Jewish Food Festival

1/20/14:

Stars: 3.9 our of 5.0

Pros: First 2014 Food Festival, Big Crowd, Excellent Food

Cons: Food Not Ready

     I was just minding my own business, cruising the Facebook's one afternoon when I get an update from a group I'm in called Richmond Bucket List. This group is a few friends of mine who appreciate that Richmond always seems to offer us something to do. In this case, it was the Jewish Food Festival. I can't say I'm very up to date on Jewish culture or food, but I always enjoy a solid festival. We all planned to meet at the Weinstien Jewish Community Center (Weinstein JCC) for a Jewish food lunch.

     I wish I knew more about the background of the Jewish Food Festival (Jewish Food Festival) as this would make this post WAY more informative. As it is, I know the following: Jewish food will be served at the Weinstein JCC. I also know that it held the distinction of being the first food festival of the 2014 year in Richmond. Kudo's on that. It's best to be the first when it comes to most things and food festivals are no exception. If nothing else, that alone got me pretty jazzed up.

     Once we met we all took some time to look at the menus being handed out. There was a lot of different food being served, some I had before with way more I had not. You could either buy tickets with cash from the people walking around or use your card at a table to aquire some. We found it smart to try to do the math ahead of time so you knew how many tickets to bring to the food purchasing stations (regardless of this theory, I was still short 1 ticket. Damn you math). We then jumped into lines depending on what we were getting. There was a ton of people there, which is nice to see. I think it's great that the community came out to not only eat, but to support other memebers of the community. Plus, a big crowd usually means someone is doing something right.

     I had decided on the roast chicken with potato latkes and kasha varnishkes (buckwheat with noodles and onions) as my meal. Once I stepped up to the serving area I took a moment to reevaluate. The trays and pans of food they had out looked amazing. Each one wafted an inviting and unique deep into my nose. My brain couldn't get my eyes and nose to focus together long enough to process anything. Finally I had to take a deep breath and make a choice. I stood firm with my original decision as it seemed to cover all I desired. I put my order in and the woman uttered these tragic words, "We currently have no latkes ready. Would you like to wait or choose something else?" NOOOOOO!! This threw me into a state of indecision and panic. Do I replace them with maybe a broccoli kugel (a broccoli casserole) of maybe a sweet bit of tzimmes (honey covered vegetable stew). I suddenly heard myself say "No... no ma'am, I'll wait." It was as if my mouth got annoyed with my brain and took charge of the situation. Thank god for that. So, I stood off to the side and waited. It took about 10 minutes for a new batch of latkes to come out, but I was the first served. She plopped a nice healthy spoonful of applesauce on them and off I finally went to find a seat.

     All of the food was excellent. The potato latkes were crisp and warm. The applesauce provided a nice touch of sweetness and a little moisture. They were well worth the wait. The chicken had nice flavor. It wasn't drenched in a seasoning, but instead dusted with flavor. It had cooked nicely and came off the bone very easily. The kasha varnishkes had a very earthy flavor to it. The buckwheat provided nice texture to the sauteed onion and the noodles. No one flavor dominated the others, but all seemed to work together well. I would eat it all again. I also had option to have some dill pickle on a stick. It was excatly what one expects from that. Everyone else's food looked great too. The matzah ball soup was a giant portion and full of veggies/matzah balls. The falafel, I was told, wasn't heavy in flavor but it wasn't shy in serving size. The hope is that in the future the falafel held just a bit more spice/flavor. Over all, reviews were positive. I was satisfied.

     The first food festival of 2014 left me pleasantly satisfied. It was very well organized and nicely executed. It allowed me to try new foods, none of which disappointed. I look forward to next January when I can try new things. If you get a chance next year, ring in the new year of food festivals with the Jewish Food Festival.