Every August, we celebrate the
local artisan garlic harvest in a serious way – hosting our 2-day festival of
all things garlic, by bringing together garlic growers and experts, farmers, specialty
food producers, artists musicians, and thousands of visitors. All of this
fantastic garlic action takes place in a village square atmosphere we create
for the occasion, on the spacious lawns behind our winery.
This winter, brainstorming with
my good friend, Chef Tony Gullace, we can up with the idea to extend the
celebration with a garlic-infused tapas menu, and feature it throughout the
month of August at our winery café. Tony Gullace is one of Rochester’s iconic chefs – and he and I have
been friends for over 20 years. His acclaimed restaurants in downtown Rochester are hugely popular,
sought-out culinary destination points and include: Max of Eastman Place, Max Chophouse, Max Sushi Noodles and Max at the Gallery. His passion for cooking is
equally fueled by the utilization of topnotch local ingredients. He has prepared the menus for several Fox Run Garlic
Festivals and for the numerous garlic dinners we used to have on the Saturday
night of the festival. We don’t do the Saturday dinners any more – getting too
old for those late, late nights - as many of you famously remember. But Tony has
returned for recent festivals to create great garlic-infused dishes for
the Glorious Garlic weekend. We are so fortunate to have Tony’s culinary stamp on the festival.
With local garlic as the star
ingredient, Tony created a short but varied tapas menu for the Fox Run café - featuring
a chilled tomato-garlic soup - middle eastern sampler of hummus, tabbouleh and
babaganoush - Lively Run goat cheese (one of his absolute favorites) with
roasted garlic and roasted red peppers and finally, an assortment of olives and
mushrooms in a garlic-parsley sauce. All of these small dishes have been
meticulously paired with our estate wines. Tony is writing up all the recipes
for the home chef and has added a litany of tips for preparing and working with
cool-climate garlic.
Our August visitors will also be
able to purchase local hardneck garlic in our market everyday. Detailed
descriptions for each type will point out the rather incredible differences in
flavor these varieties offer and the interplay between wine and bulb.
Scott Osborn, Proprietor
