Felix Florez, known to the Houston restaurant world as the face of Black Hill, a partner at Ritual in the Heights and a consultant of the soon-to-open brick and mortar location of Blood Bros. BBQ at 5425 Bellaire Boulevard, is busy. Really busy. But the master of local meat is putting chasing swine on hold for a few days this summer and trekking to Palm Beach, Florida.

On Saturday, August 5, Florez will be making three of six courses for a specialty dinner at Cafe Boulud, partnering with Boulud chef Rick Mace for the evening.  He’ll be showcasing the culinary facets he’s passionate about, and educating consumers about the products they’re eating at the collaborative dinner. “I look forward to telling Floridians about Black Hill, Ritual and (the forthcoming) Blood Bros BBQ,” he told My Table. If you’re familiar with Florez’s affinity for using every part of an animal, you can probably guess which dishes from the menu below are his creations.

The flyer for a collaboration dinner at Cafe Boulud featuring guest Felix Florez

So how did this partnered meal come to fruition?

“I met chef Rick Mace at least 5 years ago at while doing Cochon 555 Miami; he was introduced to me by chef Jimmy Strine (sous chef at Cafe Boulud Palm Beach). Since then, Cafe Boulud in Palm Beach has ordered various breeds of heritage pork from Black Hill and beef from Texas Ranchers Network. This year I am focusing on traveling the country and showing Americans what we do in Texas and giving them a true farm-to-table experience. Raising the livestock and preparing [the meat] for the guests gives me the opportunity to really explain the dishes and demonstrate the importance of responsible farming and ranching. At Cafe Boulud, I will be focusing on our pork, beef and lamb and Mace will be showcasing local vegetables, seafood and in-house charcuterie made from Black Hill Meats. On this trip, I’m the visitor, but soon we’d like to bring in some guest chefs to Ritual as well!”

Outside of Houston and Florida, Black Hill sells their meats to restaurants in Dallas, Austin, New Orleans, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama. It could be that a guest chef series of dinners at Ritual would feature some of the best chefs in Texas and the Deep South.

If you’re regretting not making plans to escape Houston for a day or two this summer, now is a chance to treat yourself to a luxe mini vacation. (We saw roundtrip flights through Fort Lauderdale for August 5 through 6 priced around $330 online last night.) Tickets to the partnership dinner are just $95 and can be bought by calling Cafe Boulud Palm Beach at 561-655-6060.