Eric O'Brien is a Foodie

Radio personality, Facepalm Media Digital Content Strategist, Clear Channel Program Director and 2011 TEDxGrand Rapids On Stage Curator Eric O'Brien is a foodie. In fact, he almost became a chef. Here, he talks about his plans for the Wine, Beer and Food Festival. 

There was a moment in my life where I was going to abandon radio and enroll in the French Culinary Institute, the same school that produced super celeb chefs like current FCI instructor Bobby Flay. However, I opted to stay in Grand Rapids and create a food life that included hours of watching the Food Network, creating dishes for my friends and family, and a travel life of searching for delicious.

So for two weeks in November, foodies like myself get a chance to celebrate the amazing food right here in our community. Restaurant Week (Nov. 3-13), a chance for people all across West Michigan to sample spotlight dishes from over 30 area restaurants, just ended. And before you have a chance to miss all things food, the Wine, Beer, and Food Festival invades the DeVos Place this week. The Wine, Beer, and Food Festival take the finest restaurants, wineries and breweries and puts them in one place where one can get a food education like no other.

Are you someone who is looking for more than just food and wine samples? The Wine, Beer, and Food Festival offers a pairing menu where area chefs take some signature dishes and pair them with wine or beer, bringing all the flavors to the forefront of the meal. You can choose from Six|One|Six, San Chez, Bar Divani, Tre Cugni or Reserve. The show kicks off on Thursday and, never one to pass up an opportunity, I will be sitting down for the Reserve pairing. This experience includes three dishes and three wines.

The first dish is a swordfish salad with Nicoise olives, the purple olives with a distinct sour taste that make for a fantastic tapenade. Those two will join forces with Indian River Grapefruit, Upland Cress, which is a member of the mustard family and will undoubtedly add a bite to off-set the sour notes of the grapefruit, olives and pickled red onion. The salad will be topped with a saffron vinaigrette, paired with Bower's Harbor Chardonnay, an oak-aged dry chardonnay from Traverse City that goes great with seafood.

The second offering is one of my favorites: slow-roasted leg of lamb with chanterelle mushrooms, pearl barley risotto and a sample of one of Reserve's most underrated dishes, their roasted beet salad. This dish will be paired with a Cabernet Franc from Wyncroft out of Buchanan, MI. They make one of the finest “late harvest” Rieslings, December Harvest, that is served by the glass at Reserve (possibly one of the only places that serves it by the glass).

The final dish seems more fitting for an Iron Chef episode than a tasting menu. Behold, I give you a Semonlina cake with water buffalo milk ricotta, Hasselman’s honey, hickory nuts and spiced Mutzu apples. Mutzu apples, also known as Crispin apples, are a great eating apple, but holds up in the oven. They contain hints of honey, which will be accented by the honey in the dish. This dish will be paired with a late harvest Riesling from Bonafide, another Michigan wine to finish the meal.

It's $40 to get a seat at the table to taste the finest selections of food and wine from around the area. If you get excited about the adventure of food, the Wine, Beer, and Food Festival is the perfect way to get some ideas to bring back to your own table for the upcoming holiday season.