THE WOODLANDS, TX – The 15th-anniversary birthday celebration of Wine & Food Week concluded within the Woodlands with a $5,000 test presentation and very last closing rite capping off a remarkable week of culinary and winemaking achievement. More than 10,000 foodie pals, celebrity chefs, and winemakers from throughout the U.S. raised a tumbler in honor of this annual meal fete.
All general, the week featured 50 accomplished cooks, ninety two eating places, 928 wines, numerous educational seminars, and various culinary events starting from taco takedowns to the HEB Wine Walk to the stylish Ladies of the Vine Luncheon panel and culminating within the elegant Wine Rendezvous Grand Tasting & Chef Showcase.
The Wine Rendezvous Grand Tasting & Chef Showcase was the final person evening out where guests sampled dishes like Peli Peli’s South African Surf & Turf; Eunice’s clean watermelon gazpacho with crab; and Tlahuac HTX’s beef cheek huarache, oval masa cake layered with clay pot black beans, beef cheek barbacoa, and Mexican herb salad, as well as hundreds of wines as chefs representing greater than 60 eating places competed for the countrywide Chef of Chefs Award judged by using an esteemed chef and food media panel. The gorgeous evening ended on a high note, be aware with a decadent choice of desserts extraordinaire inside the Celebrity Cruises Life is Suite Zone.
Wooster’s Garden took top honors for a braised red meat short rib with fermented cauliflower and freshly shaved summer season black desserts, claiming the coveted Chef of Chefs award $5,000 coin prize, at the side of the Waterford Crystal Trophy supplied by way of GOYA Foods. In 2nd place is Carlos Ramos, with Latin Bites for a ceviche mussel. In third, become Nick’s Fish Dive & Oyster Bar for a miso-marinated sablefish, daikon radish noodles, grilled Shiitake mushrooms with a wasabi ginger beurre blanc sauce.
“This fifteenth-anniversary birthday celebration was a chance for us to reunite with so many talented individuals who’ve impacted the arena of wine and meals in large ways, even as recognizing the fresh faces making their mark as well,” said Wine & Food Week founder Constance McDerby. “We wish that visitors at Wine & Food Week 2019 loved all of the glorious sips and tastes as much as we loved reuniting with the numerous individuals who’ve helped this event grow to the importance that it has over a decade and a 1/2.”
Mixing, mingling, and munching within the crowd was a who’s who of meals and wine superstars, which include: Master of Wine Tim Hanni and founder MyVinoType.Com, Master Sommelier, Guy Stout; Wine Enthusiast Wine Maker of the Year, Michael David Winery—Michael David; Oregon Wine Person of the Year—Biodynamic Vintner Rudy Marchesi, Montinore Estates; former and longest-tenured White House Chef, John Moeller; Erwin Husken, Owner and Executive Chef of Screaming Eagle; and Chef and Owner Urvin Cross of The Kitchen Table by White ranked as TripAdvisor #1 the Caribbean best eating traveler’s desire.
From Houston, rising BBQ stars Chef Ara Malekian and Wade Elkins each currently featured within the great new BBQ joints in Texas Monthly, plus clean faces like Alex Au-Yeung, Chef/Owner of Phat Eatery; Wade Elkins, Pitmaster/Partner, Reveille Barbecue Co.; Drake Leonards, Executive Chef, Eunice; Omar Pereney, Chef, A La Carte; Tim Welch, Chef de Cuisine, Emmer & Rye; Brandon Silva, Culinary Director, Wooster’s Garden; Vanquelis Pablopulos, Chef, The Petroleum Club; Nicolas Vera, Chef, and Owner, Tlahuac HTX; Olivier Ciesielski Chef, Avondale Food & Wine; Ben McPherson, Chef, and Owner, BOH Pasta and Pizza; Manuel Pucha, Chef and Owner, Maison Pucha; and Ernesto Villarreal, Executive Chef, Thistle Draft Shop.
Wine & Food Week supports charitable agencies, including New Danville, The Woodlands Waterway Arts Council, Sir Bernard Law County Food Bank, and The John Cooper School Signature Series, to call a few. Food & Vine Time Productions has raised nicely over one and a 1/2 million dollars thru various channels for local charities through the years.
