Walla Walla’s showcase event for food and wine will bring some new flavors to the table this year. Fish tacos, draft beer and hard cider among them.

Organizers of foodie festival Feast Walla Walla are getting tongues wagging for the third annual event, signing the largest number of food participants yet.

Fourteen food purveyors — from longtime chefs to culinary arts students — will serve everything from pub grub to fancy fare at the April 10 event, according to an announcement from the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation.

The $45 tickets are on sale now for participants 21 and older. The three-hour event starts at 1 p.m. that Saturday. Here’s how it works: Guests at the entrance of a 400-foot heated tent on First Avenue between Main and Alder streets trade their tickets for 10 event tokens and a commemorative wine glass. The tokens are exchanged at stations set up throughout the tent for samples of food and wine.

With restaurants and wineries — not to mention a brewery and cidery this year — under one roof, the event is a chance to dine from multiple menus and pair the food with Walla Walla’s renowned wines. Works from four local artists will also be on display throughout the tent and live music will be performed by local musicians, said Jennifer Northam, marketing and events manager for the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation.

Among the newcomers to this year’s Feast are Isaacs Avenue bar The Green Lantern, known for its fish tacos; Main Street bakery Walla Walla Bread Co., the recently opened Olive Marketplace & Café, Waitsburg’s Laht Neppur Brewery and Milton-Freewater’s Blue Mountain Cider Co.

Northam said the event, a cooperative endeavor that also includes Tourism Walla Walla and the restaurant and wine industries, is a fundraiser for the downtown foundation.

The costs of the tent rental, tables, linens and more are generally covered by the event’s sponsor, Banner Bank. Ticket sales help offset permitting and insurance costs. But the main fundraiser comes from retail wine sales that result during the event.

Guests can purchase bottles of wine poured by the local wineries. A portion of those sales goes to the downtown foundation, Northam said.

She said this year’s event already promises more food purveyors than the past two years.

Feast Walla Walla opened two years ago with 12 eateries.

One of those was a coffee shop. Last year 11 food purveyors signed on. One of those occupied two spaces. As in years past, participants are coming from as far as the Pendleton area with representation from Plateau, Wildhorse Resort & Casino’s fine-dining establishment.
feast walla walla

To buy tickets, go to FeastWallaWalla.com .

A partial list of participants:

Dining

• Aloha Sushi
• Bright’s Candies
• Cheese Louise
• CreekTown Café
• CrossRoads Steakhouse
• Fat Duck Inn
• The Green Lantern
• Olive Market
• Plateau
• Salumiere Cesario
• T. Maccarone’s
• The Marc Restaurant
• Walla Walla Bread Co.
• Walla Walla Community College Culinary Arts Program

Drinking

• Ash Hollow
• Balboa Winery
• Basel Cellars
• Blue Mountain Cider Co.
• Cadaretta Winery
• DaMa Wines
• Dunham Cellars
• Dusted Valley Vintnes
• El Corazon Winery
• Flying Trout Winery
• Laht Neppur Brewing Co.
• Locati Cellars
• Mannina Cellars
• Morrison Lane Vineyards
• Nicholas Cole Cellars
• Northstar Winery
• Otis Kenyon Winery
• Patrick M. Paul Vineyards
• Stephenson Cellars
• Sweet Valley wines
• Three Rivers Winery
• Trio Vintners
• Va Piano Vineyards
• Walla Faces
• Walla Walla Village Winery

Jennifer Northam talks with Tom Maccarone about Olive Marketplace. Get a sneak peak at the new digs before it’s open. Only on the Downtown Buzz, sponsored by the Walla Walla Downtown Foundation.

Video after the break

It was the second annual Feast Walla Walla located in the beautiful and historical downtown Walla Walla. Inside the large tent, bringing tourists and locals together, there was an assortment of talented winemakers, chefs and artists showing their best and allowing us a taste or two – - or three… Proceeds from this fabulous event went the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation to continue their hard, and much appreciated, work.

Once we walked into the tent, we were given an etched glass commemorating the event, a plate to hold our “feast” and several tokens. The tokens were used towards nibbles and noshes and glasses of wine. Okay, so what was my favorite nosh? They were all my favorites! I sampled scallops wrapped in duck prosciutto, clam chowder, stuffed mushrooms with crab, crepes, Spanish Manchego cheese, chocolate, sweet potato gnocchi, and – and more! But I gotta tell ya – - the all-time swoon worthy was the crepes stuffed with beef tenderloin and chipotle dressing from T. Maccarone’s. And what wine did I drink?
Well, what wine didn’t I drink? I sampled wines from Flying Trout Wines, Cadaretta Winery, Va Piano, Sapolil Cellars, Forgeron Cellars, Lowden Hills, Morrison Lane, Mannina Cellars, Spring Valley Vineyards and – and – even more! I even sampled cool and refreshing hard cider from Blue Mountain Cider Company! Whew!

And now, after all of that fine food and glorious wine from Feast Walla Walla Past, I’ve been resting up the ol’ tastebuds because just around the corner is Spring Release Weekend, May 1-3. And once again I will be getting goose bumps thinking about all of the new vintages from fruits of many labors past and the bill o’ fare of fine food offerings. And when it is all over, it will seem like a wonderful dream, and thank goodness a dream where I wasn’t standing naked in the middle of a street or a winery or…