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| - I had a great time at the culinary festival and it was a nice and sunny Sunday afternoon to be there. But the first thing I thought of when I arrived is what us Chinese would say "People mountain. People sea." OMG. There are a lot of people. It was like Disneyland over the winter holidays. I feel like I had to walk over people just to get through. I bought the all access pass. I think this is great for the first timers because it gets access to the Great Arizona Picnic, Skyy Bar, Patron Experience, festival of beers, Robert Mondavi wine tour, and Cooks & Corks. Cooks & Corks is the main event of the day, and the other places only give you admission into the place. All the tastings still cost money, which I personally think that'll be a lot if you want to try everything. Every vendor in the Great Arizona Picnic brings their stuff for you to try, but it's pretty expensive. The best part is of course Cooks & Corks because you get to taste all the vendors' food and a bunch of varieties of wine. There are also the cooking classes and an alcohol seminar. The cooking demos weren't that impressive. But there was Wilo Benet from Top Chef if you've watched that show. With so many wine vendors there, you're sure to get drunk. I didn't even get to try everything, because I was getting drunk after a while. They also pour you a lot in your cup for sampling. I came hungry, but walked extremely full. The 4 hour event went by fast.
Now onto my favorites of the events. My favorite vendor would have to be the guys from Yellowtail at the Bellagio. I'll give them props driving all the way from Vegas to showcase their food. Their kobe beef tataki was to die for. I went through the lines multiple times so to eat more of it. They were also the first vendors to close shop because they ran out of food before the end of the event. The sauce was subtle in taste and spicy and complimented beautifully with the beef. And their green garnishes added a splash of color to the small dish. Light and tender, the kobe beef melted in my mouth.
The other thing I loved about the event is the muddling seminar by Kim Haasarud, writer of 101 mojitos. In the class, she taught us how to make 3 different types of mojitos and even invited the audience for demonstration. The best part is getting the samples for the 3 cocktails. These "samples" were 3 full glasses of cocktails. My favorite was the blood orange mojito. Light and fruity for those who don't like a strong rum taste. And it's a peachy color suitable for my girly tastes. A lot of people walked out of the class with lost red faces and lost inhibitions.
The Cooks & Corks is definitely worth the price and it was a great experience. I give it a 5 stars just because of this event. The only bad part it was too short. This event made the culinary festival worth the time. The other stuff I saw outside of that building wasn't that impressive. I think next year, I'll just go to the Cooks & Corks event and maybe try another special event, the all access is fun just to see if you haven't been to the special areas, but it's probably not worth the extra few bucks. I did like the small beer mug as a souvenir though from the beer festival. :-)
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