Taste in Tempe, the Valley’s newest culinary festival, debuted today on a near-perfect 76-degree afternoon at the Tempe Center for the Arts. Set up outdoors overlooking Tempe Town Lake, the event certainly was picturesque. It also was beset, not unexpectedly, with a lot of first-year problems. Ultimately, though, the three-hour event showed potential to be a worthy addition to the Valley food and drink scene.
The first problem most people encountered was parking. Three backed-up lanes of traffic – eastbound Rio Salado (pictured in my rear-view mirror), westbound Rio Salado, and northbound Hardy – all funneled into a single-lane (often stalled) entrance where horns were blaring and tempers flaring. The last 100 yards took me nearly 30 minutes before I could get into the parking lot. Well, “parking lot” is a generous description. More accurate would be “dirt field.” (Note to festival organizers: How about someone to direct traffic at the entrance?)
Parking was a free-for-all, with people leaving vehicles scattered more or less randomly. After a three-quarter-mile trek – tripping over rocks and weeds and detouring around a locked (?) gate – festival-goers were greeted inside by yet another long line stretching to the ticket tables at the back door. (Note to festival organizers: When your event is only three hours, it shouldn’t take one-and-a-half hours just to get in.)
Once inside the festival, you encountered – what else? – lots of long lines. The view from the end of this line (above) was typical for the day. Surprisingly, nearly every other tent was not food or drink. They were selling spa treatments, satellite TV, shower installs, comedy shows, and many more random items. What was billed as “30 restaurants” actually included more than a few farmers market vendors hawking products but not offering samples. (Note to organizers: How about a map showing where to find the tents of the various restaurants and a list of what they were sampling?)
Although food and drink was included in the $69 general admission ($59 in advance), festival-goers received eight drink tickets at the door. My first stop was at the Deschutes beer tent, where one of my tickets got me a measly 1-ounce pour. Doing the rather simple math, I was looking at just eight ounces of beer for the entire day? Not exactly. The three other beers I got during the fest, at various brewery tents, were 2 ounces, 4 ounces, and 8 ounces. I have no idea which, if any, was the correct pour. (Note to organizers: How about letting people know what they’re supposed to get for their money?)
Speaking of beer, the nice lady pouring beer at the Firestone Walker tent (above) was typical of most of the beer pourers: “Don’t ask me about the beer. I just volunteered to pour. I don’t know anything about beer.” Sigh. There were a few exceptions, such as Four Peak, SanTan, and Uncle Bear’s, which were manned by knowledgeable staffers. (Note to festival organizers: At a minimum, teach the volunteers a little something about what they’re pouring or serving.)
Before this post degenerates into total negativity – if that’s still possible – I should point out there were several highlights worth mentioning. Featured guest Mike Ditka was easy to find. The Ditka’s steakhouse tent was right next to the main stage, and the legendary Chicago Bears coach was front and center signing autographs and posing for photos. As a Minnesota Vikings fan, though, I was required to give him the cold shoulder.
There were a number of worthwhile seminars and cooking demos. Above, Desert Mountain Club sommelier Vince Van Groski talks wine while an assistant fills glasses.
As for the food samples, I liked the Korean beef skewer with sour orange glaze and onion rice from the new Clever Koi in central Phoenix. The meat was a tiny bit chewy, but the flavors were wonderful.
SanTan Brewing from downtown Chandler dished out what’s become its standard food festival offering: Pork pibil with pickled onions and a red pepper aioli. When you have a winner, why change?
Spokes on Southern in Tempe handed out turkey tacos with a sweet cranberry aoili and frizzled sweet potato strands. It was a perfect representation of the type of creative (and sometimes over the top) fare the restaurant and craft beer bar serves daily.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out I received a standard media pass to check out the festival. Would I pay $69 of my own money to attend Sunday’s event? Honestly, no. At that price point, I expect more and better food selections, informed servers and pourers, and less waiting in lines. But would I pay to attend next year’s fest (assuming there is one)? Maybe, depending on what changes are made.
