You know the place is going to be great when you hear that the owners met while working on the opposite sides of the house at the now closed Hamersly’s Bistro. Kristin and Matt Gennuso started with a mobile hot dog cart and moved into a food truck selling sausages and cured meats. Now Wurst Kitchen can be found inside Chez Pascal! We will be back for the sausage and cured meats, but this time we opted for the dining room.

The special tomato salad was one of the best salads I’ve had. Thick cut tomatoes topped with a corn and bean salad – it hit the spot and was large enough for us to split and both be satisfied.

We also ordered the mussels with garlic, parsley, mirepoix & aïoli ($14) which were equally delicious. Those pieces of toast were perfect for getting all of the broth in the bottom of the dish!

We both ordered the grilled skirt steak with creamy spaetzle, broccoli, sweet potatoes & bacon ($28). The meat was really tender and flavorful and the spaetzle gave the dish a nice dose of carbohydrates without making the dish feel heavy.

For dessert we split the vanilla custard bread pudding with carmelo, peanut butter and white chocolate mousse with toasted oats & peanut crunch ($10).  I’m generally not a bread pudding kind of gal, but this was exceptional. The “mousse” was an oxymoron, while it was indeed light as air, it was more of a pudding like consistency – AMAZING!!

And as a little extra special treat, our waiter brought out a bite of warm chocolate cake topped with salted caramel which was also out of this world.

Even though the tables were a little too close together, the meal was excellent and the service was outstanding. Looking forward to my next trip back to Providence so I can try out what the Wurst Kitchen has to offer

What’s your go to dish at Wurst Kitchen?

Chez Pascal

960 Hope St, Providence, RI 02906
(401) 421-4422

http://chez-pascal.com/

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Sam Poley, Director of Public Relations & Communications from Durham, North Carolina gave a great 10 minute talk about his city. Durham has a great farmers market and is being recognized as a great foodie destination. For more information on what Durham has to offer, check out the official visitor information website for Durham here.

Christopher Bakken talked about his adventures in Greece, and how the best meals were off the beaten path. You can read all about his adventures in his book Honey, Olives, Octopus: Adventures at the Greek Table.

Jose Duarte, owner of Taranta, talked about his adventures in Peru. Other speakers included Lisa Gustavson, owner of Sojourner Tour Company, who talked about France and Richard Gutman, Director and Curator at the Culinary Arts Museum at Johnson and Whales talked about culinary museums.

The first session was tasting single origin honey with Marina Marchese from Red Bee honey. We tasted 5 different kinds of honey: The alfalfa honey had a very grassy smell, the red currant honey was sweet like figs and had a molasses smell to it, the North Carolina Sourwood honey had a greenish tinge to it and had an acquired taste,  the buckwheat honey had a barn-like smell and was much darker in color, and the chestnut honey smelled like grapes. There was also a bit of honeycomb to try – it takes bees 2 years to make honeycomb (which is why it is so expensive at stores). While tasting, we learned a lot about bees, for example: did you know that honey bees only live 45 days? or that the females are the worker bees?

Next up was wine tasting in Spain with Tatiana Gana, co-founder of Gastro Tours.

We were able to taste a variety of wines and learn more about their origins. The wines were paired with manchego cheese, marcona almonds and mini baguettes (shown below).

The last session (not pictured) was a guide to Vermont food adventures with Tom Bivins, Executive Director at the Vermont Cheese Council. We watched a short video presentation and tried a variety of cheddar cheeses. Tom encouraged everyone to check out the Vermont Cheese Trail, where you can go and visit farms and cheese makers.

We headed to the Hope and Main tasting pavilion. My friend Ziggy was there, showcasing his delicious Fox Point pickles.

Watch out, those spicy dills are SPICY!!

To see a full list of exhibitors, please see the Taste Trekkers website here.

Uncle Truscott’s, run by husband and wife team Peter and Katie Kelly,  is also finding a home at Hope and Main. Their truffles are sinful, I especially loved the white chocolate truffles covered in bittersweet chocolate!! In addition to truffles they make this almond butter toffee that is TO-DIE-FOR…and I am patiently waiting for them to open their online shop!!

The Matunuck Oyster Bar and Farm was at the event shucking oysters.

To follow the conversation online, check out the hashtag #2014TTExpo.

Want to check out my Top 5 article for Taste Trekkers? Read it here.

La Creperie, a local Providence company had a long line for there brie and cranberry crepes.

My friend Ziggy told me not to miss the Biggest Little Popcorn Co. at the pavilion. Their English butter toffee popcorn comes in delicious flavors like Orangetine, Lemon Bliss, Lime Light, Mexican Vanilla, Hot Cinnamon, Sweet Masala Curry and Traditional Banana Toffee. Check out their website to purchase!

Other Hope and Main exhibitors included:

Acacia Café Food Truck & Kitchen

The Backyard Food Company

The CupCake Contessas

Essentially Coconut 

Laughing Gull Chocolates 

Matt’s Magic Brownies

Spicy Penguin

Two Gringos

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