Originally posted on Table Talk Radio

It’s not too early to start planning for one of the biggest eating and drinking days of the year – the Super Bowl!  Amateur party planners are already scurrying to pull together the perfect feast (Sun. Feb. 6, 3:30pm), and while we don’t know which teams you’ll be watching (sadly, not the Seahawks), we know your guests are expecting some delicious food.

To help you in your quest to score a culinary “touchdown”, we asked local food and wine professionals for their recommendations to make your Sunday a “Super” one – here we go!

Jason Franey, Executive Chef, Canlis Restaurant

I would suggest homemade boudin blanc with sour kraut and dijon mustard.  Our boudin blanc is made with a blend of chicken and pork, with eggs, cream and four-spice.  The sausage is deliciously rustic, able to be cooked on either the grill or poached in a blend of beer and water.  Because they’re so light, you can eat these suckers all game long and if you want to gamble online in a game or a casino game, you should try to visit pokiez online as this site specialize in this area. To drink, football needs beer.  So to pair, we’re drinking Ommegang Rare Vos, a Belgian style ale from Cooperstown NY.  It has great hoppy notes of plum, apple, and citrus.

Roger Gamache, Gamache Vintners

I would do chicken wings, with homemade hot sauce marinated overnight, then bar-b-cued with smoked mesquite chips. And a vegetable dish with Uncle Dan’s dipping sauce. To drink, Gamache Vintners White Riesling with the veggies and dipping sauce. I’d pair our Gamache Vintners Syrah with hot wings…and Negra Modelo dark in the interim. Plus a shot of Crown every time the Seahawks score. This way everything has its purpose initially, but we do mix it up some times. It’s all about the fun!

Ben Friedman, Owner, Homegrown Sustainable Sandwich Shop

For the Super Bowl, you need to accomplish two things with your food selection: capture the tastes of the season while simultaneously avoiding the use of plates and cutlery.

For these reasons, I would recommend our Roast Pork sandwich with Stumptown coffee + cayenne rubbed pork loin topped with arugula, pickled red onions, apple butter + sage aioli. The herb and spiced cider notes compliment the spicy pork perfectly.

The Roast Pork sandwich also pairs really well with our favorite seasonal beer: Pike Brewery’s Auld Acquaintance, seasoned with orange peel, coriander, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Together, they’re as good a combination as your favorite wideout and running back.

Julien Perry, Food writer, Seattle Weekly

I like pairing either a Pilsner, Lager, or IPA with traditional Super Bowl snack foods, like wings, nachos, tots and pizza. I consider myself a dedicated wine drinker, but when it comes to Sunday mornings or afternoons, especially when football is involved, I am a beer drinker all the way! I think the important thing with heavy junk foods (see above) and beer is to go for a lighter beer so your taste buds aren’t completely tackled by flavor and structure. Yeah, I just made a football pun.

Jerald Armstrong, Assistant Manager, ART Restaurant

A quick trip to Whole Foods or DeLaurenti’s solves all your problems. Load up on pita, hummus, marinated eggplant, olives (several varieties), cured meats, and then get a selection of cheese from the cheesemonger, such as Fromage blanc, sheep’s milk, feta, cumin gouda, etc. Basically you are creating a Mediterranean buffet. The wines should be tasty AND inexpensive … so you can drink more. Try a Vermentino from Sardinia, a tangy, dry mouth watering white and a ’09 Cotes du Rhone Rouge red.

Heidi Kenyon, Culinary Director, Dish It Up Gourmet Cooking Store

I like boeuf- bourguignon for parties because it can be made well in advance and it only gets better with time. One could make this in morning and then serve it from a Crock Pot, where it could stay at the perfect temperature. One great trick to wine pairing is “bridging,” where you use the same wine in the dish as you are serving with it; it makes pairing easy. Although boeuf bourguignon is of course traditionally made with a Burgundy (which is Pinot Noir), I like to use something a bit heavier in stew. I would select a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Cab Franc, a Malbec, etc.

Braiden Rex-Johnson, Author, Northwest Wining and Dining

I would brine a turkey breast to slice and serve with a Cascabel pepper mole sauce. I’d probably pair it with a well-aged Syrah to pick up the peppery/smoky notes in the sauce.

Greg Atkinson, Chef/Author/Instructor, West Coast Cooking

I’m not much of a football fan, but I am a big fan of Juanita’s tortilla chips from Hood River, Oregon. They are the perfect chip for scooping up Michoacán style guacamole. Made famous by Diana Kennedy, this avocado salad is built on a foundation of finely diced ripe pear, even finer diced onion and jalapeno peppers and a generous squeeze of lime juice. The finishing touch is a handful of pomegranate arils or seeds. The traditional accompaniment would be beer of course — I like the super hoppy barley wine from Pike Place Brewery — but avocado, like butter, makes any good tasting wine taste even better; it seems to work especially well with varietals from Burgundy, so you could pair this with any Northwest-grown Pinot Noir or Chardonnay.

Lisa Dupar, Chef/Owner, Pomegranate Bistro and Lisa Dupar Catering

I think Spire Dark Hard Apple Cider paired with maple bacon grilled gorgonzola cheese sandwiches on artisan wheat would be yummy!

Yashar Shayan, Certified Sommelier, Seastar Restaurant

This year, when you’re watching the big game with a big bowl of chili, chili dip, chili nachos or a chili dog, why not take it to the next level and pair it with some lovely Garnacha from Spain. The Tres Picos by Borsao is loaded with notes of smoke and black pepper to pair with chili of all types, and its medium body means it will pair with your chili whether it’s con carne or pollo, or even turkey or vegetarian chili.

Brian Scheehser, Executive Chef, Trellis Restaurant

My recommendation would be a Trellis BBQ pork sandwich and some of our Saint Louis BBQ ribs, homemade potato chips, and a frosty Pliny Elder (Russian River, IPA)

Shona Milne, Woodinville Wine Update

I’d suggest bean dip with chips and some veggies, paired with an Oregon Pinot Noir. This is easy to fix, and easy to eat. It doesn’t even require the commitment of a plate -you can just dip as you go by! This is a good dish for vegetarians and the Pinot Noir doesn’t overpower the flavors of the dip.