BottleRock rolls out culinary stage to grab foodies

Amid the many musical acts at BottleRock this year, a new side dish is being served up that isn’t just for the ears.

Organizers partnered with the upscale cookware giant Williams-Sonoma to add a fifth stage dedicated to making food in front of the throngs of music lovers that are working up appetites while they rock out at the Napa Valley Expo.

In the center of the venue for the three-day festival, now in its third year, musicians at the “Culinary” stage are being paired with famous chefs to whip up meals at a demonstration kitchen.

For the performers on this stage, the mix of tunes and table, which continues through Sunday, has made for a sweet - or savory - melody.

“Food and wine are arts – like music. They just use different senses,” said chef Dario De Conti, co-owner of Ca’ Momi Napa Valley, who joined New York chef Roberto Caporuscio and musicians Michael Franti and Zella Day on Saturday for a pizza-making session. “It’s a lot of fun to see artists and musicians express themselves through food.”

The culinary acts were a popular sideshow among the various musical offerings that drew more than 30,000 fans to the Napa fairgrounds Saturday for BottleRock’s second day.

For the 5 p.m. act featuring Franti and Day, 1960s hippie icon Wavy Gravy hyped up the crowd with his jokes. Franti playfully tossed excess pizza dough into the crowd and passed out glasses with red wine before breaking into a “pizza song” with Day, who handed fans slices of the pie she made.

In the crowd, Sara Orrick and her best friend, Lacy Farrow, sang along, excited to interact with Franti, one of their favorite musicians, who Orrick has previously seen perform.

“I never got this close to him,” she said.

The culinary performances have been well received, drawing thousands of fans each day, said Kendall Coleman, a public relations manager with Williams-Sonoma.

“You’re working with people who really want to pay for that Napa experience,” she said, adding that Flavor Flav of Public Enemy wowed the crowd with his fried chicken on Friday night.

The culinary mash-up expected to draw the most attention is set for Sunday, the festival’s last, when rapper Snoop Dogg will be paired with Masaharu Morimoto, known to many as the television star of Iron Chef. Morimoto will be teaching the rapper how to roll sushi.

“Where do you see that, an Iron Chef like Morimoto… with a world famous rapper? Talking about worlds colliding,” said Chuck Meyer, culinary director for BottleRock.

In addition to the cooking demos, he said the festival also focused on bringing in foods from world class Napa Valley restaurants to feed the thousands of fans and musicians. About 70 vendors graced the grounds, serving up sticky ribs, walnut baklava, pad thai, paella and coconut water straight out of the fruit itself.

“It takes it to a very sophisticated level,” Meyer said about the food and drink on offer, including local wines and craft beers. “It represents Napa.”

For attendee Pam Raymond, of Pacifica, it was a treat to find Joe Kwon, who plays cello for The Avett Brothers, a folk rock band from North Carolina, paired with Brad Farmerier, executive chef at The Thomas restaurant in Napa. The duo was making Korean-style chicken and waffles.

“It was interactive,” said Raymond, who planned to watch The Avett Brothers performance Saturday evening. “We got to taste (the food) and we got to talk to them.”

For attendees Alison Pimentel and Jamie Laster, both of Sonoma, Kwon, a known foodie to his fans, wasn’t given enough of a role in the kitchen

“He’s such an accomplished cook,” Pimentel said, adding that she followed Kwon on his culinary-themed blog, Taste, On Tour.

The women called themselves “foodie rock n’ rollers,” and while they were on-hand Saturday especially to see The Avett Brothers, they said they were happy to sample the assortment of gourmet foods offered for tasting and sale.

“My life is food and music,” Laster said. “I’ve got my eyes on the French fries topped with snow crab and aioli.”

Apropos of Wine Country, some festival vendors offered tips on the best wines to pair with their food. White Guy Pad Thai, for instance, recommended a riesling.

John Ascano and his wife, Kathryn, of San Ramon, spent much of Saturday exploring the different foods, dropping more than $200 on grub alone. They tried the paella, chicken and waffles, garlic fries covered with crab meat and sticky ribs from Morimoto Napa.

“It’s perfect,” John Ascano said with a smile. “Everything is here. Beer. Food. Live Music.”

Staff Writer Eloísa Ruano González can be reached at 521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @eloisanews.