What a perfect day for an outdoor food festival!!
My wonderful friend Stephanie and I arrived at The Taste of Georgetown Saturday morning around 11:30am, Recoup ticket vouchers in-hand. We were able to walk right up to Will Call to redeem our actual tickets– 5 tasting tickets and 6 drink tickets each.
We were hungry, so we went to explore the food scene!
Oh wait, first let me say the highlight of the day, or rather, here’s a pic!
Me, Mike Isabella, & Steph!
Very VERY excited to check out his new restaurant Bandolero asap! Really cool to see him there!
Anyway, back to the food! Up first: Shrimp & Pesto with Fresh Fettuccine from Ristorante Piccolo (for Steph) and Surf & Turf Sliders from J.Paul’s (for me)! Unfortunately, I forgot about my plan to take pictures at this point, but trust me, both of these dishes were delicious! The surf & turf sliders consisted of 1 cheeseburger and 1 crabcake. The crabcake was particularly tantalizing, especially with this special spicy sauce that they had to put on it! And Steph said the fettuccine was fresh and delicious too.
Up next on our food exploration, Paella from Bodega for me!:
And Belmont Charcuterie, Pesto Aioli, and Pickles on Grilled Ciabatta from Degrees Bistro for Steph!:
The Paella was good– I wish there had been a little more *stuff*in it, as I got a lot of just rice. But it was nice & creamy! And Steph liked her sandwich– big pesto fan! 🙂
Then we decided to try some drinks in the beer & wine area. I didn’t take pictures of everything, but here is some of what we had!
Above, SkinnyGirl White Wine. Not bad, but nothing special. I thought they were going to have SkinnyGirl Sangria, but I guess they didn’t. I tried the SkinnyGirl Rose as well. Easy to drink; tasted just like regular, not-complex wine.
Now THESE wines (above) were awesome! My favorite (which I believe is in the glass in the top left, and the bottom right) was the Apothic White. It was oaky, slightly sweet, and refreshing. Really liked the *Oakiness.* Other wines here are Barefoot Pinot Grigio and Ecco Domani Italia Moscato. The Pinot was the most crispy, light, and refreshing of the 3. The Moscato was very sweet- a dessert wine- but very good! Hands down though, my favorite of the day was the Apothic.
Steph had some beers that were really good (I personally do not like fizz, and therefore do not like beer…or soda…or champange..or anything else fizzy. I know, you think I’m crazy..) She had Magic Hat Elder Berry (their new summer beer) and Harpoon Summer Beer, and enjoyed them both!
Now…more food! I should mention that we bought another 5 tasting tickets to share because we thought we’d need more. Probably didn’t really need them, but oh well, got some great things!
As you may be able to tell from Steph’s Sprinkle’s bag above, we got cupcakes from Sprinkles! For 1 ticket you got 1 regular size cupcake and 2 minis. I guess that is about right if you think about it price-wise. 4-5 minis = about 1 regular cupcake, so we were getting about 1 and a half cupcakes each. Nice! I got chocolate peanut butter for my big one (of course, since I’m obsessed with chocolate and peanut butter…) and minis in red velvet and dark chocolate banana. Steph got black and white, red velvet, and banana. THEN, towards the end of the festival, when a lot of restaurants were running out of food, we used our extra tickets to get more to take home: dark chocolate, red velvet, and some more red velvet minis (that’s all they had left). Yum yum yum…
(left to right) above:
Chocolate peanut butter, dark chocolate (w/ vanilla frosting), and red velvet.
Mini banana with dark chocolate frosting, and mini red velvet.
annnd the extra red velvet minis!
On from sweets, we both got Mahi Tacos back at J.Paul’s. Fork needed, but sooo good…
Also, I got a “smashed sandwich” from Georgetown Catering, which is ham, gruyere, and fries on a baguette. The whole sandwich was warm and melty from being “smashed” on the sandwich press! Really, really good!
And finally, as carboholics who love pasta, we both HAD to get food from Filomena. They have amazing homemade pasta, always! We had ravioli alla matrimonia, which is a roasted meatball on baked cheese ravioli. Served with a tomato sauce and a little piece of fresh-baked bread too!
Overall, the day was a TOTAL success! (aside from the fact that I practically needed to be rolled home because I was so full…)
Really though, the food was fresh and delicious, the portions were worth the ticket price ($20 for 5 tasting tickets, and everything you see here “cost” 1 ticket), and it was a beautiful day!!
Food, Friends, Fun, Booze, Sun, Music…what more could you ask for?!
Well done, Taste of Georgetown, well done!