Spanish Flavor

Jeff and I went to the Spanish Flavor dinner and cooking class last night at Texas Hill Country Olive Company. We had a fabulous time! Before the class, we met a couple who were stopping into the store on their way between wineries, which is how we first discovered the place ourselves a few weeks ago. We got to talking with them and it turns out the guy, Jim, works at Jeff's company. He's fairly new there and works in another group. His fiancée, Kathy, was telling me about two breweries in the hill country who do tastings and tours as well. Jeff prefers beer to wine, so I told her he would be very excited to hear that. When we got back to the guys, they had already been talking about us all getting together at Jester King next weekend. Too fun!

The class was set up really well. Lots of seating at tables facing the kitchen. The menu: flank steak on crostini with chimichurri (one of my favorite all-time condiments), paella, mango and cheese empanadas and tres leches cake. Everyone got wine or beer through the evening. It was a lot more interactive that Central Market's classes, with opportunities for everyone to come up and help now and then. You could get up and take pictures at the stove, pictures with the chef, etc. We also got a full meal, rather than tastings of each item, like Central Market does.

Not to knock CM's classes, which are awesome. Most of CM's classes are just less hands-on and not intended to be a meal for the students. I did take a sushi class at Central Market with Kathy once, where we all had our own stations and made our own sushi. That was really cool!

This place could benefit from mirrors over the cooking area and a chef's mic. They are getting a microphone soon.

I do recommend the classes! They are monthly and are posted on Texas Hill Country Olive Company's Facebook page.