The beach near the Boardwalk
Atlantic City, I haven’t seen you in over a decade of my life – and you have certainly changed for the better. The past weekend was the four-day long, 2nd Annual Atlantic City Food & Wine Festival. Lots of wines to imbibe on, with some food to sample and cooking demonstrations (let’s say wine & spirits to food ratio is about 2:1). And as expected, it was packed I think there’s at least 1,000 people filled the three large event rooms of Bally’s for the Grand Market. (I have attended one of AC F&W event, “Spiked Lunch” at Caesar’s but it will be posted later on the week.)
The past Saturday, I was hanging out and working with the Fordcast crew (@FordCast) to work on my highlight video (don’t worry, you’ll see me make a fool out of myself soon) at the Atlantic City Food & Wine Festival’s Grand Market at Bally’s. To say the very least, being in front of the camera is very different behind it but the Fordcast camera crew made it fun.
The plus was to meet one of my amazing and sweet readers who won the pair of tickets, Lillian and her husband. Coincidentally, her husband’s birthday was that weekend so this made a great gift for him.
Huge (blow-up) Champagne bottle in front of the Grand Market
The Fordcast lounge was set up on the lobby in front of the Grand Market. (I apologize in advance for the lack of photos on this part.) Two large LCD TVs were on: one for the Twitter feed for @Fordcast with the #FocusVIP and one for playing the Wii (I remember seeing a food related game on cooking dishes with recipes), a photograph station to dress up in kitschy yet cute cook costumes with play food. Three gleaming Ford Focuses were out on that spacious lobby in silver, a sexy red (which I liked as I tweeted with a photo), and a cobalt blue. I have yet to take a spin in that car but taking a tour with one of Ford’s specialists, it seemed like a sweet ride especially with the self-parking feature (I’m a good driver but my parallel parking is a bit rusty).
There were two stations that contained forms for raffles like a chance to win a $100 gift card. I even recalled during the second session of Grand Market, one of the Ford team members (all in bright blue t-shirts, by the way) gave out two pairs of tickets to see Guy Fieri doing a cooking demo. Isn’t that awesome?
Grapes & Champagne sorbet, meringue, Champagne grapes
Alright, here’s the food part that you want to read/see. The best plated dessert was Grapes & Champagne sorbet, meringue, Champagne grapes from Bally’s. The sorbet was refreshing and bursting of sweet grapes. The meringue added some crunch/crumbly texture to the cold dessert. It was very good and when grapes are in season come this fall, I’m totally making grape sorbet.
Lobster Bisque Shooters from Fin
The lobster bisque shooters from Fin restaurant at Tropicana was the best savory offering. The creamy, velvety seafood-y soup dotted with small chunks of lobster and vegetables. A few shots of those, can go a long way for my stomach. It’s really rich.
While there were other food samples out there (a few cheese and sausage vendors, cakes, gourmet spreads and a few AC hotel restaurants serving a few dishes), they were not as remarkable as the two I mentioned. But the alcoholic drinks portion fared much better and if you’re into domestic wines, this event is well worth it (the Robert Mondavi station was awesome and there were lots of great wines to sample from this winery). After the Grand Market, I needed a nap from all the food and especially, the drinks.
Thanks to the Summer Fordcast Tour for an awesome time. There are lots of other events coming up, so check out their website to see what is happening in your area
For more photos of the Grand Market, please click through the slideshow below:
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great recap – those 2 bites you mentioned were probably the best out of all the vendors… i think our favorite part was sitting in that Robert Mondavi seminar – i didn’t know you were gonna be there too! =P it must’ve been our lucky weekend for my hubs to win that raffle…he was quite the happy camper at the end of the nite. =) thanks again for hosting the contest – looking forward to your highlight video!
@Lillian Thanks! I didn’t expect to see you two either at the wine seminar! Happy birthday (again) to your husband and congratulations to you for winning. :D
I don’t know if I want to see my highlight video… I think I’ll go viral just because it’s really that bad. ;-P
Nice post! Sorry not to have the chance to meet a fellow blogger there and I agree with you about the food aspect of the Grand Market. So many good things to drink but maybe a little more food next time would be welcome – and keep that afternoon nap from being too long! Cheers!
Susan: Thanks for visiting and commenting! If I had a shot of every drink that was available at the Grand Market, I’d be out under 2 minutes and won’t be up until the next afternoon with a hangover (maybe)! But it was fun and hope next time you’d have the opportunity to meet other bloggers.