Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival Showcases Fine Food, Drink and Celebrity Chef Extravagance10/10/2018 The 5th annual Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival may have just found itself among Southern California’s elite culinary events. It wasn’t just about four days of gourmet food and drink that took you across Newport Beach’s coastal paradise. The weekend was dedicated to much more than the palate, with everything from liquid nitrogen to homemade flamethrowers [thank you Richard Blais] turning this festival into an entertainment spectacular for all in attendance. Two days of grand tastings highlighted the weekend, with a near-full overnight transition of food and drink purveyors. With a few years under their belt now, festival organizers made a smooth event even better, with a flow that kept the crowd happy and festive without feeling overcrowded. And they’ve somehow mustered the ability to bring even more world-class talent to the stage, with celebrity chefs like Michael Mina and Jet Tila joining vets Hubert Keller, Katsuji Tanabe, Amar Santana and others in an all-new and even more intimate cooking demo setup. Chefs Tanabe and Santana, when they’re not killing it in SoCal, expanding nationally or tearing up Top Chef, make for a part cooking demo/part comedy act duo, lighting up the stage with ridiculous banter and jaw-dropping knife skills. Expect to see them roaming the venue throughout the weekend, shouting hilarities through a megaphone to add a perfect zest to each day. Then throw in Richard Blais, who, in all his eccentricity, busts out a homemade flamethrower to char a fish, then adds boiling water to liquid nitrogen for a truly explosive grand finale. Sure, these may not necessarily be lessons you’ll try at home, but the Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival has nailed it in capturing chefs in their element for a truly theatrical experience. With great chefs comes great food, and the festival’s tastes did not disappoint. Top dining destinations from across Orange County, as well as a few spots coming in from LA and San Diego, set up shop and left everything [or nothing, as a good festival goes] on the table. Sushi Roku’s baked crab hand rolls, Aveo Table + Bar’s pork belly donuts and Old Vine Café’s curry shrimp were but a few crowd favorites. LSXO’s Vietnamese short rib, Catalina Island Company’s grilled octopus and Marche Moderne’s enormous seared diver scallops also earned repeat visits. Foie gras mousse-filled cream puffs, heavenly garlic soup, and just about every cut of sashimi you could ask for made stomach capacity the weekend’s limiting factor. Dessert was in a league of its own here as well. The Dirty Cookie’s cookie cup milk shots and the illustrious Salt & Straw’s decadent ice cream took the cake, though there was plenty of cake served throughout each day as well. Miss Mini’s Butterfinger, Oreo and cookie dough donuts were so elegantly displayed that you almost didn’t want to touch them [but of course you gave in]. Giant macarons and peanut butter blondies completed the sugar rush. Wine does come first in the title, after all, and a strong lineup made its presence known throughout the weekend, with 90+ point pours for days. Guest enjoyed endless sips of DeLoach Vineyards, Chateau Montelena Winery, Haute Couture French Bubbles, S.R. Tonella Cellars and Juggernaut Wines among others. Additional libation purveyors included Stella Artois, Duke Bourbon Whiskey, Hangar 1 Vodka and TatraTea, a tea liqueur that’s all the rage in Eastern Europe and includes a 144-proof bottle in its lineup. The Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival’s grand tastings took place once again at the city’s beautiful civic center, just a few minutes from the coast. The weekend brought in an always-classy but never shy crowd, which of course became more and more entertaining as wine poured throughout each day. Live music and upbeat emcees carried the festivities even further, and you couldn’t have asked for better weather. 2018 set a high bar, though 2019 is sure to take things to an even greater level. For more information, visit NewportWineAndFood.com.
0 Comments
Slice of Vegas has called The Shoppes at Mandalay Place home for more than six years, joining the ranks of its wildly successful neighbors along the stretch of casual eateries within. Part pizza joint and part sports bar, Slice of Vegas is the friendly neighborhood destination you never knew existed on the Strip; a safe have of sorts to eat pizza, drink beer and watch sports in a homey environment that doesn’t break the bank. While finding a quality low-cost meal on Los Vegas Boulevard can be a challenge, Slice of Vegas saves the day with surprisingly affordable pizzas and other American-Italian menu options. Pizzas that feed two hover around $15-20 and include toppings spanning from your basics, like pepperoni and sausage, to the more exotic, such as three-meat meatballs and truffle oil. With both featured specialty pizzas and build-your-own options, Slice of Vegas is sure to cook up a pie for just about anyone. Non-pizza lovers will still find themselves at home with a list of salads, pastas and other entrees to choose from. Vegans will be equally pleased, as Slice of Vegas has gone to great lengths to develop an extensive plant-based menu. And what would a Las Vegas pizza place be without an extensive drink lineup? Slice of Vegas features a rotating draft beer list, which highlights craft brews local to Las Vegas as well as favorites from across the country. The bottled selection rounds out strong coverage across lagers, pilsners, IPAs, ciders and just about everything else that pairs perfectly with whatever sports might be showing on the many TVs throughout the restaurant. In the mood for something sweet? The skillet cookie and its mound of vanilla ice cream on top melds hot and cold with a chocolatey, brown butter taste that will put a smile on your face. Slice of Vegas is located at The Shoppes at Mandalay Place, 3930 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89119, near Ri Ra and Burger Bar. Open 11a – 11p Sun – Thu, 11a – midnight Fri - Sat. Average out-the-door price for split appetizer, split pizza, and 1-2 drinks is ~$32/person. For more information call (702) 632-6470 or visit SliceOfVegasPizza.com. |
AuthorBenjamin Brown is a seasoned restaurant writer and hospitality consultant, serving up SoCal's hottest food news and reviews. Categories
All
Archives
June 2021
@Foodie_Biz |