Even though he has yet to experience Taste of Lakeport from behind a serving table, Brad Bierman knows the benefit for area restaurants.
“It gets people to try our product,” the manager of Cheese”s Pizza in downtown Lakeport said. “People never know they like it until they try it.”
Taste of Lakeport takes place on Saturday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., with dancing after, It runs along Main St. between 1st and 4th.
The annual street party—”I want to say 18 years, but I”m not positive,” Lakeport Main Street Association president Barbara Bruenig said with a laugh—involves some 20 county restaurants, 16 local wineries and three live bands. Guests are encouraged to sample food, pair it with wine and simply enjoy the evening.
“There”s a lot going on,” Bruenig observed.
Festivals often pose a challenge for professional kitchens. They must balance the desire to show off their strengths with the problematic reality that people are often strolling around, glass in one hand, plate in another. For restaurants perched on Lakeport”s main drag, however, the event”s location offers at least one advantage. Kitchen crews can work out of their normal space, simply carting the dishes a short distance.
At Cheese”s, the staff will prepare as if for a normal evening—admittedly a particularly busy evening.
For a pizza place priding itself on flat stone baking, the few hours on Saturday evening represent an opportunity. Pizza, after all, is often subject to personal expectations.
Some people prefer the snap of a cracker crust. Others express an affinity for the sloppy, soggy New York style (remember John Travolta”s character stopping at a pizza stall in the opening scenes of “Saturday Night Fever”?). Chicagoans are fond of the hefty, meaty pies from Pizzeria Uno or Gino”s East. Neapolitan, Brooklyn, St. Louis (yes, there is such a thing), gourmet, heat and serve, gluten-free, wood-fired, coal-fired—there are a lot of preferences, even when it comes to crust.
“Everybody is different,” Bierman acknowledged, “but we do a pretty good job.”
The crust at Cheese”s has a crisp veneer, which they must coax out of the 600-degree stone. It is less convenient than, say, the conveyor belt system used by many chains.
“There”s a fine line between overcooking and undercooking,” Bierman reported.
The Cheese”s manager appreciates traditional arrangements, such as the margarita, a simple dabbling of red sauce, white mozzarella and green basil meant to celebrate the colors of the Italian flag. It”s a pizza from the past, often credited with starting the craze even though flat breads dusted with various ingredients have been around for more than a few centuries.
On the other hand, his favorite is the restaurant”s version with chicken, garlic and artichokes.
Like many other kitchens involved in Taste of Lakeport, the staff was still weighing service options on Wednesday. By Saturday, however, they will be ready to go. Some restaurants will showcase their standards. Others might tease the crowd with something unique. Staff members will encourage people to step outside their usual culinary bounds.
Bruenig remembers the time Nice”s Boathouse restaurant prepared calamari for the event.
“It was awesome,” she recalled.
The Taste of Lakeport kicks off Saturday at 5 p.m. Tickets are $30 through Friday, $35 at the gate. Tickets for food only are $15.
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016.
