Eat Real Festival 2013 – Coffee

bennett does the blue bottle roastery tour

The organizers of this year’s Eat Real Festival decided to group all of the coffee folks together into a “Coffee Pavilion”, which included Blue Bottle Coffee, Ritual Coffee Roasters, The Bicycle Coffee Company, Bloom (a new coffee delivery service), Barefoot Coffee Roasters, Roast Co, and Mr. Espresso.  Sweet Maria’s also joined in with some home roasting demonstrations.  All of the good stuff in one place – Jack London Square, Oakland, California.

 

Blue Bottle was offering tours of their roastery, which is only 2 blocks away from Jack London Square.  After going over the history of the company, Bennett served samples of their 3 Africans blend to the audience, brewed in a Chemex:

bennett does the blue bottle roastery tour

Bennett described how coffee cherries are processed and showed a few examples of beans that had been wet and dry-processed.bennett does the blue bottle roastery tour

bennett does the blue bottle roastery tour

The tour continued with a description of the roasting process (2 giant Probat roasters in this case) and then a visit to the barista training lab, where Bennett described the training process and explained some of the training equipment.

 

Back at the festival, Chris from Ritual Coffee Roasters gave an Aeropress demonstration in the coffee pavilion, which had been decorated with coffee-themed posters by Bloom.

coffee posters by bloom ready

Chris showed off his favorite Aeropress recipe.  16 grams of beans (I believe he was using their El Angel from Costa Rica):chris does a ritual roasters aeropress demo

with a grind somewhere between a drip and espresso.  He put 2 paper filters in the Aeropress for more back-pressure and then poured water that had been off of a boil for a few minutes.chris does a ritual roasters aeropress demoHe sealed the Aeropress by just barely putting the plunger in, then let it rest for 60 seconds.  After 60 seconds, he agitated the bloom with a spoon, and then waited another 60 seconds (I think?) before finally plunging: chris does a ritual roasters aeropress demoIt was a great cup.  Fairly fruit-forward with sweet tart notes that got stronger as the coffee cooled.

 

Ritual’s Sputnik is usually a fixture at the festival, but they were not allowed to bring the trailer to this year’s festival due to some Alameda County restrictions.  But the baristas were cool with it:

ritual roasters

I wanted to have some of Bicycle Coffee’s nitro brew and something from Barefoot, but I was already too wound up on caffeine to have any more..

barefoot coffee

Steer Butchery Competition at Eat Real Festival 2012

The stage was in a slightly different spot on the green at Jack  London Square, but the crowd showed up just the same for Eat Real Festival’s 2012 Flying Knives Steer Butchery Competition.   The competitors were familiar, but with some changes: The defending-champion Yedra brothers, formerly of Marin Sun Farms  are now working for the BN Ranch team.  Dave the Butcher, Josh Kleinsmith and Adam Tiberio all joined forces once again, and the Butcher’s Guild put together a formidable team.

 

The crowd gathers, waiting for the start of the competition.  A woman holds a sign: “Viva Los Campeones Los Hermanos Yedra”

A Butcher’s Guild team member is representing Oakland:

Trophies for the 2012 champions-to-be:

The Yedra brothers hoist a hindquarter onto the hook.  These weigh about 200lb.

A Butcher’s Guild competitor rocks the Oaklandish STAY sticker on his knife sheath / scabbard.  Yeah Oakland!

Katy Quinn starts cutting with the saw:

The Yedra brothers start getting to work as well:

At one point, a festival attendee started resting his arms on the butcher’s table and was interfering with the competition.  Katy Quinn politely asked him to give them some space:

Oscar Yedra:

Adam Tiberio:

Josh Kleinsmith:

The crowd is having a good time:

The work of the Yedra Brothers:

The Butcher’s Guild table: (Hat from Zingerman’s Cornman Farms in Dexter, Michigan)

Yedra brothers:

Dave the Butcher of Marina Meats was mic’ed up and performed the dual roles of commentator and butcher:

Dave the Butcher laughs at a comment from Anya while cutting away:

The Yedra Brothers had quite a fan club:

And they came well-prepared.  Labels and kale.

Cuts of beef, labeled and on display by the Yedra Brothers:

Impressive.

The Butcher’s Guild team celebrates after breaking down the hindquarter:

Anya Fernald hands the microphone to Oscar Yedra to talk about what his team did:

Katy Quinn enjoys a well deserved beer:

The Yedra Brothers were declared champions, once again.  This was their 4th win in a row.

Eat Real Festival 2012 (sans Steer Butchery)

Oh hey!  Last month was Oakland’s annual Eat Real Festival and I returned to take pictures on September 22nd.  I will put up photos from the Flying knives steer butchery competition in a separate post.

Miss Pearl’s Jam House led a demonstration and discussion titled “Water to Table”.  This is a tuna.

Chef Eddie Blyden freaks out a local child with a giant fish:

The festival featured multiple beer pouring stations.  This one featured a refrigerated storage container filled with kegs.  Here, an Eat Real Festival volunteer poses for the camera after completing a pour:

Kids customized t-shirts at the new Kids’ Zone:

5733/LOAKal was there to represent:

Ice cream from Berkeley’s famous Ici, located in the wonderful Elmwood district:

Judges are a little critical of one entry in the Bare Bones BBQ Competition:

Festival-goers season their corn:

Homebrew winner.  Homebrew winner.  Homebrew winner:

Jamboree contest entries featured Ollalie Berry Jam, Tangerine Lemon Jelly, Lemon Orange Marmalade and Kumquat Chutney:

The start of a beautiful thai fruit carving:

Gorgeous autumn sun floods through Jack London Square:

A helper for Jack London Square newcomer, Forge Pizza takes orders:

American flags over Jack London Square:

The Yedra Brothers win again – at the 2012 Flying Knives Steer Butchery at Eat Real

The Yedra Brothers win for the fourth time in a row at the 2012 Eat Real Festival Flying Knives Steer Butchery.  Oscar Yedra of BN Ranch  shakes hands with Katy Quinn of the Butcher’s Guild after the steer butchery competition is over, with cuts of beef on trays in the background. More to come as I process the photos.  Follow me on twitter or like this site on facebook for updates as I post them.

 

Eat Real Fest 2011 Part 6 – Vendors and other photos

This is Part 6 of a series of photo posts from Oakland’s Eat Real Festival, September 23-25, 2011 at Jack London Square.  (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5).  These photos are various ones that I took while walking around the festival on Saturday, the 24th.

 

Ebbett’s Good to Go – Order and pick-up windows and a t-shirt.

 

 

 

 

Condiments from Belcampo

 

 

 

 

Belcampo served a koreatown kimchi hot dog and beef tallow fries.

 

 

 

 

Here’s an overhead view of the marketplace and the DIY Make It stage.

 

 

 

 

Fried fish taco from The Taco Guys – “Taco de Maui – batter-fried sustainable ono (wahoo), shredded gem lettuce, pickled radishes, sriracha mayo and cilantro”

 

 

 

 

Lamb (!!) taco from The Taco Guys – “braised red hill farms leg of lamb, grilled jalapenos, burmese spices, pickled cucumbers with sesame, thai basil, local sheep’s yogurt sauce”

 

 

 

 

the ever photogenic ritual roasters trailer, sputnik

 

a la marzocco and a demitasse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a cafe mocha with a heart-shaped rosetta from ritual.

 

 

 

 

jack london square at dusk.  It was still fairly crowded despite the fact that the festival was closing down for the evening.

 

 

 

 

Jim ‘n Nick’s truck always has something clever on its rear

 

 

 

 

Jim ‘n Nick’s: meat in the oven

 

 

 

 

Big Cat & The Hipnotics were playing the blues.

 

 

 

 

 

Eat Real Fest 2011 Part 5 – Vendors and other photos

This is Part 5 of a series of photo posts from Oakland’s Eat Real Festival, September 23-25, 2011 at Jack London Square.  (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 6).

Pork, frying by Urban Style Barbecue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guys from The Whole Beast breaking down some delicious-looking lamb for gyros.

 

 

 

 

Jim ‘N Nick’s BBQ always have a decked-out trailer.  “First we send him to heaven, then we send you there”

 

 

 

 

Fried smelt from Forage SF.  Looked so good.

 

 

 

 

Cheeseburgers from 4505 meats.  They were dripping with juicy goodness.

 

 

 

 

Mac ‘n Cheese from Homeroom.

 

 

 

 

A great window display from Kara’s Cupcakes with palm trees in the reflection

 

 

 

 

Caramelizing homemade marshmallows for s’mores at Kika’s Treats.  One of the cookies is dipped in chocolate.

 

 

 

 

Jack London Square had a table and a raffle.  The bike arch of wheels was on display.

 

 

 

 

Beekeeping at the Urban Homesteading area

 

 

 

 

Sprouts cooking club – cooking classes for kids.  They looked like they were having a great time,

 

 

 

 

A meatloaf sandwich from Prather Ranch’s American Eatery

 

 

 

 

Festivalgoers at the main stage.

 

 

 

 

A DIY mozzarella cheese workshop at the DIY Make-it area

 

 

 

 

Vegetarians, fret not – there was a vegetarian analog for all of the steer and pig butchery going on.

 

 

 

 

food crates at the Wholes Foods Main Craft Stage

 

 

 

 

Super-excited winner of the pickling competition

 

 

 

 

 

Eat Real Fest 2011 Part 4 – The Flying Knives Steer Butchery Competition, continued

This is Part 4 of a series of photo posts from Oakland’s Eat Real Festival, September 23-25, 2011 at Jack London Square.  (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5, Part 6)

This post is a continuation of the Flying Knives Steer Butchery Competition – perhaps the most exciting part of Eat Real Festival.

 

 

Dave the Butcher gets the crowd involved.

 

 

 

 

Some cuts of meat start to make their way onto the display

 

 

 

 

Jose ‘Pepe’ Penaloza cuts thin slices

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave goes hands-free

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anya and Dave hold up a cut for the excited crowd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Tomahawk cut from the Yedra brothers and Rian Rinn

 

 

 

 

Damn.  That’s a good looking spread from the Yedra brothers and Rian Rinn.

 

 

 

 

The judges (4505, in this case) were swilled with beer to help take away their judging inhibitions.

 

 

 

 

Zach’s (from Shopper’s Corner)  “Santa Cruz – Beware of Locals” sticker.

 

 

 

 

Jose ‘Pepe’ Penaloza, rocking the Butcher’s Guild t-shirt.

 

 

 

 

Anya wows the crowd with a bit of her mastery of butcher’s cuts

 

 

 

 

Zach Gero and Josh Kleinsmith work together with the bone saw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave the Butcher gets in on the bone saw action too.

 

 

 

 

Cuts of beef.

 

 

 

 

More cuts of beef from the eventual winners by a large margin Rian Rinn and the Yedra brothers.  They were judged on efficiency, accuracy of cuts, technique and teamwork.  These guys had hardly any waste.

 

 

 

 

Bone saw, needing cleaning.

 

 

 

 

Gerrit Van den Noord, Jose ‘Pepe’ Penaloza, and Adam Tibero of the Butcher’s guild still had a very impressive spread, topped with rosemary sprigs.

 

 

 

 

Adam Tiberio’s apron

 

 

 

 

Meat hook

 

 

 

 

Kidney, with basil

 

 

 

 

Another look at the Butcher’s guild team spread.

 

 

 

 

Cuts of meat, being hauled away for the lucky staff members to distribute.

 

 

 

 

 

Eat Real Fest 2011 Part 3 – The Flying Knives Steer Butchery Competition

This is Part 3 of a series of photo posts from Oakland’s Eat Real Festival, September 23-25, 2011 at Jack London Square.  (Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6)

The butchery competitions are probably the most exciting parts of Eat Real Festival (Photos from last year can be found here).  Teams of butchers compete live and on stage in front of hundreds of onlookers to break meat into retail cuts in a 45-minute window.  Then, a winner is chosen by a team of judges from local restaurants (This year’s judges included 4505 meats, Brown Sugar Kitchen, among others) for a bottle of fancy St. Georges gin and a trophy.

This year, three teams competed:

As the audience filled in, the butchers unpacked their knives, hooks, and sharpeners.

 

 

 

 

The audience awaits..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 3 hindquarters arrived on a cart, each aged for 21 days to a month.

 

 

 

 

They were loaded onto three hanging hooks, spread across the stage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trophies and gin.

 

 

 

 

Dave the Butcher, a crowd favorite, sharpens his knife before the start of competition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zach and Josh talk strategy prior to the start of competition.

 

 

 

 

Anya Fernald, MC and founder of Eat Real and The Next Iron Chef judge, introduces the butchers to the eager crowd.

 

Rian gets underway

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few minutes into the competition – knives, hooks, and pieces of meat are flying and the crowd is loving it.

 

More images to come in Part 4.