Foodievents

Matt Maroni and Jared Van Camp Kick-Off Taste of the Nation’s ‘Chef Ride-a-Long’ Series at La Colombe

La Colombe's mobile roaster will be ready to go on Monday.
La Colombe’s mobile roaster will be ready to go on Monday. Photo: courtesy of Facebook

Want to get tickets to Taste of the Nation, the Share Our Strength benefit dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America? You know, the one featuring the likes of Stephanie Izard, Tony Mantuano, Paul Virant, and many, many others? Well, you have two options. The first is to pay the totally reasonable ticket price of $95 — remember this is all for charity — which you can buy here. The other way is to visit La Colombe on Monday, July 18, at 5 p.m. for the Taste of the Nation’s “Chef Ride-a-Long Kick-Off.” Matt Maroni’s Gaztro-Wagon will be parked out front, dishing out raffle tickets with every $5 naan-wich sample. At the end of the night, eight lucky people will win tickets. But that’s not all! We also know that a certain charcuterie expert will be on board.

Much like he has for Dose Market, Jared Van Camp will be there with his mobile slicer to sell salumi and other cured meats. More importantly, there will be Meat Cones — towers of thinly sliced meat stacked into paper cones. We imagine you can snack on these much like cotton candy. We are there.

La Colombe, which just opened a few weeks ago, will also give out free iced coffee to the first 20 people to come. The shop will also be selling coffee from its adorable mobile roaster. Just in case you need something sweet to cap off the whole event, Flirty Cupcakes will be parked out front.

If you can’t make it, you will have other options. This is just the first event for the “Chef Ride-a-Long” program. For the next month, a collection of chefs, including Greg Biggers and Giuseppe Tentori, will hop on the Gaztro-Wagon to dish out samples and raffle tickets. Check out the full schedule below.

Taste of the Nation Chef Ride-a-Long

July 18: Jared Van Camp (Old Town Social, Nellcôte)
July 22: Paul Virant (Vie, Perennial Virant)
July 29: Greg Biggers (Cafe des Architectes)
August 2: Giuseppe Tentori (Boka, GT Fish)
August 5: Mark Steuer (The Bedford)
August 9: John des Rosiers (Inovasi, Wisma)*
Matt Maroni and Jared Van Camp Kick-Off Taste of the Nation’s ‘Chef Ride-a-Long’