by Joni L » Sun Sep 27, 2015 2:07 pm
I wanted to make it too! My boyfriend informed me that the NuLu festival was also yesterday, and we headed there first with plans to go to to the Belvedere after. However, we had fun exploring NuLu and ran into friends and stayed too late to make it to VindaLou.
For your planning purposes next year, NuLu was really nice! About three blocks were closed off, lots of tents with crafts, jewelry, causes and advertising (think Gaslight festival with less crafts). A few of the stores and restaurants were open for eating or browsing. There was a medium-size beer garden with craft beer, liquor, and wine booths. For me, Copper and Kings (local brandy distiller) had the most interesting. I enjoyed the Butchertown Mule, which was brandy with a tangy house-made ginger beer, garnished with lime and mint. Not too sweet and very tasty; and I was impressed that they had house-made sodas. They had cola, cream soda, ginger beer, and a few others.
Most importantly to me, there was a good selection of food vendors. I'm bad at estimating, but I'll guess at least a dozen, including several that were all-dessert. I was holding out for Indian, so I only tried one item. I can't recall the name of the booth, but they were also at WorldFest. It was a "fresh Vietnamese" concept serving two items: a pork bahn mi and shrimp and crab spring rolls. I ordered the spring rolls and they were fantastic - light, crispy, very fresh and full of flavor. They came with a strange dipping sauce - it was a thin, clear, pale sauce on the sweet side - sort of nondescript but it somehow enhanced the rolls.
I'm guessing this festival will continue to grow as word gets out. It was super-packed when we arrived around 7; lots of families, couples, and others, and then thinned out to the mostly-adult group by the time we left around 10:30. There was a large police presence (LMPD and Sheriff) but they were mingling and very friendly. Oh, and they had three music stages with live performances ranging between folk, alternative, and hip-hop.
Four food vendors, Bombay Grill, Bhavana catering, Shalimar and Namaste Indian, apparently from Elizabethtown. There was a cooking contest, and that's where the real goodies were - homemade food that looked really yummy, judged by a of couple stern looking ladies who were not playing, no clue who won what, but it was obviously seriously contested. Pictures are up on the Facebook Vindalou page. https://www.facebook.com/events/1637685786470220/ If you are looking for something fun to do, head on downtown!