It was my very first time attending the Pacific Wine and Food Classic and It's now on my list of favorites. I spent two wonderful days with the sand in my toes, food in one hand, and cocktails in the other, but this was more than a wine and food, it was a fun experience full of firsts. I tried silent disco for the first time which was way better than I ever thought it would be, I hung out in the VIP Patron lounge and had Patron popsicles, ate the juiciest slider ever, had the most delicious skirt steak and amazing Hamachi, discovered the coolest cooking gadget and best of all discovered an awesome place that I want to come back to with my kids.
The event was at Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort and Marina - an awesome mile long RV park in a cove in Newport Beach all decked out with a water playground that's perfect for families to swim, play, rent a sailboat, pedal boat or electric boat. We were on the other side, but it was great to see the fun people were having over there as I'm sure they were wondering what was going on our side.
The made my way over to the silent disco lounge and that was a lot more fun than I thought it would be, I've read about it before and thought to myself "How can that possibly be fun?" I imagined the headphones messing up my hair , my ears sweaty and all of that to not even enjoying the same music as my dance partner - that's just weird, but somehow it works and it's cool. The head phones are big and comfy and you can't hear anything else but clear music just for you In this case we all were listening to the same station so everyone was singing along and having a grand time on the sand with beach balls and music. What was unfortunate was that for all those not participating in the silent disco, they had to listen to a bunch of bad singers.
After working up an appetite at the silent disco I made my way over to the food and OMGeeee! The hamachi from Taps Fish house was one of the most wonderful bites I had at the event, but I can't say for sure because there were so many great ones. The hamachi was simple, but the flavors were so complex - the fish so fresh, the rice so perfect and the sauce was loaded with flavor, sweet, salty, spicy, tangy it had it all.
Villa Roma served empanadas on Saturday that I unfortanately didn't try, but they looked so great and the most perfect skirt steak and chimichurri on Sunday. It was so good I helped myself to it three times and if I could have I would have set up a beach chair right next to them and just hung out there all day.
The sliders from The Krave Kobe Burger Grill looked simple but that's what was so great about them the meat was grass fed kobe beef cooked so perfectly. It was juicy, flavorful, mouthwatering goodness. The great quality of the beef really shined; even the bread was fluffy and toasty.
Let's not forget the drinks! There was wine (lots of it) - It is the Wine and Food Classic afterall, but the cocktails shined as bright as the sun that day. There was the VIP Patron Lounge serving up custom made cocktails and Patron Popsicles. Absolut Elyx served up pretty cocktails and Maker's Mark was a favorite for whisky lovers and my unexpected favorite was the Bacardi Cocktail. I am usually a Tequila Cocktail kind of gal, but the drinks over at Barcardi were excellent - so tropical and went perfect with the location and theme of the event.
As I made my way through the event in between bites I came across The Thermomix the most awesome kitchen equipment I've seen in a long time. I love to cook (I am a trained chef) so when I come across The Thermomix I was a totally geeking out gadget. How have I never seen this before? It's amazing looks like a blender and it makes absolutely anything even risotto without you having to stand over it mixing it all that time, it steams food, it cooks food, blends it , whips it, it does it all - even makes some delicious margaritas in seconds. I need one of these!
Did I mention this event is one of my favorites now? I can't wait for the next one.