Seattle Food and Wine Experience 2010

Ruth Chris Steak House Preparing Rack of Lamb at Seattle Food and Wine Experience

One of my favorite ways to spend a Sunday afternoon is enjoying food and drink with friends and the Seattle Food and Wine Experience gave me the opportunity to do just that!

I was part of the media team, so I didn’t get to sample that many of the dishes as I would have liked but I did get to taste a few of the delicacies offered. The American Lam Board was a gold sponsor for this event, so there was a LOT of lamb to sample. Based on the length of the lines, the most popular was the three lamb options served by Ruth Chris Steak House. Executive Chef Ian Branning led a team that served three succulent lamb dishes:

Coriander Cured Lamb Loin with Sweet Pepper Relish
Braised Lamb Shoulder Tart with Salsa Verde
Roasted Rack of Lamb with Chili Balsamic Glaze

Ruth Chris Steakhouse Rack of Lamb

The rack of lamb was especially popular, bringing both long lines and rave reviews. The Ruth Chris Steak House lamb trio was part of Ménage à Trois presentation. Ménage à Trois are three wines, each composed of three varietals, from Folie à Deux Winery in California. The red blend is composed of Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet. The white blend is composed of Moscato, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc. The rosé blend is composed of Merlot, Syrah and Gewurztraminer. Press kit stated that the lamb dishes were to be paired with each of the wines but that wasn’t clear at the event. I would have loved to see them reorganize the display so the lamb dishes were spread out and served next to the wines designated to pair with them instead of the lamb dishes at one end of the display and the wines along the sides. It would have helped with crowd control and made it easier for people to pair the wine and lamb. That side by side pairing of wine and food tables at the Lamb Jam is what I appreciated most about that event.

Tulalip Casino is becoming my favorite restaurant at wine pairing events. To be accurate, it is the Tulalip Casino family of restaurants: Blackfish Wild Salmon Grill and Bar and Tulalip Bay Fine Dining were represented at Seattle Food and Wine Experience. The lines were too long for me to take the opportunity to taste their creations at this event, but everyone I talked to that tasted the Tulalip offerings were raving about them, especially the crab cakes. Julien Perry blogged about his favorite foods, including the crab cake. Be sure to check out his gorgeous picture of the crab cake!

Milbrandt Vintners Rose

Two wines from the event come to mind about pairing with the crab cake. My favorite white wine of the day was Forgeron Cellars 2007 Chardonnay. This was an elegant chardonnay where the oak adds body but never forgets to respect the grape. This Washington Chardonnay is well balanced with fruit, pleasing acidity, body and a lingering finish. I am betting that the Milbrandt Rosé would have been delicious paired with the crab cakes as well. This rosé is a pale salmon pink wine that had momentary exposure on the 100% Syrah skins. Crisp, light and bone dry, this Washington rosé was refreshing palate cleanser, ideally suited to patio sipping or paired with seafood.

Frost Donuts

Frost Donuts was another big draw at the Seattle Food and Wine Experience. I have been hearing about bacon maple bars for years but was always too timid to try one, but I couldn’t pass up a smidgen of smokey bacon maple bar from Frost donuts. I must admit that I have no idea what I would pair with this smokey, salty and sweet treat. I would love to hear your ideas!

Pearl Dining Porcini Chicken

One of my favorite dishes was the Porcini chicken with wild mushrooms and black truffle vinaigrette from Pearl Dining. The flavors were subtle but intoxicating. The dish was earthy, savory and satisfying! I would have loved to have paired this with Amity Vineyards 2007 Crannell Single Vineyard Pinot Noir. It was my favorite pinot of the event and had just enough earth in that pinot that I bet it would have rocked with the Chicken dish from Pearl. My picture taken under fluorescent lights can’t begin to do the Porcini chicken dish justice.

Pike Brewing Radish pairing

The title of this network may be called Food and Wine Pairing network, but I would be amiss if I didn’t point out the opportunities to pair beers and food at this event. Only one booth was specifically set up for beer and food pairing and that was Pike Pub and Brewing. I am not ashamed that I made TWO stops at the Pike Brewing booth to sample Naughty Nelly and Uncle Monk’s Triple and to snitch a radish lightly dipped in truffle salt. Yum!

Oil and Vinegar and more!

In addition to the beverages and prepared dishes there were a number of vendors to appeal to the foodies. Oil and Vinegar had a beautiful booth highlighting their unique oils and vinegars. Attendees could sample a tempting variety of oils, vinegars and “dippers”. I tried the Tuscan Blend Dipper and it was delicious! The blend is designed to make dips, flavor pasta or sauces. At the show, the Tuscan Blend dipper was mixed with olive oil for a decadent dipper for crusty bread.

The Sea Salt Superstore was also getting a lot of buzz. They had a huge assortment of salts to sample and purchase. The one that really had attendees talking was the Smoked Bacon Chipolte Salt. The aroma on that salt was amazing and made me wish my blood pressure would allow me to enjoy that salt on a regular basis.

Overall, people seemed well pleased with the event. No event is perfect and this event will continue to evolve. Be sure to get there early next year as the most popular dishes run out early and they would benefit from having more food available so it is available throughout the event. I am a lamb lover so I was a happy girl but there was complaints from vegetarians about the limited options for them. Although there were lots of beverages available, the one conspicuously missing was plain water. Water was needed to help people pace their alcohol consumption and cleanse palates.

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