Hello Foodie Friends,
As many of you know, I spend a lot of my time in Boca and Delray and on occasion, I am known to travel down to Miami/Miami Beach or up to West Palm Beach when invited to cover a food & wine festival or restaurant opening. But today’s post is about Boynton Beach and this marvelous festival put on by their Chamber of Commerce, held at Benvenuto Restaurant & Banquet Facility. With a plethora of excellent restaurants located within 10 miles of my home in Boca, Boynton Beach really hadn’t been on my food radar…until now! It was just recently that I started hearing about a couple new restaurants that opened up in Boynton that piqued my curiosity and when I received an invite to attend this Food, Wine & Brew Festival featuring some of these restaurants that I jumped at the chance.
The Boynton Beach Food, Wine & Brew Festival, formerly known as the Taste of Boynton, is an exclusive showcase of Boynton Beach cuisines. This annual event features 20+ of Boynton’s finest restaurants and lounges along with wine and craft beer tastings. The festival touts itself as a paradise for all foodies and winos who strive to eat and drink local. The event was well organized and upon entering the lovely Benvenuto estate, I found my way easily to the will call, picked up my media pass, program and wine glass and was on my way. The program offered a nice layout of the facility and where to find each of the participating restaurants, businesses, wine & beer tasting rooms, live demonstrations, silent auction, photo opportunity and more. I caught the tail end of Potions in Motion’s culinary demo but was able to nab the last remaining tasting, a perfectly prepared bite-sized scallop presented artfully in a small spoon by Chef Danny. Immediately following the culinary demo, Potions in Motion’s Mixologist Christian demonstrates how to make a Bacardi Torched Cherry cocktail using liquid nitrogen. Was quite the show!
Although the food was quite good all around, there were some definite stand outs worth mentioning: Potions in Motion’s scallop packed a whole lot of flavor into a little bite; the tuna poke from Prime Catch was off the charts. Another fave of the evening came from Agliolio. Their ravioli was to die for as was the small piece of chicken francaise served with it. All the pastas are made in house. This one was loaded with garlic and olive oil and cooked to perfection, yummo! Their chocolate lasagna was homemade using fresh chocolate pasta layered with whipped chocolate mascarpone cheese & a rich chocolate ganache sauce; The final two note worthy tastings were the Media Luna pastry from Don Che Bistro, honey glazed mini croissants with ham & cheese filling. Very sweet. Could not actually detect either the ham or cheese. Could have sworn it was guava inside. Fooled me. And last but certainly not least of my fave bites tasted on this evening came from Applebees. It was their Chicken Wonton Tacos that won me over. A perfect balance of flavorful grilled chicken stuffed into a crispy wonton shell and topped with a tangy slaw and cilantro. Loved it!
For more info on this festival, participating restaurants, businesses and sponsors, visit their website or facebook page.
Until we eat again…
I send you delicious wishes, xo
Denise
