The Seattle Wine and Food Experience gets better each year, with yesterday’s experience offering much excitement.
With food my primary focus, I see lots of lost potential for interactive opportunities at the restaurant booths. Don’t get me wrong: It’s nice to meet and greet the chefs, and perhaps watch some preparation and plating. But at this year’s SWFE, chefs Brian McCracken and Dana Tough of Spur, Tavern Law, and The Coterie Room took interaction to a whole new level.
It was fun to watch as attendees scooped up sample cups of their black tea custard with candied Meyer lemon. Some people just strolled on, not quite “getting” the dish, while more attentive people watched as McCracken and Tough added nitro-poached honey seafoam to the cups in front of their eyes. Take a big bite of that foam, and the chefs were turning even non-smokers into smokers.
The dish wasn’t just a gimmick, as the flavors were great. And in the midst of the music, oyster bar, and pours from wineries, breweries, and distilleries, these were among my favorite treats:
- Copperleaf Restaurant’s foie gras and candied rhubarb on toasted brioche
- Trellis‘ braised short rib sandwich
- Andaluca’s barbequed beef slider
- Boat Street Pickles
- A la Mode Pies‘ Blue Hawaiian pie
- George Paul Chocolates
