The Bloggery

Share With Discerning Friends

People were ready to dig into some seriously-spiced crawfish at the Sichuan Seafood Boil hosted by Studiofeast last Saturday.
Appropriate place setting for a crawfish boil
Hello there little critters!
Sichuan-spiced crawfish and boiled taters
Studiofeast's Mike Lee making faces behind Derrick Yuen (also a chef with Studiofeast) as he dumps the goods onto the table. Time to dig in!
Former Barenaked Ladies singer Steven Page made it out to Crown Heights for the seafood boil. He is the current host of The Illegal Eater, a new TV show that will air on Travel + Escape in Canada.
That is a mighty good-lookin' plate of food.
Studiofeast chefs (from left to right) Mike Lee, Soomin Baik, and Derrick Yuen
For dessert, some pecan-peppercorn pie

Studiofeast Cranks Up the Heat at the Sichuan Seafood Boil

By Christophe Jammet on June 14, 2013 / No Comments / Categorized Featured, Supper Clubs, Unique Dinners, Unique Events

Christophe Jammet is a photographer (above photos are by him) and food blogger based in New York. Studiofeast is a NYC-based culinary group whose goal is to create new and unique dining experiences.

So this is what happens when disparate, but equally awesome, food cultures come together. The social, bon-temps-rouler crawfish boil meets the bombastic, spicy flavors of Sichuan cooking. The outcome is an amazing, unique experience that Mike Lee and the Studiofeast crew captured perfectly last weekend on a fittingly humid summer day in Crown Heights.

The crawfish meet their demise to a Sichuan-pepper-infested boil. Andouille is replaced with Lap Cheung and fish balls. Miso butter is draped onto boiled corn. Deep fried crabs are engulfed in an umami-defying duck egg sauce. For dessert, seemingly traditional pecan pies are laced with Sichuan peppercorns that roofie your mouth and electrocute your tastebuds for ten minutes.

The crowd that’s participating in this food adventure is cool-as-hell, brought together by their love of adventurous eating and good times. The messy, hands-on nature of eating crawfish ensures that this dining experience is devoid of people shoving their cameras all up in the food’s grill for the whole night.

More than anything, Studiofeast accentuates the experience of eating. The excitement of new flavors, textures, and people co-mingles into a perfect summertime memory of full bellies and hearty laughs. This may be my first Studiofeast experience, but I can guarantee you it won’t be my last.

Chef Craig Thornton of L.A. is bringing his Wolvesmouth supper club to NYC on June 14th

Quick Bites

By Mikaela Flynn on May 22, 2013 / No Comments / Categorized Featured, Fundraisers, Pop-Ups, Quick Bites, Supper Clubs

Popular L.A.-based supper club, Wolvesmouth is heading eastbound to NYC for one night only on June 14th to host two dinners at a Manhattan loft. Chef Craig Thornton’s Wolvesmouth has generated a cult following over the years and has recently been featured in an extensive article in The New Yorker about the “rise of the secret supper club.” No longer a “secret,” Wolvesmouth has gained continued attention from press, food blogs, celebrities, and “foodies.” Stay tuned for more details about his trip to NYC.

While one chef heads east, another heads west. Chef Danny Bowien of Mission Chinese Food announced he will be traveling to his native Oklahoma to do a pop-up dinner with a number of local chefs to help raise money for victims of the recent tornado destruction. The pop-up is entitled OK Chefs and 100% of proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross. The pop-up will take place this coming Sunday and will offer a three-course meal for a minimum donation of $35. Follow hashtag #OKChefsRelief for more info.

Peruvian supper club de Porres has kicked off the summer season and will be offering its next dinner on May 27th. The brooklyn-based supper club is headed up by Danielle Bell and Pablo Osorio. Pablo, who hails from Peru, is the “executive chef” in the kitchen and creates unique tasting menus inspired by food from his native country. Meanwhile Danielle, an American Southerner does her part by curating special beverage pairings for each dinner and cooking up delicious desserts typical of the Deep South. For the dinner on the 27th, they will be celebrating “Meatless Monday” with an all-vegetaian tasting menu of dishes like asparagus gribiche, artichoke a la barigoule, and nettle ravioli.

More than a year after the epic fried chicken twitter battle between The Roots’ Questlove and Momofuku’s David Chang that culminated on Jimmy Fallon with cook-off (David Chang unsurprisingly took the win), Questlove is back in the food game with the May 18th opening of his new food stand in Chelsea Market called Hybird. Hybird will not only offer Questlove’s famous drumsticks, but will also have menu items like “Questfucious Cupcakes” and dumplings.

New Underground Supper Club Arrives in TriBeCa

By Mikaela Flynn on May 19, 2013 / No Comments / Categorized Featured, Supper Clubs, Unique Dinners

Watch out, there’s a new member to the world of underground dining here in NYC. Welcome to the scene, Suite ThreeOhSix!

The new venue and supper club Suite ThreeOhSix has officially arrived in TriBeCa and kicked things off this past Saturday night with a grand opening reception. The supper club and culinary academy is the brainchild of young Daphne Cheng, who dropped out of UC Berkley to pursue culinary school in NYC. During her (only) two and a half years of professional cooking, she has had the opportunity to cook for celebrities, various non-profits, individuals, and businesses. With her new venture Suite ThreeOhSix, Daphne hopes to share her love of food with culinary professionals, beginner chefs, and food enthusiasts alike by hosting Saturday night dinners with secret menus and a wide selection of cooking classes from knife skills to molecular gastronomy.

What makes Suite ThreeOhSix even more unique is that her supper club menus are typically vegan. However, Daphne is not advertising her supper club as an official vegan supper club, mostly because she feels a lot of people who are really into food are scared or turned off by the term. She wants to be known for her innovative “ethnically ambiguous” cuisine, not because it is entirely vegan, but because it simply tastes so damn delicious.

Her first supper club will take place this coming Saturday, May 25th. It will feature a six-course menu for $69. Her website distinctly states: “No picky eaters allowed” offering fair warning since you won’t know what will be served until the menu is placed in front of you at the table. At that point, it will be too late to say, “Oh but I don’t like mushrooms!” Supper club dinners will continue on June 8th (which is already sold out) and June 15th.

If the small bites she served at her grand opening are of any indication, this girl definitely knows how to cook up some delicious and unique veggie-centric food. See a sample menu below:

Nantucket Bay scallop crudo, sunchoke, grapefruit, baby greens
Sake damage... and it wasn't even over yet
Chicken liver and foie gras mousse, kumquat, pistachio
Chef Maria from Puerto Rico's Underground Dining Club seasoning chicken for the third course
Cornish game hen black garlic, persimmon, Brussels sprouts
Michael offers guests an explanation for why he chose to pair Ichishima Ginjo Koshu, a sake that has been aged for five years, with the leg of lamb
The evening started with small bites of wild mushrooms
The ladies of The Brooklyn Belly and the Underground Dining Club, Chef Sung Kim and Chef Maria Mercedes Grubb plating the second course
Leg of lamb with flageolet beans, yogurt, sumac
Chef Maria Mercedes Grubb, Chef Sung Kim, and sake guru Michael J. Simkin
Seafood Pho with kelp noodle, Vietnamese spices, cilantro, mung bean sprouts, lime and pour-over seafood broth
The only non-sake beverage offered was a sugar-rimmed rum punch cocktail, adding a little tropical flavor to the night
Chocolate bread pudding, vanilla ice cream, blood orange

The Brooklyn Belly and the Underground Dining Club Shine Spotlight on Sake

By Mikaela Flynn on February 25, 2013 / No Comments / Categorized Featured, Pop-Up Dinners, Supper Clubs, Unique Dinners

This past Saturday night in a Brooklyn basement apartment, 12 strangers came together for an intimate six-course dinner. For some who were in attendance, the trend of supper club-style dinners is no longer a new concept as more and more New York food-lovers take part in these alternative dining experiences throughout the city. For others, the experience was a first and a surprise treat (especially for the girl who had literally been whisked away by her date without any warning of where she was going or what they were doing). But whether you had gone to these types of dinners before or if it was a new experience, it was most likely the first time for everyone where a six-course menu of classic dishes was entirely paired with sake. What? No wine? Foie gras with sake? Leg of lamb with sake? Yup. And it all worked.

Chefs Sung Kim and Maria Mercedes Grubb, a friend who happened to be visiting from Puerto Rico where she has her own dinner series called The Underground Dining Club, teamed up to prepare a special six-course menu along with sake expert, and Chef Sung’s friend, Michael J. Simkin. Michael spent many years in the city as a talented sommelier until he switched gears to become one of the top sake experts in New York. He is now Principal at MJS Sake Selections, and has been a representative for Ichishima Sake. For Saturday’s event he worked with both chefs to develop a menu and sake pairing that would showcase the versatility of sake and allow for guests to try a wide selection of the various kinds of available.

This special collaboration was in part of Chef Sung’s supper series called The Brooklyn Belly. Hosted in Sung’s own apartment, The Brooklyn Belly is a dining experience open to anyone looking for something out of the ordinary. Her living room table fits an intimate group of 12-14 perfectly and allows for guests to peek into the kitchen to see all the action. On Saturday, as Michael entertained diners with his endless sake knowledge and witty commentary, guests could watch chefs work tirelessly in the kitchen, ensuring there were no long waits in between any of the six courses.

Brisket King of New York Returns; Beer, Bison, & Beats with Heritage Radio; Spotlight on Sake; and More Culinary Adventures This Week

By Mikaela Flynn on February 19, 2013 / No Comments / Categorized Featured, Fundraisers, Quick Bites, Supper Clubs, Underground Eats, Unique Dinners, Unique Events

There’s is a lot to celebrate this week. Not only is it a short week for many workers, but it also happens to be a big week in the world of alternative dining and drinking. Many options to choose from so depending on your schedule and taste, you are bound find something worth marking on your calendar.

Mmmm brisket.

Tomorrow night all the best pit masters of NYC will be showing off their prized smoked goods at the annual Brisket King of New York tasting event at Santos Party House. Last year’s crowned Brisket King, John Brown of John Brown Smokehouse, will be back to defend his title, along with talented newcomers including Delaney Barbecue and Mighty Quinn and old fan favorites like Dinosaur BBQ. The night of gluttonous brisket feasting will also include plenty of artisan beers, wine, and indie spirits. Last VIP tickets can be found here.

If you are one you prefers a more refined evening of dining, then perhaps the private dinner at SD26 is for you. Tomorrow night, culinary insiders, tasters, and tastemakers will be joining Chefs to Dine For in SD26′s private dining room for a five-course Italian dinner with wine pairings. The evening is hosted by Chefs to Dine For’s Lynne Ryan along with SD26 owners, Tony and Marisa May. Guests will have a chance to chat with the restaurateurs and Executive Chef Matteo Bergamini. Learn more here.

Also tomorrow, Heritage Radio Network (home of many food-centric radio programs) is throwing their first ever HRN Salon Series event. Series #1 will include beer from Blue Point Brewery, bison jerky from Heritage Foods USA, beats by Jerry Jones and Black Lauren, and chips and salsa by Brookyln Salsa Company. The party will be attended by the usual suspects in the local culinary scene including chefs, designers, bloggers, artists, musicians, and gourmands that are shaping the future of food and drink. The Salon Series is part of a fundraising effort for the Heritage Radio Network. Tickets are only $20. Find more information here.

Edible Manhattan will be hosting its annual Good Spirits event on Thursday in celebration of delicious and unique spirits form far and wide. For Thursday’s cocktail party and tasting, Edible has conjured up the best of the best distilleries, mixologists and chefs to put on a spectacular food and drink-centric event.

The Bloggery by Underground Eats