What you’ll find at the food and wine festival Fête Rouge in July and August
For the last 12 years, one of the easiest ways to peer into local food and wine trends has been to attend Fête Rouge, one of Baton Rouge’s liveliest culinary celebrations. This year, the festival’s two major events take place across July and August rather than over one weekend like previously, explains Brian Dykes, general manager for Bin 77 and president-elect of the Baton Rouge Epicurean Society. It also moves to a new location, the Renaissance Hotel, this year.
Here’s a look at what you can expect to find at Fête Rouge.
AWARDS DINNER
July 15
The festivities kick off with the Grace “Mama” Marino Lifetime Achievement Award dinner at the Renaissance Hotel. The award honors a culinary or business leader who has advanced the city’s dining scene while also making a difference in the community. This year’s honoree is Ben Kleinpeter, who ran the Kleinpeter Farms Dairy with his four brothers until he became sole owner in 1987. He brought back and expanded the dairy’s farming operations in 1997, setting a course for the dairy steeped in environmental stewardship and animal welfare. Today, Kleinpeter Dairy is run by a fourth generation of Kleinpeter family members. It is the largest independent dairy in Louisiana.
“Ben Kleinpeter has been instrumental in making the community better,” Dykes says. “Nearly every restaurant in town does business with Kleinpeter in some way.”
For the dinner, local chefs will prepare a six-course meal with wine pairings for each course. Tickets are $200 each, and proceeds from the event will benefit Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital, the Louisiana Culinary Institute Foundation and the ProStart culinary education program for public high school students. Childhood nutrition and culinary career education are two of the Epicurean Society’s chief charitable causes.
FOOD AND WINE FÊTE
Aug. 17
Dykes says 35 restaurants will be on site at the main event to show off innovative dishes. Also, more than a dozen wine distributors will feature 220 different wines for tasting.
Local chefs will compete in several categories, including seafood, meat, game, People’s Choice and Lagniappe, which encourages chefs to incorporate a majority of local ingredients in a dish. Early bird tickets start at $65 for the event.
“It’s a great opportunity to see what local chefs are doing,” Dykes says, “and to sample some new wines while you’re at it.”
Find out more
For more information about the Awards Dinner and the Food and Wine Fête, visit bresbr.org.
This article was originally published in the July 2018 issue of 225 Magazine.
