PETALUMA, Calif. — The United States’ premier artisan cheese event, the 9th Annual California’s Artisan Cheese Festival, today announces the participants for the Chefs vs. Chefs – The Best Bite on Saturday, March 21, 2015. Bringing together more than 60 Californian artisan cheesemakers, restaurants, breweries and wineries, this walk-around tasting event is one of the weekend’s most popular. Following the same format as previous years’ Grand Cheese Tasting & Best in Cheese Competition, participating restaurants have been paired up with a local cheesemaker to create unique cheese-centric bites, and attendees will have a chance to vote for their favorite. During the event, guests will be able to not only taste the offerings of each participant, but also interact with chefs, cheesemakers, brewers and winemakers at this roaming feast.
Cheesemakers highlighted in the Chefs vs. Chefs event include:
Achadinha Cheese Company (Petaluma)
Beehive Cheese Company (Uintah, Utah)
Bellwether Farms (Petaluma)
Central Coast Creamery (Paso Robles)
Cowgirl Creamery (Point Reyes Station)
Cypress Grove Chevre (Arcata)
Fiscalini Farms (Modesto)
Garden Variety Cheese (Royal Oaks)
Gypsy Cheese Co. (Valley Ford)
Nicasio Valley Cheese Co. (Nicasio)
Orland Farmstead Creamery (Orland)
Pennyroyal Farm (Boonville)
Petaluma Creamery/Spring Hill Cheese (Petaluma)
Pedrozo Cheese Co. (Orland)
Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co.
(Point Reyes Station)
Pug’s Leap (Petaluma)
Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery (Sebastopol)
Shamrock Artisan Goat Cheese (Willits)
Sierra Nevada Cheese Company (Willows)
Two Rock Valley Cheese Co. (Petaluma)
Valley Ford Cheese Co. (Valley Ford)
Willapa Hills Farmstead & Artisan Cheese (Doty, Washington)
Restaurants partnering with one of the above cheesemakers to create cheese-centric bites for the Chefs vs. Chefs tasting event are:
Backyard (Forestville)
Causwells (San Francisco)
Corks Restaurant (Forestville)
Freestone Artisan Cheese & Crepes (Freestone)
Haven (Oakland)
John Ash & Co. (Santa Rosa)
Korbel Delicatessen (Guerneville)
La Condesa Napa Valley (St. Helena)
Lincoln Park Wine Bar (San Anselmo)
Nick’s Cove Restaurant, Oyster Bar & Cottages (Marshall)
Preferred Sonoma Catering (Petaluma)
Revival Bar + Kitchen (Berkeley)
Rocker Oysterfeller’s Kitchen + Saloon (Valley Ford)
The Ahwahnee Dining Room (Yosemite)
The Duck Club (Bodega Bay)
The Lodge at Sonoma (Sonoma)
The Rind (Sacramento)
Tin Roof Bakery (Chico)
Tolay Restaurant (Petaluma)
Breweries and wineries pouring their products on Saturday night include:
Acorn Winery/Alegria Vineyards (Healdsburg)
Baeltane Brewing (Novato)
Black Kite Cellars (Anderson Valley)
Bucher Vineyard Wines (Healdsburg)
Crispin Cider (Colfax)
Gloria-Ferrer Caves and Vineyards (Sonoma)
Keller Estate Winery (Petaluma)
Kelley & Young Wines (Geyserville)
Kokomo Winery (Healdsburg)
Korbel Champagne Cellars (Guerneville)
Lagunitas Brewery (Petaluma)
Navarro Vineyards (Philo)
North Coast Brewing Company (Fort Bragg)
Paul Mathew Vineyards (Graton)
Russian River Vineyards (Forestville)
Sonoma Cider (Healdsburg)
Sonoma Portworks (Petaluma)
Specific Gravity Cider Company (Sebastopol)
Viansa Winery & Marketplace (Sonoma)
Wandering Aengus Ciderworks (Salem, Oregon)
The Saturday night Chefs vs. Chefs – The Best Bite will take place at the Festival’s host hotel, the Sheraton Sonoma County, Petaluma (745 Baywood Drive, Petaluma, CA 94954). Tickets to this gastronomic showdown are $75 per person.
Tickets to several of the Festival’s other weekend-long events are also still available, including Friday night’s inaugural Cheesemongers’ Duel, several of the Saturday seminars, Sunday’s Bubbles and Brunch with Chef Erik Johnson of J Vineyards and Winery, and the Artisan Cheese Tasting & Marketplace. Tickets for all events may be purchased at www.artisancheesefestival.com.
Those interested can also follow updates by liking the Artisan Cheese Festival on Facebook and following the event on Twitter. All events are priced separately and the Sheraton Sonoma County – Petaluma is offering special discounted rates on rooms for festival-goers.
Generous sponsors of the Artisan Cheese Festival include All American Printing, American AgCredit, Beehive Cheese Company, Bellwether Farms, California Milk Advisory Board, Central Coast Creamery, Clover Stornetta Farms, Cowgirl Creamery, Creminelli Fine Meats, LLC, Culture magazine, Cypress Grove Chevre, Donald & Maureen Green Foundation, Exchange Bank, Ellipses Public Relations, Fiscalini Cheese Co., John Boos, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Laura Chenel Chevre, Leafware, Marin French Cheese Company, Mike Hudson Distributing, Nicasio Valley Cheese Company, Nugget Markets Inc., Oakland Packaging & Supply, Oliver’s Markets, Pennyroyal Farm & Creamery, Petaluma Creamery, Petaluma Market, Pisenti & Brinker LLP, Pt. Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company, Pure Luxury Transportation, Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery and Green Valley Organics, Relish Culinary Adventures, Rustic Bakery, Sierra Nevada Cheese Company, Sheraton Sonoma County, Simple & Crisp, Sonoma Clean Power, The Cheese School of San Francisco, Tony’s Fine Foods, Valley Fig Growers, Valley Ford Cheese Company, Willapa Hills Cheese and Yelp.
About California’s Artisan Cheese Festival
A 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization, California’s Artisan Cheese Festival strives to increase cheese appreciation, educate consumers about artisan cheeses, support the cheesemaking community and its sustainability and celebrate the creations of California’s many farmers and cheesemakers. The festival began in March 2007 as the first-ever, weekend-long celebration and exploration of handcrafted cheeses, foods, wines and beers from California and beyond. In keeping with its dedication to the community, the Artisan Cheese Festival donates 10% of all ticket proceeds to Sonoma Land Trust, Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Petaluma Future Farmers of America, California Artisan Cheese Guild and Redwood Empire Food Bank. To date the Artisan Cheese Festival has contributed more than $70,000 to these non-profit organizations that work to support the artisan cheesemaking community and its infrastructure in California. For more information, visit www.artisancheesefestival.com.
Source: California’s Artisan Cheese Festival
