Sometimes I can be reminded of home in the most unlikely places. For instance, last week I visited the Museum of Modern Art’s new Rene Magritte exhibit. Houston’s Menil Collection has a large number of his paintings and had donated some works to the show. As I walked through the galleries, it made me smile to see art I associate with home, and I felt Texas pride to see Houston so well represented in New York City.
After I saw the exhibit, I grabbed a bite to eat at The Modern, a restaurant at the museum. It’s German-inspired cuisine, and on the menu is a tarte flambée, which is an Alsatian baked flatbread that’s been smothered in bacon, onions, and a creamy sauce. It’s basically a bacon and onion pizza. Who wouldn't love that? And while it's not fussy, it’s still incredibly luscious and rich. It's a favorite of mine, and it’s a rare trip to the museum that I don’t make the time to stop into the restaurant and order one.
Now tarte flambée, which in Germany is known as flammkuchen, isn’t obviously Texan, but it also reminded me of home. See, Texas has a rich German legacy, not to mention in Central Texas there is also a community of folks from the Alsace region, an area in Eastern France that falls along the border of Germany and Switzerland. So an Alsatian tart is more connected to Texas than you might originally suppose.
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