1 day Ago By Chris Chamberlain
If you haven’t already purchased your tickets to the upcoming Music City Food & Wine Festival April 24 to 27 at Centennial Park, don’t delay. Some events at the festival — brought to you by FW Publishing, the Scene 's parent company — have already sold out, and others are getting down to just a handful of spots remaining. Today I’m going to tell you about the free day at the Fest, Sunday’s Food Faire from 10 a.
m. until 3 p.m.
(And don’t worry, I checked. Just because there’s an “e” at the end of Faire, there won’t be any jousting or giant turkey legs to gnaw on.) Instead of Ren Faire fare, attendees will have the chance to sample and shop from more than 50 artisan food and drink vendors , enjoy the Brunch Garden included in the VIP Weekend Pass that includes dedicated seating area, unlimited brunchy bites, complimentary cocktails, commemorative swag, and dedicated front-row seating at the chef demos and panel discussions.
(More on them later.) Parnassus Books is also presenting a special Local Author Cookbook Corner, where dozens of locally penned cookbooks will be available for purchase, and some of the authors will be there to talk about and autograph their books. Wow, is it later already? Well, I guess it’s time to talk about the Main Stage Chef Seminars and Demos.
If you’ve ever wondered what I look like ...
well, prepare to be disappointed. I’ll be emceeing the day’s proceedings. I promise the real talent on the stage will make it worth your while.
The day kicks off with Beyond the Buzz: Coffee and Conversations with 8th & Roas t Team at 10 a.m. As soon as you hit the gates, you’re gonna want some jet fuel to get you through the day, and who better to kick off the fun than Seth Woods, Q Taylor, Shelby Briggs and Max Oden of Eighth & Roast? Attendees will learn how the company sources its beans from sustainable farmers, how they roast them to perfection and how Max manages the quality process by sampling different coffees all day, every day.
I know that sounds like a dream to some folks, but it’s a real job! Chef Shelby will also put on a short food demo, so there will be samples to hand out afterward to the VIP area. At 10:45 a.m.
, Ivey Childers of Southbound Tequila will demonstrate how to create a batched cocktail for a crowd, and conveniently, there will probably be a crowd right in front of her when she’s finished. At 11:30 a.m.
, I’ll introduce a personal hero of mine, chef Jess Benefield of Two Ten Jack . Not only is she a fantastic chef and restaurateur with locations in East Nashville and Chattanooga near the Choo Choo, but she is also a stalwart judge at Iron Fork who keeps the rest of us yahoos in line when need be. She’ll demonstrate how to grill yakitori-style, including how to set up your grill and how to prep chicken and veggies for cooking.
She has hinted at a “surprise guest,” so who knows who might show up? After chef Jess is finished, we’ll clear the stage for another demo at 12:30 p.m. that promises to be fascinating: Tortilla Time With Julio Hernandez of Maiz de la Vida .
The master of masa will teach you how to make tortillas at home, a relatively easy process that will make you look like a magician to your friends and significantly improve your home cooking. After that short presentation, I’ll turn the stage over to my talented Scene colleague Margaret Littman as she moderates a panel discussion titled Generations of Family and Food featuring local second-generation restaurateurs and chefs Lauren and Kendall Morales of TomKats along with two of my favorite Arnolds in the world: Kahil Arnold of Arnold’s Country Kitchen and Arnold Myint of International Market . Margaret is an insightful writer and interviewer, so I expect the conversation among these culinary scions to get a little spicy and possibly even a bit salty.
Finally, we’ll close out the day of learning on the Main Stage with a presentation that I’m particularly excited about as Hattie B’s Brian Morris hits the stage for a demo he’s calling Frying Fresh and Dipping Hot. Morris is a favorite on the food festival circuit, and he has headlined stages for years, going back to when he was a star chef for Relish magazine. He estimates that he’s done hundreds of stage demos all over the country, but unbelievably, this will be the first time he’s showed off and showed out in front of his hometown.
I spoke with him on the phone in advance of his appearance. “I’ve never done one in Nashville!” Morris shares. “I missed out on the original Music City Food & Wine, and I’m glad it came back in good hands.
I’m so excited to do a show at home.” He promised that the demo won’t be too technique-heavy, with lots of audience interaction. “Music is an important part of the show, and I’ll present recipes that serve multiple purposes and unlock techniques that you can use often in your own kitchen.
” “We will let the paddock off of our popular fried pickle recipe to teach a little food science and a light batter recipe you can use for any little delicate finger foods,” he says. He also plans to bring several of Hattie B’s greatest hits together in a roulade featuring collard greens and classic Nashville hot chicken. While you can’t expect he’ll give up all the details of the secret spice recipe, he will share the exact dipping technique so you can try to emulate it at home.
“It’s meant to be fun,” he elaborates. “It’s 98 percent comedy and music, so there won’t be any need for note taking. It’s just fundamentals and recipes that will leave you feeling like a culinary baller! I want to leave the audience feeling what I call ‘The Three E's’ — entertained, educated and empowered.
” He also hints at the Nashville debut of a unique musical instrument that will be integral to the presentation, so if you can introduce something new like that in Music City, that’s a pretty big deal! So mark your calendar for April 27, and I’ll see you at the Main Stage in Centennial Park for the Music City Food & Wine Festival!.
