Category Archives: Tampa Bay Local Dinners/Events

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the #chilefresh dinner at Flamestone Grill. Hosted by the lovely Isabel. This event was put on by Chile Olive Oil, which if you follow my tweets you will see I am quite the fan of! I have a few bottles of this olive oil at home and I must say it is quite delicious and a treat to cook with.

Chef Eric Lackey really outdid himself on the menu he prepared. Just take a look at all the deliciousness:

We started with a black pepper tomato pretzel bread with a white anchovies aioli. The pretzel bread was a crowd favorite, soft and chewy, just how I like my pretzels.

And although I enjoyed the pretzel bread it was this next starter that really blew me away.  The trio of heirloom yellow tomato caprese salad, fresh tomato tart, and olive tapenade with CEVOO rubbed crostini was delightful. The tapenade was out of this world. Seriously give me a spoon and a jar of this and I am set! Chef Eric made the tapenade in a molcajete, which they use in the restaurant to make the tableside guacamole. He shared some insight as to how had made the tapenade since everyone was raving about it. I will be attempting it at home soon.

Next up was the first of three entrees, the agave soaked chicken with red wine bermuda onions and pan seared CEVOO purple potatoes with a burnt sugar olive oil dust. The onions and chicken were very sweet, but the potatoes helped balance out the sweetness.

The cast iron seared polenta crusted Chilean sea bass with toasted pepita over a bed of arugula was light and flaky. I had to stop myself from devouring it, because I knew there were a few more courses yet to come.

And boy was I glad I saved a tiny bit of room, the portabella and goat cheese with a porchini and white truffle cappallacci was excellent. This was my first experience with cappallacci, which is basically a toasted ravioli. Topped with the whipped goat cheese and a drizzle of CEVOO was perfection. Also on this plate was the goat cheese and arugula stuffed piadina, which I only tried one bite of.

Remember how full I was? Well somehow I managed to eat almost all of the dessert. I was so excited to try the brownie made with olive oil. The olive oil gave the brownie a richer, fudgier taste. In the future I plan on subbing olive oil into my brownies. There was a peanut butter dust on top of the brownies that I was tempted to lick off the plate. When did I become so obsessed with peanut butter? There was also an almond sugar cookie and cake made with olive oil on the plate which I shamefully also devoured.

Served along with every course was a taste of a Chilean wine. It was a very enjoyable event that I gained quite a few ideas and inspiration from. Thanks to Isabel for inviting me. I loved finally meeting her and quite a few other local foodies.