I always love a good old-fashioned road trip. It’s a chance to cover some miles, see the country and explore a new area. For this adventure, I hit up my great chef buddy Thomas Gardner of Hudson Meat Market in Austin, Texas. He and I went to culinary school together at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley and we are very similar chefs. We love good, simple, straight-forward meals that aren’t too fussy and really celebrate the ingredients. When we put our heads together for this road trip, our goal was highlighting the bounty of the Gulf Coast capitol, Corpus Christi, and its great tex-mex flavors.
To start our journey in Corpus Christi, Chef Francesco Inguaggiato welcomed us to Bellino Ristorante & Nueces Whisky Library, an Italian restaurant with a special farmers' market meal offered once a week. We chatted with chef about his culinary journey from Italy to Texas as well as the heights of his career as a professional Italian basketball player. His menu highlighted all that was seasonally fresh; gulf shrimp and red drum, a complete delight with black garlic pasta and local greens.
It was a fantastic soft landing after a long day on the road. To further help with the transition from behind the wheel, we learned Chef Francesco also owns the speakeasy next door! So we shared in a nightcap of a local Texas whiskey at Nueces Whisky Library along with some local Texans.
Gulf of Mexico and Barrier Islands
Corpus Christi is right on the gulf, with a number of barrier islands and inlets that are perfect homes to some delicious species of fish – speckled trout, red drum and sheepshead, among others. Thomas and I set out with Captain Jesse and he showed us all of his secret spots to (hopefully) catch our lunch. As luck would have it, the sun broke through the low clouds and the fish started biting. We caught a few trout and a drum on a very successful day on the water.
Catch and Cook
One of the unique parts about this catch and cook experience was once we got back to land, we were able to drop off the fish with an expert filleter at Snoopy’s, an awesome local restaurant and watering hole. I loved watching him work as he perfectly cleaned and filleted our fish for us in record time. Then, we took it just a few paces over to the kitchen where the chef prepared with perfectly with some cajun seasoning and lemon. It was so fresh and delicious and a truly special day on the gulf.
Glow in the Dark Kayaking
Not tired of time spent on the water, I was curious about the chance to try glow in the dark kayaking. Was it more fun than traditional kayaking? What would I be able to see? Turns out, it's super fun and a great way to see the waterways from a different perspective. Kayaks are outfitted with lights on the hull, with more on the paddles, with the chance to change up the light's colors to fit your mood. Our guide Zach from Glow Row toured us around for a few hours as dusk was settling in, sharing local knowledge of the history of Corpus Christi as well as pointing out the active wildlife; schools of small fish, baby crab, and jelly fish.
Oyster Farms
While other states in the region have been farming oysters for years, it is a new thing in Texas. To learn more, I met up with local legend, Brad Lomax, at his group of restaurants in downtown Corpus, including a coffee shop, bakery, fresh oyster bar, bar and grill, and more all in the same block. He shared the history of the downtown area and that of Texan oyster farming. Brad was the right person to ask, with him being the first official oyster farmer in Texas. After a cup of coffee, we drove outside of town about 45 minutes to get up close and personal with this fresh seafood.
I have been on a lot of vegetable farms in my day, but never an oyster farm. While many farms grow oysters on the seafloor, Brad’s farm was set up with floating cages with few thousand baby oysters in each cage! Starting about the size of your thumbnail, in nine months they are market-ready. This was a fantastic and educational experience about how to farm and harvest oysters. I did taste one right on the boat; the flavor was mild, creamy and delicate with the healthy saltiness of Copano Bay.
Honestly, fresh oysters aren’t my number one favorite. I usually eat one or two and let my friends enjoy the rest. But, I REALLY like cooking them. And I really wanted to create something with Brad’s fresh as can be oysters as a thank you for giving me a tour of his farm.
Tex-Mex Flavor
To keep with our Tex-Mex theme, I created a quick Oysters Navidad recipe, or oysters “Christmas style”. I heated up my cast iron skillet, added some fresh-made road trip butter plus some fresh green tomatillos and jarred red salsa. Once that was all happy in the pan, we added about a dozen fresh shucked oysters that had such a great salinity from the sea that no more salt was needed. To finish it off, we used some broken up tostadas to scoop up all the flavour from our fresh catch. This is a great recipe to make up for a campy happy hour with your friends! And with that in mind, my road trip buddy and I were off to our seaside campsite.
Oceanfront Tex-Mex Taco Grilling – Hudson Meat Market
Thomas, a fantastic chef and owner of Hudson Meat Market, was tasked with bringing some proper Texas meat for our road-trip-camp-out, and man, did he bring the goods. A big, fat, delicious ribeye and some jalapeño cheddar sausage!
One of the special parts about camping in Corpus Christi is setting camp right on the beach. We found our perfect spot, set up the awning and camp chairs, and took a few minutes to relax and enjoy before prepping our dinner. Thomas was camp-fire-keeper and as it was a breezy evening, he dug our fire pit down into the sand and used driftwood to create a natural windbreak.
With the coals set for cooking, it’s always more fun to cook together, and what we created was absolutely delicious. The combination of steak, sausage, grilled bell peppers and the freshly made beach-front salsa was perfect. We enjoyed watching the waves crash in as we munched on our tacos.
I love making fresh salsa. But it can be a lot of prep and chopping. So what we did was grill up our ingredients (tomatoes, tomatillos and onions), and put them in a big camp mug. We have been using rocks, sticks and other tools to help prepare our foods for centuries and I found a great stick to be able to smash up our salsa. What the smashing does is really get the flavor to marry in a way that chopping just won't do. It was a perfect compliment to our steak and sausage tacos. This also helps with keeping sand out of your salsa!
I very much enjoyed my road trip to Corpus Christi and especially the local flavors, people and places I had the opportunity to explore while here. I encourage you to check it out and see, experience, and taste it all for yourself! Get out there!
Enjoy the recipes below and be sure to check out the other recipes.
Recipes
Tourism Links:
- visitcorpuschristi.com
- FACEBOOK: @visitcorpuschristi
- TWITTER: @visitcctexas
- INSTAGRAM: @visitcorpuschristi
- PINTEREST: @visitcorpuschristi
- HASHTAGS: #SeeCC, #GulfCoastCapital, #CCTX, #ThisIsCC, #CCMe
Food & Drink:
- Backstage Bar + Grill (Austin, Tx)
- Snoopy's Pier
- Water Street Central Kitchen
- Elizabeth's
- Water Street Oyster Bar
- Water Street Farmers Market
- Water Street Sushi Room
- Mangonadas by MLB
Places to Visit, Things to Do:
- Jesse Torres Guide Service (Fishing Trips)
- Glow Row
- South Texas Botanical Gardens
- Texas State Aquarium
- Packery Channel Oak Motte Sanctuary
Places to Stay:
- Lively Beach Hotel
- Mustang Island State Park (beach camping)
