April 2017 Food and Drink Happenings ~ and a giveaway!

The Little Pantry’s Big Adventure

Saturday, April 8th
1- 8 pm (see below for details)

Springwater Supper Club and Lounge
115 27th Ave. N.
Nashville, TN 37203

Cost: $250 team registration fee (participants must be 18 or older)

The Little Pantry That Could, a food pantry combating food insecurity in Nashville, will host its first fundraiser, The Little Pantry’s Big Adventure, this Saturday. Teams of 5 will compete to find clues and perform stunts around Nashville in the two-hour scavenger hunt, with the winning team receiving a prize package from Fontanel.

1 p.m. – Team check-in
2–4 p.m. – Scavenger hunt
4–5 p.m. – Awards ceremony
5–8 p.m. – After party with live entertainment

Event proceeds will fund a new, larger space for The Little Pantry that will accommodate more families and allow for a wider variety of food to be distributed. The Little Pantry That Could currently works out of the 600-square-foot basement of The McGruder Family Resource Center. Each week, it serves 200 families and provides up to 13,000 pounds of food.

In addition to team participation, corporate sponsorships and donor opportunities are available. Visit www.thelittlepantrythatcould.org for more information.

Ragin’ Cajun Crawfish Boil

Saturday, April 8th
4 – 9 pm

Cumberland Park
592 South 1st Street
Nashville, TN 37213

Cost: Varies ($54.95 – $79.95/person)

Also happening this Saturday is the Ragin’ Cajun Crawfish Festival hosted by the Nashville Junior Chamber. This event includes all-you-can-eat crawfish, Louisiana-style sides, all-you-can-drink beer, and live music. Over 4,000 pounds of fresh crawfish will be served up at Cumberland Park, with proceeds going to Greenways for Nashville, a non-profit organization raising awareness of and private support for Nashville’s greenways initiative.

For more details, visit their Facebook event page and website, and to purchase tickets, click here.

Nashville Scene’s 10th Anniversary Iron Fork

Thursday, April 13th
6 – 9:30 pm

Musician’s Hall of Fame
401 Gay St
Nashville, TN 37219

Cost: $35/person (21+ event)

You guys. This year is Nashville Scene’s 10th anniversary of their annual competition, Iron Fork! Wow, how time flies.

For this year’s event, they’re doing something special — bringing back four previous winners! This is going to be good. Jessica Benefield of Two Ten Jack, Aatul Jain of Chauhan Ale and Masala House, Hal Holden-Bache of Lockeland Table and Dale Levitski formerly of Fin & Pearl, will all be given a secret ingredient and then battle it out in the kitchen while we get to watch.

And while we watch, we’ll get to sip cocktails and sample cuisine from a wide array of local restaurants. There is a long list of options, but a few I’m most looking forward to are Le Sel, Funk Seoul Brother, Chef’s Market, Sinema, Cafe Rakka, Slim & Husky’s Pizza Beeria, and Taj Indian Restaurant. In addition to the main chef competition, there will also be a fun Mixology Competition featuring local bartenders creating special cocktails.

For more information and to purchase tickets, click here, but before you do, be sure to scroll to the very bottom of this post for your chance to win!

Exotico Cocktail Competition

Tuesday, April 18th
6 – 8 pm

Cerveza Jack’s
135 2nd Ave N
Nashville, TN 37201

The U.S. Bartenders’ Guild Make It Exotico cocktail competition is making its way to Nashville on Tuesday, April 18, and I’m going to be a judge!

The cocktail-making competition is being held in six cities throughout the country, and each winner of the six semi-final competitions will be invited to compete in the final competition at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans in July. There, the grand prize winner will win a trip to Exotico’s tequila distillery in Mexico.

So here’s the deal– this event will be open to the public, but as of today, they haven’t confirmed the location of the competition, so I can’t provide it to you. Once I do know, I’ll update this post, so be sure to check back so you can come and be a part of the fun.
Location updated above!

If any bartenders out there are interested in competing, online applications are now being accepted for semifinal event consideration. Entrants can submit their Exotico Tequila cocktail recipes using this form until April 7th. Semifinalists will be contacted between April 10-21.

Tour de Farm and Global Feast

Sunday, April 23rd
10 am – Farm Tour start time
5 pm – Global Feast

Green Door Gourmet
7007 River Road Pk
Nashville, TN 37209

Cost:
VIP Farm Tour $195/person (includes Global Feast)
Global Feast Only $75/person (includes beer, wine, tax & gratuity)

On Sunday, April 23rd the Nashville chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier (of which I’m a member!) will host two really cool events. The first is a VIP day-long farm tour, where guests will visit five area farms for a rare, in-person meet-and-greet with farmers for a look at how food is grown in our area. This portion of the event includes lunch, beverages, and transportation.

The second event, which immediately follows the farm tour, is a seated, multi-course, globally inspired dinner set inside the Barn at Green Door Gourmet, prepared by local chefs including a community hour by Lockeland Table and the main course presented by Chef Maneet Chauhan.

Tickets may be purchased for either the full day or just the dinner. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here. (and if you do purchase tickets, be sure to say “hi!” to me at the event!)

Note: Money raised from this event will allow Les Dames Nashville to support Mayor Megan Barry’s Opportunity NOW initiative, an effort to put 10,000 Nashville youths in internships this summer, as well as provide books and equipment for culinary students and allow women to continue their education in the fields of food, farming, beverage, and hospitality.

~Iron Fork Ticket Giveaway~

Contest Closed

The Winner is….

Genevieve (_.vieve._ on Instagram)

The Nashville Scene has been kind enough to provide me with 2 tickets for Iron Fork to give away to one of my lucky readers!

To enter, all you have to do is this:

Methods of Entry (you’ll receive 1 entry for each of these you do, so if you do each one, you’ll get 3 entries!)

1. Leave a comment telling me who you’re hoping will win the competition OR what you think the secret ingredient should be.

2.  Follow me on Twitter (@betheats) and tweet “Win tickets to Nashville Scene’s Iron Fork from @betheats! http://bit.ly/2ot67l4”, then leave a comment telling me you’ve done so.

3.  Head over to my Instagram and tag a friend in the comments section of my Iron Fork giveaway post. It’s that easy!

Contest ends on Wednesday, April 5th at noon. Once the winner is chosen, I’ll make contact via email and post the name here on the blog. If they don’t respond within 48 hours, I’ll be forced to choose another, so be sure to check your email!