Tag: food

Recap of the 2015 Inaugural Sloss Music and Arts Festival

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Sloss Music and Arts Festival (aka Slossfest) was held July 18-19, 2015 at Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, Alabama at the height of the summer’s sweltering heat! Despite the heat, Slossfest proved to be an awesome and unforgettable event. It was a two day event that spotlighted everything from great music, art, food, drink, and the Birmingham area in a way that I never thought I would see! It featured 30 plus artists including: Primus,Tyler the Creator, St. Paul and The Broken Bones, Modest Mouse, The Avett Brothers, Band of Horses, Cage The Elephant, Young the Giant, Lord Huron, Manchester Orchestra, Sturgill Simpson, The New Pornographers, Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires, Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas, Kaleo, LANY, T. Hardy Morris, Muddy Magnolias, and many more!

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Day I of Slossfest

Aside from the great music, I enjoyed sampling the great craft beer from Alabama in the various bar areas at Slossfest. The Starr Hill All Access Area was by far my favorite and featured the Siren of Sloss Summer Pale Ale collaboration beer with Trim Tab Brewing along with their Belgian Witbier with Cherries, Soul Shine Summer Pale Ale, Reviver Red IPA, Keller Czech Pils, and Jomo Vienna-Style Lager. The Siren of Sloss Summer Pale Ale was something special and tasted like a refreshing and crisp IPA disguised as a pale ale! Cathead Distillery of Mississippi also hosted a cocktail lounge that featured mixed drinks. Piggly Wiggly hosted the Craftly Beerly Garden that featured the following Alabama breweries: Trim Tab, Druid City, Cheaha, Old Black Bear, and Singin River.

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Siren of Sloss Summer Pale Ale

The food selection was also pretty impressive and included Jim ‘N Nick’s, Cantina on Wheels, Philly Connection, Shindigs Catering, Jalapeno Corndog, Repicci’s Italian Ice, Flaming Wok, Mexi Grill, Choice Burger, Phat Daddy’s, Sprout & Pour, and Efe’s. I enjoyed the insanely delicious Phat Daddy’s alligator tenders and hushpuppies and a solid Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich by Philly Connection while I was at the fest.

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Phat Daddy’s alligator tenders and hushpuppies

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The fountains of Sloss Furnaces

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The New Pornographers

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The Blast Stage and Sloss at sunset

In addition, the Sloss Metal Arts Program hosted Hands-On Iron Pouring demonstrations for attendees and allowed them to buy one-of-a-kind iron souvenirs from the demos. Various art vendors and local mixed media artists (Yellowhammer Creative, art by Kunkle, Anne Coneway, Feather wild, etc.) had booths where patrons could purchase unique art pieces. Patrons stayed hydrated by MailChimp’s  convenient and free water filling stations on-site, Alabama Power offered free charging stations, and Yelp had a great water misting tent to cool down from the festival’s crazy heat during the day! Overall, Slossfest was a special moment for Birmingham and I’m already looking forward to next year’s festival despite the crazy heat of this year’s fest!

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Day II of Slossfest

Until The Next Post,

Janece

P.S. Who was your favorite artist of this year’s Slossfest or favorite memory?

Recap of the Epic Pre-Valentine Knife Party Dinner at Revelator Coffee on 2/7/15

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Last week, I had the opportunity to finally attend a Knife Party dinner after the pop-up returned from a year long hiatus. I got lucky when I noticed that two spots opened up via Instagram early last week. The dinner was hosted on February 7th at Revelator Coffee Company in downtown Birmingham in early celebration of Valentine’s Day.  I have longed to attend a Knife Party ever since I discovered the unique pop-up outfit about a year and a half ago.  Knife Party is a collaborative secret underground pop-up dinner planned, curated, led, and prepared by Wil Drake and Roscoe Hall. Drake and Hall are two young ambitious veterans of the local culinary scene in Birmingham, Alabama with a knack for the unconventional. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to attend due to the limited seat availability and my inability to RSVP quickly for one of the exclusive dinners before the company’s year long hiatus. You might be wondering – What the hell is a Knife Party? And why is it so hard to grab a seat at the event?

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According to a September 2014 Creative Birmingham article, Drake defined Knife Party as, “a supper club for those who like to eat and enjoy a take on deconstructed recipes of old. We use fresh/local/not local/sometimes frozen ingredients. It’s secretive because it’s not legal.” Each dinner is as unique dining experience that includes a drink pairing with the meal. Hall and Drake appear to be on a mission to expose the Birmingham foodie community to unconventional food offerings that highlight strange, eccentric, and often daunting culinary mashups to tantalize the adventurous diner’s taste buds. Personally, I cannot wait to attend another Knife Party after having such a great inaugural experience. I felt that it was important to taste my way through the meal in tiny steps and soak up all of the lively chatter with other diners, the chefs, and servers. The customer service was outstanding and all of the staff was genuinely welcoming and engaging with the diners. Knife Party may sound a little scary on the surface but is well worth the effort to RSVP to take a leap of gastronomical faith. My highlights from the meal include the following: sipping forest leaf tea along with a venison charcuterie plate that featured salty jerky paired with berry preserves and venison baloney and a delicious peanut veloute soup that included chocolate mousse and chicken skin.

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If you are interested in attending the exclusive dining experience head to the Knife Party website and sign up for the mailing list to get a priority notice about new events. Each event only has 20 RSVP slots so nimble fingers are paramount! In addition, you should check out Revelator Coffee Company if you also love great coffee!

Until the Next Post,

Janece