Foodies on the lookout for inspiration on the place to journey will discover a slew of restaurant weeks, festivals, and distinctive culinary occasions throughout the nation—and past—this spring. Under are a few of the most enjoyable, flavor-forward experiences arising in the course of the spring months.
The award-winning Casa Chameleon at Las Catalinas has introduced the inaugural Flavors Beyond Borders culinary extravaganza, a four-day gourmand expertise from March 6-10, 2024, that includes culinary stars skilled on the world-renowned Culinary Institute of America (CIA). Through the multi-day occasion, Cooks Dara Yu, Sophia Ruiz, Evelyn Garcia, and Sarah Thompson will supply grasp lessons, particular tastings, and thematic dinners showcasing their experience within the culinary arts and the signature flavors of Costa Rica. Proceeds from the occasion will profit CIA pupil scholarships.
Flavors Past Borders gives an unique and intimate setting for visitors seeking to broaden their culinary and cultural horizons. Hosted all through Casa Chameleon’s eating places, bars, and public areas – together with Sentido Norte, La Pampa Grill, Grotto 12°, and Inexperienced Home – the occasion’s every day itinerary opens with a wellness exercise, like yoga or meditation, earlier than the day unfolds with food-driven immersive initiatives anchored by every meal of the day:
- For breakfast, visitors might take part in a Barista Expertise, brunch with a pastry chef, or take pleasure in a tortilla station, adopted by a hands-on cooking class with a CIA chef.
- Capped at 10 visitors per session, Flavors Past Borders cooking lessons showcase the most effective native and seasonal substances paired with methods and perception offered by a CIA chef.
- Mid-day meals are leisurely, permitting visitors to expertise Casa Chameleon’s signature bars and eating places. Served a la carte, these leisurely experiences showcase the incomparable setting of Casa Chameleon, perched above Las Catalinas with views of the Pacific Ocean.
- From a catamaran tour to a Latin dance class and Margarita station, afternoons at Casa Chameleon supply cultural immersion on land and within the ocean.
- Every afternoon, visitors can expertise the enduring Costa Rican sunsets on one of many majestic settings within the vacation spot, Casa Chameleon’s pool deck. Accompanied by creative sundowner drinks like Tinto de Verano, gourmand aperitivo-hour small plates function a warm-up for the culinary spotlight; dinner.
- Assisted by Casa Chameleon’s culinary group, Cooks Dara D Yu, Sophia Ruiz, Evelyn Garcia, and Sarah Thompson put together a nightly feast that displays their experience and strategy to high quality eating. Utilizing domestically sourced substances, cooks supply visitors perception into the wealthy traditions and cultural richness of their background with themed dinners like ‘The Street Much less Traveled: An Introduction to Native Foraged Meals’ and an ‘Ancestral BBQ’ at Casa Chameleon’s newly unveiled restaurant, The Inexperienced Home.
Whereas Casa Chameleon, a Relais & Châteaux property, maintains a agency dedication to sustainability, distinctive delicacies, and personalised service, the property’s dedication to culinary excellence actually units it aside. Holding a powerful emphasis on sourcing substances domestically and forging connections with close by farmers and fishermen, the lodge ensures the freshest and most sustainable substances throughout every eating possibility. Boasting 4 eating choices, visitors can count on unforgettable gastronomic experiences at any of Casa Chameleon’s culinary places.
The Sentido Norte Restaurant showcases the flavors of Costa Rica’s wealthy culinary traditions utilizing the best native substances. It boasts a mixture of daring flavors and genuine dishes, completely harmonious with the restaurant’s unimaginable open-air setting, providing panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean.
The Grotto 12 gives a well-curated number of wines from across the globe in an intimate wine cave ambiance. The Inexperienced Home is an intimate eating spot that celebrates Costa Rica’s wealthy culinary heritage with dishes crafted from freshly sourced substances. La Pampa Grill showcases the soul of Costa Rican flavors, that includes slow-cooked, sea, and field-to-table feasts, providing perception into the vacation spot’s culinary heritage. Seasonal produce sits on the menu alongside classics corresponding to signature fall-of-the-bone ribs, embracing the great thing about old-school, open-fire barbecue.
The Flavors Past Borders culinary occasion worth begins at $10,995 per couple (topic to tax and costs). It contains 4 nights’ lodging in a non-public villa with a plunge pool, every day breakfast and lunch, 4 thematic night culinary experiences, cooking demonstrations, every day actions, and social programming. Pricing is inclusive of all wine and drinks. For extra info and to guide Flavors Past Borders, please go to this website.
Metro Atlanta’s most anticipated culinary occasion, the Style of Alpharetta, will happen in Alpharetta, Georgia, on Might 9, 2024, from 5 – 10 p.m. Admission is free, and meals samples are between $1 and $8.
The Style of Alpharetta is not your common foodie competition. Named a Signature Occasion of the Southeast Tourism Society, this culinary occasion has occurred since 1991. On the streets of Downtown Alpharetta, you will discover vibrant leisure and delectable meals choices, multi function location. Attendees can look ahead to a flavorful journey throughout Alpharetta’s favourite dishes from over 60 eating places. Eating places will probably be introduced in early 2024.
“This occasion welcomes over 40,000 locals and guests to get pleasure from a night relishing in scrumptious bites, nice music and enjoyable as we have a good time Alpharetta’s dynamic hospitality trade,” mentioned Janet Rodgers, President and CEO of the Alpharetta Conference and Guests Bureau. Occasion highlights contains:
- Connoisseur Tastings: Bask in a culinary journey with dishes crafted by Alpharetta’s prime cooks, showcasing the most effective of the town’s numerous meals scene.
- Household-Pleasant Environment: Deliver the entire household for enjoyable and leisure, with actions for all ages, together with a Kidz Zone, reside music and the domestically Grown hands-on schooling space.
- Sip and Savor: Quench your thirst with numerous drinks round downtown.
“There’s extra to Style of Alpharetta than simply culinary creations. This 12 months gives ‘Regionally Grown’ an academic space with hands-on actions from organizations contributing to the native meals system,” mentioned Hilary Lew, Metropolis of Alpharetta Particular Occasions Supervisor. “We would like our attendees to depart with not solely a glad urge for food but in addition with a deeper appreciation for our native meals tradition.”
Restaurant functions will probably be accessible by means of the Style of Alpharetta web site on January 22. sponsors might contact Steph Mildew at [email protected]. Please go to www.tasteofalpharettaga.com for essentially the most up-to-date info relating to this occasion, together with a list of all collaborating eating places. Style of Alpharetta is produced by the Metropolis of Alpharetta in partnership with the Alpharetta Conference & Guests Bureau.
Not too long ago launched is a brand new model of the favored Laurel Highlands’ Pour Tour in Pennsylvania, which incorporates partnerships with 52 craft beverage makers together with breweries, distilleries, wineries, cideries and a meadery unfold throughout Fayette, Somerset and Westmoreland counties. The brand new path showcases the area’s wealthy heritage, agricultural range, and entrepreneurial spirit. Craft beverage lovers can choose up a Pour Tour 4.0 Passport at any collaborating location all through the Laurel Highlands or obtain the all-new GO Laurel Highlands app.
“We’re excited to implement the brand new app,” mentioned Jennifer Benford, GO Laurel Highlands’ senior director of selling. “The app will make it simpler for members to digitally stamp their passport, present a leaderboard for some pleasant competitors, and – my favourite half – not solely showcase our craft beverage makers, but in addition all of our companions within the Laurel Highlands, corresponding to close by resorts, eating places and retail retailers which can be close to their favourite Pour Tour stops.”
Two of the latest stops on the Pour Tour have been constructed on an extended and proud historical past within the area. Ponfeigh Distillery in Somerset displays Maximilian Merrill’s ardour for whiskey and historical past. The Laurel Highlands is the birthplace of rye whiskey, and Merrill wished to pay tribute to that.
“I knew I needed to do a distillery in Somerset County to deliver again the historical past,” Ponfeigh’s president instructed a bunch on the distillery, which is housed in a former 84 Lumber constructing on Stoystown Street.
Merrill plans so as to add a whiskey museum to honor the area’s legacy together with a tasting room with indoor and out of doors bars, a cigar lounge and an amphitheater for two,000 followers to get pleasure from reside music. At full manufacturing, Ponfeigh can distill 3,000 barrels per 12 months, making it the biggest distillery in Pennsylvania. Along with talks with the Pennsylvania Liquor Management Board to have Ponfeigh offered in state shops, Merrill has been working with an e-commerce web site, which he mentioned ought to have his product accessible in 42 states inside the subsequent few years. Ponfeigh began promoting bottles of its Westylvania Rye in Somerset late final 12 months, which is the fruits of a distilling course of that began three years in the past.
“We drove 5 tractor-trailer a great deal of Somerset County rye to a sister distillery referred to as Southern Distillery, the place I used to be skilled on that tools for a few weeks,” Merrill mentioned as he spoke inside the large distillery area. “We laid down these 200 barrels which can be stacked up over there, utilizing Somerset County rye, on the identical tools we’ve got right here right now. Now, we’re producing that very same spirit with the identical barrels and the identical rye on the identical tools to catch as much as that 3-year-old spirit (that we’ve got produced).”
Along with Monongahela rye, Ponfeigh plans to start distilling a Maryland-style rye, rye-aged rum and rye-aged gin.
SanaView Farms and Vineyard additionally has longstanding ties to native historical past. Nate McKee, who owns SanaView alongside together with his mom, Janet, mentioned the 52-acre historic landmark is the oldest farm within the space. The McKees bought the property in 2012. It now hosts weddings and different occasions and options lodging in its farmhouse and bunkhouse. Ultimately, Janet inspired Nate to turn into a vintner with a watch towards the identical excessive requirements that they demand at their natural farm.
“She mentioned, ‘You’re keen on ingesting the stuff, why do not you determine find out how to make it?’ ” he recalled.
He did simply that, learning the winemaking course of in California, by studying books and assembly with trade insiders, who instructed him it would not be potential to make wine naturally. He disagreed and set about discovering a approach to make a great-tasting wine that does not use chemical compounds in any step of the method.
“What we’re doing is pure wine with low, low, low intervention,” Nate McKee mentioned. “We’re letting Mom Nature do the work. That is why you have to begin with actually high-quality substances. … You have to be exceptionally clear with each step of the method.”
Mike Fahy, one of many house owners of Forbes Path Brewing in Stoystown, understands McKee’s ardour for crafting scrumptious drinks the correct manner. Fahy is the brewmaster at Forbes Path and whereas he loves conventional beers, he is not afraid to strive new issues, such because the blackberry raspberry marshmallow beer presently accessible at Forbes Path. That form of innovation has helped make Forbes Path a well-liked cease on the Pour Tour, and Fahy loves how this system helps beer lovers uncover his brewery. “The Pour Tour brings in so many individuals that I do not assume ever would have discovered us,” he mentioned.
With a certified buy, members will obtain a sticker from the beverage maker for verification within the printed passport or select to stamp their passport digitally by way of app. Passports can then be redeemed for prizes with a Tier I prize for 15 stamps, Tier II at 30 and Tier 30 for 45 stamps as a part of Pour Tour 4.0, which runs by means of Dec. 23, 2024. The passport and app can not mixed, members should select one technique to make use of all through their tasting tour.
Final 12 months, greater than 2,200 Pour Tour prizes have been redeemed by members from 10 states, together with as distant as Florida, Colorado and Washington.
The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority has introduced the checklist of superstar cooks and culinary arts professionals collaborating within the second annual Antigua & Barbuda Restaurant Week (ABRW) beginning Might 4. Through the two-week-long celebration, guests and nationals can get pleasure from quite a lot of particular and discounted eating and occasion experiences designed to showcase the twin-island nation’s scrumptious and numerous meals, eating places, artwork, and tradition. This 12 months additionally makes the return of Chef Andi Oliver who will headline occasions on the “The Pepperpot Rum Store,” a100-day meals and cultural pop-up.
“The Restaurant Week annual celebration highlights the most effective culinary experiences we’ve got to supply–from favourite informal spots to multi-course menus on the best eating places,” mentioned Shermain Jeremy, Particular Tasks and Occasions Supervisor on the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority. “Given the unbelievable lineup of Caribbean superstar cooks and visitors confirmed for this 12 months, we count on to attract record-breaking participation from meals loving locals and vacationers. We’re excited, too, to showcase the variety of meals from our twin-island nation, particularly with an elevated twist.”
As ABRW grows in its second 12 months, the occasion will function a lineup of superstar chef and beverage professionals solely of Caribbean heritage. Highlights embrace:
- Chef Kareem Roberts. Born in Leicester and raised in Antigua, Kareem first set foot in knowledgeable kitchen at 26. He started composing salads at a small café in St. John’s, Antigua, and shortly moved to the high-volume kitchens at Sandals Grande Antigua. Over the subsequent decade, he would hone his abilities in quite a lot of kitchens in the UK, starting from high quality eating institutions to resorts to gastropubs. He labored his manner as much as his most up-to-date place as Head Chef of Trinity, a up to date British restaurant in Cambridge. Roberts attributes his growth as a chef to the meals and cultures he is skilled, together with the recent seafood he was uncovered to because the son of an Antiguan fisherman. His creativity and keenness have been showcased not too long ago on the BBC’s cookery competitors “The Nice British Menu.”
- Cookbook Author Althea Brown. Althea Brown is the creator and voice behind metemgee.com, a weblog about Guyanese and Caribbean recipes and traditions. She gives simplified recipes, made accessible with weight loss program particular tweaks. She is the creator of the bestselling cookbook Caribbean Paleo. You’ll be able to usually discover her on social media sharing tales about conventional Guyanese meals and tradition, and the way she remixes dishes to suit her dietary wants. Born and raised in Georgetown, Guyana, Althea now lives in Aurora, Colorado, together with her husband and three youngsters.
- Chef Angel Barreto. Chef Barreto is a three-time James Beard Basis Award semifinalist and finalist, StarChefs Recreation Changer (2022), and a Meals & Wine “Finest New Chef” (2021). His highly-awarded culinary profession spans greater than a decade, with distinctive expertise in each French and Korean cuisines. He is finest recognized for his up to date Korean delicacies at Anju in Washington, DC. Barreto is of Puerto Rican heritage and will probably be honoring Boricua delicacies at ABRW.
- Chef Shorne Benjamin. Lucian born and New York-based, Chef Benjamin is thought for his capacity to infuse Caribbean meals with a contemporary aptitude. Classically skilled in French delicacies, he gained worldwide acclaim as a visitor chef at Mimo’s in London. Profession highlights embrace an annual presentation on the James Beard Home, competing on the Meals Community’s “Beat Bobby Flay,” changing into a finalist on Chopped and profitable the 2017 Jamaican Jerk Competition Celeb Chef Throw Down. Most not too long ago, he opened Fats Fowl in Brooklyn, the place he crafts new age impressed dishes to showcase the richness and depth of Caribbean flavors by means of a wholesome and imaginative lens.
- Chef Digby Stridiron. A local of St. Croix, Chef Digby is impressed by substances indigenous to the Caribbean and the historical past of regional recipes. He’s finest recognized for his work as chef of award-winning eating places Balter and Braata in St. Croix, the place he earned recognition as one in all USA At this time’s 10 Finest eating places within the Caribbean and Meals & Wine named his meals “the brand new coronary heart of Caribbean cooking”. A group chief, Stridiron served as a culinary ambassador for the U.S. Virgin Islands, having showcased West Indian delicacies on the James Beard Home, and likewise obtained the 2014 Chef of the 12 months award from the Caribbean Tourism Affiliation. At the moment he’s chef/accomplice at Latha Restaurant & Bar in Phoenix, Az. Chef Digby can also be the founding father of the West Indian Cooks Alliance.
- Sommelier Nadine Brown. Born and raised in Jamaica and Puerto Rico, Brown fell in love with the hospitality trade after transferring to the US and began her profession as a restaurant host in Washington, DC. Twenty years later, she’s an acclaimed trade veteran and award-winning Sommelier. Nadine labored as Wine Director at Charlie Palmer Steak for greater than a decade. Proprietor of At Your Service, a wine consultancy, she is a wine author, choose and educator. Nadine sits on the board of the Restaurant Affiliation Metropolitan Washington and the Verasion Venture, a non-profit that works to assist extra individuals of coloration enter the wine trade. Nadine curates a well-liked dinner sequence referred to as, “Re-“Imaging Wines’, the place she collaborates with cooks, exploring wine pairings with cuisines from the Caribbean to the Philippines
“We’re seeing increasingly more vacationers world wide select Antigua and Barbuda as a trip vacation spot,” mentioned The Honourable Charles Fernandez, Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Transportation and Funding. “Constructing on the success of 2023, Antigua & Barbuda Restaurant Week will proceed to lift the visibility of our culinary excellence within the area and world wide, and we’re sure our visitors will enjoyment of immersing themselves into our meals and our tradition.”
The schedule of occasions for Restaurant Week will embrace Prix Fixe menus and discounted eating packages ($25USD – $75USD) inclusive of lunch, dinner, wine, and cocktails from greater than 20 eating places. Dishes to go well with all tastes and dietary necessities will probably be accessible, and visitors may even get pleasure from reside music, leisure, and youngsters’s’ actions all through the festivities. ABRW will coincide with the run of The Pepperpot Rum Store, a 100-day pop-up vacation spot created by The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority, Treehouse Seaside Membership, and British chef, tv and radio broadcaster Andi Oliver, who has ancestral roots in Antigua. Pepperpot is the nationwide dish of Antigua & Barbuda, and the idea was born after the profitable 2023 launch of Oliver’s recipe guide, The Pepperpot Diaries: Tales From My Caribbean Desk. For 100 days from the tip of April, the pop-up will host curated cultural content material and occasions spanning food and drinks, music, artwork, and movie in its stay-all-day sustainable and eco-conscious setting. For the newest info on Restaurant Week menus and packages, go to www.antiguabarbudarestaurantweek.com.