Your guide to the tastiest foodie happenings doing down this week.
Vino de Mezcal: An Evening with Erick Rodriguez
Fundación Agaves Silvestres is a non-profit organization – created by the partners who make Wahaka Mezcal – whose primary dedication is to the reforestation of the wild agave used to create traditional agave spirits. To fund their projects, Wahaka sold limited edition vinos de mezcal from tiny producers all over Mexico, and Tres Tequila Lounge was fortunate enough to get their hands on some! That's where you come in; head there tonight as they break them open for the first time and taste these outstanding artisanal products for yourself. Erick “Almamezcalera” Rodriguez, the lucky man who travels to the remote locations and chooses each mezcal for bottling, will be flying all the way in from Mexico City, to be the host for the evening, and Chef Juan Martinez will create special small bites percectly paired to each vino de mezcal. Salut!
Thursday, 4/24, $125, 7:00 - 10:00 p.m., 130 Townsend Street. Get tickets here.
Lumio + Social Print Studio Happy Hour
SF's premiere light designers, Lumio is teaming up with local photo print shop Social Print Studio for one hell of a happy hour. There will be free booze from Speakeasy, finger food from Citizen's Band, and giveaways aplenty, plus the chance to meet the teams behind the legendary brands. Don't miss out on the fun.
Friday, 4/25, 6:00 - 10:00 p.m., 275 8th Street.
Head over to Healdsburg this weekend to eat, drink, mingle, and dance at this unique farmer-to-table fundraiser for the new Farmers Guild Scholarship Fund. You'll learn about the evolving landscape of local food, meet the farmers themselves, and savor the very finest of the springtime harvest, all while enjoying Saltwater Oyster Depot chef Matthew Elias' food, as well as live music by Whiskey & Circumstance, and good drinks all around. The menu includes: Local heirloom popcorn with assorted herbs and salts; Rabbit rillettes; Spring salad with walnuts and rye berries; Moroccan carrots with local feta, olives and cilantro; Spring garlic roasted Tokyo turnips; Prime beef rib with arugula salsa verde; Chili braised greens; and Goats milk panna cotta with strawberries. Yum!
Saturday, 4/25, $75, 6:00 - 10:00 p.m. 25 North Street, Healdsburg. Get tickets here.
Sonoma Tastemakers: Dry Creek Olive Oil Company
Sonoma Tastemakers celebrates the harmonious marriage of food and wine throughout Sonoma County. On one Saturday each month, St. Francis Winery & Vineyards’ Tasting Room hosts a different Sonoma County producer for a free tasting. This month they're featuring Dry Creek Olive Oil Company. The award-winning olive oil company produces only the very finest extra virgin olive oils, using the highest quality fruit from sustainable, nurtured orchards in Northern California, and authentic Italian-style mills to produce their olive oils. See if you can taste the difference.
Saturday, 4/26, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m., St. Francis Winery & Vineyards, 100 Pythian Rd., Santa Rosa
Cochon 555: 5 Chefs, 5 Pigs, 5 Winemakers
Going on its sixth year, Cochon 555 is one of the nation’s tastiest culinary tours touting the flavor and benefits of eating heritage breed pigs. The event features an all-star lineup of five chefs, five pigs, and five wineries, and this year guests will also have the chance to pair a selection of Goose Island beers with the chef-prepared dishes. Competing chefs include Michael Rotondo of Parallel 37 at The Ritz-Carlton, Official Host and Hotel of the event, Richie Nakano of Hapa Ramen, David Bazirgan of Dirty Habit, Kim Alter of Plum, and Mark Liberman of TBD. The five chefs – champions to the pig – will battle it out in a "friendly" competition by preparing six dishes, each created from one whole heritage breed pig to win votes from a crowd of hungry gourmands and celebrated judges. The winner will go on to compete in the Grand Cochon at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen in June for bragging rights as the "King or Queen of Pork.” In celebration of the tour’s 6th anniversary, Thomas McEntee of 4505 Meats will also butcher a pig for the audience, and Dennis Lee of Smokestack and Namu Gaji will prepare an additional whole pig in a late-night Asian Speakeasy style before dessert and the awards ceremony. Oh man.
Sunday, 4/27, $130, 4:00 - 8:00 p.m., The Ritz-Carlton, 600 Stockton Street. Get tickets here.
Start prepping for a decadent weekend in paradise at the 33rd Kapalua Wine & Food Festival this June in Hawaii. Highlights of the weekend include interactive wine tasting seminars from celebrated wine regions, like Russian River Valley, Santa Lucia Highlands and the Pacific Northwest, as well as international wines to be savored from Italy and New Zealand. Celebrity Chefs Dean Fearing and Andrew Sutton are sure to wow guests with culinary samplings, and cooking demonstrations. Plus, you'll get the chance to attend winemakers dinners, seminars, and so much more. Don't hesitate, tickets are sure to sell out.
June 12 - June 15, 2014. $850 for a 4-day pass, individual tickets available. The Ritz Carlton, 1 Ritz Carlton Dr., Kapalua, Maui, HI. Get tickets here.
