Foodie Fest Encinitas 2016 - recap

This summer I was able to attend Foodie Fest Encinitas which celebrated sustainability and had demos, tastings, music, art, and a chef competition. The preview event was earlier that month with a few different samples so I was able to try a wide variety of items! I'll run through some of my favorites first and move on from there.

Local Tap House had these fantastic deviled eggs which were dressed up with edible flowers during the event!

Dessert from Bistro West was pretty amazing at the preview. The panna cotta was quite delicious, with their bread pudding a close second. For the actual event, there was marinaded ahi mixed with a seaweed salad in a cute little cone.

The hamachi crudo shooters from Jake's Del Mar were quite slurptastic. I ate two right away but decided I had to finish making the rounds before having more!

Barrel Republic had another good sample. This was smoked salmon over a bed of cream cheese dip on a housemade cracker. At the preview they served this drool-worthy bacon wrapped pork belly. Double the pork is double the enjoyment!

So far I've tried blood orange, lavender lemon mate, ginger brew and mango madness from Living Tea Kumbucha and prefer the fruitier flavors.

Green Tavern had pork belly and brussel sprouts! I wish the brussels were roasted a little more but I suspect flavor was limited by the little saucepan they were cooking everything in! Fishbone Kitchen won the award for tiniest crackers ever! Still, it was quite a neat item to serve with a tuna salad like paste on top.

Cape Rey Carlsbad had seafood ceviche with scallop and shrimp and chips.

I couldn't really taste the inner layers of the pork bun from Cork and Craft so maybe the ratio was off a little bit. I also would have preferred a crispy duck filler over this meat. Flying Pig Pub & Kitchen had a special sausage just for this event which tasted ok to me.

Frazier Farms had a pork belly banh mi at the preview (shown above) but went wild with a burnt carrot salad and multiple desserts at the event. The roastiness was a bit too light for my taste though carrot flavor was still heavy. Their pecan bar was just finger-licking good but did leave me with sticky fingers afterwards!

Casa del Q'ero served a juicy pork adobo with a bit of heat but it wasn't quite to my taste. Another was the interesting flavored peruvian shrimp chowder from Panca Peruvian Rotisserie.

Priority Public House showcased multiple items: a turkey meatball which I thought was great, as well as pickled onions and a kale salad (both have ingredients that I'm not a fan of).

I found a butterscotch dessert from Blue Ribbon Artisan Pizza plus instructions on how to make it (on a tshirt). Privateeer served this spicy cauliflower dish which I thought was tasty way to prepare it.

The hottest tent was Bottaro Wood Fired Pizza due to their portable pizza oven setup! Their specialty was the bee sting pizza with honey drizzle, crushed tomatoes, chili oil, and more.

Mission Avenue had ahi samples while Masters had a kind of sopa during the preview event but I'm unsure what was served at the main event. I also tried a few other items but can't remember much details about them.

In the back area was a chef demo and competition but I was still busy sampling so didn't see any of it. What I DID see was this woman doing speed painting. Amy was jamming to the music as her paintbrush scrolled across the canvas... after a couple of minutes, she suddenly flipped it upside down and BAM! It's more or less complete! This was part of the fundraising for the Fibrosis Foundation, the main charity for the event.

The event was held in a closed off parking lot next to Lumberyard Encinitas and luckily wasn't too packed. I easily picked up samples from each station and ate way more than I imagined I could. Since it showcases north county restaurants, I feel like it's a good way to get ideas for dining up north from my usual.