Old Salt Festival’s “Cowboy Tapas” Menus are Set

Old Salt Festival’s “Cowboy Tapas” Menus are Set 

Hint: They sound pretty darn delicious. Learn more here.

For 2024, Old Salt Festival is trying on a new way of feeding festival goers. You can think of it as ‘Cowboy Tapas’ — or small bites of big flavors. 

Once again, we’re welcoming three separate chef teams. On Friday, Chef Eduardo Garcia rallies the Montana Mex crew to put together cuisine that blends his Mexican heritage with Montana flavors. Saturday, Chefs Mona and Jarret from Tournant PDX weave a ton of different flavors into four dishes. And on Sunday, the Woodberry Kitchen crew brings Chesapeake Bay energy to brunch. 

Each chef is working with meat from the Old Salt Co-op, ingredients they’ve sourced independently, and others that we’ve been able to help them source through producers local to Montana. 

Below, you’ll find bios of our chef teams and the working menus. 

Friday: Chef Eduardo Garcia and Montana Mex

Chef Eduardo Garcia is an inspirational and multifaceted creative who continues to push the envelope with his personal story and professional acumen. Garcia began cooking at a young age, which led to private chef gigs cooking on yachts. He co-founded Montana Mex in 2010, a company that focuses on sustainable and delicious condiments. 

In 2011, Garcia had an accident while hunting that nearly took his life. We highly recommend watching his journey to healing through the documentary Charged. 

Currently, Garcia is the host of Big Sky Kitchen With Eduardo Garcia on the Magnolia Network, and the show is currently nominated for both a James Beard award and an Emmy. We’re keeping our fingers crossed, Chef Eduardo! 

This dynamic chef is offering an equally dynamic tasting menu. Look for these small bites on Friday from 2-6pm near the cookfire. 

• Offal Good Meatballs with Huckleberry Chipotle Glaze
• Tallow Tuber Tartare with Cowboy Chips & Mushroom Cilantro Salt
• Souppe de Poisson — A Marseille-inspired fish soup

Saturday: Mona, Jarret, and the Tournant PDX Team

Partners in cooking and life, Mona and Jarret are bringing their farm-to-fire aesthetic once more to the Old Salt Festival cooking stage. 

In Dayton, OR, the pair create open-fire cooking workshops, curated dinner experiences, bespoke events, slow food and lifestyle retreats, and much more. They also offer educational resources for folks who want to cook over open fire as well, with two books currently available on the subject. 

This year, they’re planning four small bites for Old Salt Festival goers. You’ll find these plates at the Bites Stations near the cookfire stage from 2-6pm on Saturday. 

• Summer Solstice Paella with Iron Cross Lamb & Romesco Verde
• Smoked Lamb & Beef Tacos with Chimichurri
• Pastured Pork Pozole Rojo with Shredded Cabbage and Cilantro
• Goat Chili with Frybread & Crema

Sunday: The Baltimore Contingency

​​Woodberry Kitchen’s chef Spike Gjerde nailed down a crew of chefs with big Maryland influence. And if you’re not familiar with the seafood-forward deliciousness that Maryland cuisine offers up, you’re in for a treat. 

Chefs Damian Mosely and Denzel Mitchell of Baltimore’s beloved Blacksauce Kitchen are famous for their biscuits and much more. Oyster shucker Gardner Douglas will also be bringing his craft to the Old Salt table, and he’s known as Washington D.C. 's “oyster ninja.” 

After driving 3,000 oysters and cases of Mid-Atlantic-made Snake Oil hot sauce across the country, the culinary team plans to partner Chesapeake food traditions with the best meat in Montana, serving festival goers dishes including pit beef, pepperpot, and Maryland fried chicken.

• Oysters for Brunch: A Happy Hour 
• Iced Chesapeake bay oysters on the half shell with Snake Oil and Keepwell mignonettes
• Oyster shooter - MT grown and distilled rye whiskey, Snake Oil, pickled pearl onion
• Chesapeake oysters roasted over coals with ancho garlic butter
• Hangtown Fry - Slab bacon, oysters, and eggs wrapped in a Cairnspring Mills flour tortilla griddled with Rettland Farms scrapple
• Pit beef - Salt and pepper-rubbed top round, roasted over coals, carved and served on Cairnspring Mills kaiser rolls with onions, horseradish tiger sauce, & Snake Oil
• Pepperpot - A mid-Atlantic icon via the Caribbean. Think salted pork and beef shoulder simmered over a wood fire with, crab, oysters, chiles, and Farm-Alliance grown greens
• Maryland Fried Chicken - Fish pepper honey, vinegar-based icebox slaw, Cairnspring Mills biscuit
• Carpetbaggers - Ribeye rolled around smoked oysters, grilled

We’re hungry just writing this one up, folks. 

Buy Tickets by May 23rd & You’re Entered To Win an Old Salt Meat Bundle

Everyone who buys tickets to the festival will be entered in our series of raffles coming up over the next 6 weeks, up to the weekend of the festival. 

Over the next seven days, anyone who buys a ticket is entered into a raffle to win the following bundle:

Meet Our Meat Bundle 

An integral part of Old Salt's brand is our partnership with carefully curated conservationally minded Montana ranches. As you'll experience at the Festival, Old Salt provides damn fine Montana meats. The Steak & Chop Bundle is a tasteful mix of tender, juicy steaks and chops with a few extra goodies. Perfect for grilling, pan searing, or any preferred cooking method.

The bundle includes:

4 packs premium steak

2 packs butcher's steak

4 packs ground beef

2 packs fresh link sausages

The retail value is $170. Buy tickets here!