Fresh Forks Wine Dinner – Pura Vida, Cleveland OH

DDuring June, we had the opportunity to attend Fresh Forks Wine Dinner event while in town. The team at Pura Vida are not only hospitable, but truly dedicated to the concept behind the name. The name translates to “Pure Life” and can be immediately felt upon entering the space. It’s clean, modern and cozy all the same time. The food speaks for itself – modern food, made with very local ingredients.

For the special dinner event, Trevor Clatterbuck from Fresh Forks Market spoke about the local ingredients before each course was served. Not only was he incredibly knowledgeable about Ohio’s farms and products, but his pure dedication to sharing this knowledge was lovely. Along with him, a Sommelier paired each course with a locally-produced wine, describing the properties and pairing options.

The menu we enjoyed, prepared by Chef was:

• “BLT” / pura vidas house made bacon / bibb lettuce / compressed local tomato / grilled country bread
• Korean fried chicken / local bok choy and cucumber “kimchee” summer roll / gojuchang
• Pork neck rillettes / pickled apricot relish / pork skin cracklin’ / mustard / toast
• Overnight ohio beef brisket / smoked ham hock bbq / cheddar creamed corn / fresh popover
• Grilled polenta cake / cherry- goat cheese gelato / blackberry compote

While every course was excellently prepared and delicious, our favorite was definitely the pork rilletes course – go figure, right? Perfect rillettes, a crispy, salty cracklin’, and pickled accoutrements. If we could order a huge jar of the rillettes, we would’ve. The dessert course was a lovely surprise. Who knew a grilled polenta cake could be so moist and delicious. A perfect ending.

Not only was this one seriously delicious dinner, but the knowledge shared with us from the experts was great.

If you’re ever in the Cleveland area, please stop by Pura Vida for lunch or dinner. You’ll be pleasantly surprised and incredibly happy that you did.

Say hi to Chef Scott and Katie while you’re there!

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