So I’ve been lucky enough to attend a good amount of food festivals in my time, and even judge a handful of them as well. Nuit Belge is now one of my favorite food festivals that I have attended in all of my years of eating.
Outside of Music City Food + Wine, this might be the top chef lineup in Nashville for a food event. Trust me, when it comes to food festivals, you want to make sure that the best of the best are there, lines are short, and drinks are plentiful. Taking home a glass and some swag is always good too!
Not only are you getting the cream of the crop of Nashville chefs, but all the bites are exceptional as well. You can tell there is flavorful thought put, not only into the bites themselves, but with the Belgian style beer pairings as well. A perfect pairing can change and add to the complexity and flavor of a bite.
The roster is stacked. Butcher & Bee, Kuchnia + Keller, Marsh House, Nicky's Coal Fired, Lockeland Table, Black Rabbit, Two Ten Jack, Pastaria, VEA Supper Club, Urban Grub and Toups’ Meatery from New Orleans. It’s a food lovers dream lineup. Plus there were multiple tastings from Olive and Sinclair, cheeses from Whole Foods, and Murder Point Oysters. Oh yeah, and Blackberry Farms Brewery was representing as well!
Try as I might, regardless of a valiant effort, I did not taste every bite. I did manage to nosh the majority of offerings and these are my top 5 bites from the event with beer pairings.
#5 - Dutch Masters 18 Month Gouda, Stilton Blue, Pavino and Grayson Cheeses from Whole Foods
#4 - Chicken Liver Pate from Lockeland Table - House Made Pork Chicharron / Gunpowder Seasoning with Orval
#3 - Smoked Whitefish Salad from Kuchnia + Keller- Almonds / Celery / Red Onion / Dill Crema / Rye Bread with Oude Geuze
#2 - Chazuke from Two Ten Jack - Rice / Hojicha Dashi / Nori / Wasabi / Wild Steelhead Trout Roe with Sauvage
#1 - Sake Lees from Bastion - Bloomy Rind Cheese / Peach with Miaou
If you didn’t make it out to Nuit Belge this year, you missed out. Where else can you get amazing chefs, top notch food, short lines, and perfectly paired beer all in one place? Mark your calendars foodies! I’ll see you there next year.
