ASHEVILLE, N.C. (Sept. 8, 2006) – Sample the flavor of Asheville’s independent culinary scene during the third annual Taste of Asheville Sept. 27-30 sponsored by Asheville Independent Restaurant Association (AIR).
Formerly held in City-County Plaza over one weekend, the 2006 Taste of Asheville festivities stretch three-and-a-half days – from Wednesday morning to Saturday brunch – throughout the Asheville area allowing festival attendees to experience favorite independent restaurants through individually-crafted events.
This year, a top priority is providing locals and visitors the opportunity to experience Asheville’s culinary scene in a hands-on manner, not only allowing attendees to learn more but also helping create lasting memories all the while showcasing the traditions and talent of the local culinary scene.
The majority of events will take place at AIR member restaurants and center around food in one way or another with wine and local brews featured prominently. Guests can pick and choose events to match their culinary interests from cooking demos to traditional ethnic feasts to theatrical and operatic performances served around four-course meals. Several daytime events are even designed to involve and entertain children. Others include:
- Gourmet without Guilt at Vincenzo's Ristorante & Bistro: Hear a demonstration of how to prepare gourmet food in a beneficial way to enhance overall health and wellness.
- Vegetarian Harvest Celebration at Laughing Seed Café: A sampler meal of seasonal meatless fare featuring house made, organic, and/or locally produced ingredients as well as a sampling of organic wines.
- Kids, Ice Cream & Crafts at Kamm’s Custard and the Grove Arcade ARTS & Heritage Gallery: First, kids learn how ice cream is made into different types of flavors while sampling a few. Next at the Arts & Heritage Gallery, two craft projects await before returning to Kamm's and building custom sundaes.
- Rachel Ray's $40 a Day featuring Tupelo Honey Café at AB-Tech: Watch the $40 a Day episode featuring Tupelo Honey Cafe then learn how to prepare the featured sweet potato pancakes with peach butter and spiced pecans at AB-Tech’s Culinary Auditorium.
- Team Cooking: Mastering the Intimate Dinner Party at Home: Bouchon's chef/owner Michel Baudouin and wife Vonciel, Culinary Events Specialist at the Biltmore Estate Winery, demonstrate how to get ready to have friends for dinner in a stress-free way.
On Thursday, embark on a culinary tour tracing the heritage of the Asheville area through independent restaurants. The two tours, themed The Edible Landscape and Our Culinary Heritage, allow participants to learn first-hand from chefs how to turn the land’s bounty into first-class good eats.
Don’t eat too much while on the culinary tours because Thursday night the Taste of Asheville Gala begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Haywood Park Hotel Ballroom in downtown Asheville. In a format similar to the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Culinary Showcase, attendees can enjoy the cuisine from more than twenty-five restaurants and sample from a selection of more than 100 wines. Also on-hand that evening, a silent auction, including a private chef dinner, premium bottle of wine, and even artwork, benefits a newly established scholarship fund for Asheville-Buncombe Technical College culinary students.
“Through the silent auction, we’re able to help Asheville’s future culinary leaders with a quality education,” said Jim Kammann, AIR vice president and Taste of Asheville chair. “And now that the scholarship has been established, we’ll be able to contribute to it for years to come.”
Friday morning, two of Appalachia’s most celebrated food writers, Fred Sauceman and Joe Dabney, will detail how to make sense of mountain food and drink. Sauceman, a professor at East Tennessee State University, teaches courses in the foodways of Appalachia. Dabney literally wrote the book on moonshine and is the 1999 recipient of the James Beard Cookbook of the Year.
The festival concludes with a Meet the Chefs Champagne Brunch on Saturday at The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa where attendees get the opportunity to mingle with AIR chefs and owners. A full buffet as well as wine will be available for sampling at this event.
Participating restaurants include: Amici Trattoria, Battery Park Bistro, Blue Ridge Dining Room, Bouchon, Cafe on the Square, Charlotte Street Grill, Chef Michael's Catering & Bistro, Ed Boudreaux's Bayou Barbeque, fig, Fiore's Ristorante Toscana, Grovewood Café, Hannah Flanagan's Irish Pub, Horizons, Kamm’s Custard Shop, Laughing Seed Café, Little Venice Restaurant, Pomodoro’s, Savoy, Southside Café, Sunset Terrace, The Boathouse on Lake Julian, The Corner Kitchen, The Flying Frog Café, The Lobster Trap, The Market Place, The Ritz, Tupelo Honey Café and Vincenzo’s Ristorante & Bistro
To purchase tickets and for more information on all of the Taste of Asheville events, visit www.airasheville.org or call (828) 628-3070.
Interactive Asheville |
|
. |
|
. |
|
. |
|
. |
|
