchi I had in Italy,” she says. “It’s very difficult to do. But Vic’s got these little Italian-grandmother fingers that you really need to do great gnocchi.”
The main course will be veal tonnato, consisting of sliced veal, nettles, pickled tomato, crispy mushrooms and aged balsamic. Dessert will be German chocolate mousse cake, with Belgian candy syrup, pineapple compote and Thai basil.
Seating is limited to 40 people. To make a reservation, call 817-938-3350 or email tessa@collectivebrew.com.
This story was originally published February 22, 2016 at 3:10 PM with the headline "Former Sera chefs team for pop-up beer dinner."