CitySweetTooth

They have good Avena (the creamy spiced oatmeal drink) great on a cold day...

Nice report! I just posted my Sweet report and it was a doozy of a party! Chris, you were totally right about Johnny Iuzzini from Jean Georges, I liked his Chocolate-Peanut Butter & Concord Grape Pop the best! He was also really nice. Other standouts included Vicki Wells's Concord Grape and Plum Shortcake, Tribeca Grill's huge petit four spread, Kyotofu's selection, Kate Zuckerman's Roasted Bartlett Pear with Brioche Pain Perdu & White Truffle Honey, and more. It was a fun night that's for sure. I have lot of photos and more commentary here: http://www.citysweettooth.com/?p=138

I'm back from the Sweet event and have been uploading pics since then. It was really nice to meet you in person Chris I just posted about the Murray’s Cheese at Chelsea Wine Vault event, very nice and informative. Not really a mixer, it was a serious class and I learned a lot, I'd recommend it to people who want to know more about wine, cheese, and pairings. Then I went to the Grand Tasting. It's pretty interesting how there was a mix of more supermarket fare (like Shop Rite, Viva paper towels, Barilla, etc.) and the really high end chefs. Of course the smart move is to hit all of the chefs up first. My picks: The best dessert there was the Root Beer Float from Cookshop. The best savory food was the Black truffle and Langoustine Har Gau with Peking Duck Broth , Enoki Mushrooms, Cilantro and Olive Oil (chef Jonathan Wright) of The Setai (a Miami Hotel). There's a lot more to see with pics at my site. I'll be posting about Sweet tomorrow. Needless to say I am tired!

It's Passover food for sure. I never tried eating it at another time, though I always like it a lot, my aunt chops walnuts apples and and mixes it with Manishevitz concord grape wine. Yum! Another thing like that is apples dipped in honey, normally eaten at Rosh Hashana, and it's so good, but we just never have it other times of the year.

I also wonder if lots of people who didn't pay crashed Uncorked because I didn't see anybody checking for bracelets.

Just got back from the Uncorked event and it was OK, not great. I liked that the illy house had Jacques Torres Wicked Fun chocolates and when I was there it wasn't crowded so it was a relaxed place to sit for a while and take notes. The wine I liked best was Leonard Kreusch Riesling Estate since it was sweetest, but like I said I'm not a drinker or wine enthusiast at this point so serious wine fans may not want to follow my recs. The best place style-wise and food-wise was Michael Angelo's Wonderland Beauty Parlor with eye-popping neon pop art decor. It was also large and had a spread of desserts like cookies, brownies, and ginger bread from Heaven, a bakery in Bovina, NY. Their store had the most party or club-like vibe and people looked like they were having fun. One attendee I ran into said she was disappointed, as she was hoping it would be more like a street fair with all of the wines exhibiting together in a group setting. A pleasant surprise for me was Wine Cellar Sorbets had a cart giving out samples near Pastis. I've tried them a few times before and have enjoyed every flavor so far. Strangely Diane Von Furstenberg was out of champagne by 7:30 (the event went from 6-9) so that was disappointing. I did see a few attendees inside with mini champagne bottles with straws, so I suppose they ran out of the bottles. I think they were the only place doing that everyone else was doing little plastic cups. Looking forward to tomorrow!

Whoa, nice pics! I guess I'll be seeing all of that tomorrow on the way to the Grand Tasting. I think I may have tried Choxie once and wasn't impressed, but we'll see... I'm going to check out some of Meatpacking Uncorked tonight but as a very light drinker I think it'll mostly be wasted on me. It should be interesting seeing the inside of all of those boutiques as well, since I didn't really have reason to before. I had my friend who knows wine outline the ones that he thinks I'd like (mostly sweet ones like Reisling) so I'm going to check out a few of them. Probably best to rest for tomorrow since the Grand Tasting and Sweet party will likely be nuts.

So, I had a fabulous time at the Chelsea Market After Dark event. I think if they do it again next year it would definitely be worth the $75. There was a fun party vibe (live music, DJing and some dancing too), lots of great food and samples, some of my faves were Eleni's Caramel Apple Mini Cupcake special, Morimoto's Lamb Carpaccio, the Bobby Flay burger (though if I was alone I probably would not have bothered struggling through the crowd to get one, my friend got it for me), Chelsea Thai's Mango salad, and much more. There was just so much to try including all of the wines - so it was definitely a good value for attendees. For me the best part was meeting some of the people behind the food. I met Eleni's icing manager, Christine, and Franky the artisan of L'Arte Del Gelato. It's just so nice to meet them in person and you could see they were having fun getting to interact with everybody. I did an extensive blog post here about it with loads of photos if you want to check that out. http://www.citysweettooth.com/?p=83

I chose them because my focus is desserts and I think there will be sweets at all of those events, I do a dessert column in comic strip format for The L Magazine and even more coverage (art, photos, writing) on my website citysweettooth.com. I think the Sweet party especially will be a great opportunity to try lots of great desserts at once. Usually when covering an event I like to pick out my favorite 4 or so dishes and draw them for my comic. For buzz: I agree that the Bourdain event looks good and the "Who Do You Trust" looks good too. I'm not as much into it for the celebrity appearances, mainly to try new foods so I didn't go out of my way to get celeb. event passes.

You got the most buzzed about ticket that's for sure! I think nice dark jeans with a button down blouse or black pants with a basic blouse with scarf and accessories could be a good way to mix it up. Of course, not too fancy as it's possible to get food on them and you want to be comfortable (not too tight of course!). That's my wild guess / suggestion. Tell us how it is. I'll be at the Sweet party, Chelsea Market After Dark, Grand Tasting, and the Mohegan Sunset party and have been contemplating what to wear too. I'll post some comments here and will be blogging about it on my site as well. It's my first time trying out a lot of the more famous local chefs / foods so I'm excited about that. I regret that wine makes me sleepy since it looks like there is a LOT for the wine enthusiasts to enjoy.

Is anybody going to this? http://www.nycwineandfoodfestival.com/2008/index.php

This is probably way late to chime in but I had Ciao Bella for the first time today (from the Mott St. store) and it was disappointing. I got the chocolate gelato - flavor was good but texture too "chewy" for my taste, and the coconut sorbetto - again flavor was good but this time the texture was too icy and chunky. To me the best gelato has a smooth and creamy texture and neither had that. I'll have to try Il Lab, as for other local places I very much enjoyed the pear at L'Arte Del Gelato in Chelsea Market.

Italian Wedding Soup at Big Booty Bakery on 23rd st. is awesome. Plus they give you a slice of their amazing fresh bread.

Madeleine is good. I did a comic on them here: Madeleine Patisserie I like their tarts and my fave macaron is probably the sea salt caramel and the berry flavored ones.

Rice is a pretty decent option in the area too.