Beware the Foodie Boondoggle

Here’s where Marie Fromage gets cranky…

Le Fooding d’Amour

I like to think I have an open mind.  I’m patient and willing to try new things.  So when I heard about Le Fooding coming to New York, I jumped at the change to go. Jumped I tell you!

Le Fooding was started in Paris in 2000 as a way for young chefs to challenge the old guard and breathe new life into the staid Parisian dining scene. It’s an urban picnic that mixes casual cuisine with edgy DJs in a cool setting. 

Sounds like something that New Yorkers would absolutely gobble up. 

So Le Fooding plans to come to New York as a charity benefit for Action Against Hunger that will take place at P.S. 1 in Queens. Tickets sell out quickly.  The buzz is major.  I can’t wait.  I enlist Gastro Chic, my usual partner-in-dine to come along because this seems like it will be GREAT!

 Well, not so fast.  Trouble started brewing before we even got in the door.  Turns out, Le Fooding was all about les lines – lines to get in, lines for the drink tickets, lines for the food stations.  

There were hundreds of people there, and the chefs didn’t pre-plate anything, dishing the food out as they went along and at some stations just plain old running out of food. What?!?! The lines for some stations were so long we didn’t even try.  For example – they were scooping out ice cream from a tiny cart by hand, while about 75 people waited. And don’t get me started on the wine - $12 a glass and all you got was a 3 ounce pour.  Clearly the organizers of this event have no experience in pulling these things off.  And Veuve Clicquot was one of the sponsors – couldn’t they afford to hire event planners?  Do they even use event planners in France? While I believe the organizers had the best of intentions, Le Fooding is a good idea gone bad, at least with the New York edition.  

The Il Buco Pig Roast

Early Fall is that fantastic time of year when the weather sparkles and outdoor events are in abundance.  Il Buco, a trendy Italian restaurant in NoHo, was hosting its sixth annual pig festival.  The weather for the day was going to be gorgeous, so going to this event sounded like the perfect thing to do on a Sunday afternoon.  $20, solid food, sun on the face - yes, a good idea.

And it all looked lovely, the stage set for a laid-back yet festive autumn feast.  It all looked lovely…until it was your turn to eat.  

Way too much salad which made me suspicious, one sausage link, a mostly bread sandwich with a few slivers of roast pork, one ricotta fritter and, last but not least, actual slices of pork FAT. No meat.  Did they think we wouldn’t notice?

“Why are you serving slices of pork fat and no meat?” people were asking.  “This is a very fatty pig,” the lady behind the counter told us with a straight face.  Right.  The sausages were raw too.  

I brought mine back to get a cooked one and was given another raw one.  The ricotta fritter was the size of my thumb, and I have tiny hands.  Totally and completely unsatisfying and we felt as if we’d been had. 

What to do?  Vow never to return to Il Buco and head straight to the Great Jones Café for an amazing Bloody Mary served with a side of gritty soul music from the jukebox and service with a smile. An even better way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Great Jones Café (NoHo): 54 Great Jones St. bet. Bowery & Lafayette; (212) 674-9304; www.greatjones.com