St. Croix Food And Wine Experience Kicks Off

Guests of the 2014 St. Croix Food and Wine Experience enjoyed a gourmet vintner dinner at popular restaurant Tutto Bene on April 8. Celebrity chef Sam Choy helped create the four-course menu while sommelier Christina Turley from California's notable Turley Wine Cellars selected the wine pairings. St. Croix residents attended this dinner to help raise money for the St. Croix Foundation — a nonprofit that seeks to foster economic and social development on the island.

"We have a lot of the same values," Turley says of the reason why the vineyard decided to partner with the St. Croix Food and Wine Experience. Chief among them was the festival's dedication to sustainability and devotion to smaller farmers. "We really appreciate farmers — that's something we hold very dear to our hearts. We consider ourselves farmers."

"There will come a day when all the food at the festival will come from St. Croix," says Choy, further reinforcing the idea of farm-to-table cuisine.

The restaurant, a cozy, warm environment complete with yellow walls, lush drapes and big, clear windows that provided generous outdoor views, was buzzing with activity during the evening. The night began with a small glass of crisp Moët & Chandon Impérial Brut along with surprising small bites like the duck pâté with pistachio on bread.

The first course featured a kabocha curry pumpkin bisque with croutons paired with Turley's White Coat wine. This creamy, rich pumpkin balanced out nicely with the spicy curry and the dynamic flavors made this my favorite dish of the night. The white went down smooth and had a subtle, pleasant aftertaste. While decanting some red wine before dinner, Turley described it as "a white wine for red wine drinkers." And I could not agree more.

The second course included a mixed greens salad topped with an Oriental creamy dressing — Choy's original creation that is served on American Airline's Hawaiian flights. The vegetables tasted fresh and the dressing gave the dish a pleasant and sparkling almost-Champagne like "kick." The dry and light Turley Bechtoldt Vineyard Cinsault provided a perfect complement to the salad.

The entrée (another highlight of an all-together incredible night) of Asian braised short ribs were melt-in-your-mouth good and topped with a juicy, luscious sauce. This third course also featured a light-but-filling mahi mahi topped off with a shiitake mushroom cream sauce that brought out the fish's juicy flavor. The main course was paired with a dry Turley Dragon Vineyard "Howell Mountain" zinfandel.

A molten lava cake topped off with a scoop of cool vanilla ice cream and surrounded by a pool of house-made cream capped off the night. I loved how the chocolate didn't ooze everywhere after I dug into it and especially enjoyed the sweet, decadent cream that I drenched the tiny cake in. The cake was paired with a Turley Hayne Vineyards Petite Syrah — a slightly sweet wine that made for a nice alternative to a traditional cloying dessert wine.

The event also saw a variety of chefs coming together to whip up the evening's fare. In addition to Choy, Dean Spinks, Tony Castellucci, and Billy Desimone — all of Facebook's corporate culinary team — were in the kitchen prepping food. The St. Croix Food and Wine Experience originally decided to partner with Facebook, in part, because the company now offers a two-week culinary internship program to local students at a technical college. Former Facebook Executive Chef Josef Desimone, brother of aforementioned Billy, was the person responsible for creating this new internship program with the company. He tragically passed away in a motorcycle accident this past July, and Spinks, Castellucci and Billy decided to honor Desimone by ensuring the creation of the internship program. During dinner, it was announced that more St. Croix students will be sent to Facebook for a culinary internship next year.

"It is kind of sad to not have Joey here," Choy says. "We live for him. At the end of every day, we do a thumbs-up for him in heaven."

Teresa Tobat is a writer and editor based out of the Washington, D.C. area. View her website at teresaktobat.com. Follow her tweets @ttobat88.