Inaugural Atlanta Food & Wine Festival

Last weekend, I had the privilege of attending the inaugural Atlanta Food & Wine Festival, a three-day celebration of Southern culinary culture. (Read about the preview article I wrote for Points North’s May issue here.) Since it was such a big weekend, what with Lila’s 25th birthday to celebrate, I only attended a select few seminars and sessions; still, I came away from the weekend with a greater level of appreciation for Southern food, wine and spirits, and a renewed sense of pride in Atlanta as an epicurean destination. I have to commend founders Elizabeth Feichter and Dominique Love for pulling this off with such success. Though there are certainly a few improvements that could be made in the details next year, I have a feeling this Southern tradition that has started out strong and will only get better and better with age. 

A few weekend highlights…

A Booze & Chocolate tasting seminar pairing three Nashville-based presenters: Olive & Sinclair southern artisan chocolates with Corsair Artisan Distillery cocktails mixed by James Hensley of The Patterson House:

If you’re a fan of whiskey and bourbon, check out Hensley’s recipes on his blog, The Spirit Monkey. Though the libations were a bit strong for my personal tastes, I loved considering how the flavors were intended to work well with the chocolate, and they even served a 102.5-proof chocolate bourbon made from cocoa hulls, which is otherwise a waste product for Olive & Sinclair. The chocolate itself, however, was simply phenomenal. Olive & Sinclair is a bean-to-bar chocolate maker, which means they slow roast and stone ground their own cocoa beans before combining them with brown sugar for bold flavors:

It was fascinating to taste the different flavors in each bar depending on the origin of the beans and the style in which it was made: rich, fudgy chocolate from Ghana, bright, citrusy chocolate from the Dominican Republic, a sweet ‘n spicy Mexican-style chocolate blended with cinnamon and chili, and a sneak taste of smoked nib brittle, a collaboration with Tennessee’s famous Allan Benton that will become available to the public this summer.

The Connoisseur Lounge, which was accessible only by top-level ticket holders (and media!) was an extra-special treat, indeed:

Located in an empty retail outlet connected to Loews Atlanta, the host hotel, the space was miraculously transformed by entertainment writer Danielle Rollins and designer Mallory Mathison Glenn into a beautiful and comfortable space to relax between sessions, chat with top tastemakers and indulge in the goodies coming forth from an immaculate Viking test kitchen along with freely flowing wine and spirits.

I hadn’t intended to attend the festival on Saturday, but simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity to experience a Breakfast Invigorated learning experience led by Chef Laurent Geroli of The English Grill at The Brown Hotel in Louisville, Ky. After serving up a decadent French toast kebab with tempura bananas, caramel and chocolate sauces (stay tuned for the recipe), Chef Geroli prepared a demonstration dish of the Kentucky Hot Brown, an open-faced sandwich of turkey and bacon covered in Mornay sauce, a Louisville tradition made famous by none other than The Brown Hotel itself:

On Sunday, Lila and I went back to the festival together to hit the Tasting Tents and Street Cart Pavilion as the last hurrah for her big birthday weekend. A few of our favorite vendors from the Tasting Tents included Becker Vineyards from Texas Hill Country, whose Claret was the hands-down favorite wine of the day, an Indian-spiced chicken and waffle from Atlanta’s Spice Route Supper Club, feta ice cream by Morelli’s in Atlanta, and French Broad Chocolates from Asheville, N.C., with flavors like lavender & honey and garden mint, featuring fresh mint harvested by kindergartners from Asheville’s Vance Elementary School.

While the energy in the tasting tents was exciting, I do believe the best part of the day was a leisurely stroll through the Street Cart Pavilion, which wasn’t nearly as crowded, making it easier to enjoy the treats coming from food trucks from across the Southeast. A few of our favorites:

 Barbecue sliders from STK, a female-centric steakhouse coming soon to Midtown... possible site for Lila's bachelorette party next spring?

Popsicles from Atlanta's own King of Pops were so refreshing on this hot day! Here, Lila poses with a Peach Basil Margarita pop, made with Patron.

Mini cupcakes from "Pinkie" Atlanta's Yum Yum Cupcake truck were almost too cute to eat... almost, but ultimately, I immensely enjoyed this bite of vanilla cake filled with dulce de leche and topped with white chocolate buttercream.

Hungry yet? Save the date! Atlanta Food & Wine Festival returns May 17 – 20, 2012.

Points North's May Issue On Stands Now!

I got to do all sorts of fun foodie research for this issue, the most significant of which is my feature on the inaugural Atlanta Food & Wine Festival, which takes place May 19 - 22. A celebration of Southern food, the festival promises to be the ultimate epicurean experience with tasting tents, a street cart pavilion, food seminars, cooking demonstrations, special dinners and more with some of the greatest tastemakers in the South.

Not only did I get to visit festival headquarters (aka, “the war zone”) to meet with co-founder Elizabeth Feichter, but I also had the opportunity to chat with a few of the fantastic chefs and sommeliers who serve on the festival's Founders Council. I spoke with Chef Steven Satterfield of Miller Union, which has recently garnered a great deal of acclaim for Atlanta with nods in national magazines like Bon Appetit and Food & Wine; Chef Ford Fry of JCT Kitchen & Bar, who will be hosting “Pig Out, Texas Style,” one of the most highly anticipated festival fetes; and Gina Hopkins, sommelier and co-owner of Holeman & Finch Public House, H&F Bread Co. and Restaurant Eugene. Perhaps Hopkins summed it up best: “It’s one big bite of the South,” she said, and personally, I can’t wait for a taste.

I also had plenty of opportunities to indulge my sweet tooth this month in the name of research for our “Save Room for Dessert” feature in Food 4 Thought.

The chocolate lava cake at Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse in Dunwoody was the perfect culmination to what Hunter called “the best meal we’ve ever had.” Our primary reason for dining at Fleming’s was to sample their newest private label wine, the 46 Diamonds Cabernet Sauvignon, a Bordeaux-style blend from Napa Valley, which pairs perfectly with several of the restaurant’s succulent steaks. It was quite a treat indeed, as was everything we tasted that evening – the cajun barbecue shrimp appetizer, a porcini-rubbed filet mignon, chipotle cheddar macaroni and cheese, and, of course, that decadently delicious lava cake.

Having heard about all the sugary options that await at Alpine Bakery & Trattoria in Alpharetta, I enlisted the help of a fellow sweet tooth sweetie for this one – my mom. We’re both also big fans of Italian food, so we opted to split the Pollo Milano (grilled chicken, cremini mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, roasted garlic cream sauce with bowtie pasta) to make saving room for dessert a bit easier – a good call, as the portions here are huge. When it came time for dessert, though, we didn’t hold back. After laboring over the extensive list of cakes, pies, cheesecakes, pastries and cookies, we finally settled on a “slice” (more like a mini cake in itself) of coconut cake and the cheesecake truffle sampler, which came with six different flavors of cheesecake dipped in chocolate, and we took one bite of each and every one.

I popped into Aqua Terra Bistro in Buford one afternoon on a whim, and boy, am I glad I did. Their peanut butter cup is incredibly elegant, and the ultimate combination of everything I love in a dessert – smooth chocolate, sweetened peanut butter, caramelized bananas, thick caramel sauce and a dollop of creamy vanilla ice cream to balance it all out.

Got a favorite dessert that didn’t make it into our article? Let me know – perhaps a sweet tooth tour sequel is in order.