Pompieri Pizza to host Lambrusco Fest 2015

If pizza, wine, Italian food, music and fun for the whole family sounds like a perfect combination, make plans to attend the first annual LambruscoFest. That it's being held in Durham, the Tastiest Town in the South, well, just take that as insurance that it will be awesome.

Durham's Pompieri Pizza will host a family-friendly food and Lambrusco wine festival on Durham’s City Hall Plaza June 20, 2015 from 2 until 7 PM. The street will be closed for this outdoor event celebrating the “breadbasket” region of Italy called Emilia-Romagna.

Festival goers can purchase a tasting punch card and then go around the festival tasting and trying authentic foods such as Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, real gelato (Italian ice-cream), Balsamic vinegar from Modena, various salumi (cured meats), olive oils and of course Pompieri’s Neapolitan-style pizza to name a few items. Adults can purchase a wine punch card to sample Lambrusco wines of all sorts. Food and wine will also be available to purchase as a meal during the festival.

The music at LambruscoFest will feature A Cappella singers. A Cappella comes from the Italian “in the manner of the chapel” performed by a group of voices without instruments. The festival will have a stage with sound system to allow the various vocal groups to perform that afternoon. The music is free for everyone to enjoy.

There will be a children’s play area staffed by the Schoolhouse of Wonder. Everyone of all ages is welcome to enjoy the food, beverages and music. The event will benefit Schoolhouse of Wonder and will donate a portion of the event’s proceeds to this nonprofit that develops kind, curious, and confident kids through nature-based outdoor adventures.

Like many of Durham's other culinary festivals like The World Beer Festival, The Doughman, and Bull City Food and Beer Experience, LambruscoFest is listed on the Durham Event Calendar.

Wine of the Times?

Durham is no stranger to great media coverage as it quietly becomes the worst-kept-secret for food and wine lovers in the US.  Thanks to publications like the New York Times, readers around the world continue to have their dietary resolve ruined by articles extolling the culinary virtues, and dining options, to be had in this bucolic juxtaposition of city and country scenery and corresponding lifestyles.

In other words, Durham, NC is a great place to eat and drink - even when compared to places around the world - and everyone is starting to become keenly aware of that fact.

Great food and a great food culture are natural pairings for great wine, and that is exactly what  reporter and noted wine book author Eric Asimov found here as he researched an article for The Pour in yesterday's edition of the New York Times.

The article notes many things that folks on the ground already know about Durham.  It's an easy going place with no pretension, and it is one that grants wide latitude to visitors and residents alike to be themselves and do what they like.  In Durham, all who want to be are welcomed - even those who prefer to drink red wine with *gasp* fish!

Read about other recent New York Times coverage of Durham here, and about all of the great dining and drinking options in Durham online.