Eating thru the Food Network NYC Wine and Food Festival Part III

We are back with our guest poster, Anthony Losanno, at the 2012 Food Network NYC Wine and Food Festival. Please be sure to “Follow Anthony’s travels and dining adventures on Twitter: @losanno


Eating Through the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival, Part III

Amazingly after loading up on meatballs, burgers, and every type of imaginable dessert, I woke up hungry on Sunday morning. Luckily, I was heading to Sandwich Showdown and Spice! for the final day of the 2012 Food Network New York City Wine and Food Festival.

Sandwich Showdown

Sandwich Showdown first appeared two years ago and was hosted by Tyler Florence . Blue Ribbon took top honors for its bone-marrow and oxtail marmalade sandwich. The event didn’t run in 2011 but was back in full force this year with a new venue at the Highline Stages  and a new host – Next Food Network Star winner and Sandwich King – Jeff Mauro .

Sandwich Showdown host, Jeff Mauro, welcomes the crowd.

Sandwiches ran the gamut from lobster rolls (there were two) to brisket to pork belly to cheesesteak and even a gluten-free ice cream sandwich for dessert.

Marble Lane had the winning entry with its Kobe Patty Melt. This melt was the perfect combo of juicy Kobe beef and melted cheese. It was one of the first I tasted and it quickly had my vote.

Kobe Patty Melt from Marble Lane

Chef Manuel Trevino and the team from Marble Lane

One of my other favorites – Five Spiced Glazed Pork Belly from Num Pang

After tasting all 20 of the sandwiches at Sandwich Showdown (I shared them and only had a bite or two each), I was ready to cap off the weekend with the Spice! event at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Spice Market.

Spice! was a much more intimate setting and brought a smaller crowd than the throngs that packed some of the others at the festival. This was nice as it gave more of an opportunity to speak with the chefs and relax. There was no voting and only five dishes from NYC restaurants, plus a few passed bites from Spice Market. All of the dishes served had an Asian flair and three really wowed.

 The entrance to the lower level of Spice Market for the Spice! event.

The crowd at Spice!

“Saa” Salmon Northern Style Thai Ceviche from Ngam. I had to go back and get a 2nd plate.

Filipino Bangers & Mash from Jeepney. Just the right spice and the potatoes were a little bit sweet.

Phat Thai Thamadaa from Pok Pok Phat Thai.

After Spice!, I was once again full but I’m ready to start planning for the 2013 New York Wine and Food Festival. If anyone is looking for me, I’ll likely be spending the next week on a treadmill.


A HUGE Thank you to Anthony for these great posts of a wonderful event which supports such great charities. NYC, Style and a little Cannoli looks forward to more guest posts from Anthony and again please be sure to follow him on twitter @losanno !!

Sign Up for Daily Emails

Enter your email address: Delivered by FeedBurner

The SWEET Event at the 2012 Food Network NYC Food and Wine Festival

We are again here with a fabulous guest post by Anthony Losanno who attended the Sweet event at the 2012 Food Network NYC Food and Wine Festival. If you missed his first post, you can find it HERE.
You can also follow Anthony's culinary travels via his twitter . On we go to the Sweet event and my mouth is watering as I put this piece together.

 Godiva brought every sweet dream to life with 33 desserts from some of NYC’s leading bakeries, pastry chefs, and cupcake hot spots including all of the Godiva chocolates you can eat.

Godiva’s wall of chocolate. 

Doughnut Plant won the fan pick in 2011. This year they weren’t at Sweet! but they did have doughnuts on offer at Burger Bash.  This year, Elizabeth Karmel from Hill Country Barbecue Market took the win with a delicious PB&J cupcake. This was my pick and the peanut butter frosting was among the best I’ve ever tasted.  

Towering cake tower from Duff Goldman of Charm City Cakes  

Host Sandra Lee is on the scene. 

Apple Cider Donuts and Calvados Ice Cream Sandwiches from Colicchio & Sons .  

Parfait of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Orange Ice Cream with Cranberry Compote from Jacques Torres 

 Chocolate-Pink Peppercorn Ice Cream Sandwich from Le Bernardin 

Coffee Toffee Ice Cream Sundae from The North Fork Table & Inn  

Sticky Toffee Apple Cake from Jean Georges  

With a very full belly, I crawled home to rest and get ready for the Sandwich Showdown and Spice! on Sunday.  Overall, it was a great time and I got to meet a bunch of my favorites including Sandra Lee, Richard Blais, The Neely’s, Sunny Anderson, Richard Mauro, and several others. If you’re a Food Network fan, you’re sure to bump into some of their talent at these events. 

Stay tuned for all the tasty details.

I am full just looking at all these amazing photos Anthony has shown us here! The Food Network NYC Food and Wine Festival is a really fun event with so many varieties of programs, there is something for everyone. Thank you again to Anthony for showing us some of the many great events!

I love the fact that you are having fun and helping those in need. Here is some info from their website:

The Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival is a charity event.
100% of the net proceeds benefit the Food Bank For New York City, fighting hunger in the five boroughs; and Share Our Strength®, a national nonprofit working to end childhood hunger in America. In 2011, the Festival raised more than $1.2 million for these charities, helping them better provide for those they serve and closing the gap on hunger in our country.

Right now, nearly three million New Yorkers are having difficulty affording food. The Food Bank For New York City is there with a solution. The Food Bank is serving our most vulnerable neighbors by providing a meal today, resources for a more secure tomorrow and nutrition education to help them lead and sustain healthy lifestyles. The Food Bank is the only hunger-relief organization that takes this integrated approach to ending food poverty, working through a citywide network of soup kitchens, food pantries, senior centers, classrooms, after-school programs and more.

Learn how you can help at foodbanknyc.org

Share Our Strength®, a national nonprofit, is ending childhood hunger in America by connecting children with the nutritious food they need to lead healthy, active lives. Through its No Kid Hungry® Campaign- a national effort to end childhood hunger in America by 2015- Share Our Strength ensures children in need are enrolled in effective federal nutrition programs; invests in community organizations fighting hunger; teaches families how to cook healthy, affordable meals; and builds public-private partnerships to end childhood hunger, at the state and city level. Working closely with the culinary industry and relying on the strength of its volunteers, Share Our Strength hosts innovative culinary fundraising events and develops pioneering cause marketing campaigns that support No Kid Hungry. Visit Strength.org to get involved.

Visit Strength.org to get involved in the No Kid Hungry campaign.

Sign Up for Daily Emails

Enter your email address: Delivered by FeedBurner

2012 Food Network New York CIty Wine and Food Festival

I am thrilled to have Anthony Losanno guest post for me about the NYC Wine and Food Festival this past weekend. I was unable to attend, and Anthony is a true foodie, so I asked if he would like to show you some of the events he attended. Please be sure to follow Anthony’s travels and dining adventures on twitter @losanno.

Eating Through the New York City Wine & Food Festival, Part I

Now in its fifth year, the New York City Wine & Food Festival brings together the personalities of Food Network with some of the best chefs in NYC for four days of gluttonous binging on everything from meatballs to burgers to chocolate and more. Think Paula Deen, Sandra Lee, and Bobby Flay mixed with some of NYC’s hottest chefs like Marcus Samuelsson and Jacques Torres, all putting out delicious dishes for the throngs of fans and foodies. The best part: 100% of the net proceeds benefit the Food Bank For New York City and Share Our Strength (a charity that is on a mission to wipe out childhood hunger).

I’ve wanted to go for the past four years but never made it. This year, I had the opportunity to attend five events and will be bringing you my take right here. Keep reading for Meatball Madness, Burger Bash, Sweet!, Sandwich Showdown, and Spice! (details on the last three events coming on future posts). I think I’ve gained five pounds along the way but the chance to see some of my culinary favorites while gorging on the best food and having the money go to charity makes it all worthwhile.

Meatball Madness

San Pellegrino sponsored the second annual Meatball Madness at the massive 82 Mercer on Thursday night. Hosted by the ever-smiling Giada De Laurentiis, this event brings together 35 NYC chefs to present their take on the classic dish of Italian grandmas everywhere. I made my way through 19 of the balls before going into meat sweats.

The 2011 winner Meatball Shop tried to defend its title, but they fell to the-soon-to-open L’Apicio and the crowd chose Donatella as its favorite. I agreed with the crowd and Donatella got my vote. 

        Judges Anne Burrell, Geoffrey Zakarian, and Alex Guarnaschelli hard at work to pick a winner.

Meatballs with Amatriciana from L’Apicio were just the right size and balance of flavors.

Donatella’s Tomato Braised Veal Meatball was velvety soft and had me looking for some bread to finish the sauce.

Casa Pomona almost got my vote for the Oxtail Stuffed Albondigas. Can’t wait to try the restaurant when it opens.

A delicious entry of Alison Eighteen Home-Style Meatballs from the namesake restaurant.   

A Southern twist on an Italian classic – Southern Sliders from City Grit  

Pork Belly and Pesto Modenese from Corsino Cantina. These little potatoes were amazing. 

Burger Bash

Blue Moon sponsored Burger Bash, which attracted over 2,500 people for one of the largest outdoor cookouts at Pier 36.  

With 28 chefs firing up their grills and desserts from Jacques Torres and Doughnut Plant , no one walked or waddled away with an empty stomach. 

Doughnuts from the Doughnut Plant  

Jacques Torres Sweet Burgers and awesome chocolate chunk cookies

The 2011 judge’s pick: Abe & Arthur’s weren’t here but the people’s choice Burger & Barrel  also won for 2012 (their third straight win). Unfortunately, I didn’t get to taste this one.  I did put away 14 burgers including the judge’s pick from Ai Fiori but I didn’t get a picture.

 The Gotham Burger from Gotham Bar and Grill.

The lines at the Shack Shack booth were almost as long as the Madison Square Park location for the Smoke Shack.

Kathy Griffin, Rachael Ray, and Bobby Flay tasting some burgers.

Kathy Griffin, Rachael Ray, and Pat and Gina Neely.

Stay tuned for the next post covering the event Sweet at the 2012 New York City Wine and Food Festival. A BIG thank you to Anthony for these great photos of all the wonderful food he was able to sample. Be sure to follow Anthony on his twitter @losanno .

Sign Up for Daily Emails

Enter your email address: Delivered by FeedBurner