On Saturday, we attended the Third Annual Greenwich Wine + Food Festival presented by Serendipity Magazine. At the event, people had the opportunity to sample food, wine and beer from over 100 restaurants and vendors from Connecticut and Westchester, NY.
We started our afternoon hanging out at the CTbites Blogger Lounge where we listened to local and celebrity chefs talk about, well, food amongst other things. With a shot of espresso a la Espresso NEAT in our system, we were ready to embark on a culinary adventure.
Inside the Culinary Village
At the Culinary Village tent, 100s of vendors had samples lined up for grabs. From the ordinary to the exotic, we sampled whatever we could get our hands on. To name a few:
Shrimp cocktail from Pinch Restaurant in Yonkers, smoked duck breast from Morello in Greenwich, Mangalica Jamon from Barcelona Wine Bar, beef tongue from The Spread in SoNo, chicken liver crostini from Redding Roadhouse, saag from The Mumbai Times, barbecue ribs from Bobby Q’s, cheeseburgers from Shake Shack, Fried Head Cheese sliders from Oak + Almond, Lamb meatballs from Napa & Co.
 |
| Pinch Restaurant Shrimp cocktail |
 |
| The Tavern Gumbo |
 |
| Lil Tavern Bloody Caesar |
 |
| Bar Q Brisket Sandwiches |
 |
| Morello Smoked Duck Breast with pickled cherry sauce and hazelnut oil and pistachio + a gooseberry |
 |
| The Ginger Man Bacon Popcorn |
 |
| The Redding Roadhouse Chicken liver crostini with egg mimosa (chopped egg whites and yolks with pickled shallots and sherry vinaigrette) microgreens and fried shallots on top |
 |
| The Redding Roadhouse House Bacon |
 |
| Nuthin’ But Premium Foods Snack Bars |
 |
| Barcelona Restaurant & Wine Bar Mangalica Jamon |
 |
|
| Barcelona Restaurant & Wine Bar Bacon wrapped dates over sherry and Gazpacho |
We took a break and headed to one of the three demo tents and watched our friend Dale Talde prepare one of his signature items off the menu at his Brooklyn restaurant, Talde – pretzel pork and chive dumplings. We’ll test this out and post our re-creation later. One thing we can’t get out of our heads — how much Dale loves MSG and McDonald’s double cheeseburgers, and how his oven is used to store his kicks.
Chef Dale Talde showing us how to make dumplings
Chef Dale Talde and yours truly
Speaking of burgers, another tent opened up showcasing craft beer and burgers and barbecue. The Burger Bash started around 4.30p and the top burger joints in the area competed for the “Best Burger” title. The judges were Dale Talde, Duff Goldman, Graham Elliot, Richard Blais, Michael Psilakis, Ray Lampe, and John Stage.
And the winner…by unanimous decision…
Plan B Burger.
Not a bad choice.
For next year, be sure to snag tickets to the event. Oh, and wear lose clothing. There’s a lot of drinking and eating to be done.
About Greenwich Wine + Food Festival
The 2013 GREENWICH WINE+FOOD FESTIVAL presented by Serendipity supports Paul Newman’s The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. This organization is dedicated to providing “a different kind of healing” to children and their families coping with cancer, sickle cell anemia and other serious illnesses. All proceeds from the festival’s Kick-Off Party, live and silent auctions and direct donations benefit the organization.
