Opening Gala Celebrating Campari's Negroni Cocktail at Manhattan Cocktail Classic

Well, I thought I would make it to the opening gala at the New York Public Library but the following circumstances kept me from climbing the grand marble steps into this iconic temple of learning now outfitted with luxe tasting stations, pulsing light displays and house music:

• It was 12 midnight when I arrived and I didn’t check into my hotel yet…located down in Lower Manhattan next to the World Trade Center. Since I was in town only for Saturday’s festivities across the street at the Andaz, I thought it would be wise to catch some shut eye and make the most of tomorrow.

• To coin a phrase, I was dressed casual chic…meaning I still had my backpack along with my sport jacket paired with t-shirt and jeans. This opening bash is definitely an occasion to break out your classiest most creative outfit…for guys it’s probably your wedding duds stashed to the back of the closet with thoughtful twists like perhaps a top hat or off beat tie. To do any less would simply leave you feeling kind of well…naked.

So it was with my first introduction to the Manhattan Cocktail Classic that I learned a valuable lesson about attending this 4-day long event: Don’t even try to cram it into a compressed schedule if you can absolutely help it. You need a place to camp out for a few days, unfurl, and pace yourself intelligently with the libations. Speaking of which…the most important ingredient…liquor! This is after all a celebration with plenty of opportunities to explore various specialty liquors, how to best mix, and most importantly imbibe them.

Flash to Saturday morning, 11 a.m., Andaz Hotel second floor, site of Manhattan Cocktail Classic’s Industry Invitational. Salons along with a couple outdoor terraces served as home base for the day. Additional tastings and parties across NYC were scheduled in addition to this main event. Luckily there was an app available to keep track of when and where these offsite activities were taking place. With program in hand, I got to meet a lot of the faces behind brands like James Hayman from London’s Hayman Distillers producing a wide array of tasty batch gins; Marc De Kupyer, yes a member of that De Kupyer enterprise who among other liqueurs, has resurrected Mandarine Napolean from the fabled ruler’s personal recipe; and Eric Seed from Haus Alpenz, importers of fine French Vermouths and aromatized wines among other treasures.   I also sat in on some seminars ranging from an uber product PR pitch by Patron Tequila setting the record straight about their authentic production methods to Left of Center, bar consultant Tobin Ellis’ riotous accounts from the art of making a buck selling cocktails in some of the highest end Vegas watering holes. And then there was a studio kitchen chef periodically demonstrating how to incorporate Angostura Bitters into various recipes like burgers and mac & cheese bites…another sampling opportunity complete with take-home recipe cards!

Each seminar had the classic setup of conference room table and chairs but instead of esoteric handouts and boring Power Points, resulting samples or full cocktails embodying each presentation were abundantly available for sipping. Wish my video could transport flavor experiences to you but for that, you’ll have to make your own plans to visit next year!

Photo courtesy of Hanna Lee Communications. Video courtesy of Steve Mirsky

Open Air Market Next to 50th St. Subway Station

Head south deep into Brooklyn’s interior on the elevated D train and get off at the 50th Street station. At the bottom of the stairs, an open air market greets you with fresh fruits and vegetables anytime of the year. One block away on 13th Avenue is Borough Park, spelled by locals as Boro Park – the main thoroughfare of one of the world’s largest Orthodox Jewish communities outside of Israel. Here you can learn a bit about Jewish culture by simply walking the streets and picking up a neighborhood newspaper. You’ll quickly scratch beyond the surface of ubiquitous black top hats and discover that this Orthodox community is far from homogenous.

Local Culture

The primary residents of Boro Park are Hasidic and Hareidi Jewish families, although many other sects call this neighborhood home. Each family typically averages six children, creating a localized baby boom. Synagogues and yeshivas (schools) figure very  prominently in the community, but not in the ways you may expect. Many synagogues aren’t separate ornate structures, but instead occupy row houses along side streets. Front entrances are rather unceremoniously marked with simple signs in Hebrew, sometimes outlining the Torah. In time, a good number of Hasidic rebbes (rabbis), as well as other rabbinical personalities, build a following and break away to establish their own synagogues.  It’s not uncommon to see some of these leaders walking through the crowds on 13th Ave. singing praises or making proclamations.

The Hasidic community has developed their own version of a neighborhood block watch by forming a Shomrim, a network of residents who volunteer to prevent crime and handle emergencies. The Boro Park Shomrim was originally established as “The Bakery Boys,” a group of bakery delivery drivers who noticed that crime surged during their late night and early morning deliveries. The group now receives extensive training and has become a full citizen patrol in partnership with the New York Police Department’s Community Affairs Division. Although they don’t carry weapons and desist immediately upon NYPD orders, they maintain constant radio contact with the police department’s central dispatch, investigate suspicious persons, assist residents with police matters, and conduct searches for missing persons.

Amnon's Kosher Pizza and Falafel

Food and Lodging

Boro Park is globally renowned among Hasidic Jews and other tourists for its extensive dining and lodging options. The 13th Avenue district, roughly one mile in length from 39th Street to about 55th Street, is the community’s lifeblood. Among the prominent mix of banks, a staggering variety of shops, markets, and kosher eateries beckon the senses. But don’t label puffy melt-in-your-mouth jelly donuts from The Donut Man, whole wheat personal pizzas and cheeseless calzones from Amnon’s Kosher Pizza and Falafel, or  truffles from Candy Land as junk food. Perhaps these delicacies taste too good to be wholesome, but you’ll notice the flavor and how your stomach isn’t doing handsprings  after indulging. Chalk this up to the use of pure water, only fresh ingredients, and cooking done under strict Rabbinical supervision.

Photos courtesy of Steve Mirsky

Esposito's Pork Shop

Remarkably, NYC’s Chelsea neighborhood is still also known as the Meat Packing District. I say this because nightclubs and art galleries now easily overshadow any presence of freshly butchered flanks of meat hanging from hooks in refrigerated warehouses. But there are still some visible vestiges of this industry here like Esposito Pork Shop. Located on the corner of 38th & 9th Avenue, the outside storefront looks like it’s been untouched since the 1960′s with simple lettered signage and institutional white panels surrounding smudged and smoky windows that implacably advertise the coveted goods to denizens of the street. This shop doesn’t need to impress or entice, it’s already been well established for decades as the neighborhood’s go-to butcher shop.

In the same league as Gristedes and Citerella for quality meats, Esposito’s opened its doors in 1933 showcasing the benefits of a local butcher…fresher meats, locally grown and most importantly….cheaper prices. The lower price feature is thankfully the one standard that’s remained constant even as other gourmet stores have predictably adjusted upward in this regard. As far as top quality meats are concerned, Esposito’s is known for prepared pork…specifically fresh made sausages. One of the largest distributors of sausage in NYC, their Hot & Spicy is the most popular for accompanying Italian dishes but depending on the season, their selection can range from:

• Chicken Apple
• Sweet Sausage with Fennel (Luganica)
• Bracciole
• Cheese and Parsley
• Breakfast (smaller links)
• Sage
• Peppers & Onions
• Broccoli Rabe & Mozzarella

The best news of all is that you don’t have to be a New Yorker to enjoy Esposito’s meats. They sell directly from their website shipping direct to you.  Give them a try for your next gathering!

Photo courtesy of Steve Mirsky

Amagansett Sea Salt East Hampton Blend

On our real vacation to Long Island this weekend, I made a personal vow not to let writing creep into the experience. I was here with my wife to share some quality time…no note taking, asking detailed questions about food, or taking elaborate pictures of everything I was eating. In short, I was to be a normal tourist only interested in generalist activities…beach, wine tasting, hiking, casual window shopping…along with taking time to hold hands, look into each others eyes and take pleasure in the small things. On most fronts it was a success but I couldn’t resist delving into the foodie heaven that are “The Forks”.

For those who aren’t familiar with Long Island’s East End, I’ll go with this metaphor: The North Fork is the pantry and the South Fork is the show kitchen where all the ingredients are combined into a myriad of artfully presented and tasty cuisine. Farms and wineries by far outnumber restaurants and chain stores on the North Fork. One tiny exception to this breadbasket-showcase dichotomy between the two forks is Amagansett Sea Salt Co.. Located just east of the Hamptons where luxe town centers give way to the carefree open spaces of Montauk, Amagansett sea salt is made entirely by hand in small batches from seawater harvested directly from the Atlantic Ocean. It’s filtered, solar evaporated, and packaged…ocean to bottle…right on site.

The entire process is 100% natural carefully balancing solar evaporation and exposure to the wind. Salt crystals form slowly

Amagansett Sea Salt Combo Pack

over time producing a mild, sweet, briny flavor and a distinctive crunch. No washing, bleaching, boiling, kiln drying, or anti-caking agents like in mass produced salts. The resulting unrefined sea salt retains nutritious trace minerals that naturally occur in seawater.

Another important distinction between common table salt and Amagansett Sea Salt is that it’s not used during cooking but rather as a “finishing salt.” Dishes are typically made without salt and these finishing salts are only added when serving as a flavor enhancement. In this way, salt crystals have a more intimate contact with your palate resulting in a nuanced boost to the flavor, aroma, and texture of your food. Start imagining the possibilities with their East Hampton Blend mixed with Herbes de Provence, Montauk Blend mixed with fresh lemon zest, or Southampton Blend soaked in Madagascar Vanilla, perfect for topping desserts like chocolate ice cream….or homemade caramel candies?

photos courtesy of Amagansett Sea Salt

Dining Table at Le Grand Fooding Exquisite Corpse

So what exactly does artfully prepared cuisine have to do with corpses? Exquisite Corpse, this year’s NYC Le Grand Fooding event, was held at a pop-up restaurant in Chelsea’s Honey Space Gallery. Adopted from the surrealists’ concept of the “corps exquis,” every chef’s first course featured an ingredient used by the chef in the preceding shift. Nonstop for 52 hours, 13 top chefs from Europe and the United States embarked on four-hour, round-the-clock shifts feeding jet setting gourmands, bleary eyed night owls, and curiosity seekers willing to part with $100 each for the experience.

Featured chefs were a hand-picked mix of established culinary wizards and rising stars blending different countries, experience levels and styles. The main premise behind Le Grand Fooding events such as this was to shakeup the classical French approach to cooking and explore this venerable school of art’s practices through different lenses. In addition to the surrealist theme, it was the limitations of a residential-style kitchen as well as chefs personally

Ana Ros in the Kitchen

lugging ingredients from their own local purveyors in coolers from as far away as Italy and Belgium.

I sat down to a long narrow table set for 40 with hundreds of candles as the centerpiece peppered with champagne holders filled with half bottle servings of Veuve Clicquot. A huge chandelier made from clusters of large glass jugs hung directly over the center of the table. A Foosball table along with a baby grand piano stood on the fringes where they were sometimes used by dining guests in between courses. Ana Ros of Hisa Franko restaurant in Kobarid, Slovenia, cooked up 4 courses featuring her native ingredients like figs, goat’s milk, trout,

Black Cod w/ Black Truffle Foam Braced w/ Asparagus

deer tartare, and her black cod with black truffle foam and asparagus…my favorite.

“The countryside where I come from is not globalized. We traditionally rely on what each season yields and craft our dishes from these basic elements,” said Ros. Building on Ana’s passion for expertly crafted Slovenian dishes using locally-sourced ingredients, I can’t wait to see what next year’s Le Grand Fooding NYC experience brings!

photos courtesy of Steve Mirsky

Wild Thymes Thai Chili Roasted Garlic Dipping Sauce

For those who regularly read my posts, it will come as no surprise that I use my grill…a lot. Steaks, tipsy cooker chicken, turkey bratwurst, foil packet fish are a few I’ve shared with you before. Tonight I grilled up some lamb chops, one of my favorite meats due to its light yet hearty flavor. Juicy like a steak yet possessing the lightness of lean chicken, flame broiled lamb brings the best of both of these worlds together. Usually I coat the chops with some steak seasoning before cooking but this time I paired them with Wild Thymes Thai Chili Roasted Garlic Dipping Sauce. It turns out that the simplicity of grilled meat is the perfect marriage with this dipping sauce consisting of sugar, apple cider vinegar, fresh garlic, red chili peppers, and sea salt. That’s it! No hard to pronounce artificial mystery ingredients.

Like most foods that are extremely tasty and wholesome, Wild Thymes has a story behind their creations. Mother and daughter Enid and Ann Stettner are the family’s hands-on duo for concocting recipes using ingredients raised on their 400-plus acre Hudson Valley farm. It all started when Enid and her husband introduced a line of 25 different herb and fruit vinegars, including opal basil, hot pepper and blueberry. Using homegrown herbs, they were bottled by hand and sold at farmers markets and craft fairs. Word spread and in the early 1990′s, major retailers like Whole Foods, Crate & Barrel, and Williams-Sonoma began selling them to a swelling fan base.

I think what makes Wild Thymes Thai Chili Roasted Garlic Dipping Sauce sauce work so well is the yin-yang effect, the sweet sugar and mild apple cider vinegar coalescing with the lively chilis along with the lamb’s salty char and succulent juices. Best of all, no additional messy step of marinading or glazing is required to elevate grilled meats to a whole new flavor experience. And this works perfectly for a discerning yet at times lazy cook like me.

photo courtesy of Steve Mirsky.  Coverage resulting from a complimentary sample.

Leopold Gourmel Premieres Saveurs

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a full portfolio wine tasting sponsored by Frederick Wildman, a major importer of top quality vintages. Held at Guastavino’s which is located under NYC’s 59^th Street Bridge, both levels were packed with tasting tables. Amidst the sea of tasty and venerable wines & spirits, Leopold Gourmel‘s fully organic cognac made a huge impression on me. Not only was their lineup unique and flavorful, visiting their table was like taking a full-immersion trip to France and witnessing their passionate craftsmanship firsthand.

Spend a few minutes with Leopold Gourmel co-founder Olivier Blanc and you realize that you are in the company of a true cognac aficionado who knows the business. His distillery goes out of its way to produce a line of cognacs that buck convention. “So many of the established cognac houses adhere to the same formula year after year and critics are fixated on how each year’s batch matches up to its VSOP, XO standards. Our cognacs have unique subtleties between batches instead of being locked into a rigid pattern of refinement”.

The white wines used to make Léopold Gourmel cognacs come from the 1st growth organically cultivated Fins Bois grapes. Their vines have roots that plunge 80 to 100 ft into the soil of the vineyards’ hilly terrain near Gente France. This environment yields stronger, richer, and more aromatic wine possessing mineral overtones.

All Léopold Gourmel cognac is made from wine of the same year meaning that the vintages are never mixed.

Aging takes place in un-toasted extra fine-grain French oak casks. This wood is harvested from the oldest French oak trees called Allier which are known to prevent oxidation while adding very delicate notes of wood giving these cognacs a long finish and very clear color. Instead of the typical chill filtering which invariably removes some flavor and aroma, Leopold Gourmel uses a light screening technique yielding the same taste in the bottle as in the cask. Distillation is done additive-free unlike other top brands that prematurely darken the color and soften the taste for mass marketing appeal.

Before embarking on the tasting, Olivier Blanc advised avoiding a snifter or cognac balloon which accentuates too much of the

Leopold Gourmel Age du Fruit

alcohol. Go with a simple white wine glass instead. The thinner, straighter, and sharper edged glass the better. He also advised against warming it which again brings too much alcohol to the forefront. Swirling three times oxidizes the cognac by coating the glass with a thin film. Allowing it to breathe in this way showcases the spirit’s full bouquet. Lifting the glass to your nose and pulling it away a few times lets your nose adjust and gradually discover the aromas. Tasting on your lips first prepares your palate for the full blossoming. Each serving size should be limited to a few splashes to maximize this experience.

So it was with this background and advice that I enjoyed a narrated tasting of the following:

Premières Saveurs

This 6 year old soft gold was fresh and supple with white fruits like pear and white peach poking through with a refreshing long-lasting finish.

Age du Fruit

Leopold Gourmel Age des Fleurs

With a delicate bouquet hinting at fresh almonds, this pale gold lasts longer in the cheeks all the way to the throat. Its beautiful finish exudes preserved fruits, apricot, and citrus zest. Optimal times to enjoy include after imbibing great white wines, after white meat or fish, and complementing Asian or Scandinavian cuisine.

Age des Fleurs

Warmer, balanced, floral vanilla along with delicate wafts of rose, jasmine, and lilies on the nose. Rich

Leopold Gourmel Age des Epices

on the front of the palate, silky on the tongue, velvet on the throat, deep in the stomach with a honeysuckle and delicate lime finish. Perfect with game meats or after steaks. Typically appeals to cognac lovers since it reminds them of their favorite traditional brand yet possesses a far more elegant un-caramalized taste experience.

Age des Epices

This vintage has a deeper gold hue with sweet aromas of wood and honey.  Rich and powerful peppery spice and coriander opens slowly on the tongue with a warm complexity in the finish reflecting ginger and cloves. Blanc indicated this cognac penetrates slowly into the casks until after 20 years it naturally reaches the best part of the wood. Divinely pairs with pure black chocolate.

Quintessence

Leopold Gourmel Quintessence

Leopold Gourmel’s signature cognac that dazzles with a wide variety of flavors on the pallet. Inspired by the best old vintages of 1st growth Bordeaux wines, this vintage is something you would spring for to celebrate a major business deal or one of life’s other major milestones.

photos courtesy of Leopold Gourmel

Pistachio Encrusted Truffle

The word Xocolatti (choco-latti) is derived from the ancient Aztec word xocolātl, which ascribes cacao as food of the gods. In this spirit, Shaineal Shah, Bombay-born master mind behind his own line of Xoxolatti chocolates takes Valrhona chocolate to new levels like hand crafted sake truffles and bark-like mango-paprika slates. Over the past twenty years, true chocolate lovers have graduated from quantity to a world where chocolate, like cheese and wine, is considered an art form. Each truffle in Shah’s Port

Rose Hip Pistachio Bark

Chester, NY factory is made from single origin chocolate meticulously painted and rolled by hand. Just like a fine wine, you can taste the bouquet of flavors lingering long after biting through the delicate shell and savoring the intense ganaches.

The slates (or more commonly known as chocolate barks) are kaleidoscopes of color in and of themselves loaded with exotic ingredients like almond nougatine, Persian pistachio, saffron, and rose petals imported straight from India. Lucky for you, Shah sells assortments online as well as through Chocolate Library and Food Emporium.

photos courtesy of xocolatti

Trio of Pierogis: Meat, Potato, Goat Cheese and Arugula with Sauteed Onions and Sour Cream

If you’re in NYC this weekend, you simply can’t miss the 3^rd Annual Dumpling Festival set for this Sat. from 12-5 in Sara Roosevelt Park. A must-attend event especially for those who think dumplings don’t have much variety and are uninspiring. The ubiquitous and much-loved pot sticker is just the tip of the dumpling iceberg with each culture showcasing different cooking techniques, regional ingredients and flavor profiles with their own recipes. Dumpling types range from Korean mandoo to Italian ravioli. Fillings both sweet and savory are steamed, boiled and fried inside a variety of wrappers that are sure to take you on a culinary journey across

Chicken Momos in Signature Spicy Sauce

the globe.

In addition to sampling a full international array of dumplings from cultures like Italy, China, Malaysia and Poland, this festival will also feature the 8th Annual Chef One Dumpling Eating Contest, where Guiness World Records will preside over participants vying to beat the 5-time champion and current record holder, Joe Menchetti, who ate 66 dumplings in two minutes.

photos courtesy of Tang’s 2011 Dumpling Festival

Cowshed Inside Views

Getting its start in 1998 on the Babbington House grounds in Somerset England, Cowshed was named after the actual bovine inhabitants who at one time occupied this first location. Since then, Cowshed Spas has expanded to nearly 10 locations including several outside England like on the 3rd floor of Soho House Hotel in Manhattan.

A big point of pride for Cowshed is that all their treatments, no matter where the location, still have a little bit of Babbington in every single bottle in the form of a special herbal infusion sourced from within its walled Gardens. All ingredients use the best organic and wild crafted plant extracts.

Treatments like Grumpy Cow, Lazy Cow and Bullocks might have playful names but Cowshed is serious about ensuring that all ingredients come from fairly traded botanicals grown using sustainable practices. They guarantee that nothing artificial is used, including sulphates and oil based ingredients. Going a step further that’s not always easy to adhere to, they never use animal based ingredients except for organic beeswax and wildflower honey.

So go ahead, make a statement with your spa indulgence of choice and book one of their Pretty Parties for you and your girlfriends in good conscience. You have to either be a guest at Soho House or have a private membership to visit this Cowshed location but it’s worth it! Equipped with eucalyptus steam rooms and the full range organic bath & body goodies, expert therapists are on hand with treatments along with dinner and wine for you and up to 10 friends. During a Pretty Party, you can choose two of the following 30 minute treatments: Speedy Manicure, Speedy Pedicure, Cowshed Massage and Cowshed Facial.

Directions & Hours: Take the L train to the 8th Ave. – 14th St. Station in Chelsea. Walk 1 long block down to 9th Ave., turn left, and look for #29. Call for hours and prices

photo courtesy of Cowshed Spa