Photo Credit: Kelly E. Carter
Thanks to a sushi demonstration by Chef Masaharu Morimoto, rolling took on a new meaning for his cohort, rapper Snoop Dogg, on May 31 at BottleRock Napa Valley. Pairing the two together on the Williams-Sonoma culinary stage was among the non-musical highlights of this three-day, sold-out festival that was so successful that tickets immediately went on sale for next year after No Doubt played its final song on the Intel stage to end the lively weekend.
Sunday’s sunny skies made for the perfect ending to the weekend, which drew more than 100,000 attendees and featured more than 90 artists, bands and performers. In addition to Snoop Dogg and No Doubt, Robert Plant and Imagine Dragons headlined the third annual festival that also included The Avett Brothers, Foster the People, Passion Pit, Cage The Elephant, Young the Giant, Gipsy Kings, Capital Cities, AWOLNATION, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Portugal. The Man, American Authors and Public Enemy.
In addition to the music artists, there were renowned chefs, restaurants, vintners, sommeliers and professional athletes involved as well. It was brilliant of the BottleRock Napa Valley organizers to mix the talent, which made for entertaining demos, performances and other hi-jinx on the culinary stage, which was hosted by the Bay Area’s “Foodie Chap” Liam Mayclem of KCBS. Chef Michael Voltaggio and Flavor Flav mixed it up while two-Michelin starred chef Dominique Crenn learned some new dance moves from Allison Holker when tWitch & Allison joined the celebrity chef on the stage. Pizza king Tony Gemignani taught football stars Charles Woodson of the Oakland Raiders and Vernon Davis of the San Francisco 49ers a thing or two about making pies.
While we’re certain that Woodson and Davis had eaten pizza before, Snoop was a sushi virgin—despite “California Roll” being one of the hits from his latest album. He loved it!
“No one ever explained it to me like this before,” he told the crowd before serving some of the packed crowd the rolls he and Morimoto made.
Photo Credit: BottleRock Napa Valley / Latitude 38
From there, the demonstration moved from sushi making into fried chicken, one of Snoop’s fave dishes. During the demo, Snoop told Morimoto, “You’re cooking the shrimp in the same grease that you just cooked the chicken in. I mean, that’s hood. That’s what we do. We usually keep the same grease so the french fries taste like chicken and the chicken taste like the french fries. All we need to do now is cut up a few potatoes and make some homemade hood fries.”
Not only did Snoop steal the culinary demonstration but he entertained at his 6 p.m. concert, performing his early hits from his Doggystyle album, such as Gin and Juice and Lodi Dodi while paying homage to Joan Jett with “I Love Rock and Roll,” and the late Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. At one point the rapper thanked a fan for tossing a joint on stage for him.
The artists seemed to enjoy BottleRock Napa Valley as much as the festivalgoers, as Franti posted on his Instagram account, “We had a great weekend at #BottleRock. Such a great kickoff to summer time!!!”
Following the successful sold-out 2015 weekend, BottleRock Napa Valley announced a limited quantity tickets on sale for the fourth annual music, food, wine, and brew festival May 27–29, 2016, Memorial Day weekend.
Packages include three-day general admission passes starting at $225, three-day VIP passes starting at $525, and three-day Platinum passes starting at $2,500. Tickets can be purchased at www.bottlerocknapavalley.com and Eventbrite.com.
Photo Credit: Kelly E. Carter
More images from BottleRock Napa Valley / Latitude 38
