- We are on a road trip and specifically a Texas road trip.

We are headed down south to Corpus Christi, Texas.

And what we are doing over the next couple days is we are going to celebrate the ingredients and the flavors of the Gulf Coast capital.

I've got my great chef buddy here, Thomas Gardner, and we are gonna be cooking up some tasty meals that you can cook up on the road or on the trail.

The flavors here are really showcasing that beauty of the sea.

We caught a fish.

Yes!

Also some really awesome Tex-Mex flavors.

♪ On the road again ♪ I just can't wait to get on the road again ♪ ♪ My love is cooking with my friends ♪ ♪ I just can't wait to get on the road again ♪ (upbeat music) - I'm Chef Corso, hiker, backpacker, and classically trained chef, on a mission to elevate outdoor meals, because food on the trail should be so much more than just calories.

Join me and my friends as we explore beautiful trails and cook up quick, easy, and delicious meals to share together.

This is "Outdoor Eats."

Outdoor Eats is made possible by the following America isn't just one land, it's many.

The great outdoors, local scenes, and of course the people.

So many destinations to explore.

More information available at GoCollette.com Guided travel since 1918.

Vivid-Pix memory station and software allows users to scan personal history items like photos and documents, record voice narrative, and share what has been conserved.

More online at Vivid-pix.com.

♪ upbeat music In4adventure.com Inspiring, educating and encouraging outdoor adventure Host- And by these additional sponsors ♪ upbeat music (upbeat music) I love a good, old fashioned road trip.

Thomas is one of my great buddies from culinary school.

He is a excellent chef and we are very, very similar in our cooking styles.

- So, going on a road trip with a good friend is a great way to get away and break up the monotony of normal, everyday life.

It's great to hear about all of his activities and travels.

- When two chefs get in one van, well, we talk about food, because that's what we love.

I know there's been a lot of chefs out there that have been championing using caviar a whole lot or foie gras, or those kind of fancy, fancy ingredients, but for me it's been pretty simple.

I've been really enjoying toast, and toasted tortillas, and really celebrating bread.

- I've been seeing these boneless wings pop up everywhere.

- Thank you.

- I cannot stand it.

These are just dressed up chicken tenders and contain no wing meat.

- It is not a wing.

And thank you for bringing this up, because it's been on my mind for years now.

And, yeah, they are just fancy chicken nuggets.

Let's just call 'em what they are.

(upbeat music) - We just stopped and got some of that buttermilk out of there.

And it looks like we are good to go on that butter.

Look at that.

Give that a little try.

- Wow.

That is soft and creamy.

That is butter, man.

- That is nice.

- That is delicious.

(upbeat music) Corpus Christi is completely new to me.

I've been to Texas multiple times, but never been this far south.

So, I'm really curious and excited to see what the food scene is all about, what the fishing is all about, and to really dig in and explore this area that I've never been before.

- Corpus Christi is an iconic city along the Gulf Coast.

There's a lot to do here.

A great culinary scene that's really starting to find its own.

It's one of the bigger cities that you'll find in South Texas, so there's a lot more to do, especially outdoors.

(upbeat music) - One of the things that I like to do when I'm traveling is find local botanical gardens, especially during different seasons when different things may be in bloom.

Maybe some fall colors are happening.

And Corpus has a really nice botanical garden.

Kind of fun to see.

I travel around the country a lot and so I love trying new restaurants and really digging into the local area to really get the local feel of it.

Hey, Francesco!

- Ciao!

- [Steve] Chef Francesco welcomed us to Corpus Christi with a great meal and a great farmer's market menu that only comes out once a week.

Well, Chef Francesco, this looks and smells fantastic.

- Thank you.

- So, tell us what's on the menu tonight.

- We have tonight fettuccine with black garlic and shrimp.

We have a red fish with tamarillo, kind of a pesto that we made with lemon, garlic, and chive.

Roasted sweet potatoes and local greens.

- Fantastic.

- Bon appetit.

(upbeat music) I always working with my family business, the tortorilla that we had in Sicily where Bellino is my mother's maiden name.

I started cooking carbonara when I was eight years old.

- Francesco, so I heard that you not only have Bellino here, but you have maybe another place.

- Yes, next door.

A few doors down, the whiskey library.

It's called Nueces Whiskey Library.

- Interesting.

Thomas, are you interested in that?

- Very much so.

- Okay.

(upbeat music) While we're here in the Corpus Christi area, we were given a tip to try something at night.

We are going glow in the dark kayaking.

I've never heard of this before.

I've never even seen this before.

It's gonna be really, really fun to paddle around the bay tonight.

(upbeat music) So, no light.

Oh, white light.

Oh, where's the party mode?

Yeah, party mode!

(upbeat music) We're in the bay in the main part of Corpus Christi and this is a very, very unique experience that I've never done before.

We've got a clear bottom boat, so we might be able to see something down here as we're exploring this bay at night.

We've even got some live music over here at the local seafood restaurant setting the mood.

It's pretty nice.

I hope Thomas is doing all right over there.

- Hey, Steve!

- [Steve] How are you doing, Thomas?

- Just living the dream.

(upbeat music) For this trip, we are going on a full camper van experience.

We've got a couple beds in the back, a whole bunch of room for storage, a couple refrigerators, plus some other storage for our groceries and our food.

So, this is a pretty special experience down here in Corpus Christi that you can camp right on the beach.

And we found a great spot in Mustang Island State Park, pulled right in, and started getting ready to prep for dinner.

Thomas and I have very similar approaches in the kitchen.

Nothing super gourmet, nothing super fancy, just tasty, good stuff.

And he is an expert in meat, sausage, and cooking up that stuff over the grill.

I am just really excited to be able to cook with him again.

- All right, we're getting this fire going.

Get it the right temp.

Let it burn down a little bit.

We're gonna get some certified Angus bone-in ribeyes and some smoked jalapeno cheese sausage grilled up tonight to make some Texas tacos with some homemade salsa here on the beach in Corpus.

(upbeat music continues) - We've been using sticks and rocks for prepping our food for centuries.

And I think we need to get back to that.

So, get a nice stick to be able to smush up all those ingredients and get 'em really nice and tasty.

(upbeat music continues) (Thomas hammering) Get that widget all tight.

We can just keep it here for now until that fire burns down.

And so, for our Texas tacos, it wouldn't be Texas, if we don't have tacos.

We are keeping it really, really simple.

So, we're using your delicious ribeye steak that you brought down.

We've got jalapeno cheddar sausage.

Do you say jalapeno or do you say jalapeno?

- Jalapeno.

- Jalapeno.

- Jalapeno.

- All right.

(Thomas laughing) I like that better than what I said.

(both laughing) And you're gonna toast that up and put those into our flour tortillas tonight.

And then also, what I have too is some of these little packable peppers, bell peppers, really great color, and some green onions we'll throw on the grill and snack on those also.

So, why don't you season that rib eye up and get that on the grill?

And a suggestion for all you guys out there too is get the thing on the grill that takes the longest, because you don't want to be waiting for your big fat thing or the thing that takes the longest to cook.

(upbeat music) That steak is sizzling up nice.

Let's get those veggies on.

- All right.

- And I love these packable bell peppers, 'cause there's no chopping.

You just throw 'em right on the grill.

You can snack on 'em after, you can turn 'em into fajita veggies, whatever you want.

I love the color too.

And if you are not grilling your green onions, you need to grill your green onions.

They are so, so good.

I had these on a recent trip to Oaxaca down in Mexico.

And what they do is just grill 'em over the fire like this and then just snack on 'em.

This grill is looking super, super colorful and really, really delicious.

- [Thomas] You really want to cook over high heat, so you get some of that reaction with the proteins.

What you're looking for is what's called the Maillard reaction.

It's the nice browning or caramelization for the meat.

Oh, yeah.

- Thank you.

- It takes me right back to Oaxaca.

(upbeat music) So, if you could give me one tomato, yeah, get that skin in there, a couple tomatillos, and that jalapeno please, just all in there, we'll see if I can smash it all up.

Thank you very much.

And if you could also give me a nice pinch of salt in there.

Nice, and if you could also hand me my fancy, proper smashing stick.

- There you go.

- Thank you, sir.

Yes!

And a little bit of cilantro.

Maybe just like a quarter to a half a cup.

- [Thomas] Tex-Mex cuisine is a combination of traditional Mexican flavors with more of an Americanized palette.

A lot of what we're seeing now though in newer Tex-Mex restaurants is more focusing on fresh food, which is great.

(upbeat music continues) - Wow.

Cheers, man.

These look great.

I love the combination of the grilled ribeye with the smoky and cheesy sausage, and then topping it off with fresh salsa made right here at camp with a stick.

Super, super delicious.

The food scene here in Corpus Christi is definitely focused on the water and focused on seafood.

- Hey, Brad.

- Chef!

Nice to have you here.

- Great to meet you.

- My name is Brad Lomax and I am the founder of Water Street Restaurants, which was a long time ago, guys.

It's now run by my sons.

And then I am also an oyster farmer.

- [Steve] And what are we gonna do today?

- I want you to see the farm.

I want you to see the floating cages and how we raise these babies in their natural environment.

Welcome aboard.

- All right, thank you.

- Yes, sir.

(upbeat music) So, this is about somewhere around a million oysters.

We stocked a million oysters-- - Just a million oysters.

- Just a million.

- I've been on a lot of farms growing carrots, potatoes, never seen a farm like this.

To see 'em in their natural habitat is pretty awesome.

(upbeat music continues) So, Brad, what are we seeing here?

- This is our current crop, chef.

And so, these oysters were six millimeter eight months ago and they're starting to reach market size.

So, these oysters will probably be in restaurants by the end of May.

- So, I think I've gotta have an obligatory, random question here for you.

- Yes, sir.

- Are there pearls in these oysters?

- There are no pearls in these oysters.

That's a different... A pearl oyster is a totally different species.

(upbeat music continues) - Here we go, my first Copano Bay oyster.

It doesn't have too much of a smell.

It doesn't smell like the sea.

Wow!

I could really, really taste the salinity of this bay.

Soft texture, but really, really clean on the finish.

Yeah, super, super tasty.

Brad shared a bunch of his knowledge on the farm and I was really happy that I could reciprocate with cooking a meal up together.

(upbeat music) So, Brad, I've got a little bit of a confession for you.

- Okay.

- Raw oysters are not my number one favorite.

Is it okay if I cook you some?

- Let's do it.

That's the part I'm looking forward to.

- Okay.

What I think what we'd like to make today is an oysters Navidad, oysters Christmas style.

- Right.

- And we're not using hatch chilies here today.

We're doing a little bit more of the Tex-Mex theme.

And so, what I've got is some tomatillos and classic, red salsa.

I pre-shucked about a dozen oysters.

And then me and my buddy, Thomas, on the way down, made some road trip butter.

Look at that.

We're gonna get all that in a skillet.

Get that all nice, and sizzling, and bubbling up.

And then squeeze a little bit of lime on top, and then do a quick, little dunk with some corn tostadas.

(upbeat music) (food sizzling) I think oftentimes people don't taste all of their ingredients before they throw them into the skillet or into the pot.

But I think tasting those raw oysters and knowing how salty they are is really, really important, because I'm thinking we don't need to add any salt to this dish.

Okay, I'm gonna get a little bit of our red salsa in there.

Get that warmed up.

(food sizzling) Oh, yes.

And, Brad, why don't you grab that bowl of oysters for me.

- I will do that.

- And add all those to the pot.

- [Brad] Okay, just pour 'em in like this.

- Yep, pour 'em in like that.

- And these are the ones you pulled out of the water.

- Yes, sir, those are the ones you grew.

- I grew 'em.

I remember when they were babies.

- And this should be pretty quick.

You know, we don't wanna overcook those oysters.

- Right.

- But we want to heat 'em up.

Let the protein seize up just a little bit.

Getting our flavors all around.

Give this a quick, little taste.

See how we're doing.

The flavors are coming together great.

- Okay.

- Maybe add a little bit more butter, 'cause, why not?

- That's right, never too much butter.

- Make it a little creamier.

(upbeat music) - It tastes like home.

- Here?

- You know, it does.

It tastes just like home.

(upbeat music continues) - Well, thank you for sharing your farm with me and your oysters with me.

I love meeting new people, cooking up great meals, and then sharing the experience together.

- It will always be oysters a la Chef Steve.

(Steve laughing) - Cheers.

The journey of our oysters went from the bay to my mouth, to cooking up with him, and then just 30 minutes away to Water Street Oyster Bar where we were able to taste some more fresh oysters and really have the whole farm to table experience.

- Salud!

- Salud!

(Brad enjoying) (upbeat music) Corpus Christi is the birdiest city in America.

And I am gonna meet up with the local birder here, Liam.

And he is gonna teach me all about the local birds of the area here in Corpus Christi.

(camera flashing) - So, this sanctuary preserves the largest intact swath of oaks here on Padre Island.

And that provides habitat for migratory birds and for resident birds.

Because the birds are coming off from the Gulf of Mexico, they fly from the Yucatan Peninsula and this is the first bit of land that they find.

And the oak mottes are providing them with shelter from the elements and also providing them with food.

- Liam, are there some pro-tip techniques to be a successful birder?

- Oh, for sure.

We birders do some things like fishing and twitching to successfully find birds.

- [Steve] Okay.

- Pishing is just a way to attract birds in the area to you.

So, let's say there's a bird here.

- Okay.

- And I can see it.

You know, I'll stop.

I'll cup my hands over my mouth and I'll just fake... (Liam bird calling) (Steve bird calling) Exactly.

For our birding adventure, I thought it was appropriate that we would make eggs in a kale nest, so we're gonna build up a nest in our cast iron skillet.

So, I've got some kale and I've got some small, little red peppers.

- Nice.

- We could also do some red onion, green onion.

So, what I'm gonna do is just chop up our veggies and get them in our skillet with a little bit of road trip butter.

(upbeat music) We've got our butter, and kale, and peppers in our skillet.

Adding a little bit of salt and also a little bit of garlic powder.

- [Liam] That stuff is great.

- Add a little bit of spice if you like.

Something that can help our kale wilt a little bit is just a little bit of water.

(upbeat music continues) Well, I think it is just about done.

Let's check it out.

(food sizzling) - That smells really good.

It's seasoned perfectly.

- Thank you.

Liam, I really appreciate you teaching and sharing about what you really love, which is birding.

And I learned a lot.

And I'm definitely gonna have a couple eyeballs out for not just the plants and the wildflowers, and the moose and the squirrels, but also looking up a little bit more and looking for some birds.

(upbeat music) I am not a fisherman.

I fished a couple times.

Always excited to get out on the water and learn how to do it a little bit better than I did the time before.

And in this area, you can do an actual catch and cook experience.

(upbeat music continues) I met up with Captain Jesse this morning.

We are in Baffin Bay, just outside of Corpus Christi.

He was really helpful in finding the right spots in the right location for the fish that we were looking for.

- Today we're gonna try and target some black drum.

It's a speckled trout.

And if we are lucky enough to catch a few, we're gonna bring some back, get 'em fileted, and cook 'em up.

All right.

(water splashing) There it is.

- [Steve] All right!

- Of course we just got a nice speckled trout.

- Nice!

- About 19 and a half, 20 inches.

And this is gonna be the start of lunch.

- We caught a fish.

Yes!

Oh, yeah, we're getting it.

- [Jesse] Hold it right there.

- Yeah, nice!

Sweet!

- [Jesse] That's a good sized drum.

Good eater.

Good job.

- Awesome.

(upbeat music continues) Thomas has a lot of experience fishing in this area, but it turned out that I actually caught three fish and he caught none.

Hey, Thomas, this is what they look like.

I caught another one.

- So, a lot of times when you're out on the water, it seems like there's a good dose of beginner's luck that happens.

(upbeat music) - One of the really cool parts about this area is that they will literally filet your fish for you, and then take it over to Stoopy's, and then cook your lunch for you.

And I'm a chef, Thomas is a chef and we love cooking, but sometimes it's really nice to have someone else cook for us.

Oh, wow.

- Yum!

- Thank you so much.

- Enjoy!

- That looks good.

- This is my fish, where's your fish?

- I guess I'm gonna eat a menu.

- Well, I'm happy to share with you.

We got 'em both blackened.

They look awesome.

Also comes with all of these sides.

Let's dig into this.

I think we've got the trout in the smaller pieces and you've got the drum there.

- I'll get a drum.

- You cannot ask for a tastier, fresher fish experience.

(upbeat music) Thanks for coming along for our Texas road trip down to Corpus Christi.

Get out there, see someplace new, go on a road trip, and cook up something tasty.

(speaking in foreign language) Outdoor Eats is made possible by the following America isn't just one land, it's many.

The great outdoors, local scenes, and of course the people.

So many destinations to explore.

More information available at GoCollette.com Guided travel since 1918.

Vivid-Pix memory station and software allows users to scan personal history items like photos and documents, record voice narrative, and share what has been conserved.

More online at Vivid-pix.com.

♪ upbeat music In4adventure.com Inspiring, educating and encouraging outdoor adventure Host- And by these additional sponsors ♪ upbeat music