From the sweet to the savory, world-class local chefs and vendors know a thing or two about serving up peak palates, and the first-ever Whitefish Food & Wine Festival last weekend was no exception.  

“We’re just excited to be on the ground floor. We feel like we should be here,” said Manda Hudak, head instructor at the Flathead Valley Community College’s Culinary Institute. Hudak was joined by students, instructors and Andy Blanton, the Culinary Institute’s executive director, at a booth at a midday tasting session Saturday at Haskill Creek Farms in Whitefish. 

The group was serving duck rillette with a huckleberry-icewine gastrique, collard greens and pickled beet jus.  

“It’s another opportunity and reason to cook. This is what we do and how we support the effort,” Hudak said. 

Jacob Hausauer, head chef at Wasabi Sushi Bar in Whitefish, was preparing “a simple bigeye tuna sashimi with a fresh ponzu sauce” for a live cooking demo. 

Hausauer held out a fresh wasabi root to celebrity chef Todd English, a four-time James Beard Award-winner who is a founding partner of the festival. 

The green root resembles a horseradish, but is “much more complex, nuttier” and requires a “deep skin grater. It takes about three years to mature, and it grows around streams in low valleys,” Hausauer said. 

Held over three days, the event included tasting sessions and pairing events, panels and seminars and live music. 

“There’s a lot of positive exposure for local participants. It helps the community bring people in who aren’t familiar with Whitefish,” said Tom Maney, head chef at Huck’s Place, while grilling skewers and sliders under drizzly skies at the tasting session.  

Local private chef Michael Tolomeo said he was having a “wonderful” time at his first  festival-sized event.  

As he talked, Tolomeo sprinkled cedar salt on top of smoked bison New York strips with local trout inside and huckleberry-cherry barbecue sauce on top, paired with wild mushroom rangoons. 

Exceptional food like Tolomeo’s brought in more buzz than the wine booths, which were heavy on wine selections from California, Washington, Oregon, France and Italy, but light on beer and attendance.  

J.D. Dohtry, a brewer for Bias Brewing, said that at the Saturday midday tasting session, “people are more interested in wine than beer. It seems like there’s more vendors than people.”  

Beyond the three tasting sessions held throughout the weekend at Haskill Creek Farms, there were also partner events at Abruzzo, Blackstar, Huck’s Place, Hellroaring and Summit House, all of which catered to each place’s specialized location and cuisine.  

The festival was created by local Whitefish entrepreneur and real-estate investor, Joe Hess, in collaboration with English and Ryan Heil, event producer and Founder of Axcess Entertainment. 

Hess said that a “Sip and SUP” paddleboard event was cancelled due to the weather. A partner event at Beldi was cancelled because “they got the tickets out a bit late,” Hess said.  

“Adam Becker at Beldi is an incredible chef. Maybe next year he could cook on stage,” Hess said. 

Hess said that they’re also thinking about planning restaurant events earlier, or creating other events, like a farm dinner.  

“It came down to logistics. There were a lot of locals that wanted to participate, but couldn’t because of timing and staffing, and having other events already scheduled. We hope to plan early next year so we can get on the calendar and everyone who wants to participate has the opportunity,” Hess said.  

Hess said that they’ve been planning since February, but events like this usually take a full year to plan.  

Hess said they had plenty of wine, with over 230 options, but that next year they’ll want more food and staff available.  

“It’s going to be fun in the next few weeks getting feedback from attendees, suppliers and chefs, and putting together great ideas for next year so we can expand our community partnerships and grow all around,” Hess said.

    Maya Roger, student at Flathead Valley Community College Culinary Institute, serves duck rillette at the Whitefish Food and Wine Festival tasting session. On the right is Andy Blanton and Josh Rutherford. (Kelsey Evans/Whitefish Pilot)
  

    Chef Michael Tolomeo prepares bison at the Whitefish Food and Wine Festival tasting session. (Kelsey Evans/Whitefish Pilot)
  

    J.D. Dohtry, brewer at Bias Brewing, holds up a crisp Jewel Basin IPA at the Whitefish Food and Wine Festival tasting session Saturday. (Kelsey Evans/Whitefish Pilot)