Evening of Fine Food and Wine

So mom has made her food blog debut #3 after attending our very first Evening of Fine Food and Wine at the Scranton Cultural Center last Sunday. We learned this is one of the cultural center's largest fundraisers! It was essentially a food bloggers dreamhouse with the plethora of food to try, all from LOCAL restaurants, and catering businesses.If any of you are interested in a night of great food, meeting great people, touring our very own cultural center, and supporting a large operation that needs our support...GO to the this event! Mark your calendars for next year (April 29th 2012).

Mom and I started the evening by walking into the ballroom, greeted with a glass of wine and an array of appetizers. We tried to "pace" ourselves, but good food, good wine? Please, we dug right in. Mom's favorite appetizer: assortment of spreads, pita, and bean salads from City Cafe (love them), ONE of my favorites was from State Street Grill. They had a wonderful cold Asian pasta salad. Other choices included ravioli, vegetable kabob, soup, stuffed mushrooms (those were fantastic too), and so much more.

For the "entree," we broke into groups and the real fun began. We were on our food/wine adventure to 5 different rooms, each of which housed a chef with their team, a glass of wine specially paired with each dish (thank you sommelier), and a demo kitchen. We watched each chef prepare their dish (I know..crazy fun). Then we tried each dish! I swear I felt like I was a judge on Top Chef (minus the critiquing). The restaurants that provided the entrees were Carmen's at the Radisson, Fire and Ice on Toby Creek, The French Manor, the Hilton, and Patsel's. Yes that means Jean had 5 glasses of wine. More importantly, that means mom had 5 glasses of wine. By the time we hit Patsel's mom couldn't tell what she was eating. She thought the tuna was "very soft steak."

My favorite entree was from Fire and Ice. The chef prepared a Cabernet marinated NY strip steak bruchetta. Oh my gosh. This is totally up my ally. The steak was cooked perfectly, the bread was soft (and freshly baked), and the wine it was served with gave me an appreciation for the art of pairing food with wine. I tried a sip of the wine before the brushetta was in sight and, yuck-o was written all over my face. Tasted like the wine was "smoked." However, once paired with this dish I loved it. Loooved it. The chef from Fire and Ice was also great. You could tell he loves what he does, and loves sharing his knowledge. When he started talking about mallard reaction on steak I got excited. Props to all the chefs and teams for the entrees.

So dessert time came. Mom and I were deffinetly full of food, and wine, but a couple desserts never hurt anything (I am a 30 day-to-be dietitian I swear). I was so happy to see Zummo's offering desserts! I enjoyed their trail-mix biscotti. Mom is a fan of the hard, crunchy, break your teeth, biscotti, but this one was pretty soft (some may say, a little 'dry'), and filled with dried fruit. Their coffee is also fantastic, obviously. Other than forgetting to ask for decaf and staying up until 2 am that night, no complaints! Unfortunately I was so incredibly loopy by the time dessert came around so I have no idea who else was sponsoring the desserts. I tried a great red velvet cake, and a delicious poached pear, but where they were from? I need help with that.

Going out and supporting our community feels great. Meeting people is even better. And doing all the above while learning about the greatest restaurants in our very own backyard that have not a cinch of commercialism is what it's all about. Most of all, I cannot wait for Jessica and I to take a trip to Fire and Ice for a full meal!