Thursday Sips & Nibbles

I am back again with a new edition of Thursday Sips & Nibbles, my semi-regular column where I briefly mention some interesting wine and food items that I have encountered recently.
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1) Legal Sea Foods will be holding a Oyster Festival this fall. From September 20 to October 17, Legal will celebrate everything oysters via menu features and special events.

“Our oyster bars are a hallmark of our restaurants,” observed Roger Berkowitz, President and CEO of Legal Sea Foods. “And no longer should oysters be just the favorites of gastronomes. We want to educate all our guests and encourage experimentation. We’d like everyone to share the belief of the idiomatic saying, ‘the world is your oyster.’”

Special events will include: Sip, Slurp and Sup, a five-course dinner—everything oysters!—paired with wines and hosted in the Park Square location’s 10,000 bottle wine cellar ($75); Shellfish Shindig¸ a ‘shuckout’ of $1 oysters on Charles Square’s vast outside Terrace Bar—; Shellfish Soiree, where three small plates are paired with oyster-friendly wines at Chestnut Hill ($30); Bivalve ‘Brew’haha, a four-course oyster and craft beer tasting at Copley Square ($55); Mollusk Mania & Aw Shucks, Drawing for Pearls, the finale event—an oyster tasting and tutorial where one lucky winner will go home with a jewel of a prize, courtesy of Long’s Jewelers, at the Burlington Mall location.

Legal’s feature menu will offer the delicacy au natural on the half shell and in various preparations such as baked Oysters Legal and in a Traditional Oyster Stew. And guests are encouraged to toast the festivities with the Belvedere Deadrise cocktail, the featured drink throughout the promotion. It is aptly named after the type of boat used to fish the flats for oysters.

2) On Sunday, August 29th, from 1pm-5pm, how2heroes and Smolak Farms present Hoedown 2010! With over a 1,000 attendees slated to appear, guests can look forward to everything from BBQ stations, chef demos, a pig roast, live bluegrass music, a 3-legged race, hayrides, a dunk tank, an old fashioned store, line dancing lessons, “The Hoedown Throwdown Baking Contest” (an amateur baking contest presented by King Arthur Flour and how2heroes using farm fresh fruits & vegetables as the main ingredient and King Arthur Flour) and classes and workshops offered onsite all afternoon. Restaurants/Chefs slated to demo and have food stations include: Chef Jason Bond of the Beacon Hill Hotel & Bistro, Chef Chris Parsons from Parson’s Table, Chef Antonio Bettencourt of Sixty2 on Wharf Restaurant, Chef Brian Poe of Poe's Kitchen at the Rattlesnake, Chef Ben Hasty of Brasserie JO, Eunice Feller of Bread & Chocolate, Michael Reppucci from Orzo Trattorio and Alina Eisenhauer of Sweet to name just a few!

For only $25, with a percentage of proceeds to benefit the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets, hoedown goers can look forward to all the entertainment, fun and food and drink samples they can handle as well as free parking. Guests will be issued a hoedown badge that will allow them into all activities, chefs’ tent and full access to the food stations. For more information or to purchase tickets please visit: http://how2heroes.com/hoedown. Children under 10 are free with parent or legal guardian 21+.