NYC Tastes

On night two of Star Chef's the conference space turned into a fabulous cocktail party with bartenders from all over shaking up wonderful new drinks.  This year the ever popular Negroni was the theme with cocktail guru's like Jim Meehan pouring an East India Negroni made with Island Rum right beside his PDT predecessor Jeff Bell. Each bartender had a different spin on the drink.  Nacho Jimenez of the Daily created the delicious Solera Negroni made entirely without gin. James Beck from the Patterson House in Nashville, TN created a frothy pink Dee-Dely-Dee made with coconut and cocoa nib infused Ford Gin, vanilla infused Cocchi Americano, Campari, whole egg and dusted with fresh cinnamon. It was great to see some NYC newcomers on scene like Katie Stipe from one of Brooklyn's best new bars Grand Army creating an incredible espresso bean infused Campari cocktail. But it was Williamsburg's Extra Fancy that stole my heart with ...

Day two of Star Chef's Congress the EAT@ICC moved from the all American hot dog to the flavors of Asia for the lunch showcase. Angus An of Maenam in Vancouver, BC rolled out a gorgeous Thai Smoked Salmon Salad... ...while Mike Gulotta from MoPHo in New Orleans, LA went rich and hearty with a Backbone Stew with fermented beans, pork blood and lime leaf aioli. And who can resist a piping hot nugget of Tori Karrage from Ed Ross & Gabe Rosen of Biwa in Portland, OR.  There was a hint of ginger and a twist of lime; this was seriously awesome Japanese fried chicken.  Each day Steelite International hosted a pop up restaurant inside the Congress where guests could reserve seats for a three course lunch.  I was lucky enough to dine when Chef Mattie McGhee New Jersey native and current chef of RANGE with Bryan Voltaggio was at the helm.   Chef McGhee actually won the title of Rising Star Chef from Washington, DC at last years Congress.  He began with...