Remember when I posted a little ol’ article about how October is going to absolutely friggin’ PACKED with events? Five big events, that seems like a considerable amount, correct?
TURNS OUT THERE IS MORE
Also we can call it four big events because the Jean Louis Palladin dinner has been moved to February, in hopes to relieve chef stress to less-than-lethal amounts.
Vegas Wine and Food
Fresh off the heels of a quick stop on a national tour, the James Beard Foundation will be doing another festival here in Vegas. If you want a little preview of what Mr. Iron Chef Morimoto will be doing at the Mirage when his place opens, check it out, I’m sure it will be… like most food events! If the JBF event this past weekend would be any indicator, you can expect some extremely solid and creative bites. I like to think that the winners of these awards try to bring out something really cool when the Foundation comes to town.
http://www.vegaswineandfood.com
Oct. 12
Food and Wine All-Stars
Wow, alright, so you can imagine my confusion when I receive these tips and schedule of events, and I don’t separate this and the former event in my mind? This is a much larger event, something I call a more temperate version of Vegas Uncork’d. The difference this year? It seems they have foregone the identically named “Grand Tasting” and limited it to the champagne brunches and dozen-course dinner. But what does it MEAN???
Could the absence of an overcrowded tapas party from a big food festival mean… (Gasp!) People are listening to critics? Has the world gone topsy turvy??
http://www.mgmresorts.com/foodandwine
Oct. 4-6
Taste of the Nation
It is charity season, and dangit I actually really do like people getting charitable. Childhood hunger is a good one, it certainly beats funding the “Re-sod the Back Nine” annual gala, or whatever “Walk-(don’t run)-a-thon” to buy a bunch of extra iPads for a private school. As I recall, this was the event with the highest food/people ratio. Around 30 chefs pumping out the bites, still plenty of elbow room. I had seconds of Circo’s Bolognese served out of a giant wheel of parm, didn’t get a drop on my ridiculous looking white suit.
Oct. 17
Las Vegas Oktoberfest (American Parkinsons Disease Association)
Everyone likes to tout their own Oktoberfest event, but rarely do those events do much else than line the pockets of the people putting them on. This one is going 100% to the APDA, and looks to not be “thrown together”, like too many are. My number one gripe I have with most Oktoberfests: the music. Now, I’m not a guy that really likes music, but dangit if I’m eating a bratwurst, drinking a big liter of marzenlager, and eyeballing a lady wearing pigtails, PLEASE don’t fill the room with the latest Miley Perry song about diamonds or whatever. Get some goofy German guys up there in shorts blowing on tubas!
Oct. 5
M.E.N.U.S at the Luxor (with Jabbawockeez!)
This is an “Epicurean Charitable Foundation” event, so it’s kind of a doozy. Five hundred greenbacks will get you a cocktail hour, a hip hop dance show (go figure, but loaded old folks LOVE it), and 30 restaurant-outposts. One of the outposts is Tender, the steakhouse in the Luxor, which is the one place that whenever I bring it up, I get “Oh yeah Tender is a really great restaurant, why doesn’t anyone talk about it??” Well there you go, I’m talking about it.
Apparently there is a VIP ticket for five grand (who knows what that includes) and a “Diamond Sponsorship” at $49,000. I’m picturing an afterparty with carneval masks and sex and, you guessed it, Rothschilds.
Oct. 4
Well, I hope this has helped you plan a bit for the coming weeks. If you are sitting around saying, “Oh man, why didn’t some handsome mustachioed food critic come and tell me some cool things to do? Bleh bleh bleh!”, then I can call you a damned LIAR. I’m busy, now so are you!
Be there or be square!
May I add to the list of festivities by reminding everyone that there is a Wine Dinner at Le Cirque on Saturday, October 26, hosted by Louis Roderer Champagne CEO Frederic Rouzaud. I imagine this will be quite a special evening.
Mitchell, where’s the link to the JLP dinner being moved to February?