A mountain of food at the 9th Annual Taste of the Lower East Side
Friday, May 8, 2009 at 1:10AM Many thanks to FoodBuzz for hooking me up with tickets to the 9th Annual Taste of the Lower East Side - I had a fantastic night of munching, way too much "sampling" of the wines and along the way developing a very fuzzy memory of exactly what went into each of the carefully prepared dishes at each sampling station. This is a great event to raise funds to support programs at the Grand Street Settlment which expands opportunities for low-income families and individuals by providing culturally relevant services that support community-building, advocacy, self-determination and an enriched quality of life.
The setting:
Over 1,000 young professionals attended this event held in the beautiful Puck building in Soho. Lots of beautiful women in spring dresses and guys all suited up. The music was pretty loud which lent a very festive atmosphere, there were no lines for any of the stations and the event felt very well organized.
The food:
Apologies for any mistakes in dish descriptions - my memory is a tad fuzzy :) If you see any egregious errors, please leave a comment and I'll be sure to fix it asap!
From Falai Pannetteria: Mozzarella, tomato, basil on pastry
- A bit too soggy from having sat around for a bit but delicate and had good flavor
From Falai Pannetteria: Cream puffs
- Holy hellfire, these cream puffs were delicious - I would have tried to steal the tray but there were too many people around
From Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop: 7-Grain toast with an avocado mash, bacon crumble, herb mayo, grape tomato and cilantro, served open face)
- A perfect combo of crispy bacon bits, creamy avocado and a lovely herb mayo - really, really good and I think I'm starting to understand Robyn's love affair with this place. Must head back soon for a visit!
From Porchetta: Porchetta (roated pork with crispy skin, highly seasoned with aromatic herbs and spaices, garlic, sage, rosemary and wild fennel pollen)
- My first experience at Porchetta wasn't all that great (dry meat, I thought it was too expensive) but this tasting completely changed my mind. I think I had 3 servings of this - beautifully crispy cracklings, tender and moist meat and lovely toasted bread to pair with it. The only time I've had better porchetta is really when Tien Ho (the head honcho over at Momofuku Ssam bar) decided to experiment with a new porchetta recipe on Don and me. I still think of that lovely hunk of porchetta with complete longing but he never put it on the menu :(
From Sorella: Bicerin (espresso fudge, chocolate pudding, soft whipped cream), Torta Di Marsala (orange spiked geniose, marsala zabaglione)
- Very light, not too sweet and delicious - Sorella has been on my list of winebars to check out and after these nibbles, I think I have to head there soon.
From The Stanton Social: Lobster Roll with old bay potato chips
- The lobster roll was incredibly buttery and fresh and I loved how the old bay potato chips cut through the richness of it
From WD-50: Sunflower-miso soup, shitake, malt
- I've done the full tasting menu over at WD-50 (see my review here) and liked many of the courses but I really disliked this dish. The description itself wasn't all that appealing but the balance was all off and it had a very strong floral taste (but in a bad way) so I didn't finish it.
From Clinton St. Baking Company: Brooklyn Ice cream sandwiches (with ice cream from the Brooklyn Ice Cream factory)
- The cookies were amazing, chewy, slightly salty and just sweet enough and the ice cream was of course yummy - ice cream sandwiches are definitely one of the best concotions on the planet
From Roni-Sue: Bacon caramel popcorn
- Man, this was so good - I have to go to Essex market asap to get some of their bacon chocolate which they sadly didn't have at the table
Closing Notes:
Definitely consider going next year - this was a great event for a good cause and the food was wonderful.
Full list of participating restaurants:
Reader Comments