RVA Food Event Roundup: Cooking Coaches vs. French Food vs. Beer

You've got no shortage of delicious happenings to fill out your dining calendar.

It’s that time of year where one men’s basketball coach faces off against another in the kitchen. Lucky for them, they have a few ringers to help out.

The event is Max’s Positive Vibe Cafe’s fifth annual Coaches Cook-off to benefit the Positive Vibe Foundation, happening 6 p.m. Thursday, April 27. It will pair Virginia Commonwealth University’s new coach, Mike Rhoades, with Lee Gregory of Southbound and the Roosevelt, against the University of Richmond’s Chris Mooney and dynamic duo Caleb Shriver and Phil Perrow of Dutch & Co.

If it sounds like that’s three against two, it is, but the proof ultimately will be on the plate. Tickets are $100. Science Museum of Virginia, 2500 W. Broad St. postiveviberva.com.

Mighty wine importer and mellifluously monikered Bartholomew Broadbent will pour some good old-fashioned Madeira at Wilton House on Friday, April 28, from 5:30-8:30 p.m. You can get up to speed on this fortified Portuguese wine after tasting six offerings, including rainwater Madeira — probably the best known — and Broadbent Selections’ elegant colheita variety. Tickets are $40. Wilton House, 215 S. Wilton Road. wiltonhousemuseum.org.

It’s all cream puffs, all weekend long at the RVA French Food Festival, April 28-29. Browse its Parisian market and sample dishes from all places French. St. Joseph’s Home for the Aged, 1503 Michaels Road. rvafrenchfoodfestival.com.

Blue Bee Cider isn’t letting breweries get their beer-y hands on all the hops in Virginia. Instead, on Saturday, April 29 from 1-9 p.m., it’ll show off its own hopped cider, along with a few more from cidery friends at the Virginia Hopped Cider Festival. You can pick up a little information about hops at one of the workshops or snack on special hop-based dishes from Continental Divide Richmond, Camden’s Dogtown Market and Nightingale Ice Cream Sandwiches. Blue Bee Cider, 1320 Summit Ave. bluebeecider.com.

Sure, there are plenty of Cinco de Mayo celebrations happening May 5, mostly involving margaritas. At the ¿Que Pasa? Festival, on Saturday, May 6, from noon to 8 p.m., you can instead experience some of the richness that the Latin American cultures have to offer, while enjoying some killer food, the Latin Ballet, the Richmond Tango Dancers, plus capoeira demonstrations, artisan vendors and live music. On the Canal Walk, stretching from Fifth Street to 17th Street downtown. vahcc.com.

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