With Taste Our Terroir less than a month away we sat down with a few of the participating restaurants to hear about what makes for the perfect pairing and what trials and tribulations they endured as they started their careers.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with the Quest for Food and Wine Pairing Excellence on Thursday night.\u00a0 This event brings 18 winery and restaurant teams together to compete for five awards.\u00a0 So what makes a pairing perfect?\u00a0 Sabio on Main says that they aim for the wine and food to really cooperate and have a long, memorable finish.\u00a0 Salt Craft claims that the trick is to make a connection between the local food and wine.\u00a0 Johnny Garlics is excited to knock some socks off with bold flavors while Beets Hospitality aims for simplicity and clean flavors saying that food and wine should be fun, having too many things going on can confuse the palette. \u00a0No one sums up this event better than The Restaurant at Wente Vineyards: I don’t think that the Bay Area wine community gives Livermore Valley the recognition it deserves, so for me, this event does just that.<\/p>\n
Now that we\u2019re all dying to know what these chefs have up their sleeves (sorry you\u2019ll have to wait until Thursday night to discover their actual pairings). Let’s discover how these culinary teams got to where they are today.<\/p>\n
About 20 years ago I was working at a very busy seafood restaurant that had an open kitchen.\u00a0 As I watched the people pour in, I thought that I had gotten off hook because I was not getting any orders.\u00a0 It turns out that my ticket printer was not turned on.\u00a0 That was the longest set of tickets I had ever seen.\u00a0 \u2013 Salt Craft<\/strong><\/p>\n My trainer asked me to drain all of the hot water out of the coffee machine.\u00a0 It was connected to the plumbing so it ran on and on and on.\u00a0 \u2013 First Street Ale House<\/strong><\/p>\n I was 17 when I got my first \u201creal\u201d cooking job.\u00a0 My Chef found it funny to hide everyday as I walked in.\u00a0 He would jump out and pick me up (I was 120 pounds soaking wet) take me outside and throw me in the cardboard dumpster.\u00a0 This went on for six weeks.\u00a0 Every day he\u2019d hide somewhere different.\u00a0 It certainly taught me how to deal with anything.\u00a0 \u2013 Sabio On Main<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the very early weddings that I planned ended up having record-high temperatures day-of.\u00a0 The bakery delivered the cake four hours earlier than planned.\u00a0 By the time the cake was scheduled to be cut, it had literally melted off the table and onto the floor.\u00a0 \u2013 Stonebrae Country Club<\/strong><\/p>\n I for one am very excited to see what these chefs have up their sleeves for Thursday night\u2019s event and hopefully they won’t have any stories like these! \u00a0Tickets for Taste Our Terroir\u2019s Quest for Pairing Excellence are going quickly.\u00a0 Get your tickets here and be sure to check out the full line up for the weekend.\u00a0 Cheers!<\/p>\n A special thank you to all the restaurants that participated in this post: Beet\u2019s Hospitality<\/a>, First Street Ale House<\/a>, Johnny Garlics<\/a>, Sabio on Main<\/a>, Salt Craft, Stonebrae Country Club<\/a> and The Restaurant at Wente Vineyards<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With Taste Our Terroir less than a month away we sat down with a few of the participating restaurants to hear about what makes for the perfect pairing and what trials and tribulations they endured as they started their careers. Let\u2019s start with the Quest for Food and Wine Pairing Excellence on Thursday night.\u00a0 This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[3,11],"tags":[76,77,78,61],"yoast_head":"\n