A Taste of Pueblos del Maíz at Casa Hernan

411 East Cevallos Street,San Antonio TX 78204

13 May, 2023

Description

Join us for "A Taste of Pueblos del Maiz" at Casa Hernan! Chef Johnny Hernandez and visiting chefs from the UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy- Mérida (Mexico) and Tucson (Arizona) will prepare an array of maíz tastings as we celebrate the rich traditions of maíz throughout May. Benjamin Krick from Pastiche will provide a cocktail demonstration featuring Tejuino con Elote with Vago Elote Mezcal. UTSA Libraries will have a pop-up display of their maíz cookbooks. Andres Lobato, a photographer from Puebla, will provide a photography exhibit: “Mazorca, multicolored pattern of traditions and culture of maize in Puebla, Mexico” available for purchase through silent auction. Ticket includes one complimentary cocktail, maíz tastings from each of the three chefs and sweet maíz desserts. Meet Chef Johnny Hernandez- San Antonio, Texas Celebrated San Antonio culinary and cultural ambassador Johnny Hernandez is a highly successful chef, restaurateur, author, television personality, arts emissary, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Hernandez jettisoned onto the national culinary scene more than a dozen years ago and has since come to be regarded as a true Texas treasure, renowned for his culinary skills and high standards, as well as his highly successful group of popular restaurants and culinary enterprises. Widely considered he nation’s premier chef specializing in authentic interior Mexican cuisine, as well as a gastronomic gamer-changer and eminent authority on Mexican cooking and culture, Hernandez works, hands-on, at the helm of an ever-evolving Texas culinary arts empire: Grupo La Gloria, a diverse and growing collection of signature restaurants and culinary projects. Hernandez was also an integral part in San Antonio being designated a UNESCO World Heritage Creative City of Gastronomy. A patron of the arts, dedicated to community sustainability and the fostering of local talent and local youth, Hernandez is dedicated to showcasing the work of local and Mexican artists in all his restaurants, products, and projects. Hernandez is also the founder and host of the largest Day of the Dead celebration in the United States, including an enormous lighted night parade attracting more than 150,000 visitors each year. Hernandez has hosted this brilliant River Walk spectacle for four years, drawing from the design and artistry of Mexican artists and craftsman from Mexico City and San Antonio to create unique and colorful river barges. Chef Hernandez also hosts San Antonio’s large annual benefit, The Paella Challenge, which is an event that raises scholarship funds for young cooks and future chefs through the Kitchen Campus Foundation. With exciting projects in the works for new culinary concepts in locations across the city and state, Hernandez is one of the hardest-working, happiest chefs in Texas, forever giving back to his hometown community that has so generously opened their hearts to him. Meet Obadiah “Obie” Hindman – Tucson, Arizona Chef Obadiah “Obie” Hindman has been working in Tucson kitchens for more than 35 years, most notably at Café Magritte, McMahon's Prime Steakhouse, and the Tack Room, where he was promoted to Executive Chef at the age of 28. For the past 20 years, he has been the Executive Chef at the Mountain Oyster Club, where he enjoys collaborating with his team to create unique seasonal culinary experiences, often by combining classic French techniques with local Sonoran ingredients. He is a founding member of the Gastronomic Union of Tucson (GUT) and has hosted several GUT Dinners at the Mountain Oyster Club. He was chosen to be one of eight Chef Ambassadors for Tucson City of Gastronomy, which seeks to share Southern Arizona’s rich food heritage with other UNESCO Cities of Gastronomy around the world. Meet Chef Juanita Selena- Merida, Mexico Born in Huimanguillo, Tabasco, Chef Selena moved to the state of Yucatán in the middle of 2018 after having completed a degree in Gastronomy in Villahermosa, Tabasco. Chef Selena's first work experience was at the Néctar restaurant in charge of Chef Roberto Solís where she had the responsibility of being a starting chef and the opportunity to work with chefs from the country's gastronomic scene. She attended workshops with the traditional cook Juana Amaya Hernández in Zimatlán de Álvarez, Oaxaca where she learned the elaboration of different types of moles and tamales typical of the Central Valleys of Oaxaca and gave professional practices in the kitchen of the Casa Oaxaca Restaurant in charge of the Chef Alejandro Ruiz. In October 2020, she was mentioned in the Edition of Food and Wine magazine in Spanish as one of the Best New Chefs, and also mentioned in the article "Exploring the Origins of the Chocolate We Drink (and Eat) by Imbibe Magazine in its March 2021 edition. She currently works for Micaela restaurant and teaches private Mexican cooking classes. Meet Benjamin Krick- San Antonio, Texas Benjamin Krick moved to San Antonio at the age of 29 and traveling to 40 countries, Benjamin Krick has quickly become a world-renowned figurehead for the hospitality and beverage industry. Rising through the ranks from barkeep to bar owner where he has been able to provide a new modern take on traditional standards and has pioneered the way with foreign flavors and new techniques from all over the globe. He has been actively working in the service and hospitality business for sixteen years now. He has taken on every position within his field that has led him to proprietorship. Born and raised in Atlanta, he has moved and lived in six US states and two countries. A true believer in continuous education with numerous certifications that back his work ethic. His dedication to the craft has earned him multiple awards and mentions throughout the globe with a Top 10 placement three times from Tales of the Cocktail for best bar Central USA for his previous bars Juniper Tar, Jet-Setter along with the newly opened Pastiche. Meet Andres Lobato - Puebla, Mexico Sharing through the eyes Born in 1977 in Mexico City, Andrés Lobato is a photographer based in Puebla. Almost 25 years ago the first camera was hung never to be released. Since then he has dedicated himself to portraying different corners of the world, mainly Mexico, where he finds his greatest source of inspiration in the identity that is shaped through the landscape, culture, traditions and gastronomy. With 29 individual and collective exhibitions, both in Mexico and abroad, and awarded pictures in photographic competitions, Andrés decided to dedicate himself fully to photography in 1997 and to journalism 20 years ago, standing out in the guild for his peculiar way of see the world, which has led him to the management of one of the most important newspapers in Mexico, in Puebla, at the same time that he continues to develop his artistic, editorial and wide projection projects on social networks. One of his works was exhibited at the Soumaya museum, considered one of the 15 most beautiful in the world, and he has collaborated for Google Arts And Culture on a project on local gastronomy.