Coming Up - Zarela Martinez Cooking Class at Suenos

Hi foodies! On June 9th Zarela Martinez will be doing a cooking class at Sue Torres's restaurant, Suenos. From 11am to 2pm, Zarela will be teaching about the food and culture of Chihuahua. Don't miss out on this golden opportunity! For more information and to sign up click here.

-Mike

Wellness in the Schools Annual Benefit

Hi foodies! Tuesday, May 22nd, was the Wellness in the Schools Annual Benefit. It was a wonderful event with amazing food and people for a great cause.

Wellness in the Schools is bringing healthy food, environmental awareness and encouraging more activity in school. They provide this for New York City public schools and have now expanded to Kentucky with Florida on their radar as a future project. WITS, created in 2005, is now servicing twenty five schools with their three programs, Cook for Kids, Green for Kids, and Coach for Kids.

The benefit was a blast with a silent auction, a live auction and great food from 26 amazing restaurants. One highlight of the night was the Shrimp Ceviche from Josh Capon of B&B and Lure. It came with a great avocado mousse and I could have just drank the liquid on the bottom all night. Josh became involved with WITS because it hit home. His daughter started school and the lunches were not acceptable. If you did not decide to pack a lunch, the alternative was not good. He said it was time to "rock the boat".

Sue Torres of Sueños, returning for her second year at this event, served a delicious Cochinita Pibil Taco.   The pork was very tasty and the hand-crafted tortilla was like no other. Together it was a spectacular dish. Sue also served chips and a homemade salsa as a vegetarian option. Sue Torres is a pleasure to talk to and her food is out of this world.

The cookies at Levain Bakery were amazing. They are monstrous size cookies that come in four different flavors. Levain Bakery serves Chocolate Chip Walnut, Oatmeal Raisin, Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip, and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip. These cookies are some of the best I have ever had, and my favorite is the Oatmeal Raisin Cookie.

At Candle 79, they prepared a plantain chip with an avocado mousse, chipotle sauce and tempeh bacon. Tempeh is a soy product that is cake-like and commonly found in Indonesia. This smokey product acted as a replacement to bacon. The dish was delicious.

Dessert was being made over at Craft's booth with the executive pastry chef Meredith Tomason. She presented a Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta along with cucumber and watercress. It was refreshing and reminded me of the Summer days quickly approaching.

Bill Telepan of Telepan was serving great raw oysters with a cucumber mignonette. Telepan also served a Strawberry Granita Parfait with almonds, verbena cream, and prosecco. This was a beautiful and fresh dessert. Bill is the Executive Chef of Wellness in the Schools and said that he got involved in 2008 with the idea of having volunteers improve the food in schools. The first days that he started helping schools, they set up three programs of salad bar day, vegetarian chili day, and sandwich day. They began hiring employees when there was inconsistency in volunteers skills of being able to cook and having great personalities. They brought the program from three schools to eight schools and by the end of 2011 they were working hard in twenty five schools. Now WITS has just undertaken a huge project of expanding their program to the entire state of Florida.

Guacamole and chips were being served over at AG Kitchen from chef Alex Garcia. AG Kitchen is Alex's new restaurant that will be opening soon. 

Harold Moore, the chef and owner of Commerce Restaurant, prepared a vegetable fricassée with black truffle and a poached egg. The dish was very rich and flavorful. 

A great sausage and peppers sandwich was being served from Marco Canora's Hearth. Yum!

Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern was a pleasure to meet. Gramercy Tavern served Chicken Mortadella with an asparagus salad on a Thai cracker. This was a delicious bite. 

Wellness in the Schools is an amazing organization that just continues to achieve. For more information on this charity click here.

For more pictures on this event go to the Foodie Finders NYC Facebook page. More restaurant reviews and food events in New York City are soon to come.

-Mike

Los Angeles Resraurant Review - Susan Feniger's Street

Welcome foodies! After a great food filled journey through Los Angeles, I am going to share my dining experience at Susan Feniger's Street.

Street     742 N Highland Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90038

(April 2012-Dinner)

Street is an incredibly fun and lively restaurant. The staff, a beautiful reflection of the lovely Susan Feniger, is so nice and knowledgeable. The concept at Street is about different street foods from all over the world served tapas style. In the Izakaya + Asian Pub Food section I loved the West Sumatra Beef Curry. The flavors were so elaborate and bursting with flavor. The Pea Shoots + Pork Belly with coconut rice and a soft egg was very good. The richness from the egg was a wonderful addiction to the dish. Another great dish was the Edamame Hummus. It came with papadum chips that put together was amazing. In the Meatballs + Fritters section, I enjoyed the Syrian Lamb Meatballs. They had a great subtle gamey taste that was paired amazingly with the date molasses. The Korean BBQ Meatballs were delicious too. They were very flavorful. The Chicken + Waffles Croquettes were a fun and tasty dish. It came with an amazing spicy maple syrup that sealed the deal. In the Classic Street section my mouth still waters when I think back to the Kaya Toast. It was salty and sweet, crunchy and gooey. The dish was a piece of toast with a yummy coconut jam that gets dipped into an egg and dark soy. In the Veggie Sides section I greatly enjoyed the Braised Greens + Chorizo. It was smokey and extremely flavorful. Next up, dessert! The Egyptian Basbousa Cake was scrumptious. It was a light cake with a citrus-y lime curd that was delicious. The Croatian Apple Fritters were outstanding. The fritters were perfect and complimented by the incredible apple butter and whiskey cider sauce. The Thai Tea Creme Caramel was great. The tea taste was perfect and the lime caramel on top was amazing. Street was a wonderful dining experience.

Edamame Hummus

West Sumatra Beef Curry

Kaya Toast

Chicken + Waffles Croquettes

Croatian Apple Fritters

Egyptian Basbousa Cake

I highly recommend eating at Street if you are in the Los Angeles area. If only Street was a little closer to my street! Also, back in NYC, Madison Square Eats is starting today, May 4 open through June 1. For more information check out Foodie Finders NYC Facebook page. Also for more pictures of the spectacular food at Street, go to Foodie Finders NYC Facebook page. 

-Mike

Foodie Finders NYC Calendar Update-4/26/12

Hello foodies! The Foodie Finders NYC food event calendar has been updated with upcoming book signings with Ted Allen, Chris Cosentino, Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, Tom Colicchio, Amanda Hesser, and Marcus Samuelsson. Also some exciting food tasting events are coming up such as Flavors of the City hosted by Taylor Armstrong, with food tastings by Chef Alex Garcia and Chef Joe "JJ" Johnson. It is coming up on May 1st. For more information click here.

 

-Mike

Los Angeles Restaurant Review - Border Grill

Hi foodies! I have just returned from a culinary journey in Los Angeles and am so excited to share it with all of you. First, I will tell you about Border Grill. The meal was great!

Border Grill          445 S. Figueroa St. Los Angeles, CA 90071

(April 2012-Dinner)

The fun and wacky art work throughout Border Grill transports the diner into another world of amazing Mexican cuisine. Once the food hits the table you never want to leave this paradise. The staff at Border Grill is extremely friendly and everyone is enthusiastic in what they do. The Bar Manager, Jane Park, was a pleasure to speak to and very nice. Mary Sue Milliken was at the restaurant during my visit and was very nice. She gave me some great recommendations on the menu. For the appetizers my favorite was the Plantain Empanadas in which the dough was made out of plantains. Mary Sue said that the inspiration for this was a pie with the pie dough made with plantains. The plantain empanadas were filled with black beans, poblanos, and cotija cheese. These empanadas were delicious. Another great appetizer was the Green Corn Tamale. It was so good. I also had the Quinoa Fritters. The fried up beauties were made even better with the garlic aioli. The Border Guacamole was amazing. The avocados were of perfect ripeness and it was complemented with simple ingredients and nothing over the top. The Ceviche Trio was great because it had all three amazing ceviches at Border Grill. They serve the peruvian ceviche, tiradito verde, and baja ceviche. The peruvian ceviche was very flavorful and very good. The tiradito ceviche was refreshing and light. The baja ceviche was nice and bold in flavor with a wonderful bite from the shrimp mixed in. Before I talk about entrees I must say that Border Grill makes their own tortillas, corn and flour. They were both incredible. My favorite entree was the Carnitas. This dish consisted of pork, roasted corn grits, black bean huitlacoche salsa, and chipotle glazed bacon. The corn grits were incredible with the smooth grits and the added texture of the pieces of corn inside. The chipotle glazed bacon was outrageous. Another yummy entree was the Pescado Veracruzano. This was a pan seared sustainable fish, which was Mahi Mahi that night, in a great white wine garlic broth. The Grilled Skirt Steak was delicious. I loved the charred corn that came with it. The Fava Bean Amaranth Fritters were great. The fritters came with some lovely greens including amaranth, which is like spinach, but sweeter. For dessert my favorite was the Churro Tots. The churros were delicious and it came with great chocolate and caramel dipping sauces. Another scrumptious dessert was the Banana Cream Pie. The whole dish had a wonderfully rich caramel and rum flavor to it. The Zesty Lime Tart was yummy too. The citrus and tartness was perfect. The Lemon Cheesecake was very good with a very powerful lemon taste. The Espresso Kahlua Flan had an intense coffee flavor that was great. The Coconut Tres Leches was moist and delicious. Border Grill was an amazing dining experience that is a must-try in Los Angeles.

(From Left to Right) Green Corn Tamales, Quinoa Fritters, Plantain Empanadas

Ceviche Trio

Pescado Veracruzano

Carnitas

(From Left to Right) Lemon Cheesecake, Espresso Kalua Flan, Zesty Lime Tart, Coconut Tres Leches

Border Grill was great! For more mouth-watering pictures go to the Foodie Finders NYC Facebook page. There are a lot more Los Angeles reviews to go, so be back soon. Also to jump back to what's happening in New York, Long Island Restaurant Week has begun and will be running until April 29.

-Mike

Foodie Finders NYC Calendar Update-4/7/12

Hi foodies! The Foodie Finders NYC Event Calendar has been updated with many more celebrity chef book signing and food festivals in New York City. Events include book signings Martha Stewart, Marcus Samuelsson, Ruth Reichl, Rachael Ray, Angelo Sosa, and Joe Bastianich. Check out the calendar page now for more details.

-Mike

De Gustibus Cooking Class with Tony Mantuano and Sarah Grueneberg

Welcome foodies! A few days ago I went to Tony Mantuano and Sarah Grueneberg's De Gustibus Cooking Claas. They are both from Spiaggia in Chicago.

Tony and Sarah taught a very educational and fun class. Most of their dishes were things that they made on Top Chef and Top Chef Masters. The Amuse Bouche was a piece of Parmigiano Reggianio with Spiaggia Balsamico. Tony and Sarah wanted to show what good quality balsamic vinegar was. "Real" Balsamic Vinegar should only have one ingredient, grape must. Many Balsamic Vinegars are made with ingredients like red wine vinegar, which does not have the same quality. The two places were Balsamic Vinegar can originate from is Modena and Reggio Emilia. 

The First Course was Shaved Prosciutto di Parma with Braised Artichokes with Date Puree. This dish was delicious, especially the date puree. Sarah made this dish on Top Chef: Texas during the Don't Be Tardy for the Dinner Party Episode. When preparing the artichokes it must be firm with no brown areas. There should be purple on the bottom, which shows freshness.  For a garnish, there was nepitella, which is an herb like a cross between  mint and oregano. 

The Second Course was a Roasted Sea Scalp with Abalone Mushrooms, Brown Butter Vinaigrette and Parmigiano Reggiano. The scallops were so tender and rich and had a delectable truffle essence. This is President Obama's favorite dish at Spiaggia. 

The Third Course was a Goat Cheese Ravioli with Braised Goat and Goat Horn Peppers. The home-made pasta was so good and the tangy goat cheese was scrumptious with the deep flavors of the braised goat. The goat horn peppers were not a spicy pepper, but rather more smokey. Tony made this dish on Top Chef Masters during the Scary Surf and Turf episode.

The Fourth Course was Stuffed Cabbage with Crispy Shallots and Balsamic Vinegar. This dish was incredibly rich from the smoked bacon and pork butt. The brown butter and balsamic on top made it even better. This dish was made by Sarah on Top Chef: Texas during the Tribute Dinner episode (with Patti Labelle).

The Fifth Course was Mascarpone Stuffed Dates. On top was shaved dark chocolate. It was a perfect and delicious way to end a great meal. They simply cut the date in half, filled it with mascarpone cheese, and shaved dark chocolate on top (* I tried it with some vanilla beens inside the mascarpone and it was so good and easy).

Tony Mantuano and Sarah Grueneberg ran a very fun and informational De Gustibus class. I cannot wait to go to Spiaggia when I am in the Chicago area! For more pictures of the class go to Foodie Finders NYC's Facebook page.


-Mike