Grand Central Flavor of Midtown

I had the good fortune to be invited to attend the Grand Gourmet Flavor of Midtown recently by one of the coolest chicks out there, Esther of Ambitious Delicious(ness).  The Flavor of Midtown benefits the largest not-for-profit homeless organization services provider in New York City.  All for a good cause, yeah?  Onwards with the food…

From The Wheeltapper Pub at the Fitzpatrick Grand Central Hotel, Chef James Donahue: petite canape of Irish curried chicken on fresh baked brown bread with old time Irish marmalade.  Interesting textures; the curry flavor was incredibly mild and the chicken appeared to be shredded. 

From Bobby Van’s: (there was no sign up) creamed spinach and filet mignon with a mushroom gravy.  Filet mignon was incredibly tender, but the creamed spinach was way too liquidy for my tastes.  That’s a personal preference, of course. 

From Charlie Palmer’s Metrazur, Chef Steven Bahr: passion fruit “fromage blanc” white balsamic macerated strawberries with chocolate nibs brittle.  If you know me, you know I don’t care for dessert all that much, and you might know I don’t like passion fruit all that much.  I decided to give this a shot anyway, and omg it was so good.  It was like the best cheesecake you’ll ever eat, but better.  The passion fruit gelee? on top wasn’t too passion-fruity (tart or citrusy), but just right against the fluffy creaminess of the fromage blanc… and the bottom bit of cake was good too.  I barely noticed the brittle on the side, but when I did, that was tasty, too.  But… yeah, that fromage blanc… mmm

From Riingo, Chef Jimmy Lappalaimen: chicken liver mousse on toasted brioche and pear chutney.  About as expected, nothing mind blowing. 

The cute spice display at the Cafe Spice table

Cafe Spice, Chef Prem Chauhan: tamarind chicken.  I’m not sure why I didn’t wind up trying this…

From Kellari Taverna, Chef Gregory Zapantis and Chef Eddie Seitllari: Mediterranean seafood sampler with caviar mousse & spinach pie triangle. 

Mmm, crunchy, creamy, salty, all in one bite.  Yum!

The Palm West, Chef J.B.: sliced prime rib with whipped horseradish and creamed spinach.  I was pretty surprised that two places were offering identical dishes, but whatever.  This was easily the table where the chefs were having the most fun: the only table that had a line, every time someone approached the table with a drink, the chefs would yell “yeahhh” and raise a glass and drink with the guest.  Now that I think about it, that’s probably why they had a line, they were taking their sweet time… when they saw me taking pictures, they made me go back behind the table with them to take a picture WITH them.  Haha. 

Honestly, their creamed spinach was much better than Bobby Van’s, and the steak was, no contest, amazing.  However, bear in mind that my tastes run towards the fattier cuts of meat – rib eye is my favorite, especially a well-marbled specimen, mmm.  If you prefer filet mignon, then you might feel differently.  That was a yummy plate of meat, though! 

O’Casey’s, Chef Paul Loftus: Irish smoked salmon crustine; diced tomato, onion, roasted red pepper, olive oil and fresh basil.

Pretty well balanced in terms of salt from the capers, creaminess from the – I want to say cream cheese, maybe because I see smoked salmon? – and the fresh tang of tomatoes’ acidity.  I enjoyed this though I found it a bit large to eat easily. 

The Capital Grille, Chef Aaron Albrecht: Kona crusted tenderloin with roasted shallot butter.  Pretty tasty, very tender meat. 

Nios, Chef Massimo Francesca: “Nios-coise” salad with traditional accompaniments.  I believe the chef himself was handing these out – adorable! – he said it was deconstructed, a block of sashimi-grade tuna topped with some of the traditional pieces of Nicoise salad.  Tasty, though Esther said hers was a bit fishy. 

From Vermilion, Chef Maneet Chauhan: duck vindaloo arepa with pomegranate molasses and curry leaf mango slaw.  In all fairness, I only like arepas for what’s in them – I don’t like the masa/cornmeal portion of it.  The duck topping this one was alright, but not flavorful enough for me. 

Aretsky’s Patroon, Chef Bill Peet: dark beer braised beef brisket on a Parmesan buttermilk biscuit with horseradish sauce.  Tasty enough, but the biscuit part fell apart when I tried to pick it up and eat it in one bite, which kind of annoyed me a little bit.  Oh well, not that big of a deal. 

Commodore Grill at the Grand Hyatt New York, Chef Kevin Reardon: grilled halloumi with pressed watermelon, olive tapenade and octopus. 

This was wayyyyyyy overseasoned – whatever spices they decided to use, someone was too heavy handed with them, and I couldn’t eat this because it was so overwhelming, that was all you could taste.  Too bad, since I like everything in the description.  Boo. 

Bice Restaurant, Chef Jose Liriano: veal & parma ham ravioli with black truffle, rosemary and demi glaze sauce; roasted vegetable ravioli with sage butter sauce.  The guys working here were having a good time, too… joking and flirting with the guests as they approached. 

Unfortunately, both ravioli were completely mushy on the inside; the texture was just awful.  I’m too big on texture to accept something that tasted like, well, snot, texturally.  Ick.  🙁 

Magnolia was on hand with a tower of cupcakes.  I opted out, but

I did try their banana pudding since everyone’s been raving about it lately.  It was good.  I am reserving judgement for when I try more banana puddings! 

Ruby Foo’s Times Square, Chef Shawn Edelman: pork buns with chili hoisin sauce.  The bread was way too thick, and the pork was only so-so- not enough flavor or fat to push through all that bread! 

Pera Mediterranean Brasserie, Chef Jason Avery: smoked lamb “Turkish Tacos”.  This was surprisingly really delicious; the meat was super flavorful and tender, and the feta scattered on top added a nice contrasting texture and flavor.  Win! 

Benjamin Steakhouse at the Dylan Hotel, Chef Arturto McLeod: porterhouse bites with creamy mashed potatoes and Benjamin’s steak sauce.  The steak was super tender, but they ladled way too much steak sauce (which tasted exactly like Peter Luger’s steak sauce, cocktail sauce, extra Worcestershire sauce, horseradish…) on top of it.  Tasty…

La Fonda del Sol, Chef Josh DeChellis: Taylor Bay scallops with tomato, saffron and olive oil. 

I really enjoyed the tenderness of these and how sweet they are, plus the display was pretty nifty. 

The Long Room, Chef Colter Dahl: chicken shepherd’s pie with Boursin whipped potatoes.  I liked the creaminess of the potatoes, and the shredded tender chicken chunks were great with the smooth potatoes. 

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Chef Brad Strong: carnitas canapes.  A lil spicy.  I don’t know, do you really want me to talk about Chipotle? 

St. Andrew’s, Chef Mark Whelan: quail Scotch egg with pommery mustard and field greens.  I loved the scotch egg (basically a hard boiled egg with mashed potatoes or something surrounding it, then deep fried – this had the consistency of a meatball, oddly enough?) – the crunchy exterior and then the hard boiled egg center… nom! 

Michael Jordan’s The Steakhouse NYC, Chef Michael Vignola: heirloom tomato gazpacho with smoked mozzarella.  I was only so-so on this, but then again, I’m not that big on cold soups. 

Naples 45, Chef Christopher DeLuna: paccheri with spring lamb & peas.  This was alright… can’t really go wrong with properly cooked pasta, right? 

Pershing Square: lobster ‘sliders’ and potato chips.  I thought it would be a lobster claw meat, or a chunk of tail meat… but it was shredded and pressed together, like a cake.  Esther said hers was shrimp, no question (though mine tasted like lobster, I had mine earlier than she did, so perhaps they ran out by the time she got over there?).  Meh.  Too fancy pants and look, not a good meat to bread ratio there! 

Last but not least, Grand Central Oyster Bar was on hand shucking oysters and putting them out for your enjoyment.  Nom!  West Coast and East Coast were both represented here – I believe Kumamotos and Malpeques?… very tasty. 

Overall, a lovely experience, and I thank Esther again for inviting me!!!

Yvo says: Tickets were $75/person, which might seem steep but consider that I was able to sample almost every single table (I skipped one or two because I wasn’t interested), and there were lots of drinks free-flowing (I just didn’t partake except in some iced tea); different beers being poured, wines on hand, possibly some hard liquor as well.  I got there as soon as it started, which helped with trying every table, but even so, it never got very crowded (like at some of these events I’ve been to in years past), and people were polite, not much line-jumping, and I don’t believe any tables ran out of anything (though I left around 9, so if they did so, it was after that).  They were giving away the beer glasses, and they ran out of those and the carrying bags, but that was because, as I overheard some lady bragging about how she had a full set of 8 in her purse.  Ummm… nice.  In any case, totally worth the $75 entrance fee and it’s for charity, so totally a worthy cause.  Win!
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