Tasting My Way Through Yolo County - Taste of Yolo

I was not paid for this blog post, however I did receive a complimentary admission to the event to facilitate this article.

Join me on my exciting adventure at Taste of Yolo, won't you?

It may not be the largest foodie event in California, but Yolo County can sure put on a spread.  

I was excited to attend this food and wine event at Central Park in #Davis, where surrounding wineries, farms and restaurants brought out their best products to sample and share with the community. 

All attendees received a nice, reusable bag to carry swag, pamphlets, and also included a beautiful wine glass, just the right size for tasting samples throughout the park. 

There was a detailed map inside of the swag bag, which made it easy to find your favorite farms, restaurants and wineries - all categorized by region. The Yolo County areas included:

• Capay Valley
• Clarksburg
• Davis
• West Sacramento
• Winters and
• Woodland

The closest "region" to the main entrance was Clarksburg, so I made that be my first stop. Hemly Cider caught my eye with it's chalkboard sign advertising samples of Jalapeno Pear Cider. 

Now, I'm not a fan of sweet ciders, but love to try any new funky combo so I requested a pour. This was a pretty fun, unfiltered, cider, just the right amount of spice and not too sweet. Did I mention that the only ciders Hemly makes are from the pears grown on their 165 year old estate?  

The only thing I love more than a good cider, is one with some history - and this one was both!

 
The next stop in the Clarksburg section was Séka Hills at The Old Sugar Mill  - with a fantastic Rose of Syrah - very nice people and lovely wines, a perfect compliment to the warm weather we were enjoying. 

After a few samples of wine, I figured I should stop to take a bite of something to balance out the delicious vino.  So, I found my way to the Winters section, where there was a crazy intense buzzing around an empty table of food. 

I figured there was a reason people were still hanging around, so I also waited, and caught the re-fill in progress in the video below.

I might have a had to wait another round to get my sample - but it was 

OH, so worth it! 

The Buckhorn Steakhouse put out a perfectly balanced Farmers Market Crostini, built on a grilled kalamata olive baguette, a smear of fresh farmers market cheese, and topped with a fork-tender tri-tip and finished with a tangy chimichurri sauce.

I'm going to have to plan a trip to Winters very soon to check out the Buckhorn Steakhouse in person! If this sample was an indicator of their offerings - I'm going to be a very pleased eater indeed! 

The DIY stage had a nice lineup of Chef demonstrations, of which I was only able to catch one. Stazi Dulman from Nugget Markets put on a very informative and delicious presentation on pickling spring vegetables.


The lineup for the DIY Stage was:

• Ann Evans - author of Davis Farms Market Cookbook - canning apricot jam and pickled onions
• Stazi Dulman - Chef at Nugget Market - pickling spring vegetables
• Kevin O'Connor - Chef at Cobram Estate - olive oil demo
• Hannah Muller - Full Belly Farm - making bouquets with spring flowers

The Black Bicycle Farm drew me to their booth with the lovely aroma of fresh lavender of which they were giving sample bouquets (that kept my swag bag smelling very sweet) and some very cool stickers. 


I had never heard of this farm, in my very own town of Davis before, which is why I love events like this. They apparently have estate grown olive oil for sale, and will be opening a tasting room for their vineyard grown wines in June 2018. 


I can't wait to visit their Vineyard.

About half way through the event, I began to wander around sniffing out booths that looked interesting and made my way to a few tastings and samples which I enjoyed, not region specific (photo above):

• Capay Valley Vineyards - the sweetest family owns this vineyard - likely it will be Tom or Pam (owners since 1998) pouring you a taste of their amazingly refreshing Sparkling Tempranillo - yes, I will have another pour, thank you!

• Nugget Markets put out a cooling and very richly flavored Cilantro Gazpacho sample, of which I wouldn't have minded taking a whole bowl home!

• Taber Ranch Vineyard pouring samples, looked like a beautiful place for weddings, and other events in Capay Valley. 

Next stop, time to give my feet a break and sit down for a demonstration on the Nugget Stage. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see veteran Top Chef (2007) Ryan Scott doing a cooking demo, in which he included many guests in the audience, that got to participate in crazy shenanigans - each of them loving every second of it. 

I found out that Chef Scott is a frequent guest on the Rachael Ray show, and after meeting him, I was happy to find he was was quite down to earth. He was very happy to pose for photos and sign autographs for young fans (pictured above). 

Heck, he even took a #selfie with me which was a fun memory! 

After an entertaining demo at the Nugget Stage, I made my way to the Woodland section, where I found some super tasty bites (pictured above).

Maria's Cantina was serving up an Elote Salad - if I was being picky it was slightly thick and the cheese tasted like cheddar instead of a more traditional cotija or similar.  I think of Elote as more tangy and spicy. Either way, it was a welcomed bite served with a dried plantain chip.

Morgan's on Main was serving a beautiful Strawberry Lemon Cream Tart - a very nice treat.

Finally, Savory Cafe was working hard to get all their Belgian endive filled with hummus, olive tapenade tapenade, red pepper and a micro greens topping.  It was a eye catching presentation with the two colors of endive, and despite being not extremely experimental - all flavors and portions were executed perfectly to create one very nicely balanced bite!

After my belly was full, I kept seeing people walking around with this pink/peach looking drink that looked tasty. I got up the courage to ask a fellow what it was so I could try it myself. 

Found out it was a Hibiscus Honey Blonde from Three Mile Brewing (Davis) - a relatively new brewery in Davis, CA. Made with local honey and dried hibiscus flowers, this unique pink brew was just what I was looking for on a warm summer day.

Three Mile Brewing gets mad points for making this pink ale not too sweet - even though the color would indicate otherwise. I'm not into sweet brews!

As I walked up to Blue Note Brewing, I remembered a friend of mine asked me to meet her there a few months back for a beer and some live music. I wasn't able to, and after tasting their Hopamine Mosaic Pale Ale, I regretted not making the trip.

Woodland is only a 15 minute drive from Davis, and the downtown area is really starting to get exciting with new restaurants and breweries. Blue Note is no exception, a family friendly spot with picnic tables inside and room to hang out with the whole family while sampling unique craft beer. 

I think I'll go this weekend and check it out.
 



I have a lot more photos of booths, pours, bites and fun at Taste of Yolo, but I don't want to overwhelm you. So, I'll leave you with this fun clip I took of the main man at Berryessa Gap Winery pouring his selections through a crazy cool elephant spout!

Trust me. 

You won't be disappointed if you meet me at Taste of Yolo this year! 

(Taste of Yolo 2018 date to be announced!)