With February comes the start of a season of favorite food and wine events. Mark your calendars and buy tickets now for any of these events of interest, as they’re quite likely to sell out quickly.
Seattle Wine and Food Experience
The “Experience” includes more than 100 wineries from around the globe, plus local beer, cider, and spirits. More than 20 chefs will serve up gourmet bites, with an emphasis on local products like Washington beef and potatoes, Oregon lamb, and seafood. Participants include Allium, Copperleaf Restaurant & Bar, Far-Eats, and Trellis—one of my favorite restaurants in the area. You’ll also find exhibitors offering samplings of products like olive oil, artisan cheese, chocolate, and other specialty foods.
This year’s highlights include:
- Snoqualmie Casino Luxe Lounge featuring gaming, gourmet food, and handcrafted drinks—as well as live music.
- Featured Wine Region: Oregon with more than 30 state producers pouring wines.
- Sip Northwest Distillery Square where you can learn how grains and botanicals become whiskey, vodka, and gin, as well as taste some regional creations.
- Tim’s Cascade Snacks Beer and Cider Exhibit to enjoy apples and hops.
- Washington Beef Bistro with Chateau Ste. Michelle where you can compare mid-west corn-fed beef versus northwest corn-fed beef.
- Chef in the Vineyard featuring John Sarich, cooking up beef bites to pair with some of Washington’s best wines.
- Cooking With Stella Artois and Diane’s Market Kitchen where Diane LaVonne will demonstrate cooking with Stella Artois.
- Fonté Coffee Bar serving some of the city’s best, locally roasted coffee.
- Wine From Around the Globe to experience a tasting of international wines.
- BevMo! Tasting Room offering more sampling of wine and beer.
Like last year, you might want to dress up for the event, as it ends just before the start of Oscar parties. The festivities are Sunday, February 24 from noon to five at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. Tickets are currently available at the Seattle Wine and Food Experience website for $55.
Cochon 555
March 17 marks the return of Cochon 555, Taste Network’s national pig-cooking, pig-eating, and pig-educating tour. After a year off, it’s great to have the event back in Seattle, which means it’s time to plan on nose-to-tail pigging out.
Now in its fifth year, Cochon 555 features five chefs (accompanied by five winemakers) who will cook five heritage pigs in whatever way they’d like: braised, grilled, pressed, pickled, rubbed, smoked, seared, sauced, spiced, injected, marinated, cured, or any other method of madness. A panel of judges and 400 guests help decide the winning chef by voting on the “best bite of the day,” with the winner crowned the Prince(ss) of Porc and moving on to compete at the Grand Cochon event at the June Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.
If the event keeps true to past years, attendees can watch demonstration of a whole pig breakdown between bites, as well as enjoy a chance to sample from a whole roasted heritage breed pig and also some (likely to be porky) desserts. Word is that there will also be oyster opportunities, a Mezcal bar, and a cheese bar this year—plus more during the VIP hour. As part of the fifth anniversary celebration, look for events on adjoining dates, including a guest chef and winemaker dinner, a producer’s reception, and extra seminars and tastings.
Watch the Cochon 555 website for details, and get tickets now starting at $125 for the main event, to be held at Cedarbrook Lodge.
Taste Washington!
One week after Cochon 555 weekend is the Taste Washington event, happening at the CenturyLink Event Field Center March 23-24.
Each day starts with a few educational seminars (with their own admission fee), allowing food lovers to learn more about food and wine pairing from local luminaries. (Last year they included the Canlis crew and Tom Douglas.) After the seminars, doors open (1pm for VIPs and 2pm for general admission) for the big tasting event, as well as cooking demos on the Viking Chef’s stage.
Taste Washington is a great opportunity to meet representatives from over 200 wineries who are eager to share information and samples. Given the great amount of wine on hand, don’t feel bashful when searching for spit buckets. And to help with some sustenance, 50 of the area’s finest restaurants will serve up food to pair with your wine, including Restaurant Bea, RN74, and Toulouse Petit. This is one of the year’s most popular food events, so plan to get your tickets early, keeping an eye on the Taste Washington website for details.
