What a great event they had at Marble House this weekend!

The Newport Wine and Food Festival is holding its own with attendance (1,300 on Saturday and 1,000 guests on Sunday) in this difficult economy and for good reason: they've created a great mix of food and wine and education.

I personally love wine expos, with vineyards and distributors offering a wide variety of samples. But always there's too much wine and not enough food. I firmly believe wine is meant to be drunk with food. It's not a cocktail!

So how wonderful was it to see all the restaurants offering food at Marble House side by side with wine.

My favorite dishes were served by Perro Salado, Charles Street, Newport and their tender beef topped with a wasabi sauce; and the Hotel Viking's One Bellevue restaurant chef Kevin Thiele's pumpkin tortellii in a butter sage sauce. But you had to like the tuna tartare from the Spiced Pear at the Chanler. Blackstone Caterers offered caviar.

Then I sat in on a cooking demonstration with Andrew Shotts of Garrison Confections. He made a chocolate layer cake that was served with a Cotes de Rhone wine.

And the food giant Jacques Pepin was pouring wine. I mean how much better can things be.

I'll share that recipe tomorrow and some other news.