Fungi-themed menu specials, pairings and dinners, identification hikes, lodging packages are among the highlights
LONG BEACH PENINSULA, Wash. – September 27, 2019 – The Wild Mushroom Celebration, a multi-week tribute to locally gathered edibles, will take place from Oct. 1 through Nov. 15 on the Long Beach Peninsula. Mushroom menu specials and themed dinners, a Wild Mushroom weekend dine and stay package, identification forays, workshops, and more are among the highlights.
“September’s rainy nights and bright, sunny days are pointing to a banner mushroom season at the mouth of the Columbia River,” says Andi Day, executive director, Visit Long Beach Peninsula. “This is an amazing place to experience mushroom-related events during the height of fall’s mushroom harvest.”
Kicking off the festival on Friday, Oct. 4, at 7:30PM, The Depot Restaurant is partnering with Small Vineyards to host an Italian-themed Wild Mushroom Winemaker Dinner. Chef Michael Lalewicz will prepare four courses and Josh Hanson, co-owner, Small Vineyards, will pair them with wines sourced from small vineyards in Italy. Call 360.642.7880 for reservations.
New this year, China Beach Retreat has scheduled a Wild Mushroom Cooking Class on Thursday, October 10, from 3 to 5:30PM. Participants will watch a demonstration of preparations of wild mushrooms and then be offered samples of the finished products. Class size is limited to 15 people. Call 360.777.3312 to reserve a spot.
Boreas Bed & Breakfast Inn is once again offering a Wild Mushroom Celebration Special weekend, October 18 to 20. The package includes two nights lodging, two multi-course breakfasts, a five-course wild mushroom Sunday brunch, and a five-course Boreas Wild Mushroom and Wine dinner prepared by a private chef. Special guest and famed local, life-long forager Veronica Williams, owner, All Wild, will join in on Sunday for brunch and for an informal discussion about foraging, preparing and drying mushrooms, and more. For package details and reservations, please call 360.642.8069.
Throughout October, Pickled Fish restaurant will recognise Wild Mushroom Month with several seasonally inspired menu specials including a mushroom conserve tart with fromage blanc, pickled onion and rye porcini crust; fresh tagliolini with creamed chanterelles, Biocharm kale and Chehalis cheese; Washington sablefish with wild mushroom and parsley “en papillote” and preserved lemon; and braised pork wing with ragout of apple and mushroom and whole grain mustard.
For those wishing to learn how to identify and gather edible mushrooms, Fort Stevens State Park, across the Astoria-Megler Bridge in Hammond, Oregon, will offer Programs and Short Hikes covering the identification, regulations and uses of wild mushrooms as well as the role mushrooms play in the health of the forest. Participants wishing to gather mushrooms should dress for rain and bring a basket (no plastic buckets or plastic bags), a pocket knife and mushroom identification books. Hikes of approximately one-mile round trip will begin at Battery Russell. Mushroom Programs will be held at the picnic shelter at Coffenbury Lake, where a $5 parking fee is required. For dates, times and more information, please contact Ranger Dane Osis at 503.861.3170 (ext. 41) or email dane.osis@oregon.gov.
Other Wild Mushroom Celebration highlights include an Intro to Oyster Mushroom Cultivation workshop and Local Wild Mushroom Foray at The Sou’wester on Oct. 12 (https://www.souwesterlodge.com/art/workshops/) and a Wild Mushroom Weekend, Oct. 18, 19 and 20, at 42nd Street Café and Bistro with local wild mushrooms at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Chef Paul Klitsie will be offering fettuccine with fresh foraged local mushrooms and Brussels sprouts in a cream sauce at his Ocean Park restaurant, MyCovio’s. Other participating restaurants include Galletti’s and Waterline.
Adrift Hospitality will also offer two Forage & Farm events: a Wild Peninsula Walk on Nov. 8 and Wild Fermentation on Nov. 9. For details, go to https://adrifthospitality.com/event-directory/.
Those wishing to learn more about mushroom identification and cooking with wild mushrooms will want to browse the selection of books at Time Enough Books at the Port of Ilwaco and Adelaide’s Coffee & Books in Ocean Park.
About the Long Beach Peninsula
With its mix of sensational restaurants, fresh-caught local seafood, ocean view lodging, unique museums and attractions, lighthouses, fine art galleries, meandering and accessible trails, birding spots, and, above all, its windswept, silver sand beach, the Long Beach Peninsula continues to be one of the Northwest’s most delicious, enjoyable and refreshing getaway destinations.
For event and visitor information, please call the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau at 360.642.2400 or access www.VisitLongBeachPeninsula.com.