Large-Scale Culinary Creativity

Chef Brian Robertson is late. But it’s not his fault. Blame it on the people who kept stopping him as he made his way from the kitchen to the dining room, all badgering him with questions about menu items, event planning and the other issues that come up when you’re the guy in charge of running the restaurants for the San Luis Resort and Conference Center.

At the San Luis Resort and Conference Center, Chef Brian Robertson is crafting a South Beach styled menu for the annual San Luis Salute Mardi Gras benefit.

Once he sits down, though, he’s filled with enthusiasm, talking about how the menu for the annual San Luis Salute, the resort’s yearly invitation-only Mardi Gras bash. This year, Robertson is looking at crafting a South Beach sort of feel for the menu, infusing it with culinary touches from the legendary Miami enclave.

“Miami has so many great food influences,” he says. “And I’m looking at how those influences can translate into a banquet setting.” Because, indeed, he believes, whether you’re cooking for 12 or 1200, quality is king.

“It’s all about time management and planning,” he says of creating a dinner on such a large scale. “And counting. Count, count and count again,” he laughs.

When you’re making a multi-course menu for that many people, Robertson says you pay attention to ingredients in a way that’s different from day-to-day dining. Dishes might be partially prepared in advance, then quickly touched up before they hit the dining room. Something like a baked potato can hold heat for a long time, so it arrives hot at the table.  But you wouldn’t want a vegetable like asparagus sitting out for a while, since it will cool far too quickly.

Making sure everything behinds the scenes comes off well is no trouble for Robertson, a self-described “high-energy kind of guy,” who’s responsible for the food at The Steakhouse and the cafe at the resort and its convention center, as well as menu consultation for the Hilton and the Holiday Inn. With the San Luis Salute, a black-tie gala that benefits the University of Texas Medial Branch, he knows he can use both his creative and operational skills to create a unique evening.

“Simple food can be elegant,” he says, noting that the most important skill he’s learned over the years is when to edit. “You want to balance the salty and sweet.”

At press time, he was planning on infusing his Miami-influenced menu with local fish, as well as fruits and vegetables sourced from area farmers.

“But I’m planning my fusion food carefully,” he laughs. “Fusion cuisine can very easily become confusion — and that’s not anything I want for our guest.”