Ventana

Ventana

Written by Pitt Garrett Saturday, 07 April 2007

Culinary school offers inexpensive fine dining

White tablecloths, sophisticated place settings, an exquisite menu, and reasonable prices define Ventana Restaurant. The entire staff creates a dining experience. Ventana is not for the lunch or dinner rush crowd. It caters to those who desire a leisurely meal, an opportunity to savor the cuisine.

We ordered the Beef Carpaccio ($5.00) as our appetizer. The thinly sliced beef with herb salad, shaved parmesan, and white truffle oil was presented with perfection with toasted crostini. We followed with the Salad Maison with candied walnuts, apple straws, roasted shallot vinaigrette ($4.50) and the Caesar Salad ($4.50).

We chose the Grilled Pork Loin with braised cabbage, roasted apples, mushrooms and smoked bacon served with creamy whole grain mustard sauce ($8.50). It was prepared flawlessly and a true delight. The roasted cabbage side had a delicious blending of flavors.

Our other entrée was the Paves de Rumsteak au Poivre Vert, a classic presentation of sirloin steak with Green Peppercorn Sauce ($10.50). The quality of the steak was comparable to the highest-end steakhouse in Austin and the Peppercorn Sauce made this a savory delight.

We concluded our Ventana adventure with two divine desserts: The Crème Brulee and the Cheesecake. The Crème Brulee had a little sugary crust but an excellent flavor and the Cheesecake was an orange-flavored chocolate and served with a beautiful chocolate swirl on the plate.

Ventana is a student-run fine dining restaurant, which serves as the capstone course in the Associate of Applied Science Degree of the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts program. The goal of the restaurant is to create a formal dining experience for its customers while giving students the opportunity for hands-on experience in a restaurant setting.

While lunchtime is less busy, chef instructor Mike Erickson said, the restaurant requires reservations for evening dining. They have limited seating and availability. The whole dining experience takes about an hour and a half to two hours, as the courses are served one at a time with flair, very friendly smiles and professional courtesy not seen in most restaurants at lunchtime. It is a wonderful place to have a business lunch when you need time to talk and visit with a client or if you are just having lunch with your sweetheart and want to feel at ease, like you have been somewhere special together.

Ventana also offers catering and chef service for private parties, like wedding receptions, office parties, or business lunches.

Learning in the kitchen

According to Mike Erickson, C.D.P., F.M.P., Ventana is the perfect tool for training future chefs. Erickson is an Austinite who attended Travis High School, studied at the Culinary Institute in England and is the Chef Instructor for Ventana Restaurant students. Every three weeks there are new student chefs in the restaurant learning skills from service to cooking and hosting. It is a hands-on approach to teaching future chefs the qualities and skills needed to run their own restaurants or to serve as head chef of other fine quality eating establishments.

Open: Tuesday - Friday, Lunch: 11:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., Dinner: 5:40 p.m. - 8:15 p.m. reservations required

Ventana, 11400 Burnet Road • 339-3850

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