Traverse City: A food and wine mecca
September 6, 2006
Enthusiasts will gather to take part in the third annual Traverse Epicurean Classic
Sandra Silfven / The Detroit News
P ack up your appetite and wine palate. The third annual Traverse Epicurean Classic is coming up Sept. 14-16 in Traverse City, featuring many of the nation's top chefs, cookbook authors and wine experts.
With a nonstop schedule of cooking demonstrations, wine tastings and special dinners, Traverse City will be transformed into a food and wine mecca.
More than 60 events are scheduled, with most taking place at the downtown bayside Great Lakes Culinary Institute, whose programs will benefit from the three-day extravaganza.
Twenty icons of wine and food, including seven winners of the prestigious James Beard Cookbook Award, will be on hand to teach, cook and answer questions. Luminaries include Takashi Yagihashi, formerly of Tribute in Farmington Hills; Marcus Samuelsson of Aquavit in Manhattan; Michel Briand, executive pastry chef at Chicago's prestigious Ambria and Mon Ami Gabi restaurants; Michigan's Brian Polcyn of Five Lakes Grill in Milford; and Master of Wine Bob Paulinski, national wine buyer for Sam's Clubs who formerly lived in Traverse City.
Wines from top importers such as Winebow, Wilson-Daniels and Vineyard Brands, plus Michigan wines, will be served at various tastings and events.
"Our goal is to take the pretentiousness out of food and wine," says co-organizer Matt Sutherland, a native of Traverse City. He and fellow planner Mark Dressler are rooted in the publishing industry, which gives them access to the nation's top epicureans.
For eventgoers, the Classic is like a shopping event: There's no pre-registration fee. You pick and choose individually priced events you want to attend. The afternoon tastings Sept. 15-16 in the pavilion on the grounds cost $25 each; cooking and wine classes are $39; the Opening Reception is $50; and the Grand Reception is $75.
According to Sutherland, the "must" event is the closing Grand Reception, where each chef will prepare a small dish, and more than 20 tables will feature several hundred wines.
The Classic includes four special dinners at Traverse City restaurants with star chefs either planning the menu based on their books and dining with patrons, or cooking. They are Sept. 15: Jason Denton, chef of four Manhattan restaurants with Mario Batali, at Trattoria Stella; Marcus Samuelsson, chef and co-owner of Aquavit in New York, at Amical; Donald Barickman, chef and co-owner of Magnolias in Charleston, S.C., at Hanna; and Takashi Yagihashi, cooking at Lobdells at the Great Lakes Culinary Institute. All dinners, except Yagihashi's, are priced a la carte. His touted dinner, with Chicago's Michel Briand, will cost $150 per person, all-inclusive.
It's a foodie's wildest dream.
You can reach Sandra Silfven at or news.com. For special features on Michigan wines, see Silfven's columns at detnews.com/wine.
