Saveur's Second Annual Summer BBQ in NYC - June 27, 2011

I had the good fortune of getting invited to Saveur's Summer BBQ last week at The Frying Pan in NYC.  The weather was perfect for being boatside on the Hudson enjoying a bounty of grilled meats from some of New York's top toques and refreshing drinks courtesy of Ommegang Brewery and Grey Goose Vodka.

Things started out favorably with glazed pork belly sandwiches from Marc Murphy of Landmarc and Ditch Plains.

The lamb burger with basil mayonnaise from Sean Rembold of Marlow & Sons was a highlight for me.

 No BBQ is complete without some grilled corn. Hill Country did a very nice job with theirs.

While grilled sausages are also a summer BBQ mainstay, Missy Robbins of A Voce upped it a notch with her grilled lamb sausages. These reminded me to add A Voce to my list of restaurants I would like to try.

Geoffrey Zakarian served up a pretty standard plate of saucy ribs from his new restaurant, The National.  While the ribs were low on the excitement spectrum, they were still pretty high on the taste spectrum.

John DeLucie's (The Lion, Waverly Inn)  lamb ribs were a bit too fatty for me, but it may have just been that I was too full by the time I got to them.

Unfortunately, I was much too full before I spotted Marco Canora's smoked lamb ribs.  I am sad that I did not try one of my favorite chefs' dishes, especially one that looked this good.

Marcus Samuelsson and his crew from Red Rooster were there cooking a fabulous blackened catfish with fried caper slaw, a dish I was pleased to have once again after enjoying it only a week ago at his restaurant.  I have been told by some that the photo of Chef Samuellson is equally satisfying as his catfish.

Alex Guarnaschelli served some nicely cooked—but too sweet for me—BBQ shrimp.

Dan Kluger of ABC Kitchen prepared some massive brisket sandwiches topped with potato chips.  Although one of these guys made me too full for much of anything else, it was a lot of a very good thing.

If only food served on boats could always be this good!  Kudos to Saveur for an outstanding event.

FIJI Water Holiday Cookie Swap and Bake Off to Benefit the Lower Eastside Girls Club

 This Saturday, December 18, I will be baking a batch of cookies for the FIJI Water Holiday Cookie Swap and Bake Off, a cookie sale to benefit the Lower Eastside Girls Club.  If you live in New York City, I urge you to attend and support a great cause while filling up on a plethora of cookies.  The event will be held from 1pm to 4pm at Vie Vie (East 1st St. between First and Second Avenues).  Tickets can be purchased here for $15.  As for what I will be baking: I am still deciding, but I did make a test batch of Dorie Greenspan's Chocolate Whopper Cookies this weekend, and I think they will be tough to beat. 

Keepin' it Real with Plenty of Beer at Get Real NY

 This weekend, I had the pleasure of attending Get Real NY, a cask ale festival that is part of New York’s Craft Beer Week.  The two-day event took place in the Altman Building and featured cask ales from the some of the country’s top brewers. 

For those who are unfamiliar with cask-conditioned ale, it is beer that is naturally carbonated and served at room temperature.  For those who just like to throw back a few cold ones, of which there seemed to be quite a few at Get Real NY, cask ale is probably not what you’re looking for.  It is a style for beer-lovers who want to taste each and every flavor that is swimming in the beer.

In terms of beer snobbiness, I fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.  I eschew macrobrews to the point that a 26-year-old male can, but for me, nothing beats an cold IPA on a hot day.  While I appreciate the nuances of cask ale, it is not a style I love.  With that said, I did try some cask ales that I really enjoyed at the event, including Otter Creek's Alpine Black IPA, Captain Lawrence's Birra DeCicco, and Smuttynose's Robust Porter.  As you can tell from my favorites, I find that the best cask ales are the heavier styles; I think the lighter beers tend to taste watered down when served at room temperature with little carbonation.

 Fortunately, the event did have a few cold beers available.  Had it not, the event organizers may have faced a revolt from some of the rowdier men who showed up in football jerseys hoping to continue where they had left off at the bar.  Among the cold beers, I particularly enjoyed Ommegang's Zurr, a sour ale that tasted of tart cherries.  According to the Ommegang brewmaster, the Cooperstown brewery imports the ingredients for the beer from Lierfmans Brewery in Belgium.  The production of the beer is very expensive, hence the reason that, unfortunately for all of us, the beer was a limited production and the last of it was served at Get Real NY.

 I have to give credit to Get Real NY’s organizers, namely Chris Cuzme, Patrick Donagher, Alex Hall, and Mary Izett.  The Saturday evening session was extremely crowded, but the lines to all of the beers remained short.  Lots of beer and a big crowd usually don’t mix very well, but from what I saw, the event was flawless.  All in all, it was a great event with an even better selection of beers. 

Meatopia

Although I am still suffering the ill effects of a meat hangover, this weekend's Meatopia on Governors Island proved to be all that I had hoped.  An outdoor event on a beautiful day that brings together some of the city's top meat-centric restaurants, locally raised meats, bluegrass music, and one of my favorite breweries (Brooklyn's Sixpoint) is sure to please me, but the event beat my expectations.  Not to say that the event was flawless-- most vendors ran out of food well before the event's close and the organizers gave up on their futile attempt to force anyone drinking beer to stay in a segregated area away from any of the food vendors-- but assuming that you arrived on the Governors Island well before the food ran out, you easily got your money's worth on some excellent food. 

NYC favorite Hill Country brought their trailer onto the ferry to Governors Island: 

More importantly, Hill Country also brought some of their brisket:

Porterhouse NY made skirt steak sandwiches:

The soon to open Hurricane Club brought some succulent honey-glazed baby back ribs with Thai basil and mint:

After those three courses, it was time to sit back and listen to some music:

And also drink some of that Sixpoint Beer (this wasn't my personal consumption):

Then it was back to the meat.  This time, I went with I-Que BBQ's pork shoulder.  Not bad for bbq from some Boston boys:

As if I needed more meat, look at what Smokin' Joe's True-Blue Texas Barbecue had on offer:

Sue Torres of Suenos dished up some duck tacos, a nice change of pace from the beef and pork:

Brooklyn's The Smoke Joint grilled some chicken sausages:

Finally, every good Meatopia needs some meatballs (even if they are chicken meatballs, ahem).  And who better to bring some than Manhattan's Meatball Shop:

Sights from the Hester Street Fair

While Manhattan isn't quite hipster enough to have anything like the Brooklyn Flea, the Hester Street Fair, does a great job of giving Manhattanites an opportunity to shop for vintage goods and eat some great food without having to make that dreaded crossing into Brooklyn.  Founded by MTV correspondent Su-Chin Pak, the fair takes place on the Lower East Side every Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 6pm.  It will remain open through December, and there will be a constant rotation of vendors, so keep coming back to see what's new.  A sampling of the Hester Street Fair's offerings follows.

 The fair takes place at the north end of Seward Park in the Lower East Side:

 

The menu at outside of the An Choi booth, serving shrimp spring rolls and several varieties of banh mi:

 The An Choi shrimp spring rolls:

The An Choi basil meatball banh mi, which was superb:

A Mexican spice blend from the spice vendor:

Cool down with the Mexican popsicles (paletas) from New Yorkina:

A hibiscus raspberry paleta from New Yorkina (I swear I know the person enjoying it!):

Baked goods from Pain D'Avignon bakery, which recently opened a stall in the Essex Market:

Boots from one of the many vintage clothiers:

Cook.Eat.Drink.Live

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend Cook.Eat.Drink.Live, "a three-day modern food and wine event at The Tunnel & La.Venue (608 West 28th Street), featuring a large sampling of ultra-premium gourmet foods and spirits, plus appearances from some of the city’s premier chefs."


The event was an interesting hodgepodge of small and mass food and wine and spirit producers, featuring stalls for companies as diverse as Qdoba, Manhattan's Xie Xie sandwich shop, Robert Mondavi Winery, and the North Fork's Lenz Winery. Despite the incongruent mix of vendors, with the disappointments outweighing the surprises, there were some gems that made the event, if not worth its $65 admission, at least a nice lunch.

Seasonal Restaurant and Weinbar won my vote for most delicious item at the event for its plate of braised veal cheeks with spaetzle. I tend to lower my expectations when eating food at events like Cook.Eat.Drink.Live, knowing that even the best of chefs will have trouble cooking food for the masses that must be reheated over sternos. Seasonal's rib-sticking dish would have made me happy in any surroundings.

I also enjoyed the Italian delicacies served during Lou DiPalo's (of DiPalo Dairy fame) lecture. While the information that Lou shared on the importance of celebrating the Italian food culture was fairly pedestrian, the plateful of speck, Prosciutto di Parma, Grana Padano, Parmigiano Reggiano, and Pecorino Romano was just as enjoyable as samples that Lou serves at his store.


I must have sampled wines from at least 10 Long Island and upstate wineries at the event. As is expected of New York wine, there was plenty of characterless plonk, but there were also some unique wines that showed that New York can and should be a wine region that can compete with the West Coast regions. Among my favorites were an oaked Chardonnay from the North Fork's Lenz Winery and a few dry Reislings offered by the Finger Lakes' Keuka Lake Vineyards.


Lastly, I could not help myself from sampling two of the desserts on hand at the event. As always, a filled to order cannoli from Ferrara was a delight and the whoopie pies offered by WannaHavaCookie were nearly as delicious to eat as they were pretty to look at.


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