Archive | October, 2013

New York City Wine & Food Festival: Grand Tasting 2013 Review

19 Oct

This was our fourth year attending the New York City Wine & Food Festival Grand Tasting. (Here are the reviews from 2012 and 2011, sadly I didn’t post about 2010).

The last few years it has been on a pier near 14th Street, but this year it moved to Piers 92/94 at 55th Street. We were a bit worried because it has always been nicely organized in the past and you never know what might change.  Turns out, the organization was definitely more lacking this year than in years past.

You used to come through a park before going to the Grand Tasting, where you would get your swag bag (some years) but always got to grab a cup/bottle of Illy coffee (a reoccurring sponsor) to wait with on line.  This year, it was just the line.

We got the Fast Pass which meant we were the line that went in first.  We were inside the building by 12:10 (start time was noon) but then the cluster started.

They give you a bracelet to show you turned in your ticket and are legal to drink, and it comes with a drink and swag bag ticket.  The problem was, you enter right into that table and there is really no way to get there in an organized fashion. Everyone was just en mass to get everything and then once they got it, they couldn’t get out through the crowd.  Last year, you walked down the hallway and got your stuff on the way in, so it all flowed with the foot traffic. This year, not so much.

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But once we were inside, it was smooth sailing.

When I looked at the map from Zagat that came out this past week, I was worried. It looked like many fewer tables than years prior.  But the space was actually a bit more spread out and I think the ceilings were higher and the skylights were new, giving it a bit of a nicer feel.

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As we have found to be the best plan, we beelined for the very back of the pier and then worked our way forward. This allows us some time before the masses get too thick and we have the back of the area pretty much to ourselves.

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Throughout the pier, they have multiple sections with sampling and demonstrations.  The main demo area was right in the middle with a cute picket fence around it.

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Throughout the day, the most empty area was the (big) Barilla takeover. Probably because they are homophobic pricks.  I used to eat Barilla. I will never again. I’m glad they wasted money on this.  OKAY… will stop ranting now…. back to the food.

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Starting with the eats, I’ll first highlight our favorite bites.

Our number one bite of the day (and this was echoed throughout many people we talked to) was from High Road Creamery.

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This was absolutely awesome.  The buns were slightly sweet and warmed on the spot. The ricotta ice cream was very flavorful and the pistachio black pepper toffee on the outside was a great compliment both in taste and texture.  We went back to get more around 3:30pm (the Grand Tasting goes until 6pm) and they were all out.  Though I can’t blame them. They were so good.

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Chefs Vanessa Palazio & Adam Schneider- Little Muenster: “Super Fancy Grilled Cheese” with braised beef cheek with cracked pepper marscapone, pickled fennel, old bay onion paste & muenster cheese on local peasant bread.

We LOVED this grilled cheese. One of the best I have ever had. Perfect balance of everything with a satisfying crunch of the bread (without being too sharp or too thick). Looks like we may need to head down to the LES or Brooklyn to get our hands on more Little Muenster!

 

 

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Surprisingly, one of my favorite noms was from Celebrity Cruise Lines.  Squash soup with a really great grilled cheese.

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Chef Kirk McKinny- Suite 36: Lilikoi (Passionfruit) Cured Hamachi with a salad of baby watercress, scallion, pineapple & Big Island macadamia nut. Finished with Sweet Yuzu & Hawaiian Chili Oil drizzle.

I had mine without chili oil, but I really enjoyed this combination of flavors and great hamachi. The macadamia nuts added a nice texture and taste to everything.  And I’m quite excited we found this place… it’s just a few blocks away from our apartment. We may try to go there for dinner tomorrow!

 

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Chef Manuel Berganza- Andanada: Pulpo a la Gallego- Octopus seasoned with olive oil, pimiento de vera and served with mashed potato puree.  (I had mine without the paprika on top… see second photo).

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This was scrumptious.  Perfectly cooked octopus and the potato foam on top was light and creamy. Great dish.

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Chef Jeremy Leech- ReBar: Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese.

This was stupid good. It was just mac and cheese. Just AWESOME mac and cheese.

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Chef Roxanne Spruance- Alison Eighteen: Lamb Bacon with maitake, crispy lentils, foie gras, walnut and concord grape.  This bacon was perfectly cooked and flavored and the little additions all went well with the bacon itself.

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And here are most of the other things we nibbled:

Chef Arturo McLeod- Benjamin Steakhouse: Porterhouse Bites and Creamed Spinach with USDA Prime, dry aged porterhouse bites served with their signature “creamless” creamed spinach.

A very tender, simply prepared piece of meat.

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Chef Sophia Lee- miss Korea BBQ: Korean marinated Kalbi

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Chef Sara Moulton- Maple Leaf Farms: Peking Duck Wraps

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Chef Lucas Billheimer- The Writing Room: Smoked Duck Rillette with apple butter and pickled squash on dark rye bread

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Chef Miguel Trinidad- Maharlika Filipino Moderno: Pork Rib Adobo- National dish of the Philipines. Pork marinated in Filipino soy sauce, bawang, suka, and sili.

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The Munchies is a “People’s Choice Food Award” and they had a selection from Hill Country Barbecue.  It was a piece of brisket with a really nice cucumber salad.  Very tender.

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Executive Chef Jim Botsacos- Molyvos: Yiayia’s Meatballs (Keftedes) with rich tomato sauce, green crakced olives and whipped Mizithra.

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Chef Kyle McClelland- Prospect: Butternut Squash Velouté with root beer cream and espresso marshmallows.

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Chef Kenneth Johnson- Pescatore Restaurant: “Goat, Goat, Goat” with goat cheese gnudi with goat bolognese and shaved goat cheese.

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Chef Carmine Di Giovanni- Greenwich Project: Kobocha Squash Panna Cotta with spice candied walnut crunch and pomegranante cider meringue. (Popped a bite in my mouth and realized that spiced meant peppers and peppers mean allergy for me. So my mouth peeled a bit and I had to toss the rest… damn)

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Chef Patricio Sandoval- Mercadito: Tacos de Camaron with shrimp, roasted garlic, avocado, and chipotle mayo.  (Mike had, not me)

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Chef Thomas Biglan- Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa: Borgata Fried Chicken Slider with black pepper candied bacon, sundried tomato mayonnaise and micro greens.  This was actually awful. The only really bad bite of the day.  The chicken was cold and mushy, with no crisp on the fry.  I had one bite and tossed it.

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Manon: Some sort of dessert with pear and a filling that tasted like pecan pie. (This was very good but they had no sign and soon ran out.)

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Sea salt ice cream sundae from Graeter’s

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Blue Marble Organic Ice Cream in Spiced Pumpkin flavor. We wound up actually combining this with the fresh Crown maple syrup next door for a delightful treat.

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Haagen-Dazs Gelato.  Very good sea salt caramel.

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On the way to the Celebrity Chef demonstrations/talks, Cooking Channel was serving some awesome gourmet popcorn.  We tried the pizza and the miso caramel.

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Lovely Australian Lamb with cheese and tomato jam

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A piece of burger from Mater Purveyors, Inc. in the Bronx.

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Certified Piedmont Beef with Italian Seasoned Roast Beef.

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Olive oils from Spain

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Bertoli Olive Oil Cranberry Pesto with Olive Oil

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SooFoo original grain and lentil blend lemon kale salad (kind of bland… meh)DSCF2627

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Pasta Chips tasted like crispy, dried pasta with dried seasonings resembling pasta dishes.  I really enjoyed these, especially the simple sea salt that let the pasta flavor shine through.

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Brownie brittle was good as well.

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I liked that the chocolate crisp. (Why aren’t there more crispy chocolate products out there?)

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And what we drank:

We started our day in the back at one of our favorite wineries: Decoy. Great Napa and Sonoma wines.  Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of their lovely duck themed bottles.

VeeV Acai Spirits smartly served their sangria in a jar with a lid so we could carry it around and enjoy it throughout the day (especially when we were sitting in the chef talks)

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The Chartreuse was a really interesting flavor. Very herbacious and floral.  Would be a great mixer. Will need to keep my eye out for this.

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Mike saw Amarula and suggested I try it. Sure enough, a delicious creamy liqueur.

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This was… weird.  Cheesecake wine? Probably not going to go anywhere beyond the “I’ll try anything once” mantra.

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Nice bourbon

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And the Demos:  

One of the highlights of the Grand Tasting is the impressive roster of Celebrity Chefs who do demos and talks throughout the day.  This new location seemed smaller, and for the first time we were turned away from one (Rachael Ray) so we checked out some others.  Our first stop was watching Iron Chef Morimoto break down a HUGE Toro fish.

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It was incredibly hard to hear because the other stage was way too close in this venue, but what we did hear was fun.  He even sang us a song at the end before flexing for the camera.

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We caught the end of Chef Chuck Hughes (from Cooking Channel) and he was fun to watch.

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Then Nadia G (from Bitchin Kitchen) came out to make the introduction…

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…For Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli.

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She made a crepe cake (and burned a number of crepes in good humor). The crepe cake looked like it was going to fall down, but she managed to get a slice out and it looked lovely.

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I really loved watching this demo because there is something just so endearing about Chef Alex.   Really it was the audience questions that made the demo so good.  One person asked her how it felt when she won Iron Chef.  And her ego (whatever ego she actually has) just fell to the floor and she talked about how shocking it was and how proud she was about it.  She made some great jokes and then mentioned that the moment she saw the curtain drop and her picture up there she was so overwhelmed that she had to tell herself “Iron Chefs don’t cry!”

Adorable.

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At the end of the demo, Rachael Ray and Guy Fieri crashed.  They asked some silly audience questions and they somehow wound up having a conversation about chafing due to being naked under chef coats.  They were obviously trashed but having a great time.  Alex took it all in good humor.  It was a lovely moment between 3 people you can tell really like each other.

 

This year’s Grand Tasting was certainly better than last year’s in terms of the event itself.  Sure, the new location had some issues, especially the chaos at the beginning of grabbing glasses and bags and then the closeness of the stages, causing some issues hearing the demos.  But there were a LOT more food options so I left totally full and not overly drunk.  Last year was somewhat pathetic in the amount of food that was there, so I’m glad they redeemed themselves.

I was questioning coming back after last year, but I’m glad we did. We had a blast!

 

Ed’s Chowder House

17 Oct

We met up with some friends for a pre-theatre dinner at Ed’s Chowder House near Lincoln Center.  It is located in the Empire Hotel and is right outside the mecca of NYC performing arts.

I have been meaning to try Ed’s since it opened in 2009, so I was excited when my friend suggested it and they had a reservation at the right time.

Our friends decided to split the tuna tartare and the spicy mussels.  I couldn’t try the mussels, but the tuna tartare was quite fresh and good.

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Mike went with a special of a salad with clam strips.  The clam strips that were on this were super awesome.  I really enjoyed my bite.

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I really wanted to have some chowder at the Chowder House… but most had peppers. The one safe one was the sweet corn chowder with crispy shallots.  So I went for it.
But it came out with popcorn that were the shade of danger.  I am allergic to peppers.  It’s a huge pain in the ass, but it could be a lot worse.  Peppers are brightly colored and flavored, and I’m not anaphylactic.  I will just burn and blister from them, which is annoying and uncomfortable, but at least it won’t kill me!  And I have come to know the warning color is typically this special shade of orange.  Sure enough, it had paprika on it (which is made from peppers… damn).  I was bummed since I love popcorn in soup, but they were quick to return with a bowl sans popcorn.  And it was very tasty.

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As for entrees, one of our friends got the scallops. They looked great, but they had peppers, so I have no first hand account.

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Mike chose the tuna steak with fries.

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The tuna steak had hotel butter on it and was served raw, the chef’s recommendation. This is how I LOVE tuna steaks.  I love sashimi, but I also love the grilled char flavor. This combined the best of both worlds and was a really delicious piece of fish.

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My friend and I split our entrees with each other. She got the skate, which was delicious. Well cooked with a little bit of crisp and a really nice sauce to compliment it.

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And I got the linguini with clams and shrimp.  This was good but a bit lacking in depth. It tasted like seafood and the sea and butter.  But perhaps it needed some salt or some more interesting herbs. It was good but not great.

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We also split the smoked bacon macaroni and cheese around the table.  This was a really good mac and chee.  It was made with very small tubular noodles and was creamy without being soupy.  The crunch on top was just enough and the smoked bacon added a great level of flavor.

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A very good meal.  A solid meal. A meal I cannot find much to say about. Besides the fact that it was good. If you are in the area, it’s a good option.

Total Nom Points: 7 out of 10

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Westport, CT: Red Hen in the Westport Inn

15 Oct

After a lovely team event near my Westport, CT offices, I went out with my friend to grab a nice dinner before driving back to NYC.  We checked out Yelp and made some calls to see who could take us right away.  The Red Hen in the Westport Inn said they were having a slow night and their ratings were quite good, so we decided to check it out.

Sure enough, they were quite empty. The chef was at the bar and we were one of just two seated tables in the small restaurant off the lobby.  We instantly fell in love with the decorations.  The doors as dividers with this fun farmhouse feel.  Really loved it.

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The chef came over to our table and instantly started chatting us up.  His love for food and excited for this restaurant was palpable.  He talked about how he sources all of his ingredients as locally and sustainably as possible.  He talked about wanting to step everything up a notch and we gave him some ideas of what we wanted to try and told him to have at it.

The first thing we tried was the zucchini fritters.  These were tasty, but I’m not sure if they were right.  The inside of the fritters was more like zucchini dip.  Not raw, per se, but I wasn’t sure if that was really how they were intended or if they were meant to be solid all the way through.   I did like the balsamic reduction on top, however.

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Then we tried the vegan spring rolls. These had a few peppers in it, but I managed to pick around it.  I liked the idea of it and the hoisin sauce was good, but I’m not sure I could recommend it.

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We also tried the sundried tomato and basil sausage. It came with a cilantro dijonaise sauce and the cilantro was a perfect compliment to the taste of the sausage.  But the sausage itself was a bit overcooked and dry. Bummer.

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I saw bacon crusted arctic char on the menu and had to try it.  Turns out, the chef makes a bacon paste-like substance to crust the char.  It came with mashed sweet potatoes and grilled squash.  Everything on this place was very good.  The char was perfectly cooked and the bacon was a great compliment. There was an awesome char on the squash and zucchini and the sweet potatoes were tasty.

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We also decided to try the grilled cheese with a side of brussels sprouts.  The grilled cheese was a special version that had a mixture of cheeses and came with an onion jam.

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And boy was it special.  Everything else we tried at The Red Hen was good but not special, and for the most part not flawless.  But this grilled cheese was awesome.  Exactly what grilled cheese should be (and better).  Nicely browned and toasty bread (but not too much of it) with a hearty, flavorful cheese and the sweetness of the onion jam.  Mm mm mmm this was good!

The brussels sprouts were just okay. I like them roasted and crispy much better.

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Overall, I think the chef’s excitement actually set expectations too high. I know exactly what he’s going for, but the food wasn’t quite there.  There was a lack in depth of flavor in most of the dishes we tried and some executional problems.  But everything was still quite good and that grilled cheese was something special!  I will certainly return and probably order a bit differently next time.  But I still recommend.

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10

nomscale- 06.5