WOW! For a first year festival this was pretty darn close to perfect! The food & wine experience was a two day festival that showcased tastings from many of the best restaurants in the valley. They offered samples from wineries, breweries and spirits. Interesting local and celebrity chef demos and or seminars were going on. $ 65.00 a day was the price for subscribers to do the Grand Tasting. The parking was close, easy and free. The biggest problem I had was that I didn’t have enough time or stomach to do everything. The only minor problems were a few places closed early like AJ’s who set up almost a whole grocery store and Bourbon Steak. I saw two of the chef demos and didn’t have enough time to eat and drink everything I wanted to but managed to do pretty well anyway. I really wanted to see three of the six demos or seminars. I also felt rushed since I didn’t have enough time. They had a faucet show going on. Models were strolling around wearing faucets. I thought the faucets would be more interesting with male models. I enjoyed the All Star Panel with Paul Bartolotta, Michael Ginor, Aaron May, Chuck Hughes and special guest Graham Elliot. Then I got really hungry and thirsty because it was 1:00 and I haven’t had time to sample hardly a thing but wanted to see the Graham Elliot presentation. Then I tried to cram in everything that seemed appealing. Most of the offering were very good. The one that I’m sorry I didn’t take a double was the Lavender cured Cobia with Coconut Tapioca. That was the most interesting thing I tasted. The flavors and textures were the very complex. That dish was from either Citizen Public House or The Gladly. A dish that surprised me was from Rancho Pinot. It was a Moroccan Spiced Chick Pea stew. It also was very layered and complex. There were a bunch more that were also very very good. A few very good restaurants that I have dined at more than once didn’t shine at the experience. For more details on how I felt about the food you can read my blog at
The food & wine grand tasting experience was great just not enough time to do or taste it all.
