Atlanta Food and Wine Festival

This past weekend, the hubs and I attended the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival.  Let me just tell you....you should go....

You can either buy a day pass or a weekend pass.  We had weekend passes that we won at a silent auction.  Each day (Fri, Sat, Sun) there are classes in the morning.  They were so fun!  They have cooking demos and wine tastings and all the major southern chefs are there!  We got to meet the infamous John Besh, which was really exciting!

After the morning classes, you just walk on over to the festival tasting tents.  Now, this is where it gets a little overwhelming...  Restaurants, breweries, and wine distributors from all over the south have tables set up and you just walk around and sample this and that.  We ate a TON and still only got to sample about a third of what we had planned.  It was really a blast!  Friday and Sunday are definitely the less crowded days (but still a healthy crowd), but Saturday definitely had the best morning classes...so if you're going for a day, then it really just depends on your interests.  Oh, and you can also just buy a pass to the tasting tents.

And then.....this happened..........

After the festival on Saturday, we met some friends at Miller Union in West Midtown.  And by some friends, I mean we had a party of 14...so we really did some damage.

We sat outside on the patio, which was actually quite lovely and perfect for a large group.  We ordered several appetizers but the best by far was the farm egg baked in celery cream with rustic bread.  I know, it sounds a little strange, but it was absolutely amazing.  For an entree, I ordered the grilled pork tenderloin with rhubard chutney that was absolutely heavenly.  As a bonus, it came with some sort of pan-fried deliciousness that could have been polenta or risotto.  

I mean to take a photo when it came out, but as you can see, I got waaayyy too excited and then remembered only after I had completely scarfed it down.  Delish.

Another great stop was Friday night after the festival at Antico.  If you live in Atlanta or you stop by there occasionally, it is a must!  Some of the most amazing pizza I have ever had!  If you want to go super-authentic, try the Capricciosa, which was amazing.  

WARNING:  Antico is a seat yourself place, and it has communal-style seating.  So, just prepare yourself for that!  Although, we only had to wait about 5 minutes before finding a spot for 5.

If you are unable to attend the festival itself, or if you are looking for a less-expensive way to be involved, consider the BBQ on the Thursday night before the festival begins (these tickets can be bought by themselves or are included in the 3-day pass).  This event was held at JCT Kitchen and was maybe my favorite part of the festival.  There were a lot of people there, but it was not overly crowded, and it was similar to the tasting tents where different restaurants had tables set up with "tailgate" style food.  JCT Kitchen is a wonderful indoor-outdoor space and there was also a great band playing outside.  It was relaxing and fun, and we were able to sit for a spell before going back for round 2 of sausage and grits, vegan sliders (this was actually my fav thing) and ribs.

Cheers!