I don’t know about you, but I’m rapidly losing control of my culinary calendar as the new events keep coming fast and furious. You might have to make some choices to cram everything in, but here’s a trio of opportunities you might want to consider.
The Nashville Food Project's big Nourish fundraiser dinner is coming up on Saturday, Oct. 29, at the dining hall at Montgomery Bell Academy. The annual event brings local chefs together to cook a grand meal for the assembled crowd of NFP supporters, who also participate in silent and live auctions to raise funds to support the organization’s efforts to provide meals for community members facing food insecurity.
An eclectic crew of chefs will be sharing the kitchen, including Arnold Myint of International Market, Slim & Husky’s head chef Jason Williams, and a dynamic duo from City House, chef-owner Tandy Wilson and pastry genius Rebekah Turshen. Chef Bianca Morton is the chief culinary officer of the Nashville Food Project, and she’ll be leading the culinary team at Nourish.
Tickets for the event are $275 per person, with tables of 10 available for $3,000. Get yours at the event website.
East Nashville favorite lou is reprising its popular Halloween bake sale this weekend on Sunday, Oct. 30. As always, lou has invited some of the best bakers in the city to participate, and the proceeds will go to a good cause. For this edition, the benefactor will be Abortion Care Tennessee, a fund created that “builds power for Tennesseans by working to remove barriers and increase access to reproductive and sexual health care including safe abortion care for all people.”
The bake sale is free to attend and will run from 7 until 11 p.m. at 1304 McGavock Pike. Costumes are encouraged, so you might get a little extra wear out of that creative get-up you put together for Saturday night!
Finally, Black Abbey Brewing Company always gets into Guy Fawkes Night in a big way. The commemoration of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament in 1605 and assassinate King James I and the entire government usually features bonfires and fireworks, but at Black Abbey, it means the release of the brewery’s popular Guy Fawkes American Brown Ale.
This year, they’re combining the party with the traditional Oktoberfest events for three days of food, beer and fun they’re calling Fawkestoberfest running Nov. 4 to 6. They’ll be tenting the parking lot at 2952 Sidco Drive and adding tables, chairs and patio heaters to create a comfortable beer garden vibe.
The Steaming Goat food truck will be on hand Friday, Nov. 4, from 2 until 8, and fun events during the day will include a Guy Fawkes Mask Coloring Contest with first- and second-place winners taking home some Black Abbey swag, a trivia contest from 6 until 7:30 and a special screening of a themed video after the trivia is done.
The next day’s festivities will run from noon until 8 with the New Berlin food truck vending their brand of European-style street food, including Berlin-style döner kebab and sides including poutine and falafel. At 3:30, attendees can participate in a Bavarian Pretzel Eating Contest followed by a stein race at 4:30 and a stein-holding contest at 5:30. Black Abbey will reward the top three places in each contest.
Saturday will also feature live entertainment from DJ Fell and DJ Preston of Acme Radio playing sets from 2 until 6 and from The Best Wurst Band beginning at 6. Sunday will run from noon until 7 with Adams BBQ serving late brunch foods. For entertainment, Black Abbey co-founder Carl Meier has put together a lineup of guest DJs he’s calling the Spindustry Brunch. Meier has claimed the opening and closing sets for himself, but in between some of his best friends from the beer industry will be manning the wheels of steel.
The featured brews over the weekend will be Guy Fawkes and Chronicles festbier, but many other special edition Black Abbey beers will be on and off the taps all weekend. Their regular glassware will be replaced with half-liter and liter steins for most beers, and some guest English and German beers will also be available for purchase.
You’ll definitely have a reason to “Remember, remember the Fifth of November!”
