NYC Tastes

This was a crazy and amazing year filled with lots of great food, friends and travel.  It began in January with a fantastic trip to San Diego with my parents.  They learned more about beer on that trip than they probably ever cared to know hitting up spots like Alpine, Ballast Point  and Societe Brewing .  Then Mr. T and I spent a few days in Florida  before embarking on an absolutely incredible trip to Copenhagen  and Brussels  with our close friends and certainly the best beer festival of my life the  Copenhagen Beer Celebration .  Add in a few trips to Buffalo,   Vermont  and Nashville  and I would say we've been pretty busy.  But in the end it's always NYC that holds the biggest spot in my heart.  This year the food was better than ever and with new breweries like  Third Rail  and  Other Half  joining the leagues of Peekskill, Kane and Barrier there's never been a better tim...

Day two of the Congress was all about bread with the EAT@ICC Sandwich Showcase taking over the main floor.  I love a good sandwich but I truly wasn't expecting to be blown away by anything the way I was by this dish from Alvain Cailan of  Eggslut  in Los Angeles. This was called The Slut: a coddled egg on top of smooth potato puree poached in a glass jar with toasted crostini.  This. Was. AMAZING.   It was silky and rich with a salty umami flavor that had my eyes rolling back into my head.  This was the best egg I have ever had in my entire life and I will  be flying to Los Angeles just to get another one.  Onto some more sandwiches... Amy Stonionis came from  Murray's Cheese  with the classic Murray Melt. Stuart Tracy of  Butcher and Bee  in Charleston created a Braised Ham sandwich with sorghum, creole mustard and pimento cheese... ...while Dan Sauer from  7afoods  out in Martha'...