Taste of Lake Geneva
This past weekend I went to Taste of Lake Geneva.
What a wonderful event!!! For only a $2 entrance fee and $6 or less per item of food, you get to pick and try items from the following local food purveyors:
Bona’s Italian Kitchen
Constant Cravings
Geneva Java
Good Vibes
Grand Grille
Highland Farm Creamery
Mama Cimino’s
Oakfire
Peet’s Coffee & Tea
Popeye’s
Simple Bakery & Market
Speedo’s Harborside
Sprecher’s Restaurant & Pub
The Cheese Box
Tuscan Tavern & Grill
Wilson Farm Meats
When I go to an event like this I don’t focus on the usual foods; I look for the items that I have never had before.
This is why I first focused in on the Beet Burger Sliders from Good Vibes.
They made a delicious burger with roasted beet, cole slaw, and caramelized onions on a Hawaiian sweet bun. It was outstanding. In fact it was better than many of the meat burgers that I have had in my life.
I love that Good Vibes put up a vegetarian burger option that wasn’t the usual bean and grain burger.
This is an item on their regular menu, so if you have a chance, stop by and check it out.
The next thing we had were pepperoni rolls from Mama Cimino’s.
My husband is a pizza freak from New Jersey. Here’s what he said, “The pizza rolls are excellent. The crust was fresh, the sauce was delicious, and there was just the right amount of unctuousness. Their marinara/pizza sauce leans a bit to the sweet side, which works very well with a traditional pepperoni. If there was anything I would have liked better, it would have been to be able to get them hot out of the oven.”
The last thing we ate for the day was an arancini from Oakfire. We had to ask what this was. It turned out to be amazing.
The arancini is an Arborio rice dumpling filled with meat. It is kind of like Italian dim sum. It’s filled with ground beef, prosciutto, peas, saffron, and smoked mozzarella. This is all then deep fried. It was served with a house marinara on the side, which was so fresh you could still taste the sun on the tomatoes. By this time I was getting very full and still I could not stop eating it.
Overall, we were very impressed with the Taste of Lake Geneva for several reasons:
1. The food was all excellent as you would expect it to be.
2. Everyone was very nice and didn’t mind you asking about the details of their items.
3. The prices were great. We spent about $20 for everything, including admission.
4. The food was excellent! (I know I said that, but it’s worth repeating.)
So go see some of these folks and tell them that Brenda the Foodie sent you. It won’t get you anything special, but they will like to know that they are being thought of.
And make sure to put Taste of Lake Geneva on your calendar for next September. It is well worth the trip!