08 Feb Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Crab Cake Cook-Off and Wine Tasting Competition at Mendocino Coast Clinics’ Crab, Wine & Beer Days 2020

A crab cake cook-off and wine tasting competition! All you can eat crab cakes paired with crisp, delicious, cool-climate Mendocino County wines! Without a doubt, the 21st Annual Crab, Wine & Beer Days 2020 is the Please The Palate pick of the week.

A girls’ weekend to Mendocino coincided with annual Crab, Wine & Beer Days fundraiser, a two day festival of crab and wine, raising money to support the Mendocino Coast Clinics (MCC).

“Mendocino Coast Clinics is the only not-for-profit health center on the north coast of Mendocino County from Westport to Elk and inland to Comptche, serving nearly 10,000 patients annually. Outreach includes medical, dental, behavioral, pediatrics, OB/GYN services & Street Medicine.” A proven, stable provider of health care in the area, MCC accepts private insurance, Medi-Cal, Medicare. Everyone is welcome regardless of the ability to pay.

The Crab Cake Cook-Off & Wine Tasting Competition took place on Saturday, February 1st from noon to 3pm in a big white tent at the corner of Main & Spruce in Fort Bragg. Mendocino County chefs prepared thousands of cakes and there was an impressive lineup of local wineries and breweries.

We ate all the crab cakes to our hearts content and they were all really tasty. We had to vote on our favorite one and I really had trouble picking a favorite from my top five.

Mendocino wineries were pouring their wines and we enjoyed everything from sparkling wines to still wines but found our glasses regularly filled with sparkling wines from Roederer Estate, Scharffenberger and Godeneye Winery.

And the best part of the entire day was the crab hats!