Sun Wine and Food Fest 2019

Wine, food, and celebrity chef lovers, if you’ve never attended the Sun Wine and Food Fest, you must add it to your #CTbucketlist. Celebrating its 16th year at Mohegan Sun, this is a food festival not to be missed! Here’s our recap of the three events we thoroughly enjoyed. Eating, drinking, and celeb-chef selfies…what’s not to love?!

Post sponsored by Mohegan Sun

We love this video Mohegan put together of the event. Don’t blink at :46 seconds

The Grand Tasting

Wow, grand is an understatement! Held in the humongous Mohegan Sun Earth Expo & Convention Center, we picked up our glass and had a blast tasting a few of the thousands of wines, spirits, and beers on offer. Between sips, we sampled treats, snacks, and dishes made by some of the best restaurants around.

We saw some friendly faces we know, Meriano’s

Throughout the afternoon we observed various chef demonstrations and saw them multi-tasking like bosses. They chopped, sauteed, stirred, and whisked, while host Ryan Kristafer interviewed them, and answered questions from the audience. How they do it? We don’t know, we’re just glad they do!

We picked up some tips…

  • Try chaat masala as a seasoning
  • Don’t Freddy Krueger your knife – choke up
  • Do your prep work before you start cooking
  • Chefs prefer Maldon salt
  • Shop the perimeter of the grocery store – fresh everything
  • Secret ingredient to fluffy omelettes? Water!
Chef Brian Duffy and host Ryan Kristafer
Chopped judge and culinary goddess Maneet Chauhan

Actual things we overheard…

  • I made some quick pickles.
  • My esophagus is sore from all the vodka last night, and my quads are sore from dancing on the couch (Celeb chef shall be unnamed).
  • Is that octopus dead?
  • We’ve got our cockles in there…
  • Let me have that long pepper!
  • Anytime I cook bacon I can ask for whatever I want.
  • My grit cakes might light on fire.
  • Give it a sprinkydink of salt!

We saw a lot of people wearing pretzel necklaces which we came to find out is the sign of a beverage festival pro. Nibbling a pretzel between tastings helps with endurance 😉 We’ll know the next time!

Celebrity Chef Dine Around

The next event we attended (after a Mohegan Sun fun break) was the Celebrity Chef Dine Around from 8-10:30 PM. Picture 20 celebrity chefs serving up signature dishes from live cooking stations, paired with a wine, beer, or spirit of their choosing. Yes, Bobby Flay did have the longest line!

Chef Bobby Flay
Jamie McDonald/Bear’s Smokehouse
We might try to recreate this at home. ?
Selfie with Maneet Chauhan
Selfie with Bobby Flay!

Sunday Brunch, Southern Style

Every bit as good as it sounds, the Southern Style Sunday Brunch was the perfect way to round out our gastronomical weekend. Questlove of The Tonight Show fame set the tone for some amazing brunch action, and a huge buffet-style brunch hosted by Chef Anne Burrell.

Questlove

The Southern part of the brunch was country singer-songwriter Martina McBride and Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman joining Chef Anne on stage to talk all things food, followed by a cooking demo.

We ate Martina McBride’s quiche, Anne Burrell’s stuffed french toast, and Kimberly Schlapman’s shrimp and cheddar grit cakes, and it was taste bud bliss!

Then we rolled on home. Until next time!


Pics: Lora / Words: Bev

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