Local seafood lovers prepare for their favourite festival of the year

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by Paul Merrigan
This Week Staff

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Locals will soon be licking their lips at a chance to taste some of the finest seafood in the world as the eighth annual Atlantic Seafood Festival kicks off in downtown Moncton.

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Domenic Chiaromonte is an International Red Seal Chef and Executive Chef/co-owner at Match Restaurant & Event Venue just north of Toronto.

"The Seafood Festival is really to promote our region, the great chefs and the amazing seafood that we have here," says Festival Coordinator Robert Gallant, who is in his third year with the Festival.

"It's really a culinary driven event. We work really closely with our local restaurants and hotels and all of the chefs that are involved to ensure as strong an event as possible."

For local restaurants, involvement in the Atlantic Seafood Festival has the double benefit of raising their own profile within the community, but also gives them a chance to impress tourists and others who are visiting for the festival itself.

"We've got Stefan Mueller from the Delta Beausejour who has been a big supporter of ours each year," explains Robert. "We like highlighting local chefs from the participating restaurants.

"There are a number of places that are involved, such as Rouge and The Old Triangle and we're always happy to have local chefs and restaurants involved."

As the Festival has grown and developed over the past several years, involvement from visiting chefs has also been a boost to organizers and audiences.

"One of our new guests this year is Domenic Chiaromonte [International Red Seal Chef and owner of Match Restaurant in Toronto]," says Robert. "He's kind of a gastronomical chemist - he works with different elements of food and is a really innovative guy. He's a very different chef from what we've had in the past, but it will be a really fun experience."

There are also visiting chefs from closer locales, as Chef Andrew Morrison from Dalvay by the Sea and Chef Craig Youdale from the Culinary Institute of Canada who will both be travelling from Prince Edward Island.

"The visiting chefs and local chefs will be participating in some different cooking demonstrations downtown as well as at some of the Sobeys locations, such as Main Street and Champlain Place," explains Robert.

Experienced Festival goers will be pleased that one of the more popular events, the Seafood Village, will be back and better than ever.

"The Seafood Village is running at the Farmers Market and because it was so successful last year we're going to have it on two nights instead of one," said Robert. "The Village is always so much fun because you can just try so many different foods from our local restaurants."

Another popular event, the Best of Seafood contest, takes place on Sunday and will see chefs compete in a fierce but friendly competition in categories for seafood chowder, fried clam strips and other seafood dishes.

"We also have a new event called Tapas at Six on Saturday," says Robert. "Different feature chefs will demonstrate how to make different tapas and people will get to try them. It's really meant to a mingling event, a meet and greet and with only 300 tickets. It will be tight to get in for those who wait."

With a few full days of events and extraordinary cooking displays planned, this year's Atlantic Seafood Festival is going to be bigger and better than ever.

For more information on the schedule of events or to purchase tickets, you can visit www.atlanticseafoodfestival.com or call 855-8525.