Queers! Eat, Drink and Be Fabulous!The word of this episode: Jamburrito!!
Your favorite food and wine show is back with an episode full of culinary and vineyard-y goodness!
Street Eats Food Truck FestivalComing up THIS SATURDAY in our own backyard, 30+ food trucks descend on Salt River Fields at Talking Stick for the 1st Annual Street Eats Food Truck Festival, presented by New Times!  Food trucks have become a gourmet phenomenon over the past few years, not to mention being helped by Food Network’s “The Great Food Truck Race” hosted by Tyler Florence.  And speaking of Tyler, he’ll be making a special guest appearance at the Food Truck Festival on Saturday.  Aaron Studebaker from Salt River Fields gave us an awesome interview and talks about how the event came to be and gives us the inside scoop on what’s planned for this massive event.  And, you can WIN TICKETS to the event by answering the trivia question on the show and e-mailing us the answer–first person to email with the right answer wins!  A big thank you to Ronnie at New Times for getting us the tickets to give-away on our various shows!
The Big Gay Wine TrainNathan brings us a great interview with Mark Vogler from Out in the Vineyard about the upcoming The Big Gay Train that is calling ‘All Board!’ in March!  They invite you to join them for their exclusive ALL GAY Winemaker Dinner aboard the world famous Napa Valley Wine Train!  The event officially goes on Saturday, March 31: Enjoy an elegant, perfectly paired, five-course dinner in old world luxury, from Acclaimed Chef Kelly Macdonald.  Looking for more wine-related gay fun?  Check out their Gay Wine Weekend, June 15-17 in Sonoma Valley.
Claudine tells about the amazing experience that she had when she recently checked out Rice Paper, a relatively new Vietnamese restaurant in Central Phoenix.  This new gem has amazing Pho and also specializes in their rolls, which are made with a very thin wrapper (hence the Rice Paper name) which makes them somewhere in-between an egg roll and traditional sushi rolls.  Definitely put it on your list!
Girl Meets ForkJoe dishes about how he just came back from stuffing himself silly at Girl Meets Fork’s Pancake Quest 2012 — an ultimate showdown of eight local chefs vying for the honor of the best pancake in town.  I especially liked those from Orange Table, Smart Kitchen and Elemental Sugar.  If you’re curious about their pancakes from those three, here they are: Buttermilk pancake with fresh ricotta and prosciutto, Meyer lemon butter, ground cherry maple syrup; cream cheese-infused, reduced port wine pancake with fresh raspberry coolie; and grain-free, gluten-free pancake with mesquite flour, pochi berry with chai-infused butter. The event was hosted by Perk Eatery, who put out some pretty amazing spiced sweet potato pancakes with a praline bacon crumble and whiskey bourbon sauce.  An incredible event, to be sure!
Girl Meets Fork is run by foodie and PR gal Susie Timm and is a boutique marketing firm for the restaurant and specialty food industries.  She blogs on her site about food and loves to organize food-related events.  Check out her next event: The 2nd Annual Grilled Cheese Throwdown February 26 at the Hotel Valley Ho.
Last but not least!  Check out this month’s Places, Spaces and Faces Community Dinner on Saturday, January 21st from 6-9pm, at Kitchen Sink Studios in Downtown Phoenix.  PSF is a giant community ‘potluck’ dinner and features a different theme every month and brings the community together for a totally fun night!  Meet new people and discover foods and recipes that you may have never heard of!  Click this link for the official Facebook event.
Wine that we’re drinking on this episode: Callaghan Vineyards Grenache