Showing posts with label top chef. Show all posts
Showing posts with label top chef. Show all posts

Monday, November 24, 2014

Brisket, Biscuits, and Honey Butter at Sweet Cheeks Q (Boston, MA)

In the Fenway/Kenmore neighborhood of Boston is Sweet Cheeks Q, a barbecue joint from Top Chef finalist, Tiffani Faison. It's noted to be the most expensive bbq place in Boston, but possibly also the best.

You can order meats by the pound or get a tray with 1, 2, or 3 meats (the last one is called the Fat Cheeks Tray) that comes with two sides.

IMG_9454

Above anything else, though, you have to - absolutely must - get the biscuits with honey butter.
Biscuit
If you eat nothing else at this place, the biscuits need to be the one thing you do try. They are warm, buttery, flaky biscuits that are heavenly with that honey butter. Oh, that honey butter ... No one will blame you if you just come here and eat a bucket of biscuits.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Qui (Austin)

For my first trip to Austin, I had two must-visits on my list: Franklin BBQ and Qui. Qui is the upscale dining concept from Top Chef champion Paul Qui. Austin is pretty big on having outdoor dining areas, so at Qui you can choose between the warm, dim dining room or the bright patio.

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There was an amuse bouche of a nori (seaweed) chip with Vermont cheddar foam
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The cocktails here are worth ordering. I tried the Manila Envelope made with Batavia arrack, benedictine, lime, coconut, orange, and hops ($10)
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I veered towards ordering his interpretation of Filipino dishes, since those would be the ones I can't find anywhere else.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Michael Voltaggio's ink.

Top Chef Michael Voltaggio's ink: perhaps the most anticipated restaurant opening of the year, stalled a bit by the surprise opening of ink.sack, its sandwich shop counterpart. Reservations are taken online and have typically been immediately snatched up as soon as they become available, but we checked on random occasions and there are often cancellations.

We had a reservation but they were running a bit behind and we were told to wait at the bar. The bar was equally packed and there was initially no seat available, but a bar manned by Devon Espinosa definitely calls for some cocktail orders. This bar seems like the bar to be, as we ran into quite a few people we knew here. The cocktail list, as well as the food menu, are listed as a list of ingredients, with the main one in bold. Mezcal, scotch, rum, and so on.

We started with some drinks at the bar while waiting. Our two drinks were well balanced, with the mezcal being the more interesting:
mezcal, lemon, apple cider, cinnamon ($13)
scotch, lemon, ginger, clover honey, angostura bitters ($13)
MezcalIMG_5102

The server suggested ordering 3-4 dishes per person. We ended up with ten total including dessert for three people. The dishes never failed to be interesting and different, and all in all they were done well.

charred avocado, hen of the woods, whipped fish sauce, mushroom chicharron ($11)

Avocado
A new combination of familiar ingredients - a crowd pleaser.

brussels sprouts, pig ears, house-cured lardo, apple ($10)
Brussel Sprout
Photo by The Kick It Spot
I believe brussels sprout no longer qualify as a healthy vegetable dish in most restaurants. Certainly not here, covered in a sheet of lardo. The star of the show, though, was really the crispy pig ears.

spaghetti, giant squid, hazelnut-ink pesto, piment d'espelette ($14)
Squid Spaghetti
The hazelnut ink pesto sits below the chewy "spaghetti" made from squid, waiting for you to mix it and cover the spaghetti with the black ink.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Giveaway: VIP Tickets to GLAAD Hancock Park: Top Chef Invasion

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is celebrating their 14th year with a Top Chef extravaganza this Sunday, July 24.

The event, GLAAD Hancock Park, is sponsored by Bravo and ROKK and features a Bravo Top Chef Challenge with Top Chef stars Fabio Viviani and Antonia Lofaso, hosted by Top Chef: Masters alum Susan Feniger with celebrity judges and special guests including: Dustin Lance Black (Milk, 8: The Mormon Proposition), Jamie Lauren (Top Chef), Shonda Rimes (Grey's Anatomy) and Jessica Collins.

There will be tasting stations from LA restaurants including Border Grill, Comme Ca, Dominick's, Firenze Osteria, Little Next Door, Michael's Restaurant/Calivirgin, Paul's Kitchen, Ray's and Stark Bar, and Simon L.A., and a food and wine-themed auction.

Tickets to this event are $100 for general admission and $150 for VIP, but YOU and a guest can go for free!

GLAAD is giving away 2 VIP tickets for one lucky reader. Here's how you can enter:
1. Leave a comment with your name and email address below
2. To gain extra entry, tweet the following: "I want to win VIP tickets to #glaadtopchef! Pick me, @gourmetpigs and @glaad! http://bit.ly/pUMwJG"
3. Get another extra entry by posting a link to this giveaway on Facebook. Make sure you tag my Facebook page, Gourmet Pigs so I will know you posted it!

You have until midnight this Thursday, July 21 (end of the night). I will then draw a random winner. If you don't respond to the email by Friday morning, I will draw another winner. I will need to give GLAAD the name of the winner Friday morning, so do check your email!

Event Details:
Sunday, July 24, 2011. 4:00pm to 7:00pm
Home of Dean Hansell, 667 S. June, Los Angeles, CA 90005
Attire: Summer Chic

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Celebrity Chef-Studded Dinner at Sashi!

Chef Makoto Okuwa at Sashi is no stranger to the ever popular Iron Chef show, but although he's had years in the show under Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, Thursday July 8 marks his first appearance as the lead chef and challenger.

He's pulling all the stops to celebrate, too, and that's where you can come in.
That night, he will bring in Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto and Top Chef champion Michael Voltaggio, plus chef Noriyuki Sugie (Ironnori/Breadbar), chef Sonny Sweetman (Exec chef of Wolfgang Puck), and chef Waylynn Lucas (Exec pastry chef of Patina). The six of them will prepare 1 hors d'oeuvres and 1 dish each.
Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres will be served at 5 pm, and the six course dinner + Iron Chef America viewing will start at 7 pm. Of course, all the rockstar chefs will be mingling with guests in the dining room.
And that's why you'll pay the $120 price tag.

Call (310) 545-0400 to RSVP.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Grub: Top Chef Betty Fraser's Cozy Home

Top chef contestant Betty Fraser and grub gal pal Denise deCarlo outfitted a 1920's duplex in Hollywood into the home of their cozy restaurant, Grub. Their brunch service has gotten plenty of positive feedback and even won Citysearch's Best Brunch award.

They recently started their dinner service and wanted to get more word out, and since we met during The Food Event, Chef Betty invited me and a friend over to try out their dinner on the house.

Going to Grub felt like going to a friend's house during the holidays. From the patio seating to the warm interior decorated with christmas lights and a motley selection of artwork, Grub's feel is casual at its best.
Even though it was pouring outside, Grub had a steady trickle of customers who are obviously neighborhood locals. Not surprised, a charming place like this would be a neighborhood destination for sure.

Instead of bread, Grub serves a basket of vegetable sticks and pretzels with dip - a fun change.
Grub has a pretty cheap drink menu with $4.25 sangrias and lemon basil champagne cocktail that sounds absolutely delicious, but I decided not to indulge that night and went with a blueberry lemonade instead. They give you a big glass of this really refreshing drink for $2.50.

Per our waiter's recommendation, for appetizer we got "Our Famous Spicy Lemon Hummus" ($6.25)
I wasn't expecting to get hummus here, but this really was quite good. The hummus was full of flavor it was hard for me to stop eating it.

Grub has a pretty big dinner menu with a lot of 'green' and salad choices and sandwiches, but this night I went with their California Crab Cake ($16.95)
The crabcake was unexpectedly spicy! I ended up not eating most of it since I couldn't really handle the spice (me=weaksauce), luckily the greens helped keep the spiciness at bay. The highlight of this dish for me was actually the creamed corn - also spiced up. A bit of spice, plus the sweetness of the corn all molded together in cream was so good. (Disclaimer: I'm a total corn lover)

I did think the crabcake's portion was small especially compared to the steak. My friend ordered the Drunken Steak ($21.95)
Marinated in Stone Pale Ale and cooked to medium rare, this steak was super tender. It was a little bland for me to just eat the meat though, but the mushroom onion pan sauce took care of that.

We were stuffed but I've been eyeing their dessert menu. Their smallest item thought 1/4 of their Big-Ass ice cream cookie sandwich, so they split that for us.
Here's 1/8 of a Big-Ass Ice Cream Cookie sandwich:
Still pretty big and definitely pushed me over the edge! But talk about indulging, there's nothing better than chewy chocolate cookies and ice cream.

Grub also offers a big selection of sandwiches and burgers and a variety of their famous mac-n-cheese which I want to try next time.
And I definitely can't wait to try their award winning brunch.

Grub
911 Seward St
Los Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 461-3663
www.grub-la.com
Grub on Urbanspoon
Grub in Los Angeles

Friday, May 1, 2009

May Events!

Sunday, May 3. AMMO kicks off their Farm-to-Table series with a four-course dinner featuring Jerry Rutiz of the Rutiz Family Farms, famous for their Frais du Bois strawberries. $55 per person. 1155 N. Highland Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90038
www.ammocafe.com


Saturday-Sunday, May 9-10. LA BBQ Fest comes back to town. To be frank, I didn't fully enjoy last year's event. Stood in line for about 2 hours to get my 'cue and most of the good beer ran out in the first 2 hours or so. But this year they did promise shorter lines, more BBQ, more beer. So it maybe worth checking out? Santa Monica Beach (next to the Pier). http://www.labbqfest.com/

Sunday, May 17. 5x5 Chef's Collaborative continues at Melisse, featuring guest chef Gabriel Kreuther from The Modern (New York). $150 pp.

Wednesday, May 20. Top Chef's contestants Fabio Viviani and Stefan Ritcher will have a friendly cook-off at The Grove! This event is FREE and will start off with cooking demos and food samples from the restaurants at The Grove. RSVP is required. http://lamag.com/promotions/detail.aspx?id=14854

Friday, May 29. Perhaps one of the most unique and exciting food events in Los Angeles, Tables of Ten is coming back for its fourth year!
Fifteen tables of ten will be manned by one designer and one chef each, who will create a unique experience for each table. This event is so much fun because each designer creates an exhibit out of the dining table (and of course, the tabletop!). Plus you'll be seated with both the chef and designer! The lineup includes chefs Neal Fraser (Grace), Evan Kleiman (Cafe Angeli), Mark Peel(Campanile), Mirko Paderno (Cecconi's) and David Lefevre (Water Grill).

The experience doesn't come cheap. A seat goes for $750 and a table goes for $5000, but it does benefit Inner City Arts, and when else would you get to dine with the chefs while sitting around an art piece? Pacific Design Center. http://www.avenuesartdesign.com/access_39.php

Sunday, May 31. Let your inner child out with the Gourmet 5 Year Old Party. We're talking 'mac n cheese with lobster, ... sloppy joes made from Kobe beef" and lots of "juice" (wine!) and (of course!) a magic show! Benefiting Meals on Wheels. The website says $60pp but brownpapertickets says $40pp, choose your poison. 1-4 pm. The Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, 1755 N Highland Ave. http://www.drinkeatplay.com/fiveyearoldparty/



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