Let’s Go Truckin’! Just in case you haven’t heard, Food Trucks are in.
In, in, in… yes, mobile munchies are the latest rage, and on May 12, the first ever “Monterey Street Food Fest” will take place at the Fairgrounds from noon to 6pm.
From cupcakes to Cuban cuisine, there’ll be something for every palate. But if the thought of yummy gourmet and international street food isn’t enough to get you to the Monterey Fairgrounds… go for the music.
Because “The Money Band” will play from noon to 2pm, followed by “Triple Threat” until 6pm. (The Money Band has a fair number of groupies at Monterey Bay Property Management, and they guarantee that from “Love Shack” to “What I Say?”—this band will get the crowd rocking.)
The Fairgrounds are located at 2004 Fairground Road, Monterey. Admission to the Street Food Fest is free.
Just doin' our job! Photo by Interface Visual
Like Woodstock, it was held in a field. And like Woodstock, there were rockstars.
But in this case, the rockers were the stars of the cooking world—and the attendees were a joyous throng of food and wine aficionados under a giant white tent at the Pebble Beach Food & Wine’s “Grand Tasting” on April 15th.
The culmination of the four-day epicurean extravaganza, the Sunday afternoon event featured the culinary creations of celebrity chefs along with wine, beer and spirits from over 200 purveyors.
And I will testify: a fine time was had by all.
Since we were in a brunch kind of mood, we started with spicy chicken hash and a perfectly poached egg atop a sweet corn cake courtesy of the godfather of Nuevo Latino cuisine, superchef Douglas Rodriquez.
From there on it was a delicious blur of tasty bites in a sea of champagne and Chardonnays… until we graduated to the Pinots and Cabernets, that is.
Photos courtesy of Interface Visual
Belvedere Vodka poured tempting summery cocktails, while in the Stella Artois corner, many raised the chalice in praise of their excellent brews (including our snap-and-sip photographer Wayne Capili of Interface Visual, who happily reported that Stella comes in not one, but THREE flavors).
The Patron lounge beckoned like a dangerous daydream—but knowing that someone had to drive—I resisted. (Friends reported sampling a silver tequila steeped in fresh cucumber that was to die for, though.)
Our last “main” course was fried arancini with lamb bolognese created by the chefs of REDD, the Yountville restaurant everyone’s talking about. No wonder.
And then we dove recklessly into as many mini-desserts as we could sample, like a dreamy chocolate mousse/coconut pudding/chewy almondy-roca concoction that made us want to wear disguises so we could grab a second one.
But the winner: a small-but-deadly square of exquisite chocolate ganache served on a thin cracker by Ethan Howard of Sausalito’s Murray Circle. Washed down with a velvety swish of 2006 Duckhorn Cabernet Sauvignon, I submit: does it get any better than this?
Guess we’ll have to wait till next year to find out.
It was wet and it was muddy.
In fact, it was extra wet and muddy. Because this year’s annual Big Sur Mud Run was held—appropriately enough—in the pouring rain.
Our intrepid reservationist Ashley Magallanes can attest to the fact: she was one of the 3,000 hearty (masochistic?) souls who showed up at Fort Ord March 24 for the five-mile gauntlet through wind and weather, mud pits, five foot-high climbing walls—and exercise stations manned by real life drill sergeants.
Individual runners showed up in tutus, tiaras, Hawaiian shirts (and in the case of one portly participant—a loin cloth over Speedos and a red cape), while teams wore tee shirts emblazoned with slogans like “Good Girls Like It Dirty” and “The Mud Studs.”
The winner made it through the crud and mud in just over 34 minutes.
Our Ashley clocked in at one hour and 19 minutes. And she cleaned up real good. The Presidio of Monterey fire truck provided cold showers after the race, and all proceeds went to support community athletic programs.
