Kentucky Food Blogger Weekend Part One: The Dinner

It all started with a bit of jealously.

I attended a couple food blogging conferences in other states and I saw networks of food bloggers that had formed in various cities. You know, groups of super cool people with a passion for food, cooking it and photographing it.

Kind of like a bunch of me sitting around a table together.

So not unlike Veruca Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I had phrases playing in my head that sort of went like, “I want a local blogger group to hang out with NOW.”

After that it all began to snow ball and take on a life of its own. Mindy of The World in My Kitchen and I knew each other and Melissa of My McDonald Meal and I knew each other as well. All Kentucky food bloggers. Three can be classified as a group, right?

Alltech knew of my food blog and approached us about sponsoring a networking dinner. Several of the upscale restaurants in Lexington and surrounding cities feature their food products – Alltech Angus, Café Citadelle Haitian Coffee, Kentucky Ale beers, Pearse Lyons Reserve Whiskey, and Bluegrass Sundown – so they wanted to network with us and learn more about food bloggers while sharing their products. (You’ll see these pop up on the menu later.)

Once the idea of the dinner was born, Mindy started a Facebook group and fan page and recruited what is now over 60 Kentucky Food Bloggers. I started a Twitter account and continued working with contacts on the dinner. This led us to connect with the Kentucky Proud Incredible Food Show and our evening became a full-fledged weekend of food blogger happiness.

Yes, spoiled Veruca got her wish.

The past few weeks have been filled with sending invites, gathering RSVPs, contacting food companies, gathering swag and networking in the name of food bloggers in the Bluegrass state.

The weekend began with the networking dinner sponsored by Alltech. Given our diverse blogging locations, and the dinner being in Lexington, we had an intimate, but no less exciting, 14 bloggers join us.

The dinner took place at Jonathan’s at Gratz Park Inn and was prepared by Jonathan and his excellent staff. You may remember my review of his cookbook and tasty cornmeal waffles last year. Every blogger just happened to get a signed copy of his book as part of the dinner. I could sense the excitement, and rightly so. It is such a great one to have on the shelf.

True to Kentucky, the meal began with beer cheese. But not just any beer cheese. Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale Beer Cheese on Fried Cornbread to be exact.

I might add here that each course led to some great food-focused discussion in our group. For this one the topic was – what makes a good beer cheese? We discussed.

Next up was the Pearse Lyons Reserve – Molasses Marinated Alltech Angus Flank Steak with Arugula and Crispy Sweet Potatoes. Such a unique dish with the sweet molasses balancing out bitter arugula (which also happens to be one of my favorite greens). We marveled over the creativity of the sweet potatoes with this course.

Ever had a gourmet corn dog? Course three would qualify. Shrimp Corn Dogs – Kentucky Ale Beer Battered Fried Shrimp with Hot Mustard. The hot mustard was outstanding with the batter and the shrimp.

If meat can be beautiful then the award goes to the third course, Grilled Alltech Angus Ribeye with Horseradish Creamed Collard Greens. The ribeye was delicious, one of the most tender ribeye cuts I’ve had, but I will admit that this was one huge piece of meat. The greens were simply incredible and I’m not being dramatic. I could have eaten a plate of the collards with that spicy horseradish cream.

I might mention that for this course we discussed how difficult it is to photograph meat well. Oddly enough, none of my photos are post worthy, but I know there were some other good ones and I’ll direct you there once I get the link.

Dessert, oh, glorious dessert. Lately it seems my desserts have been all hearty whole grains with fruits and nuts. Which is great, but it has been a while since I’ve had a truly rich dessert.

The Bluegrass Sundown Chocolate Pot Pie with Jonathan’s Vanilla Bean Ice Cream was like an explosion of chocolate in your mouth. The Bluegrass Sundown is Alltech’s version of the Irish Coffee. When added to this dish it was everything chocolate lovers dream about. Although, the ice cream cannot go unnoticed. It was a nice balance to the richness of the dark chocolate.

Pleasantly stuffed, we exchanged greetings with Jonathan who was nice enough to come out and welcome us. Then it was time for a little swag.

I am a huge fan of promoting Kentucky producers mainly because there are so many great products that have interesting histories and heart warming stories. I decided instead of highlighting those that supported the event through swag here in the post, I’d put a list below with links in case you’d like to visit their site to find out more. We have some very gift worthy foodie items produced here. We were also very thankful for the bags Whole Foods Lexington gave us to hold the swag as well as a gorgeous gift basket to give away.

One of the things that was new to me were the Modjeskas, or Caramel Biscuits, from Bauer’s Candy. They are homemade marshmallow centers covered with a smooth, creamy caramel. Yes, this is Fake Food Free, but even I am open to an indulgence especially if it has some history attached to it.

We also had several gifts to give away as door prizes. I won fudge from the Lexington Chocolate Company. Oh, did I just say fudge? Well I meant the creamiest, richest fudge I can remember having. Really. These little tins are on the gift list.

It’s not over yet.

This fabulous dinner certainly can’t be beat, but we continued our weekend on Saturday at the Kentucky Proud Incredible Food Show, a presentation with the Michael and Bryan Voltaggio and a private meet and greet session where they shared with us a bit more about their restaurants. More to come!

A few more Kentucky products:

Americandy
Kentucky Cutting Boards
Marksbury Farm Market
Bleugrass Chevre
Elmwood Fine Tea
Herb n’ Renewal
Holly Hill Inn Restaurant
Weisenberger Mills
Howard’s Creek Authentic Beer Cheese
Bourbon Barrel Foods

Disclosure: The foods and products reviewed in this post were given to me free of charge. I was under no obligation to post about them and received no compensation for doing so.