Dine Out with Chefs

Yesterday, around 1:30pm, I was actually working from home (ugh!), when my girlfriend called me to offer me two free tickets to the Dine Out with Chefs event at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.  Her husband, who works for a wine distribution company, was working the event, and she couldn't go.  I quickly accepted the tickets and called my girlfriend, Mindy, to join me. I knew she couldn't say no to free food and wine. I mean, c'mon.
It started at 4pm and only lasted a couple hours.  It was a bit crowded at first, but quickly died down.  Of course, upon entry, we headed straight for the wine booth my friend, Phil, was working. We filled our glasses, said thanks for the tickets, and headed toward the rows of food.
It was a very quaint event, with over 20 different restaurants and chefs handing out small tastes of some very delicious food.
Some of the restaurants, to name a few of my favorites, included Arcadia Farms (served up butternut squash soup and a fig chutney bruschetta), Wildfish Seafood Grill (served up their scrumptious crab cakes), J&G Steakhouse, Lon's, Cowboy Ciao, and more. The head chef's were there themselves, so it was fun to actually meet them and talk to them about the food and what was in it. There were definitely a couple things I tried that I will try to put together on my own.
All in all, we almost couldn't taste everything because we got a little full. But it was definitely worth the time.