Diningwithclassandstyle.com is designed to inform and promote exclusive events, restaurants and chefs to like minded individuals that appreciate these events and venue's.  

I UNKNOWINGLY BEGAN THIS JOURNEY AT THE AGE OF 16.  MY UNCLE, WHO IS NOW DECEASED, GAVE ME A 35- MILLIMETER CAMERA.  IT ALL STARTED THEN.  I BECAME HOOKED AND BEGAN SHOOTING PICTURES OF EVERYTHING AND EVERYWHERE.  SAN ANTONIO, TX. HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY HOME.  AFTER GRADUATING HIGH SCHOOL, I TOOK THE CAMERA TO COLLEGE AND CAPTURED MANY OTHER IMAGES DURING MY 4 YEARS.  AFTER GRADUATING COLLEGE, I KEPT TAKING PHOTOS AND MADE THE TRANSITION TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY.  DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED ME TO TAKE EVEN MORE PHOTOS.  THIS TIME IT WAS PHOTOS OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS.  AT THE SAME TIME, I ENHANCED MY PHOTOGRAPHY TECHNIQUES AND SKILLS BY TAKING NUMEROUS PHOTOGRAPHY COURSES ALONG WITH PHOTOSHOP AND DIGITAL IMAGING COURSES.  WHILE COMPLETING THESE COURSES, I WAS ALSO WORKING FULLTIME AND COMPLETING MY MBA COURSEWORK.  AFTER COMPLETING MY MBA COURSEWORK IN ELECTRONIC COMMERCE, I BECAME A TEACHING ASSISTANT AT A LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL TO FURTHER MY EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE IN PHOTOGRAPHY AND DIGITAL IMAGING.  WHEN THAT ASSIGNMENT ENDED, I BEGAN TO PROFESSIONALLY SHOOT WEDDINGS, CORPORATE EVENTS, AND BEGAN CREATING CUSTOMIZED COFFEE TABLE BOOKS.  MY PASSION FOR PHOTOGRAPHY HAS LED ME TO THIS CURRENT ENDEAVOR.  I HAVE COMBINED MY PASSION FOR PHOTOGRAPHY WITH MY NEWLY FOUND PASSION FOR FINE DINING. 

My Culinary travels have taken me to Several Cities in Spain in 2003.  They possess a very different dining culture than I am used to.  They sometimes start to eat very late at night, and at one dinner we did not finish our meal until Midnight, their time.  Spainairds' make their meals an event.  They are accompanied with Song and Flamenco dance, which is a beautiful Experience.  From the Empanadas to the Paella, I sampled just about everything to experience the local flavor of Spain.  I was there for a week, so I had plenty of time to do so.

As an MBA Student, we were given access to the chefs and their staff that many people would not have gotten if they were simply dining.  Fine dining, food and wine are taken quite seriously in Spain.

I have traveled to several cities in Florida, South Carolina, New York, Georgia, California, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Washington State and of course, my home state of Texas.  If you were to draw my culinary travels on a map of the United States it would look like a great big smile.  that’s what I’ve had over the years while embarking upon this endeavor.

My most memorable culinary journey was when my family and I, along with my mother in law toured Manhattan and ate our way through the island.  We went to B. Smith’s, Justins(P. Diddys restaurant), Sylvia’s, and BB Kings House of Blues.  Need I say more?

Other notable journeys have been at Justines in South Carolina and several trips to the South Beach Wine and Food Festival in Miami, FL.  We met the Neely’s, Ingrid Hoffman, and were photographed with Robert Irvine and able to photograph many other food channel celebrities such as Bobby Flay, Rachel Ray, and Guy Fieri just to name a few.

San Antonio has become a culinary hub in its own right.  I have become acquainted with most of San Antonio's Top Chefs through my culinary travels around town and through highlighting their restaurants on my website.   I have the pictures to prove it.  

From the restaurants of Azuca to Tre Trettoria, and many in between, I have become quite the insider and becoming very well known in San Antonio, Texas and the surrounding area.  I have been invited to several soft openings of new restaurants and have a few more lined up in the near future.

I have also traveled extensively to several states for concerts, conferences, and several masquerade balls.  They have been quite entertaining and wouldn’t you know it, The fine dining that accompany’s these events are very special.  There are many of these events to list, from Naples, FL. to Los Angeles, CA. when on a whim, I found out that Prince was playing at the forum for nine days and I just knew that my wife and i had to attend one of those days.  We did just that.

My goal is to accompany Chef G. Garvin on a special trip through San Antonio, TX. to assist him in chronicling how San Antonio, TX. has been transformed into the culinary juggernaut that it is while enhancing my own understanding and awareness of how todays culinary atmosphere will transform and blossom in the near future.  This is very exciting to me and i hope that shows in how I convey this passion I have for this newly created concept in Fine Dining.

WHILE I POSSESS NO FORMAL CULINARY TRAINING, I FEEL THAT MY EXPERIENCE AND FAMILIARITY IN THIS FIELD IS MORE THAN SUFFICIENT TO EFFECTIVELY RENDER AN INFORMED OPINION along with fair, entertaining, and objective coverage of any event I attend.