Chef Brent Hines is out to smash the “rubber rooster luncheon” metaphor that’s been the bane of group assembly planners at lodge and conference facilities ever since Fred Flintstone attended his first Water Buffalo Lodge assembly.
Hines, govt chef on the Fort Price Conference Heart since July 2021, not solely goals to raise a convention eating expertise with euphoric taste blends but additionally to make the conference heart a culinary vacation spot in its personal proper.
“My imaginative and prescient is for Fort Price Conference Heart delicacies to grow to be a vacation spot for teams on the lookout for a specific meals and beverage expertise,” he mentioned. “I’m designing new menus infused with native flavors and domestically sourced elements. We would like folks to depart remembering the meals and requesting the recipes.”
Hines, a local Texan, grew up in Chico in Clever County on an unique sport ranch for lease to deer hunters. Farm to desk was a part of his upbringing and every day life, the place his household harvested livestock, fish, and sport in addition to a two-acre backyard. Their closest neighbor was three miles away.
Nonetheless, he was not remoted from the world. His father was an American Airways pilot, so Hines traveled the world and have become a foodie, all the time deciding on a random — but unbeknownst to him the most costly — merchandise on a overseas menu.
After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu Faculty of Culinary Arts in Austin, he landed at Keystone Ranch in Colorado, a Zagot-rated prime wonderful eating restaurant, the place he coursed out the menu, oversaw prep and served as lead line cook dinner.
“I credit score 90% of my training to Chef David there,” Hines mentioned. “Merchandise had been sourced from all over the world and the whole lot was created from scratch.”
Shifting again to Texas to be nearer to household, Hines was 27 years previous in his first govt chef job at Sky Creek Ranch in Keller, which acquired a number of awards of greatest new restaurant and greatest steakhouse. He then moved to world hospitality giants Gaylord and Benchmark earlier than serving as govt chef at Winewood Grill in Grapevine and govt sous chef at Park Home Dallas. Hines joined Trinity Meals and Beverage, an arm of Omni Fort Price Lodge, because the Fort Price Conference Heart’s govt chef in June of 2021.
How does a chef produce 1,000 beautiful meals for a convention or gala, you ask?
“Planning, timing. It might take 4 days to obtain, prep, stage, involving three different cooks and different employees for a 45-minute occasion,” mentioned Hines. “It’s an uber-organized meeting line with folks assigned to ovens, folks assigned to plate and garnish, then the recent field, then out to occasion.
“It’s a distinct sort of rush and mass manufacturing than a restaurant. You recognize what your week’s going to be like, menus are deliberate. And we are able to loosen up and revel in after it’s all carried out.”
Chef Hines and two different sous cooks he recruited to the conference heart from a earlier employer are designing new menus for Trinity F&B. Shoppers can count on displays with pure colours, equivalent to vivid orange from a carrot or quite a lot of reds and pinks from radishes.
Hines blends his personal spices from scratch, in addition to all dressings and sauces, to create distinctive taste mixtures with infused Texas, French, Asian, Italian, Caribbean, and Mediterranean influences. Marquee dishes embody tenderloin bruschetta with arugula pesto and tomato jam, which he describes as “Italian with a Texas twist.” Different new menu gadgets embody grilled Texas watermelon with hydroponic combine greens, native goat cheese and smoked blueberry dressing; lobster mac & cheese with brandy cream, truffle essence and chervil; and duck quesadillas topped with poblano crema and corn pico de gallo.
“I’m an artist with a clean canvas, and your style buds are the meant impression. When the flavors are well-balanced, when the whole lot comes collectively in your mouth, it’s best to have a euphoric feeling.”
The Fort Price Conference Heart, initially inbuilt 1968 and expanded in 2002, is planning a $450 million phased growth over the following 5 years that can embody a brand new, state-of-the-art catering kitchen that can present the power to serve bigger exhibits with 5,000-10,000 folks attending occasions.
With two sons ages 6 and 11, Hines enjoys tenting, fishing, grilling and the outside, making cooking a multi-generational affair. His grandparents Bobby and Wadene Hines had a number of eating places in Fort Price: Anne’s Café, Bobby’s, Fleetway on 28th St., and Wadene’s, which is now the Star Café within the historic Stockyards District. In actual fact, Wadene was an energetic enterprise supporter within the restoration of the Stockyards within the Seventies and ‘80s, and Chef Hines’ nice grandfather owned Drive In Cattle Fee firm within the 1900s.
“My grandparents each had a ardour for Fort Price and for sharing meals, and though my grandfather handed away earlier than I used to be born, I really feel it in my blood.”
Andra Bennett works within the metropolis of Fort Price’s Public Occasions Division
