Spargelfest is Back

Can you believe it? Asparagus is finally here and Black Forest Inn is kicking off the season with their annual Spargelfest, a celebration of asparagus, which starts today and goes through May 29th. This year, Black Forest Inn will go through 300 pounds of asparagus during Spargelfest. That's a lot of asparagus!

Last year I sampled the Spargelfest menu and loved all of the dishes so I was eager to see what they had on the menu this time. I brought Ryan along as my second stomach.

We started with a crunchy snack: quick-pickled asparagus, mushrooms and carrots to boost our veggie intake.

Our "bar food" went well with the Royal Spargeltini, a combination of asparagus vodka, cocoa nib vodka, and Cointreau. Black Forest Inn makes the vodkas in house and they are quite tasty.

The puff pastry wrapped asparagus had a thin layer of Fischer Farms ham baked into the pastry. It was served with romesco sauce which was a mild yet warming partner.

Another healthy veggie-based dish is the spargel brown rice salad, dotted with sweet apricots and fragrant mint.

A traditional German meal is a thick slice of ham and sautéed asparagus spears with hollandaise sauce drizzled over the plate. Simple, but great.

Every dinner deserves a dessert and every Spargelfest dinner deserves a spargel dessert. The spargel and rhubarb strudel is a great match to the season and was surprisingly delicious. The asparagus added crunch while the rhubarb lent a bit of tartness.

It isn't often that a restaurant has a whole menu dedicated to asparagus, but I think it's really cool. They do a great job of balancing the menu and offer a bit for everyone…well, unless you don't like asparagus (there's always the regular menu).

Disclosure: Black Forest Inn provided a free preview dinner and I was not obligated to write about it. I just love asparagus and want you to love it too :)