Learn to Cook from the Best Chefs in the Northwest at The Taste Cooks! Take a look inside a professional chef’s kitchen at The Taste Cooks! presented by Uber Eats and Albert Lee Appliance, at Emerald Queen Casino’s Taste of Tacoma® presented by BECU, at Point Defiance Park on June 22-24 from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. The Taste Cooks! stage will provide high-energy culinary demonstrations by some of the Tacoma area’s best and entertaining chefs.
Chef Thierry Rautureau aka ‘The Chef in the Hat’ will take the reigns as emcee for The Taste Cooks! bringing a new level of excitement and interaction to the stage with his extensive culinary experience, and, engaging and unique personality. “I am very excited to participate in the Taste of Tacoma for the first time. I look forward to socializing with many great local chefs, whom I have not had a chance to meet, and also to have fun engaging with the audience at the Taste!” Rautureau said.
The Taste Cooks! lineup changes each day, with chefs eager to share their delicious handpicked recipes. The Taste Cooks! kitchen stage is a fully-equipped professional stage, courtesy of Albert Lee Appliance. During the chef demos, the audience can get a real ‘taste’ of what it’s like to be inside a professional chef’s kitchen. All recipes will be available for the audience to take, to try at home.
The Taste Cooks! features ‘more mystery cook-off’s this year with select chefs competing in The Taste Cook-Off! where their culinary skills will be put to the test. The competing chefs are given 30 minutes to create a masterpiece from three mystery ingredients, a basic pantry, and a large selection of produce, kindly donated by Charlie’s Produce.
Three lucky audience members will be selected to critique each chef on their dish and performance. The criteria: creative use of ingredients, presentation, tastiness and overall entertainment. The winning chef will be announced live and will receive a $100 donation towards the charity of their choice.
Notable chefs participating on The Taste Cooks! stage include return crowd favorites, Jon Maley (ChūcH), Saffron Hodgson “The Aussie’ (bushcooking.com), Hudson Slater (Tacoma Yacht Club), Taani Maama (Boathouse 19), and, new to The Taste Cooks! are Sam Mardis (Chambers Bay Grill), Shawn Tibbitts (Tibbitts@FernHill), Jeff Pratt (Goodwill’s Neighborhood Bistro), Jo Seoung (Hilton Garden Inn), and more!
NEW!!! The Taste Experience Package, combines two of the Tastes’ premier attractions, South Sound Bites + Craft Beer & Wine Tasting at one discounted price. The Taste Experience Package includes:
- Trip through South Sound Bites – 1 Plate with 5 ‘Large Tastes’ for a great cause benefiting Emergency Food Network – includes a bottled water.
- VIP Fast-line access to South Sound Bites
- Craft Beer & Wine Tasting Starter Package – souvenir tasting glass and 5 beverage tickets – beer or wine.
With Metro Parks Tacoma Destination Point Defiance project underway, Emerald Queen Casino’s Taste of Tacoma® presented by BECU has taken steps to ensure an easy and affordable option for guests by providing a FREE Taste Express from Tacoma Community College to the festival and back. Park FREE & Ride FREE. It will run throughout the day (6/22-24) starting at 10:30 a.m. to take guests to & from the festival (guests should note there may be a wait during peak hours of the event). The last shuttle will depart Point Defiance Park 30 minutes after closing each day. Festival hours are Friday & Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11am to 8pm
For more information: www.tasteoftacoma.com