My head is spinning after 2 radio shows, 2 TV shows, a fantastic dinner at Jasper’s, the Tenth Annual Tomato Tasting and the Second Annual Slow food KC BLT Challenge at The Local Pig, and finally the Bloody Mary/Michelada/Seafood/Tomato brunch at Jarocho Pescados y Mariscos and the drawing for the Ultimate BLT basket raffle to benefit Slow Food KC! We made it through all the festivities and everyone had a great time!
Friday morning I did a show at KSHB to promote the weekend’s event.
The dinner at Jasper’s was sold out with 52 people in attendance. We started with heirloom tomato bruschetta, then had arancini stuffed with tomatoes, a superb lobster tomato bisque cappuccino, then a lovely pasta con cucuzza with tomatoes, the fabulous tableside mozzarella theater, a fantastic chicken dish with prosciutto, tomatoes, and cheese, and to top it all off a Bader Peach/Heirloom Tomato cobbler with vanilla gelato! The service was outstanding, everything was delicious and very filling…we all waddled out of there so satisfied!
(Jasper’s Photos Courtesy of Lisa Waterman Gray, food & travel writer)
Saturday morning we gathered at the Local Pig for the Tenth Annual Tomato Tasting! We had 58 varieties of tomatoes to sample thanks to so many amazing gardeners bringing in tomatoes from their gardens! It was tough to count, but we surely had over 200 people visit the tasting tables and the delicious dishes people brought to share. Sungold and Carbon tied for first in the voting followed by Cherokee Purple, Black Cherry, and The Thong! It was so good to see so many people enjoying the tastes of summer. It was especially nice to see our great friends we have made through the world of tomatoes! Thank you to all who have supported this event for a decade!
The Slow Food KC BLT Challenge followed the tasting. We had a panel of 5 judges, and 8 contestants. The BLT entrees were all so creative and beautiful, but three rose to the top in the judging. The winner was Ed Maurin aka “Fast Eddie”, second place went to Brett Atkinson from “Wilma’s Real Good Food”, and third place went to the lovely Jennifer Nugent!
Jarocho in KCK was packed full for the Sunday morning brunch! So many delicious seafood items including whole fried pompano, cucaracha shrimp, raw oysters, ceviche, and many others. Chef Carlos created a BST…bacon, shrimp, and tomato sandwich for diners to enjoy. the “crack” fries were stupid good and the bloody mary’s and micheladas were so refreshing!
When we were all stuffed full of all that seafood, we had the drawing for the winner of the Ultimate BLT Basket. This was a fundraiser for Slow Food KC and all items were donated by local establishments and individuals. Thank you so much to Jasper’s Ristorante, The Local Pig, The Tasteful Olive, Paradise Meats, Rieger Distillery, Karen Adler, Chad Tillman, and all the awesome Slow Food volunteers that made this a success. The grand prize winner was the oyster queen of Kansas City…Carol Crane!!!
We’re already planning for a bigger and better Totally Tomato Weekend next year! Mark your calendars for the first weekend in August and stay tuned!
KC Tomato Times Blog 