Food Network NYC Wine & Food Festival, Thursday – Sunday, October 11th – 14th. The sister festival to the South Beach Wine & Food Festival presented by FOOD & WINE. The festival will bring together the world’s greatest chefs, winemakers, spirits producers and personalities to educate palates and entertain patrons in high style—all while helping to fight hunger. For event information, click here.
Farm to Table Oktoberfest, Friday, October 12th at 5:30pm. The Promise Culinary School , Suydam Farms, The Pale Ales and other local friends are pairing local brews with seasonal food to benefit Elijah’s Promise. $50.00 donation for ticket is required for event. Join us in the greenhouse on Suydam Farms in Somerset. For more info. and tickets, click here.
Jersey Shore Wine Weekend, Friday – Sunday, October 12th – 14th. Asbury Park, NJ. From the creators of Jersey Shore Restaurant Week comes four great events to enjoy wine and food. Learn more about the event details here.
Friday, Oct. 12th; Joseph Drouhin Burgundy Wine Dinner. Saturday, Oct. 13th; Wine sessions, tastings, cooking demos, grand tasting, ultimate wine and cheese pairing. Sunday, Oct. 14th; Champagne and bloody mary brunch.
9th Annual SJ Pumpkin Show, Friday – Sunday, October 12th-14th. Salem County Fairgrounds, Woodstown. The South Jersey Pumpkin Show and Festival is one of the largest and best in New Jersey. Come out and enjoy live bands, great food, contests, Fall Home Show, over 150 craftsmen, NJ Largest Baked Pumpkin Pie, Amusement Rides and Pumpkin Baking Contest and more.
Our Lady of the Lake Oktoberfest, Saturday, October 13th from 6pm-11pm. Verona, NJ. The Oktoberfest festivities begin with a ceremonial beer tapping, followed by German music, great food and other live entertainment. There are also raffle baskets, 50/50 tickets and the Kinderfest. For tickets and more info, click here.
Pacific Ave Cornhole & Craft Beer Festival, Saturday, October 13th. Pacific Avenue in Wildwood. Great morning of fun with a cornhole tournament and craft beer tastings. Click for more info.
Oktoberfest, Saturday, October 13th from 1pm-6pm. Westmont. Keg and Kitchen will host their first ever Oktoberfest featuring over 40 beers, German cuisine, specialty brews, a root bier garden for kids and entertainment. Click for more info.
Cooking Demonstration, Saturday, October 13th from 11am-2pm. Sara Moulton will teach a demonstrations class of recipes from her book, Everyday Family Dinners, at Kings Food Markets in Short Hills (778 Morris Turnpike, Short Hills). To register, click or call 973-463-6500.
Grand Harvest Wine Festival, Saturday & Sunday, October 13th & 14th, from 12pm-5pm. To help celebrate this bountiful time of year, the Garden State Wine Growers Association will once again host its Grand Harvest Wine Festival at Fosterfields Living Historical Farm in Morris Township. Live entertainment, wine tasting and more.
Porktoberfest, Saturday & Sunday, October 13th & 14th. Philadelphia, PA. Pig out on a plethora of porcine pleasures—and toss back some tasty German beer while you’re at it—with this seasonal Adventure: entry to Porktoberfest: an Oktoberfest-themed afternoon filled with all-you-can-eat pork barbecue, live music courtesy of CTO Entertainment, games, and more.
And Beyond…
Pumpkins and Squash Class, Tuesday, October 16th at 10:30am. Held at Eno Terra in Kingston, NJ. This class will be followed by a three-course lunch featuring recipes from the demonstration and served with a glass of wine. Tickets are $65, for reservations, please call: 609-497-1777.
Brielle Oktoberfest, Wednesday, October 17th from 6pm-9pm. Held at the Brielle Fire House, there will be samplings from local restaurants, seasonal beer, door prizes, music, oh and BYOB too! Click for more info.
Harvest on the Hudson, Thursday, October 18th from 6pm-10pm. Jersey City. This event focuses on the farm-to-table dining experience and the benefits of choosing produce and seafood selections from local providers. In addition to tasting dishes from Michael Anthony’s famed chef, Bryan Gregg and sipping on delicious cocktails Harvest on the Hudson will exclusively benefit Share Our Strength’s® No Kid Hungry® campaign. Click for more information.
A Savory Evening | Wine and Beer Tasting, Thursday, October 18th from 7pm-10pm at McLoone’s Boathouse in West Orange. This tasting event benefits the Arc of Essex County, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children and adults with intellectual and development disabilities. For tickets and more info, click here.
Hot Chili & Cool Brew, Thursday, October 18th at 6pm. Newark, NJ. Enjoy a wide variety of the finest domestic and international beers and sample meat and vegetarian chilis and other tantalizing treats in the setting of the beautiful Newark Museum. Click for more information.
Amanti Vino’s Oktoberfest, Friday, October 19th from 7:30pm-11pm. Held at the Wellmont Theatre, Montclair. All you can eat food, wine and beer plus live entertainment. Click for more information.
HarvestFest, Saturday, October 20th from 11:30am-5pm. Downtown Toms River. There will be lots of kids activities, live entertainment, pumpkin decorating, fall dessert contest, a beer garden, football games on large screen TVs, food and merchandise vendors and more.
Shark River Beer Fest, Saturday, October 20th from 3pm-6pm at Sunsets in Neptune. Enjoy beers from 30+ breweries on a waterfront setting with a full buffet and live entertainment. Click for tickets and more information.
Laurita Winery Harvest Festival, Saturday & Sunday, October 20th & 21st. New Egypt. Bring the family and friends. Enjoy live music, fine wines, good food, and shopping for handmade items from over 50 different artisans. Kids will enjoy pony rides, REX the pumpkin eating dinosaur and the playground. Vineyard wagon tours starting at 1:00pm. Click for more info.
Italian Festival, Saturday & Sunday, October 20th & 21st from 11am-5pm. Bellview Winery in Landisville, NJ. Celebrate Italian heritage with a festival of delicious Italian foods and live Italian music. Other activities and attractions include wine tasting; winery and vineyard tours at noon, 1, and 3 PM; crafters; bocce ball and much more. Bring your lawn chairs and enjoy a great fall afternoon! Click for more information.
Cranberry Festival, Saturday & Sunday, October 20th & 21st from 9am-4pm. Chatsworth. Paying tribute to the 3rd largest cranberry harvest in the United States, this annual festival is filled with lots of great food, baked goods, crafts, vendors, and more.
CPC’s 9th Culinary Adventure, Monday, October 22nd from 6pm-9pm. Deal Golf & Country Club. A gourmet food, wine, beer and spirits tasting to benefit CPC Behavioral Healthcare. There will also be silent and gift auctions, raffles and a 50/50. Click for more info.
Locals Feeding Locals, Wednesday, October 24th at 5pm. An evening of delicious food, fine wine, and great entertainment. Giamano’s is graciously hosting the 4th annual LOCALS FEEDING LOCALS event to benefit The FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties. Hearty Italian fall specialties will be served, including appetizers, salad, entrees, dessert, coffee, and a glass of wine-compliments of Montcalm. In addition, guests will have the opportunity to win beautiful prizes at a gift auction. Click for more info.
Montclair Fall Food Classic, Friday, October 26th from 12pm-2pm. A seasonal light lunch will be served from a menu devised by two of NJ’s finest restaurants, the Orange Squirrel and Osteria Giotto, to benefit The Salvation Army hot meal program at the Citadel in Montclair. Admission will be by ticket only. Tickets available from The Salvation Army, 13 Trinity Place, Montclair NJ 07042; contact Michele Kroeze telephone 973-744-3312 ext. 4651 or email [email protected].
Wine & Chefs Tasting, Thursday, November 1st from 6pm-9pm. The Mill, Spring Lake Heights. Enjoy a variety of wines and spirits, and sample tastings from some the area’s best restaurants and caterers! Bring friends and enjoy the great atmosphere and music. This event benefits Michael’s Feat. Click for tickets and more information.
Chef Wars II, Friday, November 2nd. Egg Harbor City. You can be the judge as the Renault Winery chefs compete against the Joseph’s/ Tuscany chefs. Both teams will create award winning cuisine as they vie for your votes. For more information, call Renault Winery Resort & Golf at 609-965-2111.
3nd Annual Wine & Food Classic, Friday, November 2nd from 5pm-9:30pm. Join the YMCA of Burlington and Camden Counties for the 3rd Annual event. This year’s event benefits the Y’s Community Support Campaign that provides services to children and families in Burlington and Camden counties regardless of their ability to pay. Guests will enjoy more than 700 of South Jersey’s finest selection of wines and dishes prepared by premium chefs. A limited number of tickets will be sold for a V.I.P. reception, featuring premium wine and menu selections. For tickets, click here.
Coffee & Tea Festival Atlantic City, Saturday & Sunday, November 3rd and 4th. The event will offer two days of programming including tastings, classes, lectures and demonstrations from well-known industry professionals and pioneers. Chocolates and other sweet treats will offer a wonderful compliment to the spectacular collection of coffees and teas. Click for more info.
Six Flags Grape Adventure, Saturday & Sunday, November 3rd & 4th. Jackson. The event will feature NJ wineries offering nearly 150 locally produced wines for sampling and music. Schedule a time for the Safari Tasting Tour which includes a private tour and stop in the Wild Safari. (Theme park is not open during this event.) Click for tickets and more info.
Kosherfest | Tradeshow, Tuesday & Wednesday, November 13th & 14th. Secaucus. The perfect platform to connect with buyers and sellers from across the globe to find what your business needs to succeed. See hundreds of new certified-kosher products first-hand and meet thousands of qualified buyers face-to-face, all under one roof. Click for more information.
Queen of Hops Awards Ceremony, Thursday, November 15th at 6pm at The Copper Mine Pub in North Arlington. Taste the homebrews, meet other women home brewers and celebrate women in craft beer. You’ll also have the chance to get free swag and meet the judges. For more information about the Queen of Hops contest, click here.
Buddy Valastro Live | Homemade for the Holidays Tour, Monday, November 26th at 7:30pm. Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank. Candy canes, carols, and the Cake Boss. Celebrate the holidays this season Buddy style! TLC’s Cake Boss Buddy Valastro brings a special holiday show the entire family will enjoy. Sharing the holiday traditions and stories from his family at Carlo’s Bakery, Buddy presents an all new show full of holiday spirit and jingle bell rock, demonstrating the techniques that have made him the most famous cake artist in the country. Click for more details and tickets.
In a small bowl, mix together the Greek yogurt and egg. Using a fork stir the wet into the dry mix until it forms large pieces of dough. Use your hand and the sides of the bowl to press it into a large ball. Don’t worry if there doesn’t seem to be enough moisture, as you work it together the ingredients will start to meld.
When I learned that all of the desserts at Under the Moon Café were made from scratch, I knew that I had to make room. This turned out to be a good decision notwithstanding the (ahem) screaming waistband on my jeans. I ordered the luscious, rich and creamy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pie, which had a decadent, yet homemade goodness. The nice people at Under the Moon also sent me home with a big brownie to try the next day. This was, without a doubt, the thickest, most chocolaty brownie that I have ever had in a restaurant. Here’s a tip: when you walk in to the restaurant, look to your right at the dessert case packed full of goodies, pre-plan your dessert attack, and make sure you save room!
When I think about craft beer in New Jersey, I don’t think “Lakehurst.” That is, until now. It seems like craft beer is rapidly finding it’s way into all corners of the Garden State. I attended the first beer tasting dinner at the recently opened Tipperary Pub and they kicked it off with Kane Brewing (Ocean Township). That’s what I call hedging your bets!
The tasting started with fried Chicken Murphy dumplings with a spicy sweet and sour dipping sauce paired with Kane Single Fin. I honestly don’t know where the “Murphy” part came in with the dumplings but they packed some heat which was checked nicely by the sweetness of a typical Belgian Single. Good start.
Next up was your choice of burgers from their regular menu. Since Kane Head High IPA was the accompaniment, I went with the Steakhouse burger. Real-deal onion rings and horseradish sauce went great with Kane’s no holes barred IPA. Even though the kitchen had to crank out 20 burgers at once, mine was cooked to a perfect medium rare. That’s no small feat.
The pairing of the night came with dessert: A surprisingly light bread pudding with Kane Malus. I don’t eat dessert ever, but I did this night. Malus is a Belgian strong dark ale brewed with Delicious Orchards apple cider which was reduced and added to the boil. It delivers sweet cider up front but finishes bone dry so it met the bread pudding‘s sweetness but then cleansed the palate for the next bite. Glenn told us that Malus was very labor intensive to brew so don’t expect to see it very often. It’s their first bottled beer (cork and cage 750’s) so buy it if you find it at your local liquor store!
Wayne and Anne Galya
Lunch Break’s Fall Gala, Friday, October 5th from 6pm-10pm at Two River Theater in Red Bank. Enjoy wine and beer tastings, food by Red Bank Flavour, a special guest entertainer, live and silent auctions, raffles, and a presentation. Click for more info and tickets.
RHO Oktoberfest, Saturday, October 6th at 3pm. This is a cultural event that will be held at Rho Waterfront in Trenton celebrating the German culture with authentic German food, German beers, live entertainment, and more! Click here for more info and tickets.
Lima Bean Festival, Saturday, October 6th in West Cape May. Get your bean on with lima bean t-shirts from Flying Fish, lima bean chili, lima bean taco soup, lima bean jewelry, lima bean stained glass, lima bean birdhouses, lima bean pottery and this year a special treat- lima bean ice cream from Bliss of Cape May. Almost 100 vendors will also sell barbeque, turkey legs, crab cakes, smoothies, flowers, produce, collectibles, antiques and art… and of course fresh lima beans! 
Avalon Seafood Festival, Saturday & Sunday, October 6th & 7th. Taste delectable treats from the sea at the Chamber’s Annual Seafood Festival. Featuring fresh seafood vendors, chowder contest, live music, vendors and 
HarvestFest, Saturday, October 20th from 11:30am-5pm. Downtown Toms River. There will be lots of kids activities, live entertainment, pumpkin decorating, fall dessert contest, a beer garden, football games on large screen TVs, food and merchandise vendors and more.
Ahhh, the Jersey Shore in the fall. A slight chill is in the night air, the crowds are gone, you can get a restaurant reservation for a Saturday night, and the traffic on the Garden State Parkway is bearable. These reasons are what drove me to Rumson last Saturday for dinner at 
I had read that Francesco makes pasta every day, and even though there were many wonderful sounding entrees offered, I was not passing up fresh, house-made pasta. I chose the tagliatelle Bolognese. Pure delight on every level. A hearty, savory meat sauce clung to the pasta like it was emotionally involved.
My husband’s standard test meal at every new Italian restaurant is veal saltimbocca alla Romana. And he’s disappointed 9 out of 10 times. Happily, the 10th time was the charm. Tender veal scaloppini topped with prosciutto, sage, and sautéed with white wine and served over spinach, but my husband asked for escarole instead and they were happy to accommodate his request. What makes this stand out from other saltimboccas (besides the ethereal veal) was the lack of cheese, which usually tops this dish. Hands down, this was the best veal saltimbocca we’ve tasted in years.
All the desserts are homemade (other than the gelato) and I’m sure you would not go wrong with any of them. However, I am a biscotti girl through and through and Francesco’s right-out-of-the-village Italian cookies served with exquisite cannoli cream called me. And, as Snoopy says, when a cookie calls, you answer. Nary was a crumb or drop of cream left when we got done. I managed to snag two cookies from the quick hands around the table and counted myself lucky!
It’s always great to get together with friends as the weather cools down and our thoughts turn to indoor entertaining. Recently, I was engaged in a bit of creative head-scratching as I tried to come up with ideas for a dessert gathering with a twist. The old potluck idea just wasn’t doing it for me. Luckily, I was offered the opportunity to try a new type of candy at a chocolate sampling party sponsored by the makers of UNREAL Candy ™. Since several of my friends share the same mad passion for chocolate that I do, I eagerly signed up for this tantalizing tasting task.
To make the tasting experience more sensual, I decided to serve the candy bars naked and unadorned. Since Unreal Candy ™ is similar to other well known confections (such as those multicolored plain and peanut treats), I did a blind tasting. I put the “original” candy on one side, and the similar tasting UNREAL Candy ™ right next to it. Aren’t my tiny tasting plates cute?
I thought that a wine and chocolate combination sounded interesting, so I served the chocolate confections with a “Diva” sparkling wine from Buttonwood Winery in New York’s Finger Lakes, as well as “Alycone,” a red wine with chocolate undertones from Uruguay that I picked up at Passion Vines in Princeton. The sparkling wine paired wonderfully with the chocolate, while my guests enjoyed the red wine after chocolate.
New Jersey has received an $816,127 Specialty Crop Block Grant to fund 13 initiatives to benefit Garden State crops such as fruits, vegetables, as well as horticulture and nursery. The grants are part of the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) efforts to promote specialty crops in the nation. Most of New Jersey agriculture falls into the specialty crop category. Specialty crops account for $882.4 million in sales annually in the Garden State.
It’s never too early to start planning for Thanksgiving and this 
