1 day Ago By Chris Chamberlain
A highlight of the first few years of the prior incarnation of the Music City Food & Wine Festival was the live-fire cooking pavilion that Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint founder Pat Martin used to put together for his chef friends to play with smoke and fire. Even better, festival attendees got to enjoy the fruits of their efforts with an always-changing menu of delicious items coming off the fire. That event is returning to this year’s festival on Saturday, April 26, courtesy of Mark Waldo, the founder of Waldo’s Chicken and Beer .
Waldo has actually worked closely with Martin through the years as part of their association with Fresh Hospitality, so he’s very familiar with the vibe of festival cooking. Playing off the name of his chain of 24 locations, Waldo is calling the pavilion Waldo’s Chicken & Friends, a collection of like-minded chefs who are in Waldo’s circle of friends. The atmosphere will be casual, as each chef will prepare a couple of dishes, though not necessarily as part of an organized demonstration.
Instead, attendees will be able to watch them at work and ask questions, or just visit the serving table to see what’s next off the fire. This will all take place as part of the Grand Tasting from 5:30 until 9:30 p.m.
, along with all sorts of other activities that evening. Waldo is hoping his special activation will offer the opportunity for festival goers to chill for a little, enjoy some food and a drink, and get to meet the chefs up close and personal. Mark Waldo So who are these chef buddies of Waldo’s? It’s an eclectic group from around the country who all share th e attitude that food should be fun! Leading off are a couple of familiar names to Nashville food fans.
Chef John Currence is best-known for his Oxford, Miss., restaurant empire of City Grocery, Snackbar and Bouré. But Nashvillians probably know him as the owner/operator of Big Bad Breakfast , the downhome Southern breakfast chain that has expanded to two dozen locations, including Nashville, Franklin and Spring Hill.
An engaging chef who's not afraid to speak his mind, Currence is always a fun hang, so be sure to drop by the tent when he’s manning the grill. He’ll be joined by another Nashville chef, Andrew Dodd of Little Hats Market — the Italian grocery, pasta shop and restaurant with a location in Germantown and another coming soon to Hillsboro Village. The original Waldo's location was in the same suite of restaurants as Little Hats, and Waldo and Dodd have been friends for a while.
Anthony Valinoti is a former Wall Street broker who pivoted to the restaurant biz after catching the cooking bug in Naples and moving from Brooklyn to Hot Springs, Ark. — like you do. Since moving to Arkansas, he’s inherited the title of “Maestro of Mozz” thanks to the delectable pizza at his restaurant DeLuca’s Pizzeria in Hot Springs.
(Not to be confused with the recently shuttered DeLuca’s on White Bridge Road.) Valinoti’s pizza empire continues to expand with a new location in Little Rock. Intimate Dinner Series to Kick off Music City Food & Wine Festival The dinner series will spread the local love from April 22 to 24 The fourth team member is Pete Blohme, better known as “ Panini Pete .
” A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Blohme owns several popular restaurants in L.A. (as in, Lower Alabama), including Panini Pete’s Café & Bakeshoppe in Fai rhope and Squid Ink Eclectic Eats & Drinks in Mobile.
Chef Pete co-founded the Messlords, a group of chefs dedicated to cooking for U.S. troops worldwide, and has been featured on several Food Network programs, including Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and Guy's Grocery Games .
Waldo gave just a very basic guidance to his friends, asking them to cook something involving chicken and/or beer, and new dishes will come out of the kitchen every half-hour or so. He also says he probably won’t cook on Saturday since someone needs to wash dishes. Waldo is working on something to serve on Sunday, so attendees can enjoy his cooking as part of the Food Faire market festivities.
Waldo’s Chicken & Friends is included as part of Saturday evening’s admission, so drop in between grazing and watching Iron Fork. Tickets are selling quickly, so don’t put off buying yours !.
