DOG: Gettysburg Festival

So the Dogs went on a date last night. A rare occasion even for married couples whose kids long ago "flew the coop." And as you close followers of this blog know, this story was supposed to be an update on the Afro Bop Alliance concert and we'll get to that. But the real story here is the Gettysburg Jazz Festival. That's where we went.

This festival is 10 days long and includes music, art, dance, and culinary arts. It is absolutely fantastic for a city as small as Gettysburg, PA. Kevin Eubanks is the headline act on Saturday and the parade of first class musicians goes on from start to finish. But last night it was Caribbean night. And the featured artist was the Afro Bop Alliance who were also featured on this blog a couple months ago as the top album in our regular segment "What Are You Listening To Now?"

The Afro Bop Alliance was very good. A bit of lacking instrumentation from their albums left us a bit disappointed. They were missing a trombonist and there was no steel drums or vibraphone as we expected. But their two sets were both top notch nonetheless.

The best thing was the Caribbean Cookout put together by former White House chef Walter Scheib. I talked to Walter and he was a most gracious man and a very cool guy. The actual chef was a young dude who is starting a new restaurant on Front Street in Harrisburg, PA called The Milestone. Anyhow it was without a doubt the best buffet dinner I have ever had. Hands down!

I can't remember what all they had. But I'll tell you what all was OUTSTANDING and that'll cover 90% of what they offered up.

Started off with real (everything here was real, not a single damn thing from any kind of pre-produced anything) potato chips. And not just potatoes but a couple different kind of potatoes including sweet potato chips and 3 different heavenly dips for them which I cannot even describe.

The salad I had was called Mango Tango. Some exotic lettuce leaves resembling Romano lettuce with thinly sliced mangoes. I used a coconut dressing with roasted Brazil nuts and some kind of awesome grilled crouton looking things that were out of this world.

Then I picked up some mushroom pockets and a Cuban Grinder which is a small sandwich of pulled smoked pork with a coleslaw on top. The mushroom pockets were spectacular, the Cuban Grinders were just good.

Then on to the seafood. Some kind of wonderful baked fish I can't remember the name. Next they had this ground trout mixed with seasonings and other stuff inside a corn husk that was sensational. The jumbo shrimp were perfectly done in some kind of Virgin Island sauce that was killer.

I got some Cuban hot ribs that were frankly just good. But the Jamaican Jerk chicken was moist and absolutely fantastic. They had grilled veggies, red peppers, zucchini, squash, and asparagus and every one of them was done to perfection. Crisp but not over or under cooked. Grill marks and all. As someone who knows how difficult that is to accomplish I really think they did a magnificent job on the vegetables.

And from the bar, Rum Mojitos were the order of the day. We each had four before they ran out. The also offered only two beers but both were excellent microbrew choices from Appalachian Brewing in Harrisburg. Didn't drink any wine.

So with ourselves full of mojitos and the finest Caribbean food you could get this side of Havana, it was on to the Afro Bop Alliance.
With the temperature at 100 degrees earlier in the day, the night settled in and ABA kept the "cool" flowing until well after dark.