Madison Food and Wine Show

My third time to the annual Food and Wine Show at the Alliant Energy Exhibition Hall was like the previous times: enjoyable and filling.

The ticket price at $37 in advance is a bit steep, so you have to really eat and drink a lot to get your money's worth. I must say, I definitely did this year.

The premise, if you don't know, is that you get to try unlimited free samples of wine and bite-sized food from many, many regional vendors. Some of the stands have several dozen samples of wine! That's why many people get weekend passes for the three-day event.

Also worth noting: you get to keep the wine glass you use for sampling, and many other freebies throughout the event are available.

Since I wasn't driving, I went all out--a big mistake as I ended up having exactly 50 samples of wine, three beers and two margaritas. Talk about a hangover!

As usual, Sentry Metcalfe's and Willy St. Co-op provided some great food to sample.

There's also several cooking shows, including the entertaining chef cook-off (won this year by the Concourse Hotel cook).

Most of the wine is available for purchase as you leave. Saturday night also includes a secret top-shelf (all wines worth $40 or more) party.

I highly recommend going if you can afford it.

Next October, remember to check out www.EatDrinkMadison.com for more information.

Burlington Chocolate Fest

Each year, the city of Burlington throws its four-day Chocolate Fest over Memorial Day weekend. Besides chocolate tastings, chocolate-eating contests and cooking demonstrations, there's live music and a full carnival.

Admission is $7 at the door, $6 in advance, though you can only buy tickets in Burlington. Parking is $5, or you can parking several blocks away and walk, though I would not suggest it.

As you walk in the entrance, you are handed a map and schedule of events, along with some fun-size Crunch bars (Nestle has a chocolate plant in Burlington).

For the carnival and live music itself, it's worth attending the festival, but it's unfortunately lacking in its main attraction: chocolate. There is one tent dedicated to chocolate, and that's it.

Inside is where you can watch (and participate) in the chocolate eating contest (how many fun-size Crunch bars can you eat in two minutes), watch some food demonstrations and buy chocolate from various vendors. You can also buy a $2 tasting ticket that gets you five different samples. On Saturday night there is a wine and chocolate tasting, limited to 200 participants.

I really felt these events could have been scattered throughout the fair grounds (e.g. put the chocolate eating contest on a stage in front of a large crowd), and that there should have been more events. For example, have a Miss Chocolate Fest contest. Or, have some carnival games with chocolate as the prizes.

Another suggestion: The theme this year was "Pirates of the Chocolate-Be'an," but this was not repeated in any way throughout the festival. More pirate-themed activities, etc., would have been nice.

Still, the event was not overly crowded (I went on Saturday), and the beer was not overly expensive ($3.50 for a Miller Lite). Nice time for all ages.

More info at www.chocolatefest.com.