We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you… A Grand Overview of the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival’s Grand Tasting, presented by ShopRite, Sunday, October 12, 2008, Session 1…
Via Foodbuzz, my very favorite foodie community EVERRR (seriously. I mean that. If you go join, we can be friends so do it!), I was able to obtain a press pass to the New York City Wine & Food Festival in its inaugural year (a similar event has been going on for a few years now in South Beach, but this is the first annual New York City one), to cover the event as a correspondent on behalf of Foodbuzz… and you don’t have to ask me twice to attend an event like this! Tickets for some of these events were sold out so quickly, and I was later told by an industry insider that press passes had been especially hard to acquire, so BIG PROPS to Foodbuzz for coming through!!!
And on to the event – I attended the Grand Tasting presented by ShopRite, Session 1, on Sunday.
Whenever I go to tasting events like this, I tend to notice how organized (or how DISorganized) they are. A friend of mine and I like to discuss what could be improved upon; obviously, I’m not in the event planning industry, but I have experience successfully planning a few medium scale events (large for a person by herself, though), and an outside eye may catch things the inside can’t. Having said that, I must commend the people who organized this event; though I heard later that there were a few kinks, that’s to be expected. Even to my extremely critical/cynical eye, I did not notice much in terms of “they should have done THIS instead of THAT” and that is really big with me.
The first thing that I noticed off the bat was good coordination with sponsors. To check in, you were instructed to enter at the Target Welcome Center, at 10th Avenue and 15th Street. Here, you had your ticket torn and were given a wrist band that had your event and time printed on it, and allowed you access to the Target Welcome Center and to the event itself, preventing a line buildup at Pier 54 (where the actual event was held).
You then followed a winding path, where you picked up goodie bags (filled with AWESOME goodies – more on that later) to stuff with even more goodies once you got to the place.
Also in the Target Welcome Center was a tent filled with Choxie, Target’s own brand of chocolate. Though I snapped this shot, I only took one – the dark chocolate mint cookie bar – because the staff were kind of staring at you and I felt weird taking more than one. When I went back a few hours later to see if I could snap a shot of the whole tent – and snag another chocolate, they’d run out of these and were giving out smaller chocolate bars. They’d also apparently run out of the large lollipops in the picture above, but had plenty of mini-sized ones that I picked up for my nephews (the kind you can actually fit in your mouth!).
Continuing down the path, you picked up your wine glass (Waterford Marquis) for all your subsequent wine tastings. Pretty cool (yes you get to keep the glass), but the most awesome part about this? As soon as I’d walked in (after receiving my wrist band), they’d handed out… well, I have never seen this before. At all of these tastings I go to, I’m forever juggling my wine glass, my plate, my camera, and we had bags with us to stick stuff in, so it’s quite a lot of stuff to juggle. Some GENIUS, I cannot stress this enough, ABSOLUTE GENIUS came up with a pretty sweet method to solve this problem.
*sorry for the crappy pic, I took this the next morning on my couch because I realized I wouldn’t be able to fully describe it without a photo
A wine glass holder necklace. Even better than those plates that you slip the glass into, because you usually keep changing plates, this leaves you (ideally) totally hands free for eating. Or photographing. There’s a “break” in the plastic tube part on the bottom (I didn’t think to flip it around so you could see in the pic, sorry) that you slip your glass into, and you just loop the whole thing over your neck. There are two small plastic “arms” that line up with the actual cloth part of the necklace, helping to keep the glass upright by cupping the bowl gently. Bear in mind, the design could probably use a few tweaks – I saw two people break their glasses, and someone who was involved with the event said that one person actually cut themselves pretty badly (but this was also blamed on excessive alcohol consumption), necessitating EMT to visit – I stress that I did not see this personally, nor did my source, but she was involved with the event so I assume her information is good. I was just really blown away by how awesome this little “device” was. Great move whoever invented it, and even greater move by the organizer who decided to acquire them for this event.
As you left the Target Welcome Center to head over to the main event (so to speak), there was an illy center set up pumping out espressos for your enjoyment. I don’t drink coffee, so I just snapped this quick pic and headed over to the big tent…
If you can peek through the bars, this was my view of the tent set up at Pier 54 as I approached…
This was the first booth I saw, directly to my right as I entered the venue. A Jamaican rum bar, playing lots of island style music. I picked up a CD and headed on my way – I didn’t need to start drinking at 11 in the morning, plus I get a bit too shaky when I drink. I wanted food!
Right next to that was a Delta 360 lounge, where they were pouring many different types of wine. Again, I passed that offer up – though the chairs looked super comfy – and just snagged some peanuts and some biscotti.
This is what I saw when I first walked in: a couple of ShopRite booths, front and center, giving out tastings of pasta salads, roasted veggies, etc.
I liked the faux-kitchen set up.
Unfortunately, they were not offering anything that was particularly interesting.
As you walked further back, a few staffers were handing out another goodie bag (contents to come later), the green ones you see here, and then there was a Maker’s Mark booth. Again, I wasn’t going to begin drinking – and anyone who visits my blog regularly knows that I’m much more focused on food than alcohol – at 11 am. So I walked on by and immediately saw…
Alex Guarnaschelli! I only recognize her from the trailers I’ve seen on Food Network for her upcoming show, The Cooking Loft. She’s the chef at Butter.
I definitely smelled lamb as I’d approached the table – she was plating something that looked like mac & cheese – but
I didn’t taste the lamb at all, which is odd since it’s listed as spicy. Lamb has a very strong flavor, but it was completely absent here. I thought the dish was alright – while cooked properly, it wasn’t warm (though it appears they’re scooping it out of a pot directly), and overall, the flavors were very mild.
Too early for dessert, so I passed on this, though not without taking a picture! Asia de Cuba’s offering.
This was by far one of the cutest presentations of the day. Jamie Knott, of China Grill, with his “Confucius Chicken Salad with Sesame Oil Vinaigrette”. I’ve spoken at length a few times on my feelings on non-Asian owned Asian restaurants, (do French people have this issue with non-French owned French restaurants, or Italian people, and so on?) so suffice to say… I wondered cattily what was so Confucius about this chicken salad.
I’m a sucker for presentation, though, so when I walked by, snapping photos, and Jamie Knott himself (partial shot of him plating, above; stealth shot, below) handed me a container and smiled broadly, “Enjoy!” I smiled back and said thank you.
Okay, so let’s be honest here: I like food that tastes good. I do get annoyed when I have to pay a lot for Chinese food, and I don’t like misrepresentation or cutesy names mostly (which is why nearly all of my recipes have boring names that essentially just tell you what’s in it), but if something tastes good, I can probably get over it. It’s no surprise that I found this salad tasty, though, let’s say, not really Confucian (since I don’t even know what that would exactly entail). Crunchy noodles, bits of chicken with some chili oil tossed with sesame oil, and some Napa cabbage… it was very tasty. I would agree that this could indeed be labeled as Asian-inspired (noodles that were similar to “raw”/uncooked instant ramen noodles; sesame oil, a dominant flavor in certain regional Asian cuisines; chili oil that looked and tasted similar to Szechuan chili oil; Napa cabbage, also known as Chinese cabbage in some circles).
However, a quick glance at their menu online says that this dish is from $16 – 19.50 (prices are listed for that category, not specific to each dish). I can’t fathom anyone paying this much, regardless of how much you receive, since it’s something I could easily whip up at home. In fact, I think I will… recipe to come some Recipe Friday.
Wine purveyors up and down the middle of the tent – here, pushing box’o’wine.
Klee Brasserie’s Daniel Angerer’s offering of Kobe bratwurst dog. Succulent and juicy, and yet nothing particularly wow about it – a waste of Kobe beef perhaps? It tasted like a really good hot dog…
All Clad had a booth and was giving out marshmallows. I don’t know how to make marshmallows (though I did watch that episode of Good Eats!), so I’m not sure of the relationship between heavy duty cookware and marshmallows, but I did try one of the cranberry marshmallows (the others are pumpkin). Airy, light, fluffy, and not overbearingly sweet – in fact, barely sweet – it was good, but I’m not a huge marshmallow person to begin with, so perhaps my opinion shouldn’t count.
Right next to them was a high end food importer, I think Ciao Imports? – I didn’t get a shot of the sign, sorry! – that had a few different things for sampling, and mini bottles of olive oil for you to take.
Sampling olive oil, tapenade, pasta.
Another shot of another part of the center row of alcoholic beverages being poured. I had a hard time with photos because if I stepped away from a booth to get a wider angle of a booth, people would rush in front of it, making it impossible for me to get a clear shot of the people serving, and the food being served. If I stepped closer, I would inevitably be too close to get a clean shot of everything…
Next up, Katchkie Ketchup on homemade meatloaf squares.
I think it would have helped if the meatloaf was hot, or warm at least. The ketchup, to be honest, I can’t lie to you. It wasn’t mind blowingly good. It did not, however, taste like ketchup, but a really good tomato sauce with spices. You know how Heinz Ketchup (the ketchup of choice in my household) is almost overly sweet with a light vinegary bite? This reminded me more of the sauce I’d used on my own meatloaf months ago – which is actually a homemade red sauce, lovingly simmered for hours with meatballs, brasciole, sausage, spices, herbs, seasonings, and a lot of love. That is to say, it is absolutely delicious, but I don’t know if I’d feel comfortable substituting it for ketchup or even likening the two (might get my butt kicked!).
The cheese platters at Roth Kase USA. I didn’t try any; there were too many people swarming and I’m really tetchy about people reaching out with their fingers and picking over stuff, putting it back down (which, unfortunately, happens more than you’d think at these things).
Another very cute display – the dish from Loews Hotel Resorts.
Plating the dishes… I didn’t catch the name of this.
A miniature – I’m going to have to guess here, since I’m not familiar with the ingredients just by looking – I’d thought it was a tomato soaked in apple juice, because it had the same softly yielding bite of a ripe tomato, but had definite apple overtones. Looking back, it was probably a stewed miniature apple, to give it that soft texture. Stuffed inside was a medley of things, the only one which stood out to me was what I heard someone say was lobster, but logically, it wasn’t sized nor shaped right to be a piece of lobster tail, so my guess is crawfish, since that’s what it felt like on my tongue as I bit into this and finally gobbled it. It was really quite lovely, a great fall dish, especially since it was sitting atop…
A warmed shot glass of apple cider! Yummy.
Shots of American honey being offered by this nice woman who posed for my camera. I didn’t partake, a shot of honey is a bit much for my savory palate to survive. (Ummm, I just Google’d it and it might be a bourbon liqueur which makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE now. Well, I wasn’t going to take a shot of bourbon anyway, at 11:30 in the morning, but I feel silly now…)
Kittichai’s seared diver scallops with kaffir lime something in a pastry shell.
Unfortunately, fairly unmemorable, there were scallops in the bottom lending their bounciness to the crisp crust, but that was about it. The flavor was not impressive.
This next picture intrigues me. See, I noticed I didn’t take a picture of the sign above each booth which listed its restaurant name. Mini-complaint: each table had a sign on it (bottom left of the picture above) that had the event logo, the chef’s names, the name of the dish, and a few of the ingredients or a brief description, depending on what each chef had chosen to include. But the signs don’t list what restaurant each chef is from, which makes it a bit hard for me to remember what restaurant each one was (I took a lot of “straight up” pictures, just to jog my memory, but these were not always possible, where a photo of the sign was generally a lot more accessible). I did take a picture of the above sign, and was surprised to find that the first chef – Luis Nieto – is not listed on the event’s official listing. I began Googling around to find out who they were, and couldn’t find mention of both of them together, so I zoomed in on the above photo and found that the woman on the left is wearing a Legal Seafoods shirt, while the boy helping her is wearing Institute of Culinary Education chef whites. Very confusing, though I finally realized the second chef’s name IS on the event’s official listing page, and he is the chef for The Palm Restaurant.
Back to the food, though: this Gigi Salad with (so the sign said, though some of those items appear to be missing in the above picture) shrimp, string beans, tomato, onion, and bacon tossed in a vinaigrette. I was instructed by the person who handed me a plate to eat it as a wrap (I’d intended to just eat the inside with a fork), so I did so… and was wildly disappointed. Bacon has such a strong, smokey flavor, and I tasted no such thing here. The shrimp was weakly bland, as was everything – including the onions, which I can clearly see are present in the above photograph! Vinaigrette? Where? Blah. Isn’t The Palm Restaurant supposed to be good?
This really cool ice sculture thing, Manhattan Beer Distributors.
Salsas I didn’t get to try – they were too mobbed at that point (I think they may have been giving away bottles of the stuff, I’m not sure, I didn’t get any… boo!)
Haha I don’t know what Highline Ballroom did to their sign, it’s all dirty and gross…
Strangely enough, they were giving out forks with this, although you could probably just pick it up and bite it. Since I was juggling my camera and my fork, I just scooped off the fish and some of the tapenades underneath to eat with it (not wanting to fill up on starch too much). The olive tapenade, I felt, was an odd choice for the light fish; it overpowered so that all you got from the fish was a textural counterpoint, which, while I’m huge on textures of what I eat, did not mesh well for me. This was highly mediocre.
Chocolove! I did not partake.
Wow, these two guys from Resto had to be possibly the two unfriendliest chefs I encountered all day. No one was near their booth, so I walked over and took my time taking photographs of their set up – House Made Beer Poached Pork and Garlic Sausage with Roasted Peppers and Onions. When I glanced up at them, they both just kind of stared at me, no smile, nothing, like I was trying to talk to them (I was not). I didn’t even try to take their picture – I was just standing nearby. I even smiled when they initially looked at me, but nada. It’s unfortunate because if you read my review, I really liked Resto, but knowing the chefs are kind of jerks really does put a damper on my enthusiasm for the place.
In any case, what they offered was underwhelming. A lot of mediocre dishes appeared at this event, or else I just chose poorly. (Actually, I was glancing through Danny at Food in Mouth’s post on this same event – although he went on Saturday – and some of the chefs and restaurants he mentions, I somehow missed, or really, were not there when I went. I circled 3 times looking for more things I wanted to eat, so I really doubt I missed WINGS. YOU KNOW HOW I LOVE WINGS.
Akhtar Nawab from Elettaria had Crab Meat Rasala, described as Parisian Gnocchi, Basil Seeds, Turmeric-Onion Soubise.
I didn’t read the whole sign before I began eating this, so I thought those were croutons, and was pleasantly surprised to find them soft, warm, yielding to my mouth easily. Slightly crispy on the outside – they look like they’ve been gently fried – and the inside just melting away, I liked this, and found it a great complement to the mildly briny and sweet crab meat. The seaweed bits were very whatever for me.
This guy at the Cabrito booth really wanted to be in a picture – I was taking a picture of the food and he said, “What, you don’t want a picture of me?” but then seemed embarrassed when I obliged and took his picture. Well, this one’s for you. I meant to say, “Well, are you David Schuttenberg?” (the chef listed) but if he wasn’t, I’d have felt foolish, and if he was, I’d also have felt foolish, so I just smiled and took a bowl. Unfortunately, I hadn’t wanted to try their dish, but after that exchange, I almost felt obligated to…
Quelites Con Frijoles – sauteed greens with white onion, garlic, toasted almond, Chipotle chilies and pinto beans. The bowl that I grabbed happened to be overflowing and it was a tad too spicy for me to enjoy, so I wound up tossing it. I didn’t like it much but that’s probably because I’m a child when it comes to heat. It was very ironic that at a food event benefitting the Food Bank of New York, there was probably tons of food going to waste.
I smelled it before I saw it – Quality Meats, grilling up filet mignon, served with their signature steak sauce.
Watching him slice the meat made my mouth positively water; the knife slid through the meat like butter.
Each little plate – these were by far the most adorable plates used. The meat was exceedingly tender, and though I generally just like a crack of fresh black pepper and some salt on my steaks, the steak sauce was really lovely. Yummm.
Next to Quality Meats was La Famiglia DelGrosso (click here for locations to purchase), an actual family owned and run pasta sauce company. I mean, the guy on the right in the picture began talking to me and explained that his whole family worked on the sauces, each one was named for one of his aunts, and on the label was an old black & white photograph of the original family. I thought that was really cool; this was clearly a very tight knit family and I respect the “small” business owner. I tried some of their vodka sauce, which was pretty good (you know I can’t be content eating jarred sauce as is, though, right? I’d probably boost it up by adding cheese, lots and lots of Romano & Parmagiano)… and they gave me a whole jar to take home! Wow! This of course immediately made my goodie bag too heavy to carry comfortably on the crook of my elbow…
Telepan’s duck & dried fruit sausage with an autumn panzanella was spectactularly boring. I’m not sure what made it an autumn panzanella – isn’t there bread in panzanella? The sausage part itself tasted very much like liver for some reason, in that grainy bad way. Oh well.
A lot of people seem to be raving about this dish from Bayard’s Events & Catering, but the truffle smell was overwhelming me. I have to be in the right mood for truffles, and Sunday was not it, so I passed. I did, however, snag a madeleine from Patisserie, that was still warm and starting to condense inside its cute little package.
ilili had a few offerings, but when I tried to approach the table, this big guy blocked my way. As I tried to maneuver around him without knocking into anyone, I heard one of the guys behind the table talk about chewy ice cream, which I wanted to try. Unfortunately, I was never able to get around the big guy, who stood there talking to the other guy about the ice cream, and I got frustrated and gave up. Now that I’m looking at the description and realizing what it was that I missed out on (I thought maybe they were desserts), I am really sad, since the sign says it was lamb ribs… awww, poor me.
Dos Caminos with the tacos de pato, crispy tacos with Canela smoked duck breast, carnitas and chicharron, chile Oaxaca and charred peach salsa… was off the HOOK! The duck meat super tender, and the carnitas a nice foil to it all… with the peach salsa to counter just as you thought it might be too savory or spicy. Delicious. Now I may really have to go there…
Are you full yet? This is just about the end of… one side. Here’s Delmonico’s table… I must have been getting tired since the shot came out so blurry and I didn’t even notice!
Braised short rib skewer with grilled fruit relish and house steak sauce. Dude. You know I love short ribs right? These were meltingly tender, had trouble staying on the skewer, and very generous portion. With the grilled fruit relish, almost just to die for… the only complaint I had was that I didn’t realize it would be near impossible to eat with the skewer, and I’d already walked off without grabbing a fork, to stand at a table alone and didn’t want to leave it there with my stuff to go back and grab a fork. But the dish itself was phenomenally delicious.
In the very back, Viva – one of the big sponsors, if you look through all the pictures, most – if not all – of the tables had a roll of Viva ready to go when your hands got dirty (which was great, I was constantly tipping things onto my left hand, and my right hand held my camera, so it was awkward trying to stay clean…) – had set up chocolate fountains with lots of goodies to dip in white or (I assume, by its color) milk chocolates. I didn’t try this, as I was still keen on going for savory items, but I was amused watching people who didn’t know how to use the fountains (?) – you just skewer and then slide it in, right? Well, some people were dropping things into the fountain… it was a mess.
Also, see those little boxes that look like wrapped presents on the table? Samples of Viva paper towels. I snagged one, but haven’t opened it yet. Really cute and ingenius – and you know, I probably never would have tried Viva paper towels, but now that I have, I have to say they are thicker than most paper towels and… dare I say it? Almost cloth-like. I could believe that it is possible to use them multiple times. I’m not sure I would try that myself, but I almost could believe it.
More alcohol I didn’t try.
There was a guy standing right there who would not move, no matter how many times I said “Excuse me,” he just refused to turn around or move over slightly or acknowledge me. It was really frustrating so I took the shot as is for Roy’s. Argh. You KNOW I love Roy’s – I really do. It’s one of the few slightly upscale restaurants that I have been to multiple times in the past few years, that I continue to enjoy and wouldn’t mind going again. It’s not expensive, and it’s quite consistently yummy, and… I like the place.
But. This has the be the worst presentation idea EVER. EVERRR. It takes a lot for me to say that, too, because it’s not like I think you should judge a restaurant by its presentation. Seriously though. Do you see the issue in the picture? It’s not the cute small bowl, it’s not that there are chopsticks. It’s that upon the chopsticks midsection rests a piece of Wagyu beef sashimi with ponzu gelee, chipotle cream, above a small mound of truffle baby greens. The chopsticks, being of the cheap takeout kind, are still stuck together. So first I had to tip the beef over into the little bowl (actually, when I was staring at it, trying to figure out how to do this, it tipped over on its own; the little green stuck on top of it wasn’t originally there), then balance everything somehow while I pulled the chopsticks apart- then held it by where the meat had rested on them. You wonder why my hands kept getting dirty?!
The dish itself, one bite, wasn’t bad, nothing to write home about. I was really annoyed by the stupid presentation and the difficulty with which I ate it.
Of course Murray’s Cheese had a booth, offering up delicious cheeses. I didn’t sample these though, since I already knew what they tasted like and I was slowly getting full. (I actually just took a class there and am about to take another one… reviews to come!)
Thalassa’s octopus salad was extremely disappointing and mushy.
Todd English’s OLiVES had, cutely enough, a root beer float. There was a guy standing outside the table handing them out, and I called them out when I said, “Why is there Stewart’s bottles in the front but in the back over there, they’re using Barq’s? Which one is it?” He just silently handed me one and didn’t respond at first, then said that they were using both. Yeah… RIGHT. I love Stewart’s – Barq’s is my first root beer obsession (I had it in Texas back in 1990, but couldn’t find it in NYC until a few years later when Coke bought the brand and began distributing it more widely throughout the country. Yes, even as a 10 year old, I had certain tastes that would not be swayed.), but Stewart’s is a much better root beer, in my humblest of opinion. So the idea that they would blatantly mislead the public like so kind of annoyed me… (Stewart’s is also, hands down, much more expensive than Barq’s.)
I can almost certainly say that it was Barq’s in mine, after some pondering. Root beer float with butternut squash ice cream, ginger cream and amaretti cookies was certainly interesting, though the butternut squash ice cream tasted more like pureed butternut squash that was cold… which was interesting, seeing as it was floating in my root beer.
Ahhh, gasp! Is that… why yes I think it is! A WHOLE LEG OF JAMON SERRANO… another of my food delights. Drool. The guy was slicing it as you came by and asked for it. Heaven, I’m in heaven…
Salumeria Rosi really did an excellent job of getting the tastebuds rolling. They even were slicing parmacotto right there in front of you.
The James Beard Foundation showed up with Hudson Valley Foie Gras and fig. Can I tell you? CAN I TELL YOU?
My lips just grazed the foie gras, and it melted away into creamy deliciousness. The above photo is actually of the second one I ate, because they were that good (that was the only double I had the entire event). ABSOLUTELY DIVINE. I don’t know how much they’d whipped the foie gras, but holy cow, or should I say duck? it was amazing. This has to be one of my TOP BITES this year. *swoon*
I was getting kind of tired at this point, having made the entire once around now, so I chose to sit down near the front and people watch for a few minutes. These girls all wearing the same dress are Evian Girls, handing out Evian wine charms to passersby. They weren’t there when I first arrived.
I finally got to my feet, exhausted, but decided to go around again and pick up things I didn’t before, if I remembered that I’d wanted to try them. Garrett’s Popcorn, cheddar flavor, was a bit too much for me, so I only ate a little. It was good, but it’s cheddar and popcorn. I’m sure I’ve had bad ones of these before, but most of the time, it’s good.
Graffiti’s Berkshire spiced pork was melt in your mouth tender, with a light heat that kicked but left you just as quick.
Finally, I decided it was time to start drinking. (Here’s another minor complaint for the event organizers: there were no non-alcoholic beverage choices beyond Evian, which I think tastes funny – I’m not into the minerally taste of it. It would have been nice to tap Snapple, Arizona, Lipton, VitaminWater, one of them, for product placement, I’m sure one of them would have eagerly been into it.)
Pama, a pomegranate based (vodka?)… mixed with club soda and with a rock candy stirrer. I LOVED this drink. I was ready to go out and buy some straight away… it wasn’t overpoweringly sweet, but it had a nice kick and a good, rounded flavor. The rock candy stirrer was just a cute little touch, I thought.
I mentioned once upon a time wanting to try Coole Swan, and now was my chance! They had these in chocolate shot glasses which was awesome (the last time I had those was at my sister’s wedding… and I ended up very, very drunk). I downed one quickly and noted that while yes, it is similar to Bailey’s, it wasn’t the same, there was a bit more complexity there. Bailey’s says “melted vanilla ice cream with alcohol added” – and while yes, I do enjoy it – there was a bit more smokiness to the Coole Swan. I liked it, though I’m not sure I’ll be replacing my bottles of Bailey’s with it anytime soon, as the price point is higher by quite a bit.
Emmi was giving away yogurt, but I didn’t want to eat it right then and wasn’t sure it would last on this warm day, so I didn’t get to try any, boo… They were also giving away individually packaged cheeses but I don’t know why I didn’t snag any!
Sake2me – cute name!
There were several flavors to try, and I picked Asian pear. These are basically bottles of pre-mixed sake cocktails, with a 7% alcoholic content. I liked mine, though the Asian pear flavor as a bit more muted than I’d have liked.
At this point, I knew that if I stayed, I’d probably begin drinking – I mean, “tasting wines & other alcoholic beverages in earnest” – something I was trying hard to avoid, as my next appointment was a party for my nephew’s first birthday, filled with family. I had no desire to show up sloshed for a party to which I was already late, so I began making my way back to the train.
As I was walking away from Pier 54, I saw these little mini-pedi-cabs and heard one of them trying to convince a pretty girl that she wanted a free ride to any of the locations where a Wine & Food Fest event was being held (and maybe the train station? I’m not sure). I thought this was pretty cool, since the event location is kind of far from the train station, so this was a nice touch, though I wish there’d been more indication about this little perk and where you could actually request to go with one of these things.
I decided to swing by Chelsea Market to pop my head in, maybe pick up some cupcakes, and see what else was going on. Funny story, while waiting for the light to change, I saw a woman who had clearly come from the same event walking in the same direction, so I struck up a conversation with her. As we walked closer to the entrance to Chelsea Market, which is right next to Morimoto (the restaurant), she stopped and whispered, “Is that Iron Chef?” and I glanced over.
Sure enough, there he was, smoking a cigarette (a fact I noted with a bit of disappointment). When he saw me stop to take a picture (I don’t like to go up to people and talk to them, because I feel it’s rude, and I tried to take his picture discreetly but I guess because there weren’t many people around, it was very obvious), he threw up the peace sign. Hehe, he’s so funny (he’s done that before in my pics!).
Some notes:
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I wished there was better signage:
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The signs listing the chef and what dish was being presented perhaps should also have included the restaurant they were representing as well.
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The pedicabs might have gotten more “business” had there been signs indicating what they were for, how to use them, etc.
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There were at least two booths that had fun things going on – Barilla and MetroMix – it appeared that you could pose for a photo, they would take it digitally and one would make you look like you were in Italy (Barilla) and the other, in a professional kitchen, cooking something. But there wasn’t much of an indication of this, what you had to do in order to participate, or really any people directing you to join. (This may have been more the fault of each vendor/exhibitor instead of the event organizers, though.) I didn’t do either because I had no clue who to talk to or what I had to do, and there was no one to ask.
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There was also a contest going on to win, I believe, a car? But there was again, no one standing out there “hawking the goods” so to speak, getting your attention to sign up. I would have done it.
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I think more signs promoting the two charity benefactors (Share Our Strength and Food Bank of New York) would have helped out a lot. Maybe even an area where, if you so chose, you could donate directly to each charity.
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Also, there were a couple of booths that appeared unmanned and had a few items laying on the tables. Were they for looking at? For taking? I felt a bit weird just going up and taking stuff from tables, so either signage or people, again “hawking” or asking passersby if they wanted a sample, or explaining what they were doing there, would have been really nice.
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There are a decent number of people who don’t drink alcohol for whatever reason and perhaps don’t prefer water. I think there should have been a few more non-alcoholic options than just Evian. As I mentioned above, Snapple, Lipton, Arizona, VitaminWater – I’m sure one of them would have been more than happy to take part in an event like this.
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Last and probably least, I read somewhere that this was very much like a trade show or convention. I’m not complaining. Bring it on! I love having people chat me up about their products and why I should buy into their hype (or help create the buzz), why I should become a part of their fanbase. I love freebies!
Speaking of freebies, aren’t you dying to know what was in my goodie bags and what I walked away with? Here goes, because I’m that dorky and that nice (or want to brag perhaps?):
Of course, the omnipresent reusable grocery tote with the Travel & Leisure / Food & Wine logo emblazoned across the front, which I picked up at the Target Welcome Center, and inside I found: a can of illy espresso ground coffee; an Evian moisturizing face spray; a packet of Twinings Earl Grey tea; a jar of hazelnut chocolate spread (yum!); a guide to the NY Wine & Food Fest 2008; a wooden muddler that says Tommy Bahama Rum on it; and a Bertolli pot holder. Not bad… I’m most eager to try the hazelnut spread!
Inside the green reusable shopping bag that was handed out at Pier 54 was a cookbook featuring the best recipes of the ShopRite Culinary Workshop, a catalog for their classes, another guide to the festival, and a sample package of Kleenex tissues. Interesting since Kleenex wasn’t there…
From the top left: an Evian wine charm, hanging on a CD titled “Music to Drink Rum By”; a full size bottle of DelGrosso’s vodka sauce; a package each of Twinings’ Lady Grey, Green Tea with Lemon, and Peppermint teas; a madeleine from Patisserie; a giant size Target lollipop (not shown: two smaller ones, since I gave them to my nephews); a Choxie solid milk chocolate bar; sample pack of Viva paper towels; wrist band; Share Our Strength support wrist band; Chrysler mint tin; tequila mint box; mini-guide with note taking section of Wine & Food Fest’s activities, complete with mini-pen adorned with Food Network logo; coupon for Bertolli bakes dinners; dry roasted peanuts; Choxie dark chocolate mint cookie truffle bar; Go Orange button supporting Food Bank of New York; biscotti; Ferrero Rocher pyramid.
Don’t forget the wine glass that I got at the beginning (that I didn’t use, actually) and got to take home!
Overall, I thought the event was well done, fun, a lot of good things to eat and try, and a lot of freebies to take home, which is always nice as well. Though the session I attended was not sold out, I note here that the venue was well chosen as, while I was there, it began to get crowded towards the end but was not horrendously so that I felt suffocated. I had a great time, and everyone I’ve spoken to who attended one of these Grand Tastings was enthusiastic and happy with how the events turned out. Aside from the minor issues I listed above, it was a great time and I look forward to attending next year.
I have to sincerely thank Foodbuzz once again for making this happen. In anticipation of those who will ask: tickets were $150 each, a bit steep but look at just a portion of what was available here. This isn’t everything that I could have eaten! I highly recommend this event for anyone who loves food even a portion as much as I do, for next year.
Cheers and always, happy eating!!! 🙂
Melissa Good Taste says
Wow! Looked like a fantastic event… jealous.
taryn says
Glad I was able to experience the event through you!
I had been wondering if you were going to attend and do a review or not! =)
Anonymous says
wow, what a great event!!!
r74
Jenn says
and i sit here and turn completely green with jealousy. what a fabulous event. there’s nothing like that in my neck of the country. i love living vicariously through your blog.
Rochelle says
Holy ..
reading this post was the best thing I have done all day.
I am so glad you had your camera. 🙂
Marc @ NoRecipes says
Wow you guys totally had different food stuffs in your session. Nice coverage!
das says
Tickets for the highly anticipated inaugural Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival Presented by Food & Wine and Travel Leisure magazines go on sale this Monday, June 16, 2008.Tickets are sure to sell-out in a New York minute as the New York City festival is the sister event to the hugely popular Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival created by Lee Brian Schrager, Director of Media Relations for Southern Wine & Spirits of America.
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Mobin
Promoter
Anonymous says
Wow! I am drooling! Oh, by the way, Viva is made by Kleenex so yep, they were there!
Anonymous says
Great post [yah, and I am jealous too] – $150 does seem steep, but it looks to be worth it and doesn’t some of that money benefit the Food Banks? Hey! Tax deduction … hee …
I really enjoyed this, thanks
Hugs, Skippymom
peg says
You mentioned the confucious salad prepared by the china grill…and that you might do a recipe. Have you ever published a recipe…i would love a copy! It is one dish i miss from NYC that i could prepare at home in Maine…