Friday, September 30, 2011

NYC Wine & Food Festival 2011: Meatball Madness

Earlier this evening, I ventured down to 82 Mercer for Meatball Madness hosted by Giada De Laurentiis. Now while heading over, I found myself wondering why I was even going because, well, I don't really like meatballs (or tomato sauce. or spaghetti. or even pizza.). But oh well, I already bought the ticket, so off I went!

Because I purchased my deal through Gilt City, I was granted early access (30 mins early) and was swiftly whisked into the room. Upon entering, obviously the room was still rather empty and most of the restaurants looked like they were still setting up and trying to find their groove, so I hesitated before diving in. But as soon as I saw someone eating a meatball, I knew it was time...

An inside glimpse of the venue prior to the official start
Diet Pepsi Skinny Bar
My first stop was Osteria Morini for their Prosciutto and Mortadella Meatballs topped with Swiss Chard and Parmigiano Creme. And boy, was it good. I started to get excited...maybe an evening of meatballs wouldn't be so bad!

Prosciutto and Mortadella Meatballs with Swiss Chard and Parmigiano Crema
But by my second meatball, I started to realize what a big problem eating my way through meatballs over 35 different restaurants would be, particularly given that for a normal meal, I can probably eat 6 meatballs. Max. And many of these meatballs seemed to be served alongside carbs, which, if I learned anything from doing the South Beach and Atkins diets, fill you up. So after my fifth meatball or so, I found myself avoiding any meatballs served with bread - and this turned out to be a big mistake. But more to come on that.

The Meatball Shop served Steak n' Bacon Cheddar Balls on a Buttermilk Biscuit with Mushroom Gravy. In retrospect, this sounds quite delicious. But at the time, I don't recall it being very special; perhaps my expectations were too high...

Steak n' Bacon Cheddar Balls on a Buttermilk Biscuit with Mushroom Gravy

After 30 mins, the event officially began and the crowds started to trickle in, forming long lines at certain stations. Word of advice: if you can buy a ticket that grants you early access, DO IT - not having lines will really give you a great opportunity to try whatever you want to try and as a bonus, if you want to chat with a chef, no one's there to disrupt you!

When I found Ed's Lobster Bar, I half expected them to be serving a lobster roll...just because. But staying true to the theme, we were served delicious lobster meatballs. Honestly, you just can't go wrong with lobster!

Dirt Candy
One of my most pleasant surprises of the evening was the AllBalls with Labneh, Preserved Lemon and Kale from Dirt Candy. I am clearly not a vegetarian and when growing up, if I ever ate a dinner without meat, I usually felt like I was on the verge of passing out. But this dish was pleasantly delicious, providing a nice contrast from all of the typical meatballs laden with marinara (or some form of tomato) sauce.

AllBalls with Labneh, Preserved Lemon and Kale from Dirt Candy
Another pleasant surprise was found on a trip to the ilili table. We were served Smoked Veal & Beef Meatballs (coated with some sort of fig? date? sauce). The sweetness of the sauce really blended beautifully with the meatballs, providing pleasant and delicious relief from, again, all of the tomato-based sauces I had been consuming. Later, I went back for their Chocolate Puddin' Balls and I have to say, these were quite good as well!
Smoked Veal & Beef Meatballs from ilili
As with any large tasting event like this one, there were some major letdowns. Le Cirque served a Tuscan Meatball with Red Onion Mostarda on top of polenta and...well, it was really salty.

Tuscan Meatball with Red Onion Mostarda from Le Cirque
Another big letdown? Donatella. Perhaps it was meant to be very basic and a true classic, but frankly, I just wasn't impressed. But honestly, it could have been that I was extremely full because by that point in the evening, I felt like I was pregnant - my stomach was extremely tight, my back hurt, and my feet ached. Thank goodness for all the water from San Pellegrino!

Donatella Arpaia from Donatella
Visiting Giada's booth, we were greeted with an interesting Smoked Mozzarella and Fig Meatball, which was in fact, not a meatball at all. Upon first bite, I was a little confused because I half-expected for some meat to be living in the middle of the cheese, but nope - just sweet cheese. I should probably also mention right now that...I don't really like cheese. It weirds me out. So naturally, I was not a huge lover of this "meatball," though after a few bites, I found that it was starting to grow on me...

A Voce served an interesting Chocolate Cannoli with Roasted Cherries. The filling was actually quite nice, but the Cannoli shell kind of confused me. It had the texture of...well sheets of melted sugar, but was not as sweet as sugar. Oh well, it was still relatively pleasant!

Chocolate Cannoli with Roasted Cherries from A Voce
At this point I gave up on eating. And resorted to walking around, searching for new drinks (and any meatballs that I hadn't eaten and just HAD to try).

Grandaisy Bakery
Around 9 PM, finally the judges had finished deliberating and had settled on a winner. Judges Choice: Gravy Meatball Slider from the little owl. Shame on me for not eating this, just because it was served on bread! It sounds delicious! But runner-up? Meatballs with Pinenuts, Currants and Basil served with Spicy Burnt Garlic Broccoli Rabe from Pulino. I am happy to say that I actually did eat Pulino's dish and it really was quite good.

Judges hard at work
The popular vote went to The Meatball Shop. I clearly just don't understand meatballs...

And that ended my intense evening of meatballs. Honestly, I don't think this event was really meant for me, as I clearly have poor appreciation for and understanding of meatballs. But it really was great to see and try such a large variety of meatballs from around the city and catch a brief glimpse of many, many "food celebs" throughout the night. But my biggest worry? Tomorrow evening, not only am I attending Burger Bash, but I will be following that up with Fried (the fried chicken event hosted by Gilt City)...immediately after. On the bright side, I am a huge lover of burgers and fried chicken and I would actually go to the restaurants participating in these events to eat their burgers and fried chicken! But at the same time...how am I possibly going to be able to enjoy all this food???



Thursday, September 29, 2011

McDonald's Monopoly

Okay, I discovered something (amazing) that will surely throw off my food posts for the next month or so...

McDonald's Monopoly is back!

As much as you may dislike McDonald's, you can't really hate on Monopoly. Well you can, but c'mon - it's just an innocent board game!

Anyways, I am a huge fanatic of McDonald's Monopoly. Even though I've never won a big prize, I am just obsessed with the idea that each year, I will win. So in order to make that happen, I fulfill my annual (or more like 3 years worth) quota of McDonald's trips while the Monopoly promotion runs.

Last year, I won a few medium fries, a breakfast sandwich, and a $5 gift card to Wal-mart. This year? I will win a million dollars!

So this morning I ventured in for a medium iced mocha (too creamy for me - will never order that again), sausage egg mcmuffin (that is one heavy breakfast), and an order of hash browns. And in that one meal, I already managed to get multiple duplicate pieces.

...and obviously I couldn't resist and found myself back again for lunch. My medium soda, filet o' fish (which conveniently fell on the floor back in the office) and large fries got me...a winning piece: medium fries! But I also got more duplicates of the pieces from this morning.

The best thing about this new age of technology that we live in is that each Monopoly piece has a code that can be entered online and used to play this chance card hat toss game. Which I obviously didn't win. And I reached the daily 10 code quota. But tomorrow is another day...and I still have 3 codes to enter online!

Hello again!

...and I am back!

Not much happened for me in the way of food events this summer...everything seemed to be in the Hamptons and I, well, was not. However, I did try the master cleanse (for 1.5 weeks) and a 3-day Cooler Cleanse earlier this summer - along with a number of equally useless diets - to try and erase the effects of attending all these food events, but naturally they did not work. But I guess you could say my summer was still spent exploring food (or lack thereof), so I in fact did not take a break from my food ventures! I'm not sure that I want to post about these cleanses because, well, they were kind of boring, but below I have listed out some recap highlights:

  • The master cleanse is pretty unappetizing, especially if you don't like cayenne pepper. And the grade B maple syrup does not make it sweet.
  • I did not follow the exact amounts of the recipe because I figured it would drive me insane, but I decided either way you'll get similar effects (after all, you ARE only drinking liquids...I'm sure a little more or less maple syrup won't really make or break you).
  • Cayenne pepper really does squash those waves of hunger pains, if only for a few minutes...
  • It is really hard to do the master cleanse while you're at work and surrounded by people eating delicious things, especially if these people eat all. day. long.
  • I cheated and ate some watermelon each day. Whatever, close enough.
  • I did not do the salt water flush because way too many people have posted unpleasant things about it.
  • At the end of it, I did not feel all that clean. Lighter - sure. But detoxed? I don't know about that...
  • After 1.5 weeks of the master cleanse, you find that a 3 day cleanse like Cooler Cleanse is a breeze and in fact, quite indulgent. In fact, I'm pretty sure I gained weight from that...
  • I drank about half of the juices on Cooler Cleanse because, well, I was so incredibly full. That and green juices still gross me out (even though theirs was a LOT better than ones I've had in the past).
  • The Cooler Cleanse coconut water tastes a lot like water that you've boiled corn in + cane sugar. But I also don't like coconut water.
  • The grapefruit and mint juice tasted...very herby. Not at all a gentle dose of mint.
  • The lemon cayenne juice scared me (see above)...I think I drank a sip.
  • The beet juice was absolutely delicious. SO incredibly sweet. What a treat! Too bad by the time it was beet juice time, I was exhausted and did not want to drink juice.
  • I thought the almond nut milk would be my special treat for the day; so many people had described it as being this rich, indulgent, almost ice cream-esque drink. But guess what, I drank a sip and knew I could never touch it again. It was indeed rich. It was so incredibly rich. And sweet. And it makes up for half of the total daily calories of the cleanse. Not to mention, it looks extremely gross when it separates.
 In summary, I don't think I will ever try any of these cleanses again. Not that the Cooler Cleanse wasn't good. It was pretty good - much better than the Joulebody cleanse that I had previously done. The juices were refreshing, they (mostly) looked appetizing, and they came in these cute bottles with beautifully refreshing pictures splashed across the label that just inspired you to want to feel clean. But given that I apparently don't even drink half of the juices included in the $58 per day cleanse, it was extremely not worth it financially.

The Master Cleanse, on the other hand, was very economical. It was also extremely hard to maintain. If I were at home for 2 weeks and did not have to go out and eat with friends or be in public or be anywhere near food, I would totally consider (maybe) doing it again...for like a week. But seriously, if you don't have great self control, DO NOT do this cleanse when you're at work and/or around friends who are eating...it's torture.

And now for more upbeat and appetizing news, I will be attending various NYC Wine & Food Festival Events this weekend, so stay tuned!