Second Annual Cayman Classic Wine and Food Festival, a delicious success

by Gretchen Allen

The 2nd Annual Cayman Classic Wine and Food Festival 
started off with a sunset reception at Beach Club Colony

Monday, February 16, 2004

The 2nd Annual Cayman Classic Wine and Food Festival took place from 5-8 February at the Hyatt Regency Resort, bringing together both local and overseas lovers of fine fare.

The event is an innovative marketing initiative on the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism to broaden the scope of Cayman's tourism product and is held in conjunction with Food & Wine and Travel + Leisure magazines.

The celebration of things culinaire began on Thursday, 5 February, with a barefoot sunset reception at the Beach Club Colony that featured local singer "Notch," backed up by the band "Club Dred International." 

In addition to the island's ubiquitous rum punch and other potables, guests were treated to a mini "Taste of Cayman" - fried mahi mahi and fritters, turtle skewers, rice 'n' beans, marinated conch and other typically Caymanian dishes. The most unusual item on the menu was a salad of bananas and anchovies, an odd, but flavourful, pairing. 

Friday morning, guest celebrity chef Randy Lewis, Executive Chef of Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates of California named one of Food & Wine magazine's Best New Chefs of 2001, conducted a well-received cooking demonstration for a small, but enthusiastic, group. 

His dish was a barramundi, a freshwater fish from Australia, with romesco sauce, an exotic mélange based on the ancho chile, which is a dried poblano pepper. 

Following Chef Randy's demonstration, Sommelier Joshua Wesson, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Best Cellars of New York City, presented "Marrying Well: Food and Wine for Everyone!" a no-nonsense approach to pairing food and wine without the accompanying snobbery. 

Wesson is an amusing raconteur with a New York City wit as dry as some of the wines tasted. He is the author of a book demystifying the elitism of wine, entitled Red Wine With Fish.

He highlighted the importance of one's sense of smell, pointing out that 90 percent of taste comes from smell. He referred to the phenomenon of "retro-nasal olfaction" which is achieved by "slurping or chewing" the wine. He suggested that Champagne would be a good accompaniment to sushi, as its "scrubbing bubbles" have "mouthwash properties." 

All of the wines tasted were accompanied by small morsels of a variety of foods, and it was interesting to note how the wines tasted differently when tried alone, then changed their character when paired with a food. The Rosemont Shiraz/Cabernet blend, from Australia, had good synergism and would marry well with Gruyere cheese, for example, because milk binds with tannins.

Friday night's Cayman Classic Gala Dinner event was a complete sell-out with 125 guests. A festive four-course dinner was prepared by the visiting chefs, Randy Lewis, and E. Michael Reidt, also one of Food & Wine magazine's Best New Chefs for 2001.

The two paired up with the Hyatt's Executive Chef, Steven Carl, to create a menu that delighted the diners, including a tasty chilled coconut soup with sweet potato flan and tuna tartare. The meal was topped off with a warm banana chocolate cake with sichuan pepper truffles and allspice ice cream created by Hyatt Pastry Chef Julliett Marshall. Delightful music for the evening was provided by widely acclaimed jazz artist Arturro Tappin.

On Saturday afternoon, the Cayman Classic participants gathered in the Garden Loggia for a cooking demonstration by Chef E. Michael Reidt, who prepared an avocado vichyssoise. The finished dish was dressed with a cilantro-infused oil and a "salad float" of minced smoked shrimp, red pepper, cucumbers and red onions, which gave a nice textural contrast to the velvety soup. The recipe is available at www.wishrestaurant.com.

Anthony Giglio, a journalist and wine expert who's articles have appeared in Food and Wine, Esquire, and Time Out New York, among others, conducted Saturday's wine seminar, an hour of sips and laughs in between them. 

He taught the group the "Five S's" of wine tasting - sight (observe the colour against a white background), swirl (to release the essential ethers and develop the bouquet), sniff (remember, 90 percent of taste is smell), sip (moving the wine around in the mouth while sucking in air) and savour (swallow and appreciate the aftertaste). There is an alternative fifth S - spit, for wine professionals who attend many such tastings and want to stay sharp. Giglio had many interesting tales of wine lore, revealing, for instance, that Gallo controls a whopping 40 percent of the US wine market, and that White Zinfandel is the number one wine in the US. He amusingly discussed its manufacture and described it as "the Frankenstein of wine."

Saturday evening's programme was a "Dine Around Cayman" with Nilou Motamed, Food Editor of Travel + Leisure magazine. This event was also sold out, limited as it was to just 50 diners. First stop was Breezes By the Bay for cocktails and appetizers overlooking the harbour and the sunset. Then it was on to dining under the stars at the Reef Grill, famed for its seafood presentations. The evening ended with dessert at Hemingway's, overlooking Seven Mile Beach.

During Sunday's morning's Cayman Classic brunch at the Hyatt, a Chefs' Cookoff was staged between Lewis and Reidt. They took center stage at a cooking station in the middle of the Garden Loggia and each was given an identical surprise box of foodstuffs. Their challenge was that they must incorporate all the ingredients into their presentations and they had just half an hour to do it in. 

They were given tuna and turtle, ackee and guava jelly, lotus root and small boxes of Rice Crispies. At the signal, the two toques flew into action - they sliced, they diced, they sautéed. Their culinary hijinks were given a play-by-play repartee by Wesson and Giglio, who "egged" them on. In the end their diverse presentations were applauded and the competition determined a tie, apparently to the great satisfaction of the eager audience. 

Enthusiastic participants left the 2nd Annual Cayman Classic with the anticipation of returning next year for another exciting culinary tour de force for "foodies" seeking fun in the sun.

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