Austin, Texas, is chock-full of young guns with food trucks these days, but Bryce Gilmore is here to stay. Not yet 30, the local-boy-done-exceedingly-good was named one of Food & Wine magazine's best new chefs of 2011 based on the enormous success of Odd Duck, the trailer he launched in 2009, and its new brick-and-mortar sibling, Barley Swine. Both find him building on homegrown traditions -- he grew up eating chile rellenos, carnitas, chicken-fried steak -- to yield the farm-sourced but globally influenced likes of venison sausage with aioli and pickled veggies, grilled pork belly over octopus salad and refried beans, and barley pannacotta with local berries.

In short, Gilmore remains clearly rooted in his native soil while keeping his finger on the pulse of the Mediterranean. So how did he get from Tex-Mex to Tex-Med?

"My father is a chef. It all started with him. Ever since I was 14, I was busing tables and running food in the restaurant he worked at then [Z' Tejas Southwestern Grill]. When I got to move into the kitchen is when I started having these feelings about cooking, developing that passion.

"About seven years ago, when I was 22, my girlfriend [now-fiancée] Molly and I took our first big trip together. I'd been to cooking school and I was at a point where I was trying to figure out what direction to go in. I'd had that urge to go to Europe, and since I didn't have a job the timing was good. I didn't even want to cook anywhere. I just wanted to eat and experience the culture.

"I always think back to a three-course lunch we had in San Sebastián [in the Basque region of Spain]. I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was on the water, overlooking the ocean. So that probably has something to do with [its memorableness] too. [Laughs.] It was very modern-looking -- different from a lot of the old, rustic tapas bars -- and I think it was early. There weren't too many people there.

What the Basque region is all about

"We had chilled white asparagus soup with salmon tartare and some paprika-dusted, crispy potatoes; pork rib with piquillo peppers; some sardines. It wasn't anything crazy. It was simple stuff that was so good. You can really create magic out of simple ingredients.

"As a young cook, you look at the 'French Laundry Cookbook,' and you're like, 'Oh man, that's cool, it's so complicated, so intricate!' And you learn to work toward that. But at the end of the day, it's about the ingredients and the way they taste together. It doesn't matter how many ingredients. Chilled white asparagus soup with fresh fish and a really nice paprika -- those few things come together so well. Think about sofrito [the classic Spanish combination of tomato, onion, garlic, and olive oil]. Every culture has that authentic base for sauces and soups, and you can kind of taste the culture [in it]. I feel like we really got to taste what the Basque region was all about in this one meal. It pulled me away from what I had been used to, which was Southwestern, Tex-Mex-style food, and opened up my eyes to Spain. And to this day, it's one of my favorite cuisines to draw influence from. I use a lot of Spanish paprika. It adds a nice depth of flavor, with its sweet and smoky combination, to so many ingredients. And Barley Swine has a fun, casual atmosphere, a little bit like the tapas bar. We serve a lot of small plates to try to get to people share things. So I embraced not just the flavors of Spain but a little bit of the culture and how [Spaniards] like to eat.

"[At the same time,] the meal offered a different experience than I'd had in the rest of the country. It showed me you can take the ingredients that you have available to you and do something different from what you've always done. And that's also something we try to do around here."

Quick Grilled Scallops With White Asparagus Broth and Paprika Potatoes

Serves 10

Ingredients

Directions

1. In a saucepan over low heat, sweat the onion, garlic and leeks with a pinch of salt in butter until soft. Add white asparagus, potato, and milk. Simmer until potato and asparagus are cooked. Purée and strain.
2. Salt and pepper the scallops, then briefly grill in a pan over high heat, just to mark them. Pull scallops off while still raw, slice thin, and toss with parsley, red onion, lemon juice and olive oil.
3. Slice russet potato into thin, bite-sized chips. Rinse with water and fry until golden-brown. Toss with salt and paprika.
4. To finish, pour 6 ounces of purée in bowl and garnish with scallop salad and potato chips. Can be served warm or cold.

Ruth Tobias is a Denver-based food and beverage writer. Since beginning her career in Boston, she has contributed to a wide range of publications, including Sommelier Journal, Mutineer, Denver Magazine, The Boston Phoenix, Zagat Survey, Culinate and the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food & Drink in America.

Photo: Bryce Gilmore. Credit: Mel Ferro Cole

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Gateau Basque is the best dessert ever! As someone who is half French and grew up in Texas ( enjoying ZTejas), while spending summer in St Jean de Luz, I hope he's gonna make a gateau basque! I'd come back to Texas for that!

a guest , June 12, 2011

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It sounds as if you really enjoyed your time there and "Years of composting have enriched the soil and the dry, temperate Baja climate is ideal for vegetables and flowers fed water through drip irrigation", sounds as if it can be a lesson for all of us who wish to become more independent and grow our own food.

I will continue to wager at this online casino for as long as they provide the best in slot machine action and other casino games.

Henry , June 12, 2011