Talk about excited when I was able to attend the Music City Eats kick-off event at my friend Stacie of Southern Sophiscate’s house last week. There aren’t too many things in life that are better than good wine and good food, well, of course, except the obvious of my family and friends, but you get my point. 
Chef Tandy Wilson of City House Nashville and crew came along to prepare some super tasty bites to get our tastebuds conditioned for what’s to come at the main event!
Music City Eats Nashville Food, Wine & Spirits Festival is a brand new festival coming to Nashville on September 20th and 21st and “is the brainchild of Grammy award winning artists (and Nashville residents) Caleb and Nathan Followill of Kings of Leon, world renowned chef Jonathan Waxman, Austin-based C3 Presents — producer of Austin FOOD & WINE Festival, Austin City Limits Music Festival, and Lollapalooza — and Vector Management’s Ken Levitan and Andy Mendelsohn.”
We were lucky enough to see Chef Tandy in action with a front row view of all the food being prepared for us in Stacie’s kitchen.
Our wine menu for the evening included Rodney Strong Vineyard’s 2010 Alexander Valley Caberbnet Sauvignon, a 2011 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, and a 2011 Chalk Hill Chardonnay. Each wine was delicious and paired so well with all of Chef Tandy’s fresh fare.
Okra eater I am not, but man, has Chef Tandy made a believer out of me. His roasted okra with a buttermilk cottage cheese made from Cruze Dairy Farm’s cultured and churned buttermilk with hot sauce and biscuit crumbles and was a sure match with the Chardonnay.
Ripe seedless watermelon was topped with fresh basil, pickled chili peppers, and the most delicious sea salt from the Outer Banks. In the words of Chef Tandy “it tastes just like the Atlantic Ocean” and I happen to agree!
Biscuits were topped with ciccioli and a zesty pepper relish made with roasted sweet peppers, lemon, honey and cider vinegar and was excellent with the Cabernet.
Chef Tandy prepared popcorn on the stove in chicken fat and then finished it off with sumac powder.
Fresh figs from Archer Farms at City House were topped with shaved Benton Farms’ country ham and crispy buttermilk cheddar frico. I personally thought this was a great match for the Pinot Noir.
Lastly for dessert was a double chocolate sea salt cookie and a mini oatmeal pecan pie………WOW!
Lindsay Hoffman of C3 Presents joined us from Austin to get everyone excited and informed about the event. C3 Presents produces food festivals around the country as well as the amazing Austin City Limits Music Festival, Lollapalooza, and more and are on board for this year’s Music City Eats Festival.
Music Blogger and host of his new YouTube Channel Listen It’s Vetrano, Chris Vetrano and the fashion forward girls of The Trunk Nashville were also on hand to do a little shopping in their super cool mobile boutique, because if you are going to eat good and drink good, you better look good. Check out their site for upcoming events where you can shop their hip digs!
The whole night was filled with talent galore and lots of anticipation being built for the Music City Eats event. If you haven’t bought your tickets, there is still time left but not for long. Just check out the line-up below and you will know why. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention that there’s a tribute to Tom Petty with artists like Kings of Leon (the founders of Music City Eats), Norah Jones, Emmy Lou Harris and others performing the best of Petty’s music during the festival.
Talent
Giada De Laurentiis
Michael Symon
Jonathan Waxman
Tim Love
Trisha Yearwood
John Besh
Aarón Sánchez
Jon Shook & Vinny Dotolo
Nancy Silverton
Donald Link
Joseph Lenn
Edward Lee
John Currence
Tandy Wilson
Erik Anderson & Josh Habiger
Pat Martin
Deb Paquette
Barclay Stratton
Matt Farley
Giovanni Francescotti
Sarah Gavigan
Carey Bringle
Robert Grace
Jay Flatley
Phillip Krajeck
Charles Phillips
Arnold Myint
Larry Carlile
Hal M Holden-Bache
Margot McCormack
Nick Pellegrino
Roderick Bailey
Peter Gago
Dana Cowin
Jennifer Justus
Chris Chamberlain
Jeni Britton Bauer
Sponsors
Saturday Night Events
7:00pm – 9:00pm
9:30pm – 11:30pm