Restaurants, brewers, wineries galore on tap at this year’s Synovus Toast of the Town
It’s an evening of sampling scrumptious food from some of the best restaurants in Columbus, and chasing it all down with drinks from an array of wineries and breweries. And the proceeds go to support the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, which has the historic distinction of being the second orchestra formed in the United States. That was in 1855.
This, of course, is only the ninth year for the Toast of the Town fundraiser, with regional bank Synovus the title sponsor for the fourth year — ala Synovus Toast of the Town — and it all takes place March 2 at the Columbus Convention and Trade Center, 801 Front Ave.
No fewer than 26 restaurants are scheduled to be on hand for the event, with more than 80 wine, beer and spirits vendors part of the vendor mix, and a few catering businesses sprinkled in for good measure. In fact, the CSO said Toast of the Town, which drew 1,300 guests last year, will have a record number of vendors this year. It had 90 a year ago.
There are two ticket options — the Aflac Chef’s Tent that takes place in the Ballroom Balcony from 6 to 8 p.m. and costs $175 per person, plus taxes and fees, and the Grand Tasting, which will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. in the South Hall and costs $95 per person, plus taxes and fees.
The Aflac Chef’s Tent will include an appearance by Chris Hastings, an award-winning chef and restaurateur who received the James Beard award for best chef in 2012 in the Southern division. He is a proponent of the farm-to-table movement which promotes cooking with locally sourced ingredients. Food Network fans also might recall that he beat chef Bobby Flay in what was called “Battle Sausage” on the show, “Iron Chef America.” Hastings and his wife, Idie, own the restaurants, Hot and Hot Fish Club and OvenBird, in Birmingham, Ala.
Eric Thomas, executive director of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, calls Toast of the Town the “premier” event for raising money for the organization’s needs. That includes education and outreach efforts that serve more than 15,000 children and families every year.
“We are fortunate that excitement and support for this event has created the need for a more expansive venue,” Thomas said in a release promoting the event. “With the move to the South Hall of the Columbus Georgia Convention and Trade Center, we are able to increase the number of attendees as well as the number of food, wine and spirit vendors while holding the entire event in one room. I’m always impressed by the community’s involvement for this event.”
List of vendors for Toast of the Town
Here are the vendors that are scheduled currently to be at the Synovus Toast of the Town event on March 2:
Culinary vendors
▪ 11th & Bay
▪ Acre
▪ Bareroots Farmacy
▪ Big Eddy Club
▪ Callaway Gardens
▪ Cannon Brew Pub
▪ Chattahoochee River Club
▪ Clean Eatz
▪ Columbus Convention and Trade Center
▪ Country Club of Columbus
▪ Country’s Barbecue
▪ Crème de la Crème Catering & Diner
▪ De La Pop Gormet Popcorn
▪ The Depot
▪ Ezell’s Catfish Cabin
▪ The Farmhouse
▪ Girlfriend’s Catering & Diner
▪ Green Island Country Club
▪ Lillie’s Q
▪ My Boulánge
▪ Parker’s Pantry
▪ Trevioli Italian Kitchen
▪ Twelfth Street Deli
▪ Wheely’s
▪ Wicked Hen Restaurant
▪ Zombie Pig Barbecue
Catering vendors
▪ Chef Noor Azaar
▪ Créme de la Créme Catering and Diner
▪ Divine Dinners
▪ Girlfriend’s Catering & Diner
▪ It’s Your Day Catering
▪ Parker’s Pantry
Specialty vendors
▪ The Bottle Shop
▪ CIRCA Craft Cocktails
▪ DeLa Pop Gourmet Popcorn
▪ Golden’s Foundry & Machine Company
▪ Goodson Pecans
▪ How Sweet It Is Cake Studio & Dessert Shop
▪ Kilwin’s
▪ Midland Ghost
▪ Midtown Cakes
▪ Southern Straws
▪ Spiked Jellies
▪ Supercharged Beverage
▪ Tru Truffle Oil
▪ Uptown Wine & Spirits
Wine vendors
▪ 100% Honest Chardonnay
▪ Alcohol by Volume Wines
▪ Alias Winery
▪ Angelini Wines Ltd.
▪ Bear Flag Wines
▪ Bronco Wines Co.
▪ Butternut Wines
▪ The Calling Wines
▪ Capriccio Sangria
▪ Castello Banfi Wines
▪ Copper & Thief Cellarmasters
▪ Craft + Estate
▪ Dutton-Goldfield Winery
▪ The Family Coppola Wines
▪ Five Points Berries Winery
▪ Fleur De Mer Vineyards
▪ Fleurs de Prairie Wines
▪ Freemark Abby Winery
▪ Gemma Di Luna
▪ Goldschmidt Winery
▪ LaMarca Prosecco
▪ Leonardo Locascio Selections
▪ Mark West Wines
▪ Maso Canali Wines
▪ Mia Dolcea Vineyards
▪ Meiomi Coastal California Wines
▪ MundoVino Estates Winery
▪ Quinta da Aveleda
▪ Rabble Wine Company
▪ Ravage Wines
▪ River’s Bend Winery & Vineyards
▪ Robert Mondavi Winery
▪ Rodney Strong Wines
▪ Rule North Coast
▪ Santa Margherita Wines
▪ Sean Minor Wines
▪ SolStars Wines
▪ Still Pond Winiery
▪ Volunteer Wines
▪ White Hart Wine
▪ Whitehaven
▪ William Hill Estate Winery
▪ Wolf Creek Plantation Vineyards & Winery
▪ Yealands Family Wines
▪ Z. Alexander Brown Wines
Beer vendors
▪ Abide Beers
▪ Boston Beer Co.
▪ Cannon Brew Pub
▪ Harpoon Brewery
▪ Monday Night Brewery
▪ Omaha Brewing Company
▪ Printer’s Ale Manufacturing Company
▪ Red Clay Brewing Company
▪ Samuel Adams
▪ Sierra Brewing Company
▪ Southern Sky Brewing
▪ Sweetwater Brewery
▪ Terrapin Beer Co.
▪ Unknown Brewing Co.
▪ WildLeap Brew Co.
▪ Spirits vendors
▪ 1821 Bitters
▪ Atlanta Hard Cider Co.
▪ ASW Distillery
▪ Belle Isle Craft Spirits
▪ BenRiach Distillery
▪ Blade & Bow Bourbon Whiskey
▪ Cathead Vodka
▪ Chattanooga Whiskey Co.
▪ Fruitland Augusta
▪ GlenDronach Distillery
▪ Herradura Tequilla
▪ Jack Daniels Whiskey
▪ Jimmy’s SeaJuice
▪ John Emerald Distilling Company
▪ Richland Rum
▪ Still Pond Distillery
▪ Thirteenth Colony Distillery
Distributors
▪ B&B Beverage Company
▪ Empire Distributing
▪ Georgia Crown
▪ Prime Wines and Spirits
▪ Quality Wines & Spirits
▪ Triangle Beverage Co.
▪ United Distributing
This story was originally published February 17, 2018 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Restaurants, brewers, wineries galore on tap at this year’s Synovus Toast of the Town."