The 12 best things at the Food & Wine Classic
The first Cincinnati Food & Wine Classic was created to showcase the full extent of the Cincinnati dining scene, and the depth of talent of our chefs, artisans, bartenders and drink experts.
It did that well. Whether grazing the Grand Tastings on Friday and Saturday nights, or making the rounds of events during the day, attendees could not have helped noticing the sheer abundance of talent and tastes.
Here are 12 things that stood out for me.
1. Frances Kroner has a great way with presentation. Instead of a plastic plate like everyone else, she used a clipboard and paper to serve her variations on a theme of maple syrup. Loved the plantain puree.
2. The Sommelier Slam: Five sommeliers sipped five different wines, then took a stab at stating the grape, geographical origin and vintage, while the audience tasted along. It was amazing when they got it right. Charles Redmond of Orchids won.
3. Daniel Wright took over a pork demo at the last minute, sharing how he makes the Booty and Belly sandwich served at Senate. With samples. It wouldn't have been the same without samples.
4. The sliced tongue from Orchids, with a crispy corn cake and curried sauce. Todd Kelly can apparently plate a beautiful dish under any circumstance.
5. The Goetta Superstar contest: Three teams had 25 minutes to construct something from an unlikely basket of ingredients, including goetta. They hustled but had time for some trash-talk and repartee. Keith Pandolfi of Saveur was the moderator, and Jeff Ruby added a little surreal humor as one of the judges. Next year, it would be great if the audience could see the results better, which were outstanding -- I tried to get close enough for a photo. This is the dish from Jose Salazar of Salazar and Julie Francis of Nectar, but the winning dish was created by Cristian Pietoso of Via Vite and Joel Molloy of Nicola's.
6: Chef Anita Hirsch said she loved being back in Cincinnati and had to explain frequently that no, Neiman-Marcus is not opening a store here. She was the executive chef at The Palace here years ago and now is director of restaurants at the Dallas department store company. Her shrimp and lobster laksa was a nice change from all the pork Friday night, with its multiple layering of ingredients.
7: NuVo's white chocolate/yellow tomato dish -- sort of a mousse? Halfway between savory and sweet, it highlighted Mark Bodenstein's offbeat style.
8: I think partly because the cooking facilities at the restaurant booths were very limited, partly because it's trendy right now and because there was an emphasis on pork Friday, there was a lot of charcuterie. Anne Kearney of Rue Dumaine in Dayton served hers on Saturday, and it was delightful, served in small bites artfully garnished.
9: Another was this terrine from Pho Lang Thang, garnished with Vietnamese fish mint. It started off tasting like mint, then finished like fish.
10: Jackson Rouse won the Pork Chopped competition, judged by Frances Lam of "Top Chef Masters," Andrew Knowlton of Bon Appetit, and Keith Pandolfi of Saveur. Rouse, of The Rookwood, had gone full-on Southern with his booth and made boudin and whipped lardo on radishes.
11: This boar ragu from Emilia Enoteca, with pork cracklings on top, stood out.
12: Loved the pastrami-style hamachi with a little rye bagel crisp from Salazar.
