Foodbuzz Fest: New Friends and Fab Food

By now I’m sure you’ve read post after post about the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival. I chose to save my posting until I got back mainly because once I hit the hotel room I was practically asleep both from a food and drink induced coma as well as from my travels beginning to catch up with me.

The event was excellent and exceeded my expectations. I was a little worried about how beneficial it would be going into it knowing it was a festival and not described as an educational conference. It turned out that the networking was fantastic with both vendors and fellow bloggers, and there was ample exposure to efforts going on out there regarding Farm to Table and sustainable foods.

I’m not sure how impressed those on the west coast were considering that all the great food, farmer’s markets and gorgeous atmosphere are common, but for me it was true blessing to be there. I was able to sample foods, wines and beers that I otherwise may have never had the chance. Let me assure you they did not skimp on offering us pure quality and luxury on the menu.

I know there have been a lot of posts highlighting each part of the event so I thought I’d go through some of my very favorites and then, regarding some of those free goodies we got, I may highlight them when I use them.

I must say kudos those who managed to get amazing photos of the event. It was incredibly difficult because we always had our hands full with food, drinks and giveaways. It was hard to balance it all and get a good photo in the process.

Friday night began with a cocktail reception at the Hotel Vitale. I think most attendees would agree that while the atmosphere was gorgeous the space was too tight to do much mingling. That’s something I’m sure will be corrected next year though.

SKYY spirits was a sponsor and I stuck with the Citrus Collins for the night considering I like my spirits with only a few flavors which really stand out. It was a combination of SKYY Infusions Citrus, fresh lemon juice, simple syrup and club soda.

Food was served, but I wasn’t hungry enough to fight my way to it, so I didn’t try any of the appetizers. I did hear that I missed out not having the mac n’ cheese though.

Dinner was centered around a taste of SF street food and was located in an outdoor pavilion. A bit of a elbowing and bumping was necessary to make your way to each station, but that didn’t keep us from grabbing what we wanted though. Such as buttery, flaky veggie pies from the Pie Truck, the Mini Rotisserie Porchetta with curly cress & onion marmalade from Roli Roti, and my very favorite – the tacos from Tacolicious. The first was chorizo and potato and the second beef.

Thirsty Bear beer was on tap. I am now officially a huge fan of their beer. On Thursday my roomie and I, Andrea from Off Her Cork, met LouAnn from Oyster Food and Culture there for lunch. It was such a pleasure to meet and hang out with both these ladies. The beer was a close second to my company. The Valencia Wheat they served at the event was light, crisp and fruity.

The most unique award from me went to the raw lavender cheesecake from Alive. Now I’m not opposed to raw foods, I eat them all the time, but I can’t say I seek them out either nor would I be able to eat only raw foods. Or at least that is what I thought until I tried the cheesecake. It didn’t have that rich, tangy cheesy flavor, yet it was smooth, creamy and thick, and I loved the coconut crust.

At the moment I’m trying hard to remember all of Saturday. It was literally a fest of eating from morning until night. Not to mention the fact that of the 50 vendors we were able to taste from in the afternoon, a large majority were wine along with a few which were beer. I think everyone was feeling it by the end of that afternoon. Naps were certainly needed whether we got them or not.

Among the gourmet appetizers, snacks from vendors on foodzie, luxury chocolates and foods combinations created by fellow bloggers I did manage to pull out a few favorites. Among them included the tart and tender Peruvian ceviche. I’m embarrassed to say I can’t remember the specific chef and restaurant. I thought I could find it in our booklet, but it’s not jumping out at me now. Maybe someone can help.

The mini red velvet cupcakes from Mission Mini’s were delicious and I ran into several people who planned to sample each flavor they were offering. Okay, I’ll admit I had two. The other one was Lemonade, but the photo didn’t turn out well.

The Savory Pumpkin Bread Pudding created by Tri to Cook was excellent. It combined chipotle chicken sausage and Gruyere cheese. It was enough to get you excited about Thanksgiving.

Knowing I had a Merlot tasting that afternoon I tried more beers than wine. The Hell or High Watermelon Wheat from the 21st Amendment Brewery had a unique flavor that is hard to describe. It wasn’t your typical citrus-y wheat. That watermelon flavor really did come through.

I had to follow up with Rogue Chocolate Stout, in a wine glass I might add. The chocolate flavor is so prominent unlike some other beers I’ve had before which leave you really searching for the distinct flavors. It has quickly moved up on my list of favorites.

The Merlot tasting provided by Alder Yarrow of Vinography.com was excellent. We got full stories about the vineyards each bottle came from and we were tasting some darn good quality wine. We learned my favorite retails for $65 a bottle! We also got to keep our set of 4 Lenox Austrian Crystal wine glasses.

I’ll cover Saturday’s dinner a bit later because I want to do some more research about the organization that hosted it, but I do need to rave about Sunday’s brunch which was located at Restaurant LuLu. I have been brunch deprived while living in Brazil and I’ve missed it so much.

The buffet was full of wonderful choices including frittata, french toast, panzanella, pear and blue cheese salad and bacon. All the foods were made with products from Kerrygold, Frog Hollow Farm and Nature’s Pride.

I had two favorites. Firstly, the bacon. Yeah, I know. Why bacon? Well, I just finished Nina Planck’s book, Real Food: What to Eat and Why which I’ll recap later, but she manages to glorify real pork products in a way I’ve never heard before and I’ve been craving it ever since. This bacon was good too. Thick cut, cooked perfectly, not too crunchy not too chewy. I saw more than one person go back for seconds.

The other was the French Toast with Kerrygold butter mixed with cinnamon and a fruit compote from Frog Hollow Farms. The bread was from Nature’s Pride. I will say it was good, but it really doesn’t matter how healthy packaged bread is or claims to be I prefer to buy mine from a local bakery or make it myself. The Kerrygold is an entirely different story though. I love their products, and I have to say I was really turned on to Frog Hollow Farms as well.

I can’t forget to mention the build-your-own Bloody Mary Bar. It was stocked with SKYY vodka, juices, pickled veggies and all the spicy stuff necessary for the perfect mid-morning drink.

To sum up this particular post I wanted to mention a few people I had the opportunity to meet on this trip. I met A LOT of people, however, as with most professional get-togethers you tend to meet several people at the beginning and while you mingle you usually end up back with them at the end of the night or for the last meal.

I already mentioned Andrea of Off Her Cork. I’ve been a regular reader for a while and love her tips and reviews. We spent several days around San Francisco seeing the sights outside of the event. This was my first time meeting her and I couldn’t have had a better roomie. When you have a love for dogs, food and fitness in common you just can’t go wrong.

I was also very excited to meet Kathy of A Good Appetite. I love her blog and all the delicious recipes. With travel and food in common we hit it off right away and I really enjoyed spending some time with her and meeting Matt who is the 2nd half of their fabulous blogging effort.

Andrea introduced me to Amanda and Andy of Two Boos Who Eat. I wasn’t familiar with their blog before the event, but I will be a regular reader now. You simply can’t help laughing when you are around these two. They are so much fun.

Outside of the event, I also got to spend a meal with Amy of Delicious by Nature. We had great conversation about healthy eating and I was so happy that I had the opportunity to meet her. She just happens to be one of the most thoughtful people I know. She brought me a bag of Whole Food goodies because she wasn’t sure if I would have snacks having just come from our SE Asia trip.

Then Andrea and I got to hang out with LouAnn as I mentioned above. We had such a great time I think the waitress came up several times just to check on us since we were spending so much time at the restaurant talking. We chatted about food, culture, travel and running and I’m so glad I was able to meet her as well.

If you haven’t gathered as much yet, I highly encourage you to head out for next year’s event. After a few conversations I’m pretty sure it will be in San Francisco again and honestly while I would like to see some regional stuff too, you really couldn’t have it in a better place. All that sustainable food and access to great wine creates the perfect atmosphere for foodies to get together in their ultimate of comfort zones.