Showing posts with label food festivals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food festivals. Show all posts

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Hurry and Book Now!

It is that time again! The Sf Chefs 2010 celebration of the finest cuisines that San Francisco has to offer. There will be events through out the week of August 9th - 15th. For a recap of my wonderful experience last year, click here. I was able to meet Chef Thomas Keller and attend the View From The Top seminar, which will be held again this year. There are many free demonstrations at various locations. Mark your calendars and make plans to attend all the spectacular events that the Golden Gate Restaurant Association and Visa Signature has to offer. Hope to see you there!

Below is the Schedule Overview:
2010 Schedule Overview

Monday, August 9, 2010

Tuesday, August 10, 2010Wednesday, August 11, 2010Thursday, August 12, 2010Friday, August 13, 2010Saturday, August 14, 2010Sunday, August 15, 2010

Saturday, April 10, 2010

San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival

This will be one of many adventures we had on Sunday at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japan Town, SF. I guess you can say that I am a huge fan of Japanese culture, so I dragged Ms. Lin to the festival with me. A few years ago I went to the Pasadena Cherry Blossom Festival and that was a HUGE disappointment. The only thing they had that was a cherry blossom was a puny cherry tree stick. It definitely wasn't worth the hour and a half trip! Luckily this festival was just 10mins away in Japan town and free, so why not! Sounds like a lot of fun. Ms. Lin and I definitely did not enjoy getting up early to go to the festival. Parking was murder too, but that's just a price you must pay. ^_^To start off the festival posts. I am going to talk about the yummy foods we tried. The first thing I got was Imagawa Yaki, like a pancake with sweet red bean filling. Typically I despise anything with beans in it, but I thought that I should be open minded and try some fresh pastries. At first we thought the line we were standing in was the Takoyaki line, but we made a mistake. So I took it as a sign that I should just wait it out and give this a try! The people there were super friendly and funny. I talked to some of the guys and told them that I came from the OC. They joked around that I came especially to see the two guys making the Imagawa Yaki. So they struck a pose! ^_- Of course I had to pay tribute to them on my site!All in all the snacks were hot and fresh. Ms. Lin commented that the dough had a salty tastes. I think that's done on purpose to bring out the sweetness of the red bean paste and to add flavor. They were a nice little snack. I still don't really like red beans but the atmosphere of the fair and the people there just made everything enjoyable!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Epicurious Entertains NYC


Epicurious Entertains NYC is "a one-of-a-kind event with daytime demonstrations and celebrity chef dinners in a homey pop-up space" that took place from Sep 30-Oct 4, 2009 in a cute loft near Union Square in NYC. I was fortunate enough to be invited to a couple of the events, including the Opening Day "Ultimate NYC Lunch Break" on 9/30 and "Cutting-Edge Cuisine: A Paul Liebrandt Dinner" event on 10/1.


For the "Ultimate NYC Lunch Break," Epicurious assembled some of New York's best lunch spots and food vendors to come together under one roof. I sampled everything from lobster rolls from The Mermaid Inn to chicken wraps from Tabla to brownies and other desserts from The Treats Truck, all well-known local favorites. I was impressed that many of the chefs were cooking and manning their own stations, including Seamus Mullen from Boqueria, who is currently competing on Food Network's Next Iron Chef. The highlight for me was meeting Anita Lo, who became quite popular after her appearances on Top Chef Masters, who was making chicken dumplings for her Rickshaw Dumpling outlet (she also owns Annisa, which is a great restaurant). Being the chef groupie that I am, I promptly introduced myself to her and got my picture taken with her. She was very nice and gracious about it.


At the dinner event with Chef Paul Liebrandt the next night, we started off with a cocktail hour with tasty canapes including "Egg Yolk Creme Bagel" (mini, and I mean mini, bagels with a tiny egg yolk) and "Gougère Spiced with Harissa" (a small pastry with cheese and harissa, which is a North African hot sauce). While we were munching and drinking away, they showcased a very cool demo video conferencing Paul directly into his kitchen at his restaurant Corton to talk with his staff and pastry chef. All of this was made possible by Intel technologies of course (who was the sponsor of the dinner). His pastry chef then showed us how he makes a really nifty dessert with alcohol in liquid nitrogen. (As he explained it, alcohol doesn't normally freeze so you can only do it with liquid nitrogen.) The demo made us all very hungry and we were really looking forward to dinner.


Paul certainly did not disappoint. We started off with an amuse bouche of "Pumpkin Velouté, Pecorino, Shiso." We were told by the serving staff that this was pumpkin soup, but that did not do it justice at all. It was creamy with complex layers of flavors, and you can clearly taste the pumpkin, the pecorino cheese, and many more herbs and spices. They only brought out a small cup (since it was an amuse) but I would drink the whole pot! The first course was a "Pressé of Duck Leg and Foie Gras Sphere," which was basically a pate made with duck leg meat but the star is really the foie gras sphere. Anybody who knows me knows that I'm a huge fan of foie gras, but typically I like seared whole foie gras versus foie gras mousse or terrine. The foie gras sphere (sometimes called foie gras "cherries" at Paul's restaurant Corton) was basically foie gras mousse covered in a thin layer of cherry-flavored coating, where the sweetness offsets the fattiness of the foie gras. There is actually a video on Food Network that shows how Paul makes this and it's pretty cool (select Paul Liebrandt when the video player comes up).


So far everything was really good and I was impressed, since I've often experienced that for large events such as this, the food usually would not be as good since they were made in large quantities. But Paul obviously knows how to manage all of that and still deliver flawlessly - a true sign of a top chef. Our main course was Braised Veal Cheeks and it was so tender that I liked it more than any of the Kobe beef, Wagu beef, etc. that I've had. The veal cheek was very well-seasoned, and a harmony of different flavors danced in my mouth. Again, I would have licked the plate and eaten every veal cheek in Paul's kitchen if I could! I will have to go to Corton the next time I'm back in NYC.


Epicurious did an amazing job putting together the events and getting some of the best chefs from NYC. I really hope that they'll bring this to SF next year!

Sunday, August 9, 2009

SF Chefs. Food. Wine.


The SF Chefs. Food. Wine. event brings together some of the best restaurants and wineries that the Bay Area has to offer. What better way to enjoy all the delicious dishes and tasty wines from the area than attending this event? With everything under one tent, it is truly a foodie's paradise. In addition to food and wine sampling, there were also cooking demonstrations, chef book signings, and educational seminars.


I went on both Saturday and Sunday, and since different restaurants/chefs were featured on each day, I got to try many dishes. It's wonderful that everyday I got to enjoy something different. I also learned by the second day to pace myself and not to get any drinks until I consumed some food (because I still have not mastered the challenge of holding a drink and eating off a plate at the same time). The strategy worked out brilliantly and I got to sample pretty much every restaurant showcased.


The cool factor about the event is that many of the executive chefs and/or sous chefs were actually at their own station preparing the food so one could actually meet and chat with them. Many of the table displays were also gorgeous, such as the one from Luce featuring heirloom tomatoes. Even though I've been to many of the restaurants showcased at the event, I also discovered a number of new ones that I can't wait to try.


After we filled ourselves with plenty of food and wine, we waited in line to get our French Laundry cookbook signed by Thomas Keller. He was extremely nice and gracious. I had remembered to bring my menu from when I dined at French Laundry for him to sign, but my sister forgot hers. He told her simply to mail it in and he would be happy to sign and send back. We also went to his seminar in the afternoon, where he, Charles Phan from Slanted Door, and Douglas Keane from Cyrus discussed what it takes to create a successful restaurant. It was a splendid event filled with wonderful food and wine and unique opportunities to meet some of the top chefs in the country.

San Francisco Filipino American Jazz Festival

One of the reasons I love living in SF is there are always plenty of events on any given weekend. Another reason is the rich diversity of cultures in the city. This weekend was a great example. I had already made plans to attend the SF Chefs. Food. Wine. event in Union Square (see post), but I also saw signs all over the city advertising the Filipino American Jazz Festival taking place at the Yerba Buena Gardens. A smile came across my face when I saw that they were heavily promoting the fact that the festival had no entrance fee (as compared to the SF Chefs. Food. Wine. event, where the passes cost $150 per day). Given the economy, this was a great way to attract people who don't want to spend a small fortune. Of course the food and shopping was not free, but the prices were reasonable.

When I had passed the Yerba Buena Gardens earlier in the day, delicious smells of food from various booths tempted my nose so I really wanted to come back to check out the festival. While I had a break from the main events at Chefs. Food. Wine., I made my way down to the Filipino Festival. Even though there were many things that I would have loved to try, such as lumpia (Filipine egg rolls), BBQ skewers etc., I was quite stuffed from Chefs. Food. Wine. Instead, I settled on a nice cool drink/dessert since it was such a hot day. The Halo Halo, which is a mixture of crushed ice, coconut milk, and red beans among other items, was calling out to me from the stands. Most stands were very crowded but I was able to get it without any problems. The Halo Halo wasn't very sweet and was a bit watered down, but it served its purpose of cooling me down from the sun. We couldn't stay too long because we had to go back to Chefs. Food. Wine. for our afternoon seminar, but at least I got to check out the Filipino Festival for a bit. I'll definitely come back next year on an empty stomach!