'A Celebration Of Wine' - Another Successful year!

Unless you've been flat-out ignoring my posts, you're most likely aware that I'm heavily involved with planning and organizing 'A Celebration Of Wine.' This wine-tasting event always falls on the first Sunday in June, and is a fundraiser for the Viticulture & Enology department at FSU, and is one of the most enjoyable events I cater! Besides the fact that I know many of the VIP's, I finish cooking before the actual event even starts so my crew and I always get to enjoy the full festivities.
This year, my Perpetual Sous-Chef, Rithy Nuon couldn't help me out because he has his hands full with his newborn daughter though he said he would have loved to have gone. Did I also mention that he has a 3 year old as well? Yep... he has his hands full these days.

So since I needed an extra hand, I circled the wagons and contacted a gentleman who follows my blogs and is a self-proclaimed "grill enthusiast." Dustin Cunning and his Wife, Kelly stepped in and helped me out tremendously. Dustin wasn't just blowing grill smoke when he says he can work the grill - he suffered through 100 degree heat over a super-hot grill to perfectly cook more than 200 Angus beef sliders without a single complaint, and after that torture he said he'd love to help out next year! Well Dustin, consider yourself hired...
Kelly and my Wife, Amy arrived early to set up and decorate the tables and of course they did a great job. I can honestly say that this year was probably one of the smoothest years ever, and I owe a huge thanks to my team!

Let's talk about the food...
When I planned the menu this year, I did so with an amount of bravado that I haven't had in years past. For the first time in ACOW history, I decided to take a few grills out and cook on-site. Normally, I cook everything in advance and then hold it in a hot-box, but I really wanted to step things up this year for the VIP's. This meant that I had to deal with lugging out an extra 250 lbs of equipment but in the end, it was worth it. The patron's enjoyed Angus beef sliders, grilled salami skewers and Thai chicken satay right off the grill on top of some great artisen cheeses, a pesto bar, prosciutto-stuffed mushrooms, fresh fruits and berries and of course Fresno State's award-winning wines! I spared no effort this year and even made stone-ground mustard from scratch. It was definitely one of the best spreads I've ever put out, and the squirrels inside my head are already pounding rocks together for next year!

"This is a wine-tasting event, right?"
YES! And let me tell you, there were some fantastic wineries pouring this year! With more than 80 wineries in attendance, there was no way I could visit them all (and if I had, I wouldn't be able to remember anything to write about...), so let me tell you about some of the highlights. I've been really impressed with the Blossom Trail Wineries these days and two of them stuck out as winners in my book. Z Wines and Ramos Torres both had me coming back for more and I would have honestly been happy enjoying their wines all day (I actually HAVE enjoyed Ramos Torres at their tasting room on more than one occasion...) Z Wine's Tempranillo is a delighfully refreshing red with a full body and just the right amount of tannins. Ramos Torres' Conversations blend literally had me coming back for thirds... and fourths... and fifths... (thanks Fabian!). Other standout wines (that I remember) were Norman Vineyard's Cabernet Sauvignon, Castoro Cellar's Sauvignon Blanc and a suprisingly delicious Rose from Engelmann Cellars. Yes, rose... I've never been a huge fan of rose but my winemaker friend Bret Engelmann managed to impress the heck outta me with his new vintage. I enjoyed other great wines as well, but I was really trying to focus on some of our local wineries, and I'm glad I did. Kudos to all wineries that showed up to pour and we're looking forward to you all coming back next year!

I also need to mention some of the great food (besides just mine...)! Even though restaurant attendance was down this year, those who showed up were busy putting out some incredible food. My friend Chef Karsten from Erna's Elderberry House brought his absolutely exquisite duck pate and served it on butter leaf lettuce cups (nice touch Chef...), Chef Vatche from Cracked Pepper Bistro was serving up his famous bread pudding, Chef Scott Sauer from Max's won my vote for "best steak skewer" with marinated mozzarella, grilled New York strip and cherry tomatoes, the guys at Roe were giving out some very refreshing sushi and of course, Joyce at Sadie Mae's Catering was busy serving up their popular barbecue dishes! Nobody left hungry and if they did, it was their own damned fault...

Also, as promised here's a picture of a dog dyed to look like a circus animal...

Wingstop - A Good Example of Bad Marketing...

Before I continue, let me preface by saying that it is not normally in my character to criticize any restaurant, local or otherwise, but Wing Stop rubbed me the wrong way today with their bait & switch advertising. I should also say that I did not eat their food, so this rant is entirely based upon a marketing campaign that went horribly wrong...
Friday afternoon, I go out to my car and find a flier under my windshield wiper. Now I'm not against fliers under my windshield wiper; I simply find them to be another form of junk mail. Actually, I was rather pleasantly surprised to find that the flier contained a couple of nice coupons so I decided to keep it on my desk for the following week. You see, I'm all about the wings... I love wings! I wish chickens were born with a few extra sets of wings so they'd be more readily available... Back on track though, I held on to the flier because I fully intended to stop in sometime this week (like today) and try them out. The two coupons promised "One Free Side with Any Wing Purchase" and "Five Free Boneless Wings with the Purchase of Any Regular Wing Order." Perfect, I could order a ten pack of wings, get a side and five bonus wings to boot. Heck, if they had good wings, I might even blog about how great they were! But no... when I placed my order, I was told that the coupon expired on Sunday. WHAT KIND OF SHIT IS THAT?!!! Litter an entire office parking lot with junk mail that turns out to be useless?!! Really?!! What's even better is when I told the person "Never Mind, I'll cancel my order", he nonchalantly said "Whatever Dude..."

Let's just break this down and look at this from a marketing view:

• Fliers under Windshield Wipers - I'm not against this type of guerilla marketing, but a lot of people resent some unknown person(s) molesting their cars. Any number of things could happen from a sensitive alarm going off and draining their battery, a hot windshield could crack, paint could get scratched by a careless canvaser and of course, it becomes the responsibility of the automobile owner to discard of the flier. Never a great idea, but in some cases it does work. Not smart...
• Targeting Business Complexes on Friday - What kind of brilliant minds decide to promote lunches to a business complex... at the end of the week? FYI Wing Stop: People go home during the weekend. Why not try hitting the complex on Monday when people are thinking about what they're going to have for lunch on Wednesday? Not smart...
• Set Realistic Expiration Dates People! - So you went to all that trouble of killing all those trees, you paid some minimum wage guy to manhandle our cars, you did so KNOWING that the complex was going to be a ghost town during the weekend and yet you printed the expiration date as being Sunday?! What's even the point? Seriously... Typically, a published coupon has a shelf-life of at least a month; otherwise it's better to just run a radio or online promotion. All you've done here is paid for printing that netted you zero results. I'm willing to bet that when you crunch the numbers, the coupons amounted for nothing sales-wise. Not smart...
• Not Honoring Coupons Expired by Less Than One Week - I know, I know... Coupons and promotions can be ended at any time by the distributors discretion, but this type of marketing is a form of "bait & switch" that really pisses people off. You distributed these with the intent to get people inside your door and then you tell them that they can't use the coupon? I guess you figure that once they order, they feel obligated to stay and pay... not me though. I really did want to try your wings, but I  resent the fact that you used this type of "scheme" to get me in the door. Yes, I cancelled my order when I found out I wouldn't be getting the five free wings. I know it sounds like I'm cheap and petty but... what you didn't realize was this was my way of letting you know that if you only had honored my coupon, you may have developed a loyal customer. Instead, you sarcastically mumble "Whatever Dude..." Well that cinched it! YOU don't WANT my business! Hey "Whatever Dude..." guy, fuck you. I complained about you to your corporate website, posted about your rudeness to your company's social media pages, blogged about it on pretty much all of my blogs and I'm planning to let as many people as possible know just how much you "care" about your customers. Don't ever mess with a Social Media Director / Blogger. Not smart...

Okay, I'm done ranting. In a nutshell, great things are happening for Chef Delaney, life is great, Wing Stop is bad and I'll try to talk at the Cutting Board in a few days about Chinese People dyeing their dogs to look like circus animals or something like that. In the meantime, feel free to chat at me on Facebook or check out my newest blog, "Fresno Unchained" on Valley411.com!