If your idea of fun is chatting with talented chef’s from all over the Southeast USA….
If the idea of sampling bites of seafood, barbecue, charcuterie and farm fresh vegetables created by those talented chefs sets you all a quiver….
If you enjoy sipping wine, bourbon, vodka, tequila and SO MUCH MORE (in moderation of course)…THEN THE ATLANTA FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL IS THE PLACE FOR YOU!
My wonderful husband bought a 3 day pass gift certificate for Christmas and I could not wait to sign up for classes. I may have been one of the first to try to sign up for the classes when registration went online. I stalked the website waiting for ticket sales to go live and when it did I reviewed the available classes and signed up right away. There was a glitch or two with early bird pricing and since I was the earliest of birds I had to make a few calls to straighten things out. Customer service was friendly and helpful so we got things together fairly quickly.
All the pictures below are from the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival “Pig Out”
May 28th seemed to take FOREVER to arrive, I felt like a little kid waiting for my birthday…I really was, this festival started just after my birthday. What a wonderful way to celebrate! As a treat to myself I booked a room at Loews Atlanta hotel (for Friday and Saturday nights) the venue that held all of the classes as well as the opening toast, the Connoisseur Lounge (I was not a connoisseur so I can’t comment on their lounge situation) and several parties.
The opening event was the “Pig Out” at Ponce City Market hosted by incredible chefs like Anne Quatrano, Linton Hopkins and Sean Brock. I even ran into an old work buddy from my Ritz Carlton Buckhead days, Chef Russell Hays who now works with Linton Hopkins at Linton’s in the Garden.
The top picture is chef Linton Hopkins and me, the bottom picture is my former co-worker Russell Hays (he works with chef Hopkins) and me
Showing up early was the key to sampling a bit of everything. Check in on the general admission side went smoothly (things were a bit more hectic on the VIP side, I hear) so when the event began most of us were able to get to the food tables quickly. I was able to sample a bit of everything.
With about 6 food station and a few bars things got crowded quickly. I would have gone back for seconds of Sean Brock’s delicious little taco but the line became much too long. I did get a second bowl of Chef Hopkins Beef soup.
Dessert by Honeysuckle Gelato was two varieties of gelato sandwiches, my favorite was bananas Foster
Maybe not so much of a pig out.
I headed back to midtown Friday morning to the Loews Hotel Atlanta for the Opening Toast and first day of classes and tasting tents AND THEN…READ MORE >>
