 |
| National Harbor, Md. |
National Harbor recently hosted their 6th Annual Wine and Food Festival. More than just your average run-of-the-mill foodie festival, this
event had it all!
 |
| Indaba Wines |
 |
| Shine Riesling 2012 |
Wine and champagne
tastings.
The craft beer oriented Bier
Garten, exhibiting both national distributors and local microbreweries.
A whiskey and bourbon tasting
lounge, featuring hand rolled cigar demonstrations.
 |
| Knob Creek Bourbon |
 |
| Markers Mark |
There was even a vendor who gave festival-goers the option to brew their own beer, whiskey, scotch and/or tequila and age it in their custom-made barrels at home.
 |
| Barrel and Cigar Exhibitor |
 |
| St. Germain and Bacardi |
Mixed spirits and tequila tastings were also available and were very popular due to the Cinqo de Mayo celebrations.
 |
| Food trucks preparing for the lunch rush. |
Food vendors were on hand to
provide French pastries, German specialties, and lobster rolls to name a
few.
 |
| Educational Wine Aroma Center |
 |
| Chefs prepping the cooking stage for Captain Thom's, "Cooking with Salt and Pepper" demonstration. |
Six chefs presided over the
Viking Cooking Stage throughout Sunday’s activities. Exhibiting and sharing
their culinary tips, chefs prepared BBQ, worked with spices, and provided prep
techniques to audience members.
The best part was, each chef brought enough samples for the audience
members.
 |
| Chef Victor Albisu, Del Campo |
Chef Victor Albisu of Del Campo
prepared a traditional chorizo with a juicy shoulder cut steak atop
guacamole. The steak was topped
with the Argentinean-style chimichurri, made with 1 cup of blackened and crisped
onions which were chopped and blended with Balsamic vinegar (chop the onions as
you slowly add the vineagar), fresh cilantro, parsley, red hot peppers, a pinch
of dried oregano, garlic, and olive oil.
The chimichurri was finished off with a squeeze of grilled citrus. The meat was then dry marinated with
smoking herbs in an enclosed metal container.
Saving the best for last, the VIP
Pier offered San Miniato Sausage with Truffles by Richmond, Va’s Sausage Craft...
I do not state this lightly having once lived near Buffalo, NY’s, Anchor
Bar (home of the Buffalo Chicken Wing); Baltimore, Md’s KS Catering has perfected chicken wings
by creating the absolute-best, amazingly tasty, and crunchy Maple Bacon BBQ
Wings. If only they had a delivery
service for “individual catering” needs.
I truly wish you could taste and smell this…
 |
| KS Catering's Maple Bacon BBQ Wings |
Proving that bacon and potato is
the perfect pairing, the Gaylord National’s Old
Hickory Steakhouse served a refreshingly chilled cream of potato soup
garnished with bacon.
 |
| Gaylord National's Old Hickory Steakhouse Chilled Cream of Potato Soup |
As a coconut lover, my favorite
drink of the event was the Ty.Ku Coconut Sake.
 |
| Ty.Ku Coconut Sake and Lady-Lola Sake |
The VIP Pier also held its own
Bier Garten featuring Belgian beers: Stella Artois, Hoegaarden, and Leffe. The pier also provided a relaxing
seating area at the edge of the dock, complete with live bands on the jazz
stage (one of the three jazz stages).
 |
| VIP Pier - Bier Garten |
The expanse of the event and
number of exhibitors made me sad that I wasn’t able to spend more time pursuing
the many booths and tasting options, making this a not-to-miss weekend
festival.
No comments:
Post a Comment