October 19th, 2012 
La Dolce Vita’s 2012 Food & Wine Festival was an event for the senses. From the beautiful scenery on the grounds of the Austin Museum of Art’s Laguna Gloria to the beautiful attendees it was quiet the enchanted Austin evening.
Trento’s meatballs (Photo Credit: Leslie Silver)
With all the top and brand new local restaurants and wineries in attendance there was no possible way any guests can sample even just a bite of everything, but I tried my hardest to eat at all of my personal favorite restaurants and new and trendy ones I have been hoping to try.
I believe my very personal favorite was the veal meatballs with herb cream pecorino and breadcrumbs from Trento. They were so tender yet delicious and the perfect bite in the creamy sauce.
Crowd at La Dolce Vita (Photo Credit: Leslie Silver)
Other tops for me included the delightful chicken salad with homemade whole grain mustard, cherry tomatoes and chicken crackling from Snackbar. I really liked this dish because it was so different than the others that were most of the ‘fancy’ variety. This was simple, fun and such a nice entrée in between everything else going on.
I thought the Thai magic canes/wings with basil sauce from Satay Thai were just out of this world. They were served with coleslaw as well, but I didn’t think the chicken needed it, or even the sauce, as the chicken was so perfect on its own. This is definitely a restaurant that I will be making several trips to in the future to get that amazing chicken again.
My last personal favorite of the night was the delicious inverted BLT sandwich from the Driskill Bar & Grill. While it sounds simple, it really isn’t and was just a perfect dish and so pretty while seeming like something great to make at home as well for an impressive appetizer to show off to your friends.
Objects of Confection booth (Photo Credit: Leslie Silver)
For the dessert course, several restaurants had some of their most popular desserts in bite-size forms but I think the most popular sweet treat of the night was cupcakes with several cupcake bars. My personal favorite were the cookies & cream cupcakes from Objects of Confection. I wanted to eat a dozen of these, they were so delicious, but did’t make you feel guilty because of the small size.
The evening was so pretty in such a romantic setting and the food variety and quality (particularly considering that the teams were making food on site in such high quantities, which can be extremely challenging) was just top notch and let me see why this is truly the culinary event of the season. It has me already looking forward to next year’s festival, but I doubt it could top this!
