On Thursday night, I had the pleasure of being invited to an Olive Oil Tasting (!) at the awesome Flamestone American Grill restaurant in Tampa, which was put on by the Chile Olive Oil Council. Many thanks to Isabel at FamilyFoodie.com for gathering us foodies up to let us taste!! It was a tasting of the Limited Edition Chile Extra Virgin Olive Oil. And when I saw the menu for this event, I knew I was going to be in for a real treat. And then when I started to see the guest list full of some of my favorite local foodies, I knew it was going to be amazing! So I braved the rain and made the drive up to EVOO Heaven!

The Executive Chef at Flamestone, Eric Lackey, was kind enough to give us a run-down on all the inspirations and cooking techniques that he used during the event, so we all had a real treat. And there is a special feeling in the air when you get a bunch of us foodies together in one room – not to mention the Twitter, Facebook and Instagram storm that takes place immediately upon our arrival. I loved seeing the different angles on all of our food pics that night – we all had our own takes on what was before us! But we all had the same full stomach after.

Scroll and drool, folks. Scroll and drool.

Black Pepper Tomato Pretzel Bread with a White Anchovies Aioli (** favorite appetizer)

Heirloom Yellow Tomato caprese salad
Fresh Tomato Tart
Olive Tapenade made in traditional Molcajetes with EVOO Crostini’s (** other favorite appetizer)

Agave Soaked Chicken with Red wine Bermuda Onions and pan seared olive oil purple potatoes with a burnt sugar olive oil dust

Cast Iron Seared Polenta Crusted Chilean Sea Bass with a toasted pepita olive oil drizzle (**my favorite meal of the night!)

Goat Cheese and arugula stuffed Piadina
Portabella and goat cheese with a porcini and white truffle cappallacci (**my other favorite meal of the night!)
[image via CarlosEats.com]  

Olive oil and Sea Salt Brownie with a homemade olive oil peanut butter dust and caramelized marshmallow (** favorite)
Olive oil Almond sugar Cookies with a fresh raspberry and whipped cream (** favorite #2)
Olive Oil cake with candied tangerines and pecans (** favorite #3)
[image via CarlosEats.com]   

QUESTION! Which dish looks the best to you??