This year's tomato festival, my first, was a blast. As a foodie with the exacting eye of a former special operations soldier, I can be highly critical and miss few things. Saturday's display was, without a doubt, the finest event of that nature I've been to.
The list of food vendors was as great as was the food itself, the wines were delicious and flowed from multiple locations around the beautiful, grassy venue and the ambiance was one of quiet energy. The Carlos Herrera Band set the tone for the day with upbeat but mellow Spanish-inspired rock-and-roll, and former Top Chef contestants chopped up the competitor's stage with a happy, fun energy that was new to me, as cooking shows always strive to convey the gravity of the moment. All the while thirty-minute seminars on various wine topics educated the truly curious from the flanks of the venue.
As for the food, I got down on everything! From the tomato tartlet with tomato ice cream to rosemary french fries with heirloom tomato ketchup to gazpacho to sausages to cheeses and on and on and on... My favorite ended being a pulled pork taco, but almost everything was incredibly delicious. And then there was the tomato tasting tent!!! Four tables making a rectangle with a different type of tomato every foot or so!!! For myself, I restricting my tastings to only tomatoes that were yellow or deep red/purple. I wasn't disappointed. Asking which one was best is like asking which one of your guns you like best: its unanswerable, as you love them all!!!
Once I had sampled all I cared to, I grabbed a glass of Riesling and went over to the competitive cooking stage, where former Top Chef contestants Jenn (Jen?) and Kevin were getting down on a thirty-minute competition featuring tomatoes. The winner? The freakin' judges. And me, because I got to see it all, right there in living color. It was sooooooooooooooooo cool seeing two professionals putting together a three-course meal in thirty minutes, featuring tomatoes and pairing it all with one of the wines KJ was serving that day! And telling jokes and talking techniques and ingredients. Truly impressive.
I ended up getting to meet both chefs by the end of the day, and capped it all off with meeting Guy Fieri at Johnny Garlic's booth (where they were serving a smoked tri tip wrap).
It was a great time, and I'll be back next year.
Once I had sampled all I cared to, I grabbed a glass of Riesling and went over to the competitive cooking stage, where former Top Chef contestants Jenn (Jen?) and Kevin were getting down on a thirty-minute competition featuring tomatoes. The winner? The freakin' judges. And me, because I got to see it all, right there in living color. It was sooooooooooooooooo cool seeing two professionals putting together a three-course meal in thirty minutes, featuring tomatoes and pairing it all with one of the wines KJ was serving that day! And telling jokes and talking techniques and ingredients. Truly impressive.
I ended up getting to meet both chefs by the end of the day, and capped it all off with meeting Guy Fieri at Johnny Garlic's booth (where they were serving a smoked tri tip wrap).
It was a great time, and I'll be back next year.
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