I'm Full... and Tired!

It's been over three months since I last shared a story of food with you, so for that I do apologize. My life has been a little crazy lately, in the best way possible, and I just haven't been able to find the time. In the past three months, a LOT has happened. I attended South by Southwest in Austin where I had an incredible time and was lucky enough to eat at both the famous Franklin BBQ and at Top Chef Paul Qui's Uchiko.

[Franklin BBQ is the REAL DEAL!]



I know my dining companions from Uchiko would like for me to recount our meal, so I will share what I remember of it. The company was great, the wine was crisp, the service was impeccable (shout-out to Bobby Bookout!) and the food was absolutely outstanding. We had eight diners and the table was split into four and four, so each group of us ordered a different tasting menu.

The stand-out dishes were the Brussels sprouts, the Yokai Berry Atlantic Salmon, the Loup Crudo and the several different varities of sushi we ordered.

Bobby even taught us that when eating nigiri (sliced raw fish over a pat of rice), you're meant to flip the fish over with your fingers as you place it into your mouth so the fish hits your tongue first and the rice second. I assumed he knew what he was talking about and tried it out, and I couldn't believe the difference it made! I highly recommend you try it.

We also ate at the always-amazing Second Bar + Kitchen where my friend Ethan is the Chef de Cuisine. That man knows how to make some food! Another one of the highlights of the trip was the Bravo party where I got to hang with my main man Tom Colicchio.

In the past three months I also visited Florida for Food Blog Forum Orlando where I spoke on a panel about PR, brands and bloggers and I caught up with some of my favorite bloggers.

[Nikki of Pennies on a Platter, Krissy of Krissy's Creations, Julie of Table for Two Blog (and my soulmate), Jenny of Picky Palate, Angie of Bakerella and me]

[I love the turkey legs in Disney World!]

[Jaden Hare & Scott Hare of Steamy Kitchen, Julie Deily of The Little Kitchen, me, Diane Cu & Todd Porter of The White on Rice Couple]

I have been traveling frequently to Chicago and Michigan for team meetings (always good to see everyone) and went to Seattle earlier this month for BlogHer Food. It was a great time, a great city and again many of my favorite bloggers were there!

[Alex Thomopoulos of Against the Grain, me and Todd Porter of The White on Rice Couple]

[Here I am with the KitchenAid girls, Katie Lee & Tandy!]

[Tracy Benjamin of Shutterbean, Joy Wilson of Joy the Baker, Alex Thomopoulos of Against the Grain, me and Catherine McCord of Weelicious]

[Here I am with Jaden of  Steamy Kitchen]

Most recently, I attended the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. As a foodie, the Classic is the ultimate event. It is something I have wanted to attend for as long as I've known of its existence. What it looked like, to me, was the most epic food experience possible. The chefs I love making the food I love to eat in a setting that looked like a dream.

When I took my job last summer, I had no idea it meant I might have a chance to go to this event. I could have only hoped. When my attendance was finally confirmed, it felt like I was dreaming. I counted down the days and this past Thursday, my boss and I boarded a plane for Colorado. The adventure began.

Over the past five days, I have had one of the best times of my life.

While I was there to work, and work I did, I couldn't help but indulge in some fun. As part of my job, I attended cooking demonstrations, snapped photos of celebrity chefs, posted content to Facebook, met and mingled with influencers, found "tweetable" moments and generally just took it all in so I could properly share it with my brand's social media community. You will never really hear me complain about my job, I absolutely love it.

When I wasn't working, it was time to play, and play I did. During the Publisher's Party on top of the mountain (which we arrived to via gondola), I was introduced to some industry people my age (some of whom also live and work in NYC), and they became my partners in partying for the weekend. We danced our faces off at Gail Simmons' Dessert Party, rode a moose (see below), sipped Belvedere cocktails at the 30th Anniversary Party while listening to the sweet sounds of Elvis Costello, again danced our faces off at the Spazmatics concert, after-partied until the sun came up, gorged on delicious porky goodness at the Grand Cohocon Party, hopped aboard a bicycle built for 10 to ride around the streets of Aspen and, most significantly for me, successfully met New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker. All in the midst of some of the most gorgeous views of nature I have ever seen in my entire life. Yes, I am a lucky girl.

I know this is a food blog so I also need to tell you about the food which was absolutely epic. At the Grand Tasting, the short rib dish from Food & Wine Best New Chef Bryant Ng was flavorful, spicy and unique with tongue, jasmine coconut rice and peanuts while the Chocolate Chunk cookies from Jacques Torres were a welcome familiar flavor. The Grand Cochon brought several exciting dishes, like the sweet & sour pork bones from Jamie Bissonnette that were fall-off-the-bone tender and the pork tortellini in pork broth from Chef Marc Forgione that was other-worldly. Even with all the options at the event, and even considering how full I was from all the porky goodness I had consumed, I went back for seconds on both dishes. Forgione also offered a very limited supply of ribs with ramps and black truffles, and I was lucky enough to get one! (see below)

Other major highlights for me were, without a doubt, the Simmons/Colicchio "Sweet & Savory" demonstration, the annual cook-off between Michael Symon/Bobby Flay and Jacques Pepin/Jean Claude Szurdak (Pepin and Szurdak were victors), the views from the top of the mountain during the Publisher's Party, getting called out by Johnny Iuzzini for being "trouble" after our mutual antics at the Dessert Party and the realization that while I was having one of the best weekends of my entire life, I was technically "working."

Some photos of the Aspen Classic are below for your enjoyment.

[Jacques Pepin is so adorable!]

[Wes Welker is a whole different kind of adorable... GO PATRIOTS!]

[Good times with Johnny Iuzzini]

[New friends]

[Obviously my favorite demo! Love Tom & Gail]

[INCREDIBLE Pork Rib with Black Truffles and Pickled Ramps from Chef Marc Forgione]

More photos from the Classic:

My Photos

Photos I took for KitchenAid

I also promise, promise, promise, my next post will come sooner than three months from now. Until then...

Let's Eat!

-The Fabulous Foodie

Adventures in China Town

There is a television show on the Food Network that Patrick and I are both obsessed with called The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Every episode has a different theme like "Grilled," "Between Bread" and "With Bacon." On a recent episode, the theme was "In a Bowl." Guy Fieri's choice was the Hand-Pulled Noodles with Beef from Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles in China Town NYC and the dish looked amazing! I am a sucker for good noodles, and Patrick and I decided while watching the episode that we had to go.

This next part of the story is mildly embarrassing for me, so please, no judgement. I personally had no idea that Dim Sum was typically only served between the hours of 11am and 4pm. I thought "Dim Sum" referred to the small dishes served and not to the meal itself, which is apparently equivalent to brunch. Since we were already planning to venture down to China Town, I suggested we also go have some Dim Sum. Seeing as we didn't even leave the apartment until after 4pm, I had no idea that I was setting us up for a Dim Sum disaster.

I'm somewhat of a Twitter nerd, and decided to reach out to some of my favorite foodies for Dim Sum recommendations. One of them, Kelly Choi former host of Top Chef Masters and current host of several local NY food show, has responded to me on Twitter before and this time was no different:Thanks Kelly!! Her first reco, Golden Unicorn, had come up in several of my Dim Sum searches so we decided to go there.

We took the R-train down to China Town and emerged from the subway smack in the middle of a neighborhood that we were both incredibly unfamiliar with. Thanks to the map on my iPhone, we found Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles with no trouble at all. And what luck! Golden Unicorn was only one street away! We were excited, and we were hungry.

We walked into the noodle shop and I was shocked to see that it was tiny! Less than 20 seats, and almost all of them were full. They sat us across from each other at a table for 6 in between a couple and another girl. We opened the enormous menus and decided on the Pan-Fried House Special Pulled Noodles with Chicken, Beef & Shrimp (for an astoundingly cheap $6.50!) and the Dumpling Soup for $6. This was shaping up to be the cheapest meal we've ever had in New York City!

What we quickly realized was that the other 3 people at our table were also there because of Guy Fieri's recommendation on the Food Network. We spent the meal chatting with them and they were all so nice! We compared favorite restaurants in New York and talked about the food we were eating and just had a lovely time in general. When our food came, it looked and smelled amazing and we couldn't wait to dig into the noodles. The pan-fried dish was awesome, the noodles were the perfect consistency and packed with great flavor.I loved the shrimp, chicken and beef mixed throughout and the plate was empty before we could say "Dim What?"

Then the soup came, piping hot and smelling like heaven. I know it's a silly word to use to describe food, but the noodles were beautiful!It was SO hot that I burned my mouth a few times, but it was a small price to pay for the amazing soup. By the end of the meal we were so full we could barely move, but I still had my heart set on "Dim Sum" so we paid our very cheap bill, said good-bye to our new friends and set off to Golden Unicorn.

We walked through the front door and were surprised to learn we needed to take an elevator up to the restaurant. When the doors of the elevator opened, we walked into a bright room that was partly set up for a wedding reception with several large tables off to the side for non-wedding patrons. We sat at a table for four, by ourselves this time, and this was when my Dim Sum hopes and dreams were crushed. The menu looked like a normal Chinese menu and I saw no mention of Dim Sum. Uh oh. I sort of knew that I was wrong about the Dim Sim timing, but my fear was confirmed when I asked our waiter who told us Dim Sum was 11-4. Oh well!

Although we were stuffed, we ordered Pork Dumplings and Moo Shu Pork to share. The dumplings were good, pretty standard.When I was little, my grandma (DD) and I always used to order Moo Shu together. Something about the way they come to your table to prepare it makes me love it that much more.The pancakes were fluffy, the hoisin sauce tangy and sweet and the filling was excellent.I was quite happy with the food, but still sad that we didn't get to experience Dim Sum. We will definitely be returning to China Town soon for a true Dim Sum experience!

Have you ever been to Dim Sum? What is your favorite dish? Let me know so I can order it next time.

Let's Eat!
-The Fabulous Foodie

Lunch at Kin Shop

One of mine and Patrick's favorite TV shows is Top Chef, so whenever a "Cheftestant" has a restaurant in NYC we try to make it a point to go. Harold Dieterle, winner of Season 1 of Top Chef, opened Kin Shop in the West Village with Alicia Nosenzo (famous for her Front of House prowess) and we couldn't wait to try it.We went for lunch a few weeks ago and although I had heard mixed reviews, I was pleasantly surprised by our meal.

The decor of the restaurant is bright and refreshing, although quite minimalist. White walls are dotted with beautiful artwork in blues and greens that give just the right splash of color to the space.I was happy to note that there was a prix-fixe lunch offering for $20, so I decided to go with that. To start I ordered a salad, although I unfortunately can't recall precisely what was in it (nor can I find a description of it anywhere on the internet.) The lettuce was fresh, the nuts were crunchy, the fruit was sweet and overall it was as flavorful as it was beautiful to look at.Patrick ordered the Fried Pork & Crispy Oyster Salad and although I didn't try it, he all but licked his plate.For our main courses I chose the Stir Fried Wide Wonton Noodles with Chicken Sausage, Thai Broccoli Rabe & Oyster Sauce while Patrick chose the Massaman Braised Goat with Fried Shallots, Purple Yams, Mustard Greens & Toasted Coconut. It's no secret that I don't like spicy food, and Pad Se Ew is one of my favorite Thai dishes so the dish I ordered was right up my alley for its likeness to the classic dish. The noodles were rich and tender, unlike any noodles I'd ever had before and the chicken sausage was tender and perfectly seasoned. I inhaled my dish and enjoyed every second of it.Patrick often orders Massaman Curry and while I do enjoy the flavor of it, I could never imagine eating an entire dish covered in the sweet sauce. The goat in his dish was one of the most delicate and savory meats I had ever tasted. The sweetness of the Massaman was strong but not overpowering and everything blended perfectly. It was delicious!I let Patrick pick my dessert course figuring I'd just have a bite or two and he ordered the Thai Coffee-Chocolate Ice Cream. It arrived to the table as a perfect sphere in a white bowl. The dessert was a rich chestnut color and the texture was luscious and creamy. We all know I don't love ice cream, but this was some darn good ice cream. The strong coffee flavor overpowered the sugar and I definitely had more than one or two bites of the dessert.While I do feel that the menu is slightly overpriced for Thai food, I really enjoyed my meal at Kin Shop.

Next step on the Top Chef Restaurant Tour: Angelo Sosa's Social Eatz (with a Z!) Will be sure to report back. Have you been to any Top Cheftestant's restaurants? Which ones? What did you think?

Let's Eat!
-The Fabulous Foodie

Photo credits: Photo of Harold Dieterle from the New York Times, photo of restaurant interior from Eater NY

Colicchio & Sons, Where Foodie Dreams Come True

When I was 14, the celebrity I would have been the most excited to meet was Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys (no judgement please). More recently, my adoration switched over to Tom Brady, quarterback of the (THREE-TIME SUPER BOWL CHAMPION) New England Patriots. And even more recently, to a less likely guy,Mr. Tom Colicchio, host of Bravo TV's Emmy Award-Winning Top Chef, winner of the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef in 2010 and owner of the Craft brand of restaurants as well as Riverpark and Colicchio & Sons. Yes, he is a middle-aged, bald dude who loves to make bad food puns on Top Chef ("Tonight, your short ribs fell just short") but there is just so much to love, and trust me, I do. I also just learned his middle name is Patrick, so maybe that has something to do with it...

Tom Colicchio is an incredibly successful chef and restauranteur apart from his role on Bravo's hit show, and that alone is enough to impress. He owns several restaurants in New York City, his home base, and also Craft restaurants in Dallas, LA, Las Vegas and Connecticut. He was the co-founder of Gramercy Taven, a very successful NYC restaurant, and he served as the co-owner and executive chef until 2006 when he sold his interest.

Why am I giving you the details of Tom Colicchio's chef biography? Because last night, I met him.

Jill and I were trying to think of places to have dinner. When I saw a 10:30pm reservation for 2 open at The Tap Room at Colicchio & Sons, I immediately snagged it. We met around 9:30 and had a drink at nearby Fig & Olive before heading over to the restaurant for dinner. We walked a few blocks to 10th Avenue & 16th Street, and I was reminded of the river-side location of Riverpark, another of his restaurants, located on the East River. This one was so close to the Hudson that I could feel the breeze coming off the water as we opened the door and stepped inside.

I looked around the gorgeous space and was immediately transported from the cold winter night outside to the warm, inviting atmosphere of the room. We gave our name at the front and were immediately shown to a cozy table in the Tap Room near the bar. I was facing a wood-burning stove where several chefs were cooking a few feet away from me, and I began to take it all in.

Jill ordered a flight of beers and I ordered a glass of Bodegas La Cartuja Priorat, a Spanish red blend of Garnacha, Cariñena, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. We looked at the menu and made our selections as the waitress brought over our drinks. I took a sip of the wine and it was literally one of the best red wines I had ever tasted. Bold in flavor and low in acidity, it was incredibly smooth and drinkable. For our meal, we decided to share the Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Pizza as an appetizer, I ordered the Surf & Turf (Scallops and Pork Belly with Bacon Mayo and Citrus) for dinner and Jill ordered the Crispy Chicken with Garlic Sausage, Pepper Stew and Mustard Jus. We sat and enjoyed our drinks until the pizza came out.Large chunks of sweet, ripe tomatoes and melted mozzarella cheese covered a perfectly chewy crust to create an incredible flavor. The pizza was cut into four pieces, so we each got to enjoy two. My wine paired perfectly with the pie.

Then our meals arrived and I couldn't wait to taste the Surf & Turf I had ordered.The Scallops were big, sweet & tender and the Pork Belly was smokey and succulent. I don't typically enjoy mayo, but flavored with bacon? Yes please! Everything on my plate was sensational, and when I gave Jill a taste (yes, I shared), she agreed. I also tasted her Chicken, and just like the Crispy Chicken at Riverpark, the skin was well-seasoned and crispy and the Chicken was moist and full of flavor. Is there any protein Tom doesn't know how to cook?

Speaking of Tom...

Jill and I finished our food, had some after-dinner drinks and paid the bill. I was feeling quite satisfied and ready to move onto another bar for more drinks. We were standing at the front of the restaurant waiting for our coats when I looked back over at the open oven area and there he was. My heart jumped into my throat as I grabbed Jill's arm and managed to squeak out "Oh. My. God. Tom. Colicchio." It's true, there he was, in all his bald-headed glory. My heart began to race as I dragged Jill to the bar and demanded I buy us a round of drinks. While Jill waited for the bartender to pour our cocktails, I casually went over to the countertop area in front of where Tom was cooking and joined a large group of people that had begun milling about. Tom was cooking burgers, pizzas and small grilled meat and cheese sandwiches. Jill came over with our drinks, and there we stood for the next few hours.Tom was laughing and joking as he cooked, I was geeking out and admiring as I watched. At one point, an older gentleman began talking to Jill and me and I told him of my love for Tom. The man got Tom's attention and told him I was "his biggest fan" and Tom looked at me, smiled and gave me a fist pump of approval. I nearly fell over. A few minutes later, as Tom was taking a cooking break off to the side, I reached out and told him that I really was a huge fan and then, thinking that it wouldn't be sanitary on his part for him to shake my hand as he was touching all the food, I stuck out my fist and asked him for a pound. Yes, it's true, I fist-bumped Tom Colicchio, and I don't regret it for one second.

When I could finally tear myself away from watching my celebrity crush cook, Jill and I went to get our coats. As we were standing in the hallway near the coat room, Tom brushed right by us to bring some pans into the kitchen. I immediately whipped out my camera and gave it to Jill, bless her soul. As soon as he came back out, I asked him for a picture. He smiled and put his arm around me as Jill snapped one of my favorite pictures of all time:I thanked him, and floated out of the restaurant on cloud 9. I couldn't believe that we had almost left the restaurant without noticing that he had appeared by the oven, and I felt so lucky that I got to meet my favorite chef in the entire world.

Who are your favorite chefs? If you ever got the chance to meet them, what would you say? If you have met them, what did you say? Last night was really special for me, and I want to send a HUGE thank you to Jilly for sticking around with me all night. That's a true friend.

Let's Eat!
-The Fabulous Foodie