Midtown Lunch Bunch Rooftop Potluck

I’ve mentioned a bunch of times all the love I have for the Midtown Lunch forums.  I’ve met a great bunch of people through the forums, and I’m not going to get mushy or sentimental, so instead I’ll just say: damn, we know how to party and we know how to cook.  And all of us seem to believe the same thing I do: there’s no such thing as too much food!!!  (I don’t think any dish was killed because we all made so much, knowing full well there’d be leftovers.  And next time, I am going to insist everyone bring containers so they can bring home other people’s leftovers…!!!  Nommm!) 

Without further ado, I bring you the rundown of the first ever Midtown Lunch bunch potluck, held on a rooftop and hosted by the lovely Hungry of Tasty Eating!

First up, the BBQ brisket brought by none other than TT – succulent, richly flavored, and a monster pot that surely didn’t get anywhere near finished, despite its deliciousness.  Mmm…

Our lovely hostess actually woke up early and made a whole porchetta.  WTF.  The cracklings were amazing and the super flavorful pork… to die for.  I’m not sure I can write this whole post without drooling…

The always adorable monstermooch brought a Korean dish whose name escaped me, but I know I had something that looked similar at Mandoo Bar – joll noodle? – and it was way too spicy for me.  Everyone assured me this wasn’t spicy at all, and when I tried some, it really wasn’t.  Phew.  It looks vicious, though, doesn’t it?  So… red…

S-E-a-L’s ladyfriend made this – BBQ chicken pizza, and I snagged the recipe!  This was surprisingly good (by surprising I mean simply that I looked at it and didn’t think it’d be anything fabulous, but I wound up really liking this way more than I thought I would). 

CT, whose name you may recognize as TT’s girlfriend, made 7 layer dip, which was really good.  I have to ask her what’s in it so I can make my own (and turn into a total fatty!). 

Dean of Nommables made nem nuong (did I spell that right?), or summer rolls stuffed with… PORK!!!  Crystal summer rolls are some of my favorite things and this was no different, except better: they had a long skinny deep fried tube within, which added this amazing textural contrast.  Even BETTER… the homemade peanut sauce Dean brought, which I somehow managed to get the recipe… I will be attempting this sooner than later, although it’s a lil hard to remember everything (since we started drinking in the early afternoon and didn’t stop till after 10, erm…).

Casey made this fabulous orzo salad with pine nuts, feta, green onions… nom!

My darling Esther of Ambitious Delicious(ness) contributed wonderful pork pajeon, or pancakes.  Delicious even cold 🙂

S-E-a-L’s contribution was a chimichurri steak salad; the name alone should tell you how good it was!

Ok, the one dish that someone brought that I didn’t try: Goats’ ghost chile chili.  Just the name should tell you why I didn’t try it, and from the reports, I am super glad that I didn’t…

Casey didn’t make just orzo salad, she also made stromboli.  Okay, this is confession time: I never had a stromboli before this past Saturday.  Not only that, but when it was explained to me, I thought alright, that sounds tasty enough.  I mean, dough wrapped around cheese and meat, you can’t really go wrong, right; but can you really be amazing?  It turns out… yes, yes you can.  I took one bite and was like OMG OMG OMG WHERE HAVE I BEEN ALL YOUR LIFE, no wait WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!  The combination of meats and cheeses with the exterior crust but the inside juiciness… mmm, I am drooling.

CheeeEEEeeese made chorizo black bean soup, which, despite the weather, was quite delicious as well.  I took a container of this home because, smartypants that he is, he brought containers for people to take some of his soup with them.  Genius.  🙂

I somehow managed to NOT take pictures of two other savory dishes… Chris’s roasted sunchokes and celeriac salad… boo!!!  Also quite lovely, how unfortunate I didn’t record them for posterity :T 

My own very sad offering of soba salad.  Prep took longer than I expected, and the entire bowl was overflowing so tossing was very difficult… so genius me decided to flip the bowl over (with lid on) and toss it a few times.  This resulted in more than half the vinaigrette escaping (to the kitchen floor, my shirt, my legs,…), which meant the resulting soba salad was pretty bland.  Sure, it’s pretty to look at, and the veggies were crunchy and fresh, but without enough vinaigrette (too much in a rush to leave to make more)… it just wasn’t salty enough.  I really should have tossed on a bit of soy sauce when I got there, to kick it up.  Oh well… I know I can cook better than this, and it sucks that this was the first time making food for everyone in this group (and yes, I am my own worst critic; who else will be brutally honest with me?)… but I’m confident that next time I’ll be able to bring something to the table that will accurately showcase my skillz 🙂 

My first plate… I forgot to take a picture of my second plate.  Or my third.  Or fourth.  Fifth… hell, I don’t even know, I just kept eating as the day progressed into night… nom!!!  SO GOOD… 🙂

My girl E-dee-lish stepped up to the plate and baked a lemon chiffon cake that was glazed with this amazing sugary lemony glaze… drool.  You’re going to have to beg for the recipe… I’ve been trying to convince her to start blogging about baking for The Feisty Foodie… if you all beg for it, she might just do it… 😉

The super gracious hostess also baked these wonderful chocolate chocolatey cookies with this incredibly texture – chewy and fudgey and awesome.  They were a touch too sweet for me, but TC, the resident sweet tooth, absolutely adored them and I’m pretty sure inhaled about 12 of them before taking a bunch more home!  (Also, because I didn’t get to mention it, TC provided a full lineup of top shelf liquor for our bar.  Awesome!!!)

The BF didn’t come with me empty handed, no no.  Lobster tails…

and mini cannolis, cream puffs, etc. from one of our favorite bakeries, La Pasticceria in Howard Beach.  So good.  Those lobster tails are flaky, cream filled delights 🙂

The sign of a fabulous get together filled with amazing food?  The food baby you have afterwards.  Here’s a shot of TT’s food baby about to pop, and Dean looking sad and confused as to why his is so much smaller. 

That’s what she said, folks. 

HUGE thanks to our host and hostess, GIANT hugs to the participants and NOMs to everyone…!!!  I can’t wait for the next one!!!  <3