Nashville food fans have a busy couple of weeks coming up with events that showcase great French wines, mudbugs and all the hard seltzer you care to drink. Check out the deets.
Peg Leg Porker proprietor Carey Bringle has some famous friends in the food biz, although some of his friends would argue that he’s the famous one. Among them is James Beard Award-winning Louisiana chef Donald Link, whose brother Billy is no slouch himself when it comes to old-school Acadian cuisine. Billy Link is renowned for throwing some of the greatest crawfish boils ever, and he’s bringing his boiling rig to Nashville for a special event on Saturday, April 23.
Link has visited before for an event with Bringle, but this time they are going to take advantage of the glorious open space surrounding the new Bringle’s Smoking Oasis in the Nations. For $35, you get all the mudbugs and accouterments, going from noon until they run out, so make plans to get there early and come hungry. They’ll also have drink specials running all day to cool down the Cajun spices, so grab your ticket in advance at the event website. Note: You must print out, or have a digital copy of your ticket receipt for entry. Tickets purchased without verification in hand will not be honored.
Miel owner Seema Prasad has always been one of the go-to wine experts in Nashville, but she never stops looking for the next great wine finds. She recently took a trip to France’s famous Loire Valley to meet with the region’s top producers and discover new food-friendly wines that exhibit the nuanced characters that the Loire is famous for.
To celebrate her finds and introduce her fans to these new wines, Prasad has planned a series of wine dinners to pair the wines of the Loire Valley with regional French cuisine. The first one already happened (my bad), but there are still two opportunities to experience these fine wines — Wednesday, April 20, and Thursday, April 28.
Both dinners will start at 5:30 p.m. with a pour of one of Prasad’s favorites, N.V. Louis de Grenelle Sparkling Rosé, made from Cabernet franc, the dominant grape in the region. Other wines from the Loire will be paired with the multicourse dinner menu, which will include duck rillette, oyster soup, and braised pork shoulder with sauce chasseur and granna tuile. Dessert features profiteroles and fruit mousse paired with a rich, bright and sweet Coteaux du Layon to end the meal.
Tickets for each dinner are $150 per person and are available at Miel’s reservation site.
If you read the national beverage press, you’d think that the hard seltzer craze has passed its crest as the major beverage companies beat each other up over market share and released so many new brands and flavors that it became difficult for any particular product to gain traction.
However, if you shop at the Publix in Melrose on Thursday afternoon after the tourists have Ubered from the airport to their short-term rentals, you’ve probably seen packs of youngsters piling their shopping carts high with case after case of hard seltzer to stock the larder at their temporary tall-and-skinny home. Seltzer sales are still bubbling locally.
So Nashville seems to still be an excellent stop for Seltzerland on its 2022 tour. The celebration of spiked seltzer will bring more than 100 different varieties to Riverside Golf Links at 640 Old Hickory Blvd. on Saturday, April 30. All your (and I do mean your) favorites will be on hand, including White Claw, Mike's Hard Lemonade Seltzer, Vizzy, Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, Playamar and Sparking Ice Spiked.
The golf course is a novel locale, as guests will be able to stroll the grounds while sampling a variety of beverages and snacking on food items available for purchase from local vendors. Tickets for this can’t-miss event begin at $35 and can be purchased by visiting seltzerland.com.
Multiple ticketing options are available. When purchasing tickets, attendees will be able to sign up for a two-and-a-half-hour session, available in 10-minute increments starting at 11 a.m. and ending at 4 p.m. Choose between general admission for $35 and VIP tickets starting at $55. VIP ticket holders will have access to premier time slots, 10 percent off merch, a full-size can of hard seltzer, a specialty cocktail, and a commemorative tasting cup.
Come to think of it, that might be a good time for me to go to Publix!
