2011 Worcester Food and Wine Festival

It isn’t often I get to try 15 different dishes for dinner. It isn’t often they’re accompanied by sips of a few different fantastic wines. Luckily for me, the Worcester Food and Wine Fest allows me to indulge once a year –- a chance to sample tasty foods from more than 25 local eateries and wines from all over the country is well worth the drive up 290 for me.

This year’s event was held March 7th, at the DCU Center in downtown Worcester. The food and wine fest, now in its ninth year, is sponsored by Austin Liquors of Worcester and serves as a fundraiser for the Worcester Jewish Community Center. Proceeds go to fund the scholarship program at the JCC.

The evening’s special and long-traveled guests were members of the Benziger family -– the owners and operators of Benziger Family Winery in Glen Ellen, California. The family brought several of their wines, including Tribute, a newly-released wine well worth its $80/bottle price tag. Their booth was packed with eager tasters all evening.

Walking into the ballroom, I did a lap around to scout out which booths were in which corners, which had the most visitors, and then I went in for the kill. First stop –- Baba Sushi.

If you know me personally or follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you probably know that I eat sushi. I eat sushi a lot. I eat a LOT of sushi. I’m not discriminating, and while I have my favorites (I really could live on salmon), I’m willing to try anything once.

So it should come as no surprise that I have actually eaten at Baba Sushi before. I was eager to see though, since they ran out of food very early at last year’s festival, what kind of presentation they’d have and how they would handle so many guests who may not be keen on eating something with raw fish. The answer: perfectly.



Chef and owner Wilson Wang was gracious and charming, and delighted to hear that I’d try anything offered to me. He handed me a plate full of goodies with a piece each of seven different rolls -– among them eel. I’m not normally a fan of eel, but this eel wasn’t the least bit fishy or gamey. All Wang’s creations were as fresh as can be and delicious.

I moved on to the Rodney Strong booth and sampled their Chardonnay, which was the perfect wine to start off the evening. It was light and fragrant and didn’t leave an aftertaste. They’re a Sonoma-based label with many, many accolades to their name. Now I know why.



Next up were the tuna wontons from Not Your Average Joe’s. I knew these would be good –- putting tuna in a wonton, how can you go wrong? -– but I had no idea they’d be THIS good. I stopped by the booth and chatted with Chef Seth Caplan about the restaurant.



Located right on Route 9 in Westborough (just across from Herb Chambers), Chef Caplan told me the restaurant makes all dishes –- start to finish -– from scratch. The menu shows a diverse and affordable offering to suit any palate. Try the ahi tuna wontons, definitely “not your average” appetizer, for a very reasonable $11.

I made a stop at the 90+ Cellars booth and tried a glass of their full-bodied Argentinean Malbec (Lot 23, if you’re shopping their website). Delicious!



I also made a festival buddy: Rachel Healy, one of the pourers from 90+ took a walk around and sampled a few dishes with me.

We both went back for seconds (maybe thirds) for guacamole from Mezcal Cantina. I can only imagine what it’s like to have it prepared at your table as it is at the restaurant. Even feeding a ballroom full of people, the guacamole didn’t show even a hint of sacrificing quality for quantity.

We stopped quickly at the Publick House table and grabbed Thanksgiving paninis, which I’d write more about, but they were gone far too quickly! At last year’s festival, the restaurant did sweet potato ravioli with a Kahlua cream sauce (so good I haven’t forgotten!). I have never dined at the restaurant, but it’s been made abundantly clear that they do comfort food, and they do it well.

Next I ventured over to the Struck Catering table, and tried something I never eat – lamb. This wasn’t just any lamb, it was really something special. They offered honey corn cakes topped with a smoked lamb hash, hard-boiled quail egg and a hollandaise drizzle.



I wasn’t really sure what to expect, because, well, I don’t generally eat anything like this, but I wasn’t let down. While the quail egg wasn’t really my style (speaks nothing of the way it was cooked, only my palette), the lamb was deliciously flavorful. I could taste the smoke in a very good way, and the corn cake was the perfect accompaniment. Well done.

I decided on one more sampling of wine before hitting the vast dessert selection, and I chose to end the evening with a lovely glass of Flip Flop 2009 Washington Riesling.



This wine –- which is only about $6 or $7/bottle -- is surprisingly fruity (I tasted pineapple, but not overwhelmingly) and delicious. It made for a great lead-in to the sweets I was about to devour.

If I talked at length about each of the desserts I ate, this blog would go on for pages. I can say I wasn’t let down with a single offering.

On the Rise Baking’s spongecake with berries, chocolate cookies with a hint of cinnamon and triple chocolate cupcakes were absolutely fabulous. Chef Elizabeth Casey couldn’t have been nicer, and even let me snag a second cookie. Anyone offering me EXTRA dessert deserves top billing in my book!



Next up was one of my favorites from last year’s event -– Webster House. Greeted with the same smiles I saw last year, I will admit I grabbed two of their bite-size lemon ricotta cheesecakes. Come on, it’s cheesecake! I don’t regret it for a second, they were tiny bites of heaven.

My last dessert stop was the Sweet table, where I spoke with Chef Alina Eisenhauer. She mentioned Sweet was being featured on Food Network’s Cupcake Wars the next evening, and I tuned in. She didn’t take home the title, but made it to the second round and for good reason – her margarita cupcakes were deservedly the stars of the show.



I was absolutely amazed… these cupcakes genuinely taste like a margarita! While they were the only selection I tried, I suspect Rachel went back for more! Here she is with Chef Alina.



I’ll definitely be stopping by Sweet in the next few weeks. Aside from private catering and even “College Care Packages,” the Shrewsbury Street location has a pastry shop open until 1am on Fridays and 2am on Saturdays (!), and a private dessert bar that would be a perfectly romantic end to any date night.

I left full and happy, as any foodie would. I look forward to this event each year, but especially now with the flavors of this year’s still fresh in my mind. Looking forward to trying some of the restaurants from the festival in the next few weeks, and seeing what else they have to offer. Thanks to the Worcester JCC for letting me attend, and to all the restaurateurs and chefs for the delicious eats.

Foodie's Paradise: Worcester Wine and Food Festival

I could hardly get through my day at work Monday, knowing that I was heading to the Worcester Wine and Food Festival as soon as I got out. The festival, which is an annual event, is held at the DCU Center in downtown Worcester, sponsored by Austin Liquors and benefits the Worcester JCC. Throughout the day on Monday, I continually glanced over the menu the organizer had emailed me, and couldn't wait to taste some of the fare from the restaurants that were scheduled to appear.

I'm not much of a wine person -- I have a favorite label, but if offered a glass at a party or dinner, I generally just go with chardonnay -- so I planned on spending more time scoping out the "food" part of the event. As a new mom, I don't get a chance to get out of the house (other than for work) often, much less to spend mingling with fellow foodies. Since I was attending the festival as part of Foodbuzz's Foodie Correspondent program, I made it my mission to taste, taste, taste as many items as I could.

Part of the night's festivities included a silent auction -- prizes like vacations, trips to local spas and local eateries attracted tons of bids.



Towards the end of the night, many an excited cheer could be heard as winners were announced over the PA system.

One disadvantage I faced was that since I was heading to the festival after work, I couldn't spend as much time just walking around and taking in the sights and smells. I was prepared to make my rounds quicker than usual, but as I entered the main ballroom where most of the food and wine vendors were, I was slightly disappointed that even though the event was scheduled to end at 9pm, at least a few of the restaurants had already packed up and left by 7:45pm when I arrived. That's not to say that there weren't *plenty* of delicious samples left -- there certainly were.

The first booth that caught my eye was that of the Bean Counter Coffee Bar and Bakery. The shop, which has locations in Worcester and Shrewsbury, had attracted most festival-goers' eyes with a tower of tiered ganache cupcakes.



I snapped the above picture at about 7:50, and I am not exaggerating when I say that there were maybe three or four cupcakes left when I walked back to the table at 8pm.

Another part of the Bean Counter's display was a very elaborate wedding cake. I actually asked the chef's jacket-clad woman behind the counter if the cake was real, because it looked so perfect.



A frame beside the cake mentioned that The Bean Counter was named one of The Knot's Best of Weddings 2010 winners for cake bakers. One look at the cake on display, and it was pretty obvious why the cafe had been given the honor.

Next, I made my way over to a more savory booth (though I planned on sampling PLENTY of the goodies that evening, I wanted to pace myself -- I decided the best way to do this would be alternating the sweet with the savory. Sad? Maybe. Delicious? Definitely.) just a few feet away -- Pepper's Fine Foods Catering.



Admittedly, I was a little intimidated. Though the rich smoky flavor exuding from the booth just wouldn't let me walk away, I was a little hesitant when I saw they were serving duck. Having never tried it, I was leary, even though the entree looked absolutely spectacular.



I told the chef -- who I suspect, after taking a peek at their website, was owner John Lawrence -- that I'd never tried it, and that the only thing I'd ever really heard about duck was that it was rather greasy. He thanked me for being willing to give it a try, gave me a smirk and assured me that in the hands of the right chef, not only was it not greasy, but was tender, flavorful and moist.



Oh, was he deliciously right. The duck was prepared perfectly -- seasoned just right so it wasn't the least bit gamey, sliced thinly so as to be enjoyable to even the novice's palate, and paired so well by the "sweet potato frizzies" that while I assumed it would serve as more of a garnish, it seemed the most natural of accompaniments. Thanks to Pepper's, I will most certainly be eating duck again.

Next, it was time for another sweet treat, so I headed over to the obvious choice -- you can't lose with a chocolate fountain. Savor, the DCU Center's official caterer, had quite the bountiful spread.



Besides several items for chocolate fountain dipping, they also had banana-stuffed strawberries which the chef behind the booth told me he prepared himself.



As I took pictures of them, he told me that now I would have to try one -- no argument there. I sampled one of the strawberries and wasn't disappointed.

I then made my way over to the neighboring booth, Sturbridge's Publick House. They were one of the few vendors I can say I was literally looking for in the room -- having seen on the menu I had what they were bringing, I was eagerly pacing the floor looking for their space ahead of time.



Though it may not look like much -- due in part to the person ahead of me in line bringing a small Gladware container and taking off with half of what was in the pan -- the sweet potato ravioli with kaluha cream sauce were absolutely beyond amazing. Though I was a little nervous that the sweetness of the sauce would make the dish more of a dessert, I wasn't disappointed; the rich kaluha cream sauce was delicious with the hearty sweet potato filling. Fabulous.

At about 8:30pm, I made a quick stop at the Cabot Creamery table. I'm not someone who generally considers cheese a palate cleanser, especially because I'm lactose intolerant, but Cabot's cheese is different -- all varieties are lactose-free. It's readily available at most grocery stores, reasonably priced and melts no differently than other brands, but tastes better. I grabbed a few pieces and headed towards my last booth of the evening.

I'm not a fan of writing in cliches, but evening ended with a bang. My last stop was at the Webster House Restaurant, where I sampled their pan-seared salmon with teriyaki ginger risotto and wasabi aioli. This was one of the dishes I was looking forward to , and one I had told my co-workers about (admittedly, to make them a little jealous) during the day on Monday.



As a big fan of sushi, everything about this dish appealed to me. The risotto was perfectly prepared -- not gummy, and well-flavored. While I generally do not enjoy cooked salmon, this was moist without the fishy flavor that many don't like about the fish. The wasabi aioli was the perfect tangy topping.

In talking with the two servers at the booth, I found out that Webster House, located right in Worcester, not only offers a stellar every day menu, but also hosts special wine dinners. After trying the salmon dish, I'll definitely be taking a trip to the restaurant in the next few weeks.

Though food festivals are pretty self-explanatory, something about this one was different. Most people don't think of Massachusetts as a foodie mecca. Certainly Boston offers its (more than) fair share of top-rated eateries, but the atmosphere seems to be changing. Those of us in southern (or western) Massachusetts don't have to drive the extra hour and wrestle with Mass Pike traffic to find a great place to eat anymore. And judging from the variety of delicious options at the Worcester Wine and Food Festival, Worcester is certainly on its way to becoming a foodlover's destination.