Food News: The folks, the fest, the fair, the feast

The Folk Festival has its own feast, the Fair has its own fries, the schools have their own cukes, and your mailbox has its own pickles.

October 1, 2015; 8:56 AM • by Stephanie Ganz

FIRST, WE FOLK FEAST

If you love the Richmond Folk Festival AND amazing food, secure your tickets to Folk Feast right this very minute. Bookmark Food News and come back later; this is more important. On Tuesday, October 6th, over 15 of Richmond’s best chefs will gather under a tent at the very lovely Tredegar to kick-off what, in my opinion, is the best of all of Richmond’s bazillion festivals.

Oyster chowder, baby back ribs, steamed buns, and goat curry will flow like water, as will Wild Wolf Brewing’s 2015 Folktoberfest beer, which is exclusively available at the Folk Festival. But the best part about Folk Feast might just be the little bonus prize you get for going, as if the food wasn’t enough. Every ticketholder will receive complimentary Folk Festival parking all weekend long! MAJOR!
 

LOAD UP YOUR SPOODLES

This October, when the students at Holton Elementary School descend on the cafeteria for their lunch, they’ll have a new option–fresh produce, on one of Greater Richmond Fit4Kids’ Garden Patch salad bars.

Thanks to a $100,000 grant from The Community Foundation’s Impact 100; Greater Richmond Fit4Kids, The Virginia Health Department, VCU Healthy Lifestyles Center, Smarter Lunchrooms and Richmond City Public School’s School Nutrition Services are able to collaborate in order to get these Garden Patches in 20 elementary schools in the Richmond City Public School district, serving approximately 12,000 students and impacting over 2,000,000 meals per year!

Celebrate this transformation in school food with fellow Fit4Kids Foodies on Sunday, October 18th at Pasture, where Chef Jason Alley will prepare a school-food-inspired meal (but paired with wine from James River Cellars and beer from Hardywood Craft Brewery, so already a notable upgrade from the lunch I remember eating at Patrick Henry High School). 

HIGH ON THE HOG

UPDATE: JK, you guys! We just got word that Hogtober has been cancelled. Bummmmmer, where will we drink beers and eat barbecue on a hill now?

Barbecue, beer, and live music converge on Libby Hill this Saturday from noon to sunset for Hogtober, the BBQ festival with the best view in town. This family-friendly, free event will include games and face painting for the kids, beer from Brown Distributing, and barbecue from every region in the country. Participating pit masters include Alamo BBQ, Buz & Ned’s Barbecue, Halligan’s Bar and Grill, Inner City Blues Home of Carolina BBQ, and Jadean’s Smokin Six BBQ. Proceeds benefit the Church Hill Association.
 

CRUELTY-FREE TREATS FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY

Sunday, show some love for Ring Dog Rescue at the Richmond Vegan Bake Sale at Yesterday’s Heroes Vintage from 11:00 to 1:00. No animals were harmed in the making of any of the baked goods for sale, and in fact, many animals were actively kept from a lifetime of harm! If that’s not a reason to gorge on baked goods, I don’t know what is. Lamplighter will be pouring coffee to accompany the classic chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin muffins, and fig tartlets, among other treats.

WE CAN PICKLE THAT ON A MONTHLY BASIS

Love to dine on all things brined? Artisan Pickles is a club-turned-subscription-service with your name all over it. Pickle lovers Ashley Ray and Larkin Garbee discovered their mutual affection for the sour stuff while co-working at Garbee’s treehouse for grown-ups, 804RVA. The duo moved their pickle meetings to Shoryuken Ramen and have since instituted Pickle Lover Tuesdays there on the fourth Tuesday of every month. Sign up for Artisan Pickles’ mailing list, so you can be among the first to know when it’s time to commit to pickles, for three or six months at a time.

A MATTER OF TASTEBUDS

Times are changing, and the ten-year-old Tastebuds American Bistro in Northside has decided it’s time to say farewell. Thanks for the memories, Tastebuds!

FROM ELSEWHERE…

Last weekend’s Appalachian Food Summit is putting Appalachia back on the map.

Buy this for someone you love, especially if you happen to love me.

SIP: THE SOURCE, Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery and Three Notch’d Brewing Co. Collaboration Blueberry India Pale Ale

Saturday is a big day for Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery. It’s their second anniversary in business and their first time on the VABF Farm Tour. To celebrate, they’ll be tapping FOUR new brews, including a collaboration with Charlottesville neighbors Three Notch’d Brewing Co, who opened on the same day as LCCB. The full day of festivities at LCCB includes live music, free sunflower and pumpkin picking, face painting, a photo booth, and food by Hard Pressed. Now, THAT’S a party.

BITE: KUBA KUBA’S ENTREMÉS

I enjoy taking a Kuba Kuba picnic over to the Lombardy Tot Lot and grazing away while my daughter runs around like a maniac or pours sand all over herself. (Who cares, I’m drowning my parental sorrows in a limeade, thank you very much!) One of the dishes that makes the occasion especially lovely is Kuba’s entremes, a giant antipasto-kinda-thing that includes a salad, tasso ham, a smoky grilled chorizo, grilled asparagus, marinated olives, roasted garlic, and scallop ceviche. It is amply ample–enough for picnic grazing for a few folks with, likely, some left over to take home. At $11.95, it feels like a ridiculously good deal.

‘GRAM: @statefairva

If not now, when?

Roasted corn and butt fries make the state fair taste good! #sfva

A photo posted by State Fair of Virginia (@statefairva) on Sep 28, 2015 at 1:03pm PDT

October 1, 2015 8:56 AM · in East End Daily, Fan of the Fan, and more 0