San Antonio meals and wine fanatic Tanji Patton is heading into her tenth season of the “Goodtaste with Tanji” TV present this October, and her aim continues to be the identical as when this enterprise began.
“I hope we make them hungry,” she mentioned about viewers throughout 16 markets in Texas, together with her hometown WOAI 4 (NBC), at 5:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturdays.
Anybody who has ever caught her present is aware of that’s one mission completed, due to the good number of dishes she options at cafes and eating places providing each sort of culinary fare.
To see that variety, simply have a look at her 9 finest dishes from Season 9 in Episode 14 this spring the place she counts down favourite dishes from exhibits up to now yr (on repeat within the spring and summer time). Her decisions embrace issues like a house-made chorizo (at Phoebe’s Diner in Austin), cabrito with pecan mole (at Carriqui at Pearl in San Antonio), a goat burger (at Cibolo Creek Brewing Firm in Boerne) and a flat noodle stir-fried dish known as CK Teow (at Phat Eatery in Katy). No less than two of her prime 9 dishes had been from cooks with James Beard Award nominations to their credit score, however lots of the locations she visits are simply hometown favorites or native companies with a historical past of individuals pleasing.
Patton usually steps into the kitchen to look at cooks put together particular dishes and digs proper in for a style, whether or not the fare is a quesabirria taco dripping with melted cheese (at Ambriza Social Mexican Kitchen in Cypress) or barbecue dessert ribs (on the Authentic Black’s Barbecue in Lockhart).
However “Goodtaste with Tanji” is about much more than restaurant dishes.
“It’s at all times been about storytelling — not simply exhibiting meals and wine,” Patton mentioned in a latest interview. She will get to know house owners and cooks and talks to native diners about what they like.
Patton was an Emmy Award-winning journalist and investigative reporter at WOAI earlier than she launched “San Antonio Residing,” the town’s first life-style TV present. She hosted that weekday morning present for seven years. Patton, who has a journalism diploma from Texas Tech College, additionally anchored the night information with Randy Beamer, one other longtime San Antonio TV journalist. “San Antonio Residing,” now hosted by Shelly Miles, is in its thirty first yr. Patton nonetheless does meals and wine segments month-to-month on “San Antonio Residing” with Miles.
A yr earlier than she left WOAI, Patton filmed a pilot for her personal TV present in Tuscany, Italy, a favourite spot to go to. She was enthusiastic about doing a wine present. When her WOAI job ended, Patton struck out on her personal and created “Goodtaste with Tanji” as a digital present about 15 years in the past, properly earlier than the TV present launched with a wholesome checklist of sponsors (H-E-B, Sysco and Goya amongst them). That authentic concept for a wine present changed into a meals and wine present, with the favored “wine finds” segments that includes wines out there at H-E-B.
Miles calls Patton a great pal and mentor. Miles was the visitors reporter on newscasts at WOAI when Patton was the “San Antonio Residing” host.
“She was the one everybody needed to be — at all times on the prime of her recreation and so pulled collectively,” Miles mentioned about Patton in a latest interview. “Folks revered her and regarded as much as her. She’s sort and respectful to individuals.”
Miles mentioned Patton is the sort of one that will cease and chat for 5 minutes if a TV viewer approaches her within the grocery retailer. She known as Patton hardworking, endearing and approachable.
“I feel meals and wine have develop into such an enormous a part of our lives. Folks wish to get data from somebody they belief and know and have been watching for a very long time,” Miles mentioned. “The whole lot you see on that present, Tanji made occur.” She additionally mentioned Patton enjoys supporting native companies.
In the course of the pandemic when eating places had been closed, Patton produced TV content material on her dwelling patio about good takeout meals that might be picked up at native eating places for “San Antonio Residing.”
On one in all their latest segments collectively, Patton paired 4 wines with favourite dishes she picked up at Field Road Social in San Antonio (places at Hemisfair and La Cantera). Dishes from the restaurant the place brunch is served all day included glazed milk bread doughnuts, a bacon jam boy breakfast sandwich, carnitas in mini tacos, twice-fried rooster wings and a strawberry cheesecake French toast (Patton’s favourite). Wines ranged from Los Dos Rosé ($7) to Avaline Rosé ($21).
Patton, a local Texan, mentioned she likes to drink rosé year-round and likes a great “porch wine” that’s nice for stress-free on the finish of the day. A few of her favourite wines come from Italy, Argentina and Spain, and she or he praised the great wines from the Texas Hill Nation and the Sonoma Valley in California.
Patton’s accomplice for the “wine finds” segments is Ralph Cortez, a 34-year H-E-B worker who has spent the previous 29 years in wine. Cortez, with a string of certifications in wine, beer, mixology and spirits, has labored with Patton to pick out wines to showcase because the first days of the digital present on the net.
The pair work collectively to pick out wine varieties within the new H-E-B Honest Oaks Retailer in Boerne, the place the wine division has 2,000-plus wines.
“Tanji often asks me what’s new and thrilling,” Cortez mentioned. She selects wines from quite a lot of worth factors, selecting people who provide an awesome worth for the standard. She additionally chooses wines for particular events, seasonality, holidays or occasions. H-E-B’s aim, he mentioned, is to hold all of the wines featured on the present at most, if not all, H-E-B shops.
“I really feel actually blessed to be taught and work with the superb expertise that’s Tanji Patton,” Cortez mentioned. He mentioned she is sort and beloved by H-E-B prospects. “She is well-known by lots of the prime cooks and restaurateurs in Texas” and actually cares concerning the content material of her exhibits.
Cortez added that Patton has a big viewers for her present and “makes it look straightforward.”
“Tanji is without doubt one of the hardest working individuals I’ve ever met. Her job takes a number of planning, examine and journey,” Cortez mentioned.
“On daily basis now we have prospects who strategy me asking about Tanji’s wine finds,” he mentioned.
Patton has traveled to wineries everywhere in the world and gone to Italy seven or eight occasions. She was in Florence in Could, the place she attended a wine dinner in a palace with members of the well-known Antinori winemaker household.
Caitlin Foose, one in all Patton’s supervising story producers and a contract author, describes Patton as a collaborative, detail-oriented lady.
“I love Tanji. She’s an unimaginable enterprise lady,” mentioned Foose, who’s a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier together with Patton. “She’s at all times uplifting ladies,” mentioned Foose, who has labored with Patton since 2018.
“She is so beloved on this city,” mentioned Foose, who typically takes as a lot as six hours of video footage and breaks it down into five- to six-minute segments. Two of her personal favourite segments to work on had been about Sea Island (a San Antonio family-owned seafood chain) and 2M Smokehouse Barbecue, one other homegrown spot on San Antonio’s East Aspect that has additionally earned a James Beard nomination and constant prospects craving smoked meat and Mexican avenue corn. Each of them had fascinating tales concerning the individuals behind the meals, Foose mentioned.
“She’s the voice of South Texas, in my view,” Foose mentioned. “It (the present) has been imitated, however she does it finest.”
Foose mentioned Patton is enthusiastic about wine. “And he or she’s received good style.”
Patton has visited greater than 300 eating places for her present, however one in all her favourite recollections in her personal kitchen was when Lidia Bastianich confirmed up in her San Antonio dwelling to prepare dinner an Italian rooster dish for Tanji’s present when it was only a web site. Bastianich is an Emmy Award-winning public tv host, bestselling cookbook writer and restaurateur. Bastianich cooked Lidia’s rooster with olives and pine nuts, which Patton described as easy, genuine and scrumptious. You could find the recipe on her web site.
Patton has been busy engaged on new Season 10 episodes that may begin airing in mid-October. One in all her favourite latest episodes was her first journey to Marfa in Season 9.
“I beloved that journey.” She mentioned she met some superb individuals, noticed stunning nation and visited Cochineal, the place govt chef/proprietor Alexandra Gates was a semifinalist for a James Beard Award within the Greatest Chef Texas class. You may test it out in Episode 4 of Season 9 on Tanji’s web site.
One other favourite vacation spot for the present was Port Aransas, Patton mentioned, praising the contemporary seafood.
This summer time, Patton went to the small city of Buffalo Hole (close to Abilene) to shoot an episode concerning the Perini Ranch Steakhouse, which she extremely recommends. She discovered nice meals and other people that you simply’ll hear about throughout Season 10.
“I fell in love with the place,” she mentioned.
Patton, 65, has no plans to retire. She’s having an excessive amount of enjoyable working in her dream job.
Her aim for the brand new season is to proceed to encourage positivity and optimistic ideas, she mentioned. “I feel we’d like it.” She needs individuals to really feel higher after they watch the present.
Heading into her tenth season, she’s not solely specializing in making us hungry and thirsty together with her TV segments, however she has us mapping out brunch, lunch and dinner at dwelling and on the highway, based mostly on her discoveries. You may obtain a set of prime recipes from her 15 years of doing the present — beginning with a weblog — on goodtaste.television.
Goodtaste with Tanji
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