The MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival is scheduled to blanket the Brandywine Valley May 14–18, with over 50 brunches, lunches and dinners, and 20 educational courses, slated to take flood your surrounding chomping (and sipping) grounds over the course of five days.
With the annual food and drink festival allowing you to take a culinary journey through many of the best venues in Pennsylvania (Kemblesville, Malvern, etc.) and Delaware (Wilmington, New Castle, Newark and more), we’re spotlighting the top events we suggest you snag your tickets to—stat.
 |
 |
On May 15, 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m., participate in an interactive sushi and sake lunch hosted at the Wilmington Library. Master sushi chefs of the Cultured Pearl Restaurant and Sushi Bar will educate diners on how to properly roll your own sushi. The hands-on demo will even include the step-by-step process of breaking down an entire salmon for a sushi roll. Masahiro Fukuda, a premiere sake expert, will elevate the experience by providing samples of Japan’s most famous fermentation. Lunch pairings to include miso soup and oshinko with Yoshinogawa Gensen Karakuchi, edamame and a variety of maki rolls with Murai Tanrei Junmai Sake, sashimi with Yoshinogawa Gokujo Ginjo, and mochi with Murai Nigori Genshu. Cost is $55 per person; tickets available here.
Also on May 15, at 6:30 p.m., six national chefs will convene within the barn at the historic Penn Farm for the festival’s ultimate farm-to-table dinner. From Tyler Anderson of Millwright’s Restaurant in Connecticut, to Dwain Kalup of Domaine Hudson in Wilmington, Kevin Nashan of Sidney Street Cafe in St. Louis, John Suley of Celebrity Cruises, and Kip Poole of the Penn Farm itself, you’re in for an in-season five course feast with each course paired perfectly with select wines. Cost is $250 per person; tickets available here.
On May 16, 6:30 p.m., Malvern resident Cindy McClure will open her jaw-dropping home for an intimate five-course winemakers dinner. As you approach her Casa diTutto Sorrisi (translation: House of All Smiles), you will enter through her private gates and travel over the bridge to this one-of-a-kind home—which was featured in our recent issue. The five-course feast will be prepared by a collection of visiting chefs. Menu highlights include chorizo and artichoke terrine, beet ravioli in fennel broth, Chester County sausage pommes judeth, and chocolate velvet bombe. Expect a tour of her custom-built wine cellar! Cost is $500 per person; tickets available here.
On May 17, 11:30 a.m., head to Delaware’s first distillery, Painted Stave, for a spirited three-course lunch in its production room. Taste site-made vodka, gin, corn whiskey and a small number of spirits from the avant garde collection—a very limited release only found at the distillery. Meal to include caprese salad skewers, lamb merguez with crispy white corn grits, and mini bourbon cheesecakes. Cost is $55 per person; tickets available here.
On May 18, 2:30 p.m., conclude your weekend by hitting the very last event of 2014’s MidAtlantic Wine & Food Fest—a power barbecue and beer tasting at the Doubletree rooftop in downtown Wilmington. The carnivorous affair will feature an attractive roundup of area-wide BBQ kings, who will be slinging their meaty fare aside a fine collection of craft beer samplings. Cost is $55 per person; tickets available here
