Thursday Sips & Nibbles

I am back again with a new edition of Thursday Sips & Nibbles, my regular column where I highlight some interesting wine and food items that are upcoming. **********************************************************
1) Get hungry for BostonChefs.com's 11th annual Flavors of Fall at the Royal Sonesta Hotel Ballroom on Monday, November 17 in support of Youth on Fire.

You can attend the VIP Hour from 5:30-6:30pm to indulge in savory snacks, briny bivalves and a glass or two of bubbly. Then, from 6:30 to 8:30pm, chefs from in and around Cambridge will be plating their favorite seasonal dishes to be paired with an assortment of beers and wines at the Main Event. This year, even more restaurants have been added into the mix so that guests can sample twice as many harvest-inspired snacks than ever before. Enjoy past favorites Park, The Blue Room, Belly, and Sandrine's, as well as a couple of new participants like Commonwealth and The Sinclair. And because a party just isn't a party without music, the Jane Potter Trio will be back to keep your ears just as happy as your tastebuds.

Every penny from sales of both VIP ($125) and Main Event ($75) tickets will be donated to Youth on Fire, a program of AIDS Action Committee that provides a safe, supportive space and a full range of services and resources designed specifically to meet the needs of homeless, runaway and street involved youth. The funds from our efforts this year will be used specifically to secure permanent housing for those working to transition off of the streets.

Tickets for Flavors of Fall, the season's longest-running tasting extravaganza, are available online now.

2) This month celebrate oyster season at the first annual Battery Wharf Oyster Festival. Benefiting the Massachusetts Aquaculture Association and the Island Creek Oyster Foundation, the event will be held on the Boston Harborwalk at Fairmont Battery Wharf on Sunday, September 21 from 2pm-5pm. The waterfront will be alive with music, small plates prepared by some of the city’s most popular chefs and a wide array of freshly shucked oysters from Massachusetts-based growers.

Five of Boston’s most talented chefs will be at the event preparing small plates. Participating chefs include Michael Serpa from Neptune Oyster, Will Gilson from Puritan & Company, Graham Lockwood from Aragosta Bar & Bistro, Jeremy Sewall from Row 34 and Island Creek Oyster Bar and Louis DiBiccari from Tavern Road.

Massachusetts’ South Shore and Cape Cod waters are the home for a number of oyster growers. The growers, all of whom are part of the Massachusetts Aquaculture Association, include Moon Shoal, WiAnno Oysters and Beach Point Oysters from Barnstable, Chatham Shellfish Company, Indian Cove Aquaculture in Wareham, Cotuit Oyster Company, Eastham-based First Encounters, Island Creek Oysters from Duxbury and Pleasant Bay Oysters from Orleans.

Tickets for the Battery Wharf Oyster Festival are $65 per person, including all food, two drink tickets, live entertainment and a cash bar. The event is hosted by Fairmont Battery Wharf and Island Creek Oysters. To purchase tickets, please visit oyster-festival-boston.eventbrite.com.

3) On October 14, at 6:30pm, Legal Harborside will team up with Louis-Fabrice Latour, President of Louis Latour, for an exclusive four-plus-course wine dinner. Family operated since it’s foundation in 1797, the French winery in Burgundy is internationally renowned for the quality of its red and white wines. The company has continually built a reputation for tradition and innovation and takes pride in practicing environmentally-friendly methods. Both white and red grapes are hand-picked at their peak ripeness and undergo a complex fermentation process to produce some of the finest and full-bodied flavors in the world.

The menu will be presented as follows:

HORS D’OEUVRES
Smoked Scallop Mousse - fried sage, bruléed apple
Salmon Gravlax - rutabaga, lemon confit vinaigrette
Poached Shrimp - brandade, sweet garlic
Paddlefish Roe - crème fraîche, fingerling potato
Simonnet-Febvre Crémant de Bourgogne, NV
FIRST COURSE
Sea Bream (celery root emulsion, verjus vinaigrette)
Louis Latour Meursault, 2012
Louis Latour Chassagne-Montrachet, 2012
SECOND COURSE
Halibut en Croûte (romanesco, cauliflower, hazelnut, preserved lemon)
Louis Latour Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru “Sous les Puits,” 2010
Louis Latour Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru “Sous les Puits,” 2009
THIRD COURSE
Bacon-Wrapped Monkfish (savoy cabbage, pickled chanterelles, calvados caramel)
Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru, 2010
Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru, 2009
CHEESE COURSE
Grand Cru Gruyère (anise tuile, pistachio, mint)
Louis Latour Beaune Premier Cru “Vignes Franches,” 2009
Louis Latour Château Corton Grancey, Grand Cru, 1999

COST: $135 per person (excludes tax & gratuity)
Reservation required by calling 617-530-9470

4) Head to The Beehive on Wednesday, October 8, for “Oktoberfest Der Beehive,” the ‘Hives annual event featuring Bavarian and German food & libations, and live entertainment from The Bavarian Hofbrau Band including oompah, beer songs and polka.

Start the night off with an ice cold beer from Harpoon Beer including Harpoon IPA, Octoberfest & UFO Pumpkin, and Cape Ann Brewery Co. including its Fisherman's Kölsch, Cape Ann Brew and the exclusive Honey Brew, before indulging in Executive Chef Marc Orfaly’s Bavarian-inspired specials. In addition to the regular menu, Chef Orfaly will serve up items such as German sausages and house roast pork knuckle both served with sauerkraut and potatoes. While enjoying ice cold beers and cocktails, guests can also enjoy The Beehive’s oven fresh pretzels. Dinner and drinks will be served from 5pm-1am.

Not in the mood for dinner? Join the Beehive at 7:30pm when the The Bavarian Hofbrau Band takes the stage. Founded over 20 years ago, The Bavarian Hofbrau Band perfected the oompah style band. Members have visited the Old Vienna Hofbrau in Montreal, the World's Fair in Tennessee and have even traveled to various cities and towns in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The evening’s entertainment will take guests on a tour of Europe, starting in Vienna, going north into Bohemia, then west through Northern Germany and then south through the Black Forest, Bavaria and finally Liechtenstein.

For reservations, please call 617-423-0069