It’s time to celebrate Negroni Week. For the Campari-sponsored event, from Sept. 18 to 24 this year, bars are planning special events dedicated to the classic three-ingredient cocktail and taking on service projects within the community. Imbibers can search the official website to discover individual events, but one I wanted to bring to your attention will be held on Saturday, Sept. 23, at the newly opened cocktail bar Four Walls adjacent to the Joseph Hotel in SoBro.
Beginning at 3 p.m., guests can join Four Walls’ beverage consultant Kenneth Vanhooser and lead bartender Mickey Stevenson to discover the history and technique of the Italian classic and learn three variations from the Negroni family tree. Yeah, I know the recipe for a classic Negroni couldn’t be simpler — equal parts of gin, Campari and sweet vermouth — but the variations are a little more interesting.
Tickets are available via OpenTable and include a Four Walls Negroni upon arrival, signature snacks, three Negroni-style cocktail tastings, and recipes with instruction by Vanhooser and Stevenson.
If wine is more your thing, the Nashville Wine Auction has a fun event planned for Friday, Sept. 29, with their Music City Harvest Party at Vanderbilt’s Dyer Observatory. The casual tasting event high atop one of Nashville’s tallest hills will feature an opening reception with multiple wineries pouring their wines, an al fresco harvest buffet, whiskey tastings and live music. The observatory will also be open for guests to take a peek through one of their telescopes with the director of the observatory, Billy Teets, from 8 until 11 p.m.
The Harvest Party will also welcome a special invited guest, Joseph Dhafana — sommelier and the captain of Team Zimbabwe’s sommelier tasting team featured in the documentary Blind Ambition. Tickets to the Music City Harvest Party and late-night Late Harvest Party when the telescope will be available are available at the Nashville Wine Auction’s website.
The Harpeth Hotel and its on-site restaurant, 1799 Kitchen & Cocktails, is hosting its first-ever Southern Supper, a premier dining even that will span two evenings, Sept. 29 and 30. Friday night will feature a "Meet the Family" VIP reception starting at 7 p.m. which will include an interactive distillery tasting, inventive cocktails, small bites, hand-rolled cigars and live music.
The next evening is the main event, a Southern Supper featuring a four-course dinner along with curated beverage pairings, more distillery tastings and a reception with live music in the hotel’s lovely courtyard.
Pricing is $399 per person for both the VIP reception and Southern Supper, and $289 per person for guests who opt for only the Southern Supper. Cost includes taxes, gratuity and valet parking, and reservations can be made at the event website.
Finally, East Nashville favorite Lou recently passed a milestone of four years serving its eclectic bistro menu and extremely interesting wine list. To celebrate, Lou has introduced a new Roast Series on Sundays, featuring a festive menu of a half or whole roasted buttermilk-and-preserved-lemon-brined spring chicken served over root veggies along with a selection of seasonal sides. The side dishes will change based on the best produce coming in the kitchen door, but highlights on the menu now include crispy potatoes with chervil pesto and garlic toum, Peruvian lima beans with preserved lemon, herbs and olive oil and charred green beans spiced up with marigold vinegar, pecorino and long pepper. Seasonal treats such as a dark chocolate hazelnut cake as well as an almond basil ice cream and cantaloupe sorbet finish off the meal on a sweet note.
Seatings are scheduled for every Sunday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., and you can grab your table at Resy.
