Ticket Sales for my Favorite Food Event of the Year are Open!

I was so excited to receive this year's Greenwich Wine + Food Festival info! 
Check out my coverage of last year's festival, and 2013's festivities. 

Here are all the details for this year:

The fifth annual GREENWICH WINE+FOOD FESTIVAL, presented by Serendipity magazine (www.greenwichwineandfood.com) and benefiting Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp and The Greenwich Department of Parks and Recreation, will be taking place September 24 through 26 at the Roger Sherman Baldwin Park in Greenwich, Connecticut. The festival will feature a Dinner Under the Stars on Thursday, the Most Innovative Chefs Gala on Friday and the Culinary Village, featuring Little Big Town’s performance, on Saturday.

The official weekend kickoff on Thursday evening brings the first Dinner Under the Stars to the festival. This intimate event will accommodate 60 guests to enjoy a five-course dinner, accompanied by awarded select wines. More details on this event will be announced in the coming weeks.

The Most Innovative Chefs Gala on Friday evening will feature the 2015 Most Innovative Chef winners from restaurants across Fairfield and Westchester Counties serving an incredible tasting menu (honorees to be announced). The evening will also include elite wines, premium liquor, an exclusive auction and a live musical performance (TBA).

On Saturday, the Culinary Village, the center of the entire GREENWICH 2015 WINE+FOOD FESTIVAL, will offer tastings and demonstrations from more than two hundred food, wine, spirits and product vendors. Culinary demonstration tents and stages will house cooking presentations by celebrity chefs and local talent. Guests will also enjoy sommelier presentations, celebrity chef book signings, the fourth annual Burger Battle, the second annual Top Bartender’s Showdown, Barbecue & Bluegrass, and a live musical performance by Little Big Town. A special ticketed event, Saturday on Stage Dinner, will give 100 guests the chance to enjoy the headliner performance on an elevated stage while enjoying a special dinner (chef TBA), premium liquor, wine and beer. In addition, VIP ticket holders will enjoy a VIP Big Easy Dinner, celebrating the culinary, musical and festive atmosphere of New Orleans. This tented event will feature a traditional Louisiana jazz marching band, the Festival’s Ambassador Chefs serving up signature small plates with a New Orleans Twist, premium liquor, wines and beer, and a private, early-evening concert with the world-renowned band Funky Meters, comprised of Art Neville, Ian Neville, George Porter Jr. and Russell Batiste Jr. VIP ticket holders will also enjoy a premium viewing area for Little Big Town’s performance.

Visit www.greenwichwineandfood.com for more information and updates about the event schedule, participating celebrity and local chefs, musical talent and more. Ticket sales are now open (with the exception of Thursday's evening event) and are available through www.greenwichwineandfood.com or by calling 203.588.1363. The event’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/GreenwichwinefoodFestival, will be announcing restaurant participants and schedule updates, as available. 

GREENWICH 2015 WINE+FOOD FESTIVAL

The GREENWICH 2015 WINE+FOOD FESTIVAL is a three-day event that benefits The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a nationwide organization dedicated to providing healing to children and their families coping with cancer, sickle cell anemia and other serious illnesses, as well as The Greenwich Department of Parks and Recreation. The festival is hosted by Serendipity magazine in conjunction with other event sponsors.

Photos by me, Adeline Crites-Moore :-)

Four Foodie Festivals to Look Forward to in 2015

I love going to food, beer, and wine festivals. They never get old, it seems. There are always new things to try, knowledge to be gained, and people to meet. This year, there are a few events in particular that I'm looking forward to. Here's the roundup:

• Chilifest February 1st

Before you watch the Super Bowl this year, head to Chilifest in Westport, where area restaurants will be sampling their chili, and you get to decide who is the best!

• Savor April 10th-11th

A two day festival of food, wine, spirits, and celebrity chefs including Robert Irvine, host of Restaurant: Impossible on Food Network - sounds like my cup of tea! Plus, a portion of the proceeds from the event will support the Robert Irvine Foundation. Savor will be held at the Connecticut Convention Center which overlooks the Connecticut River. Why is it that food tastes better when you're on the waterfront?

• CT on Tap Saturday, September 12th

The second annual CT on Tap festival will feature over 100 beers, live music and food.  You'll have three hours to indulge (VIP ticket holders get an extra hour). The event takes place at Ives Concert Park in Danbury, CT.

• Greenwich Wine & Food Fest September 24th-26th

This is an event not to be missed. Seriously. I look forward to it all year. There's a "Culinary Village" full of incredible restaurants sampling their creations, as well as free flowing wine and beer. There's a BBQ competition, live music, two tents entirely dedicated to beer, multiple demo tents packed with celebrity chefs, and it all takes place right on the water. The festival benefits Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp.
Check out my coverage of 2013's fun, and last year's.

Awesome Eats in the City: Thrillist's Fest of The Best at Villain

If you know me at all, you know how much I love Connecticut. If you don't know me, just look at the title of my blog, and you'll get the idea. But living in Fairfield County means regular trips to the city and its many excitements and one of my favorite resources for finding fun in NYC is the website Thrillist. When I saw that they were hosting a “Fest of The Best” featuring a bunch of great restaurants in the city, I knew I had to go. Luckily, I was able to procure press access, so off to Brooklyn I went.

Photos by Kimberly Mufferi (and the photo booth!)

The event was held in Villain's large warehouse event space, and was a smorgasbord of great food, cocktails made with Grey Goose Vodka, and beers from Saranac Brewery. Wandering amongst the guests was saxophonist Kareem Wilkes, a touch I found very cool. DJ Kasey Berry was spinning all afternoon, and instagram-happy foodies milled about excitedly. This was the first “foodie” event I have attended where instagramming one's food was not met with a single sneer. In fact, there was a “VIP Food Porn Lounge” sponsored by Samsung and featuring two food stylists, Alexa Mehraban of EatingNYC and Chloe Wynnof THEPICURIST, on hand for photography tips!

After hitting the photo booth and grabbing a cocktail, it was time to start sampling the fabulous eats! Each guest was given a poker chip for voting, and one restaurant would reign supreme, so I got my taste buds in gear and forged a path through the crowd. There were thirteen restaurants featured, and photos speak louder than words...

Clockwise from top: Sweetgreen's Rad Thai salad (organic arugula, organic mesclun, sprouts, carrots, shredded cabbage, spicy sunflower seeds, cucumbers, basil, citrus shrimp & spicy cashew dressing), BLT Fish's James River oysters with wasabi peas & nori, and The Monarch Room's seared octopus with fennel, celery and citrus. Photos credit: Me

Clock wise from top left: Two Hands' Avo Toast (thick-cut wholegrain pullman loaf, smashed avocado, olive oil, sea salt, cracked pepper, chili flakes & a lemon wedge), Fletcher’s Brooklyn Barbecue's wood-fired sliders with all-natural organic beef, salt, pepper, burger sauce and a fridge pickle on a potato roll, Two Hands' Cortado, Seoul Chicken's Next Day Fried Chicken (double fried chicken thighs, served on Kings Hawaiian rolls with habanero spiced honey, kimchi pickles & miso mustard aioli) - Photos by Kimberly Mufferi

Clockwise from top left: Bacchanal

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​ with a mint-olive-caper relish​, French Louie's snails Merchand de Vin with Falls Mill grits (snails, bordelaise sauce, mushrooms and grits), and Crave Fishbar's Shetland Island salmon crudo with charred cauliflower, lemon prawn oil & prawn dust - Photos by Kimberly Mufferi

After getting our fill, it was time to cast votes for the best. I stole my date's chip and made both votes, which went to French Louie's incredible snails Merchand de Vin and Crave Fishbar's Shetland Island Crudo. They were truly excellent, but the official win went to Bacchanal's confit lamb shoulder. Ultimately, everyone was a winner (except for a few places that ran out early and I didn't get to try...lame. But I won't name names!) The afternoon was a smashing success and a wonderfully indulgent way to spend a day out of town.  

Special thanks to Lauren Coombs, Communications Coordinator for the Thrillist Media Group

The 4th Annual Greenwich Wine + Food Festival: Culinary Adventures for a Cause

An exciting combination of celebrity chefs, top mixologists, and incredible food from the region's best restaurants drew a crowd of over 4,700 people to the 4th Annual Greenwich Wine + Food Festival last weekend. All proceeds from the weekend's event, presented by Serendipity, support Paul Newman’s The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, an organization that offers “a different kind of healing” to children and their families coping with serious illnesses like cancer or sickle cell anemia.

Last year's festival was a truly incredible experience, by far my favorite "foodie" event of the year, and I had been looking forward to this year's almost from the moment last year's ended. This year did not disappoint. The Culinary Village, a tented smorgasbord of over 150 opportunities to taste the offerings of top restaurants in the area, was packed with an enthusiastic crowd of appreciative eaters, wine glasses in hand (there are plenty of wine, liquor, and beer representatives mixed in with the restaurateurs). Saturday was a day of indulgence and excitement, and the positive energy was palpable.

  

Clockwise from top left: Octopus from The Spread, short rib from Ritz Carlton, Filet Mignon, Pork belly from Mezon - Tapas Bar & Restaurant, Shrimp w/ ricotta gnocchi and pesto from Hudson Grille CT, Fluke crudo from Fjord Fisheries

It would be difficult to imagine a more perfect day, as visitors lounged by the water in Roger Sherman Baldwin park and basked in the unseasonably warm and sunny day.

CTBites hosted their blogger tent again the year, with an impressive lineup of celebrity chef and mixologists sharing their stories with moderator Matt Storch, owner and chef at Match in South Norwalk. Featured speakers included Adam Richman of Man vs. Food, Chopped's Aaron Sanchez (who has recently opened a new restaurant, Paloma, in Stamford), and Bill Taibe, the man behind Westport hotspots Le Farm and The Whelk.

A mixology competition featuring talent from local hotspots Walrus + Carpenter, Napa & Co., Valencia Luncheria, Paloma, and Match was a stiff one, with Adam Patrick of Match in South Norwalk earning the win with his creation "Farewell, My Lovely" (I've tried it, and I have to agree that it's remarkably delicious).

At 4 o'clock, two large tents (dubbed "The Watering Hole" full of beer and liquor vendor began to fill up, and the anticipation grew for the beginning of the BBQ and Burger Battle. At this point, I was too full to reasonably consume another morsel, but of course that did not stop me. There was a competition underway, and I had to form my own opinion! My favorite burger was from Dan Rooney's,  guinness sauced and placed on a pretzel bun, but last year's winner, Plan B Burger Bar, reigned supreme.

As darkness fell, the focus shifted from food to music, with performances by The Bacon Brothers and Alabama. It's an impressive feat to make it through the whole day and stay for the entirety of the music, one that I'll admit I have yet to achieve. Maybe next year. I'm already excited. If you live anywhere near Greenwich and have taste buds, The Greenwich Wine + Food fest is a must-attend event!