Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/898117
50 / the tasting panel / november 2017 HOUSTON S ix weeks after Hurricane Harvey dropped more than 50 inches of rain over southeast Texas and caused catastrophic flooding through- out the greater Houston area, the city's food and wine community continues to face major challenges as it inches back to its pre-storm status. Numerous business trips and conventions have been canceled, according to leading sommelier and veteran Houston restaurant profes- sional Sean Beck, who runs four of the city's highest-profile wine programs. That includes the wine list at Hugo Ortega's popular Oaxacan restaurant Xochi in downtown where some of the worst flooding occurred. "There's a guilt factor, and there's a percentage of the population who's just not going out," he says. "Steakhouses and super- high-end restaurants are feeling it." And while there had been a resurgence in energy-sector hir- ing in recent months, widespread flooding has put the trend on hold. As a result, Beck says "the Houston restaurant scene is little bit tender at the moment." "The situation isn't dire, but there will probably be a correction in the market," he adds, noting "an obscene number of restaurants" had opened in recent years as the city experienced "massive growth." Most wine professionals are not abandoning the city—at least accord- ing to an informal poll conducted by The Tasting Panel—but there have been some notable exceptions. Vanessa Treviño Boyd, a former wine director for Adour Alain Ducasse in New York City who had been recruited to come to Houston in 2010, says she is looking at positions in Chicago and New York after her wine program at the posh Lakeside Country Club was a casualty of the flooding. Post-Harvey, Houston "just doesn't have the opportunity that I need right now," adds Trevinõ Boyd, who led tastings of first-growth Bordeaux and top Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon for her former guests at the golf club. Her assistant Glenn Newbeck says he has given up on looking for a coveted country club job and has turned his focus to restaurants instead. Even with more than 15 years of experi- ence working at some of the city's best restaurants, he still hadn't found employment as of mid-October despite his sterling resume. One bright spot in the aftermath of the hurricane has been the Wine Above Water charitable event and silent auction, which aims to benefit displaced wine professionals. By the deadline for this story, the September gathering had already raised more than $55,000. But perhaps more importantly, the walk-around tasting offered impacted professionals one of the first post-storm opportunities to socialize, trade stories, and network with their peers. As one of the city's prominent wine writers put it, it was "Houston's post-hurricane coming out party" and a turning point for its recovery. HOUSTON'S FOOD AND WINE COMMUNITY REGROUPS FOLLOWING HURRICANE HARVEY story and photo by Jeremy Parzen On the Road to Recovery Although Houston is slowly recovering from Hurricane Harvey, the food and wine com- munity is struggling with slow sales, as well as trip and convention cancellations.