Taste of the Nation: Greenville, SC

Hello and hope your week is off to a good start. Did you have a nice weekend? My weekend was nice and ended on a very sweet note. As I mentioned previously, the wonderful people over at FoodBuzz selected me to cover the Taste of the Nation event in Greenville, SC.

According to the Taste of the Nation website:

"Since 1988, Taste of the Nation has brought together the most creative culinary minds across the nation. Each spring and summer, pioneers of modern American cuisine, national celebrity chefs and mixologists including David Burke, Stephan Pyles, mixologist Tony Abou-Ganim, Bravo’s Top Chef Tom Collichio, Food Network stars Tyler Florence and Emeril Lagasse and thousands more like them donate their time, talent and passion at nearly 40 events across the United States and Canada with one goal in mind: to raise critical funds needed to help end childhood hunger. "

My Mom came with me as my guest, and my Aunt decided to join in the fun as well! The event took place outside at the Embassy Suites in Greenville. It was a beautiful evening in South Carolina. Since I was driving, I stuck mostly to water, but my Mom enjoyed the sampling of wine:

While my Aunt had the Stella Artois:

The food and vendor selection was OUT of this world. Since there weren't a TON of vegetarian selections, I stuck mostly to desserts (yes...it was horrible), while my Mom & Aunt hit up the entrees/appetizers. I will try to keep the words to a minimum and let the pictures speak for themselves. I hope I get all of the restaurant/food combinations right! Our first stop was at Cafe Verdae (onsite cafe at the Embassy Suites), where they tried the Crab & Avocado Salad on a Toasted Tortilla:

A lot of the restaurants had beautiful food decor, like this piece at Stella's Southern Bistro:

This crab salad (from the Green Room) came in as their second favorite tasting of the day. In the background is the pork and ancho chili soup- which my Mom also enjoyed:

My first dessert was a bread pudding, which I believe was also from the Green Room...deliciousness :)

I was SUPER excited when I saw this sign for the Melting Pot:

I tried their bananas foster fondue...drooool:

Coffee Underground had some tasty sweets and beverages:

My Aunt and I tried the Lover-tini (mocha, raspberry, vodka & baileys):

It wasn't heavy at all, slightly sweet and very yummy:

I also tried their lemon cake topped with strawberries and whipped cream. The cake was super moist:

Here is a picture of my mom enjoying the Apaltagua wine from Chile:

The next stop was Smoke on the Water:

They had setup a carving station:

My mom tried the smoked tenderloin over mashed potatoes with sweet potato souffle on the side. She said the meat was super tender. I tried the sweet potato souffle because it was vegetarian. It was more of a dessert than a side...but so creamy and rich!

My Aunt & Mom's favorite tasting came from Ruth's Chris:

They had a steak sandwich with horseradish sauce on a biscuit. On the side was sweet potato pie. My Aunt said the steak was so soft and buttery. This little sammy was the highlight of their night:

One of my favorite restaurants was the Lazy Goat:

They offered up a Harissa Whipped Hummus that was INCREDIBLE. I went back for seconds:

I want to try to recreate this hummus at home!!

Next stop was the Cafe At Williams Hardware.

They offered up Israeli couscous with shrimp, flank steak with a smoked tomato sauce, and the best dessert of the night...

A strawberry daiquiri tiramisu. I could go for a giant bowl right now :) Their chef was also hilarious (and claimed not to be photogenic...we can see otherwise haha)