The New
York City Wine & Food Festival is a four-day, gut busting foodiepalooza
featuring tastings, demos, tours, panel discussions and parties taking place
throughout the city but centered mainly in and around the Chelsea Market and
Meat Packing District.
The Food
Network is the driving force behind the festival, with a little help from Food
& Wine and Travel & Leisure magazines and the net proceeds going to the
Food Bank of New York and Share Our Strength. All of it good, all of it overwhelming! So many events, so little give in the
waistband, so many miles that will be required to walk it all off.
It was my
first time attending and the choices were mind-boggling. My pal Gastro Chic, who went last year
and had a full roster of events planned for this go-around, suggested I attend
two show stoppers - “The Grand Tasting” on Pier 54 and the sold-out “Tour de
Beef”, an inside look at the famed DeBragga and Spitler butchers.
The
Grand Tasting
The Grand
Tasting took place in Hudson River Park, which ran the length of Pier 54 and
featured approximately 25 food providers along with about 50 wine and spirits
makers. It was sponsored by
ShopRite, an area supermarket chain, a fact that gave me pause. ShopRite is
fine and all, but it isn’t known to be an especially gourmet shopping
experience. Is this going to be
all about being bombarded with corporate brands and PR blitz? I took a deep breath and dove in. Where to begin, where to begin…
The thing
with these big tasting events is that the eating begins the minute you walk in,
with little bites from here and there and eventually you hit a food wall about
half way through;
fortunately some of the standout food tables were up
front. This event is really an
opportunity for new-ish New York restaurants to get their name out to the local
eaters and the press. Here are
some of the standouts:
10 Downing presented a tasty bite of ocean trout tartar with pickled mustard
seeds, pine nuts, chorizo oil and a quail egg.
Inside Park at St.
Bart’s dished out “Kapusnica”, a stick-to-your-ribs
stew of house-smoked meat, sauerkraut and caraway dumplings. 
Latin hot spot Yerba
Buena Perry whipped up super delish
arepas with coffee glazed pork belly and picked red onions.
There was a tasty grilled New York
steak crostini with truffled spinach & fresh corn salad from North
Square, the restaurant inside the Washington Square
Hotel.
Chef Albert DiMeglio at Olana was celebrating a harvest-themed taste for the savory sweet combo with
a chocolate pumpkin & almond tortelli with mostarda butter, pumpkin seed
brittle and bites of pumpkin mousse.
Dickson’s Farmstand
Meats featured its delectable pork rillets and
trotter terrine, all sourced from New York State farms. Can’t wait to visit their new shop in
the Chelsea Market. Another
highlight was a short but informative and un-intimidating wine seminar lead by Andrea Robinson,
the people’s sommelier.
Overall,
The Grand Tasting was well produced, fun and full of delicious bites and
drinks, serving the foodie masses with a broad smile. But I also found it to be a bit too branded and
corporate. For example, there was
a ShopRite pavilion, a Delta Airlines tent and the island of Aruba had a table
(thanks for the free nail file!).
And do I want Pepperidge Farm cookies & Barilla pasta at something
like this, a “gourmet” event? Nope. Onward!
Tour
de Beef
A more
toned-down festival feature was the “Tour de Beef” over at the DeBragga and
Spitler warehouse, one of the last remaining butchers in the gentrified
Meatpacking District. This was
more like it. 
DeBragga
and Spitler are the butcher of choice for many of NYC’s top restaurants,
experts at dry aging beef – a process that brought to mind, what else, cheese.
Everyone
had to don hair nets and white coats before entering the chilly & pristine
aging rooms, giving the tour a scientific air.
Charming owner Marc Sarrazin Jr. is passionate about his company, having learned the trade from his late father, who was a mentor to many of New York’s great chefs.
We
finished up our visit to DeBragga and Spitler with a compare & contrast
tasting of wet aged and dry aged beef, paired with some Coppola wines.
The
perfect coda to a frenzied foodie experience.
