NYC and food52

Wes and I recently took a quick trip to New York City, where we met some great people and ate wonderful food.

We began in Chelsea, where I attended the food52 launch party, hosted by the generous, friendly and talented Amanda, Merrill, Helen and Sarah (click on the link above to see their write-up). They assembled a group of gifted cooks, food writers and bloggers, many of whom have won the weekly food52 contests and will be featured in the upcoming cookbook. Party-goers included Cathy, Jennifer, Kelsey, Jennifer, Meredith, Giulia, Erin, Natalie, Amy and Tamio, and many more. Can't forget Eliza, who offered her beautiful apartment for the evening.



As you might imagine, the food was fantastic. Every dish was a food52 specialty, including fried chickpeas, Hungarian meatballs, rosemary thyme pita chips, spicy shrimp, deeply dark chocolate cookies, zucchini lemon cookies, crab dip, and salty toasted almonds.

If you haven't visited food52 yet, I highly encourage you to do so. Check it out. Cook from it. Submit a recipe. You'll be part of something special.

The following morning, per my friend menumaniac's suggestion, we walked to Irving Farm Coffee Company for some local farm roasted coffee brew and pastry from Balthazar. Next, we set out on foot and ended up at the Time-Warner building, where we stopped for a bite at Thomas Keller's Bouchon. We've eaten twice at Bouchon in Yountville, and found the New York bakery outpost to be more informal than its Napa counterpart, with an edited menu. We selected San Marzano tomato soup, chicken soup with dumplings and split a gruyere and gouda grilled cheese.

Tart tomato soup and nutty grilled cheese.

A simply stunning bowl of chicken soup.

The famed bouchons, a rich, decadent chocolate cylinder

After some more walking and shopping, we toured the Chelsea Market and watched them bake bread at Amy's.

Then, we went to Blue Hill for dinner. We have family in upstate New York, and every time we visit we attempt to eat at Blue Hill Stone Barns, and it never works out. So, this time, we vowed to stop into Dan Barber's New York restaurant, and, since we had extra reason to celebrate, we did.

We had a smokey tomato soup, sweet potato ravioli, wild striped bass with pancetta, lobster, crab and vegetables and grass fed lamb. A truly special, wonderful meal.

Warm thanks to the food52 crew, who were so kind to include me in such a lovely event, and also to Wes, the perfect traveling partner, who didn't blink when I suggested we fly to New York to attend a party of people I'd never met, who insisted I take his upgraded seats on both flights, and who simply couldn't be more supportive.