Category: Food

I sit near the window the first of many humid evenings to come, enjoying a Three Philosophers brew from the Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown, NY, which I was given by the Union Beer Distributors purveying at the Toast To The Children charity event I attended for the Children of Bellevue (CoB); held this evening at the Mandarin Oriental in Columbus Circle.

CoB is an event I’ve attended for two years now, thanks to several generous friends that have introduced me to the event and the cause that they work with. I’ve always donated since either my participation or fund to the developmental and social needs of pediatric patients at the hospital for which this event inspires. The event itself is an excellent draw of small plate samplings of some of the best restaurants in NY (Per Se, Craft, Hearth, A Voce to name a few), great international wine tastings, locally distributed brews, some jazz entertainment (noted this evening closer to live muzak) and a silent auction which offers everything from trips for the kids, a selection of Cuban cigars, jazz concert tickets, tennis lessons, art, symphony, restaurant gift certs and TV show tickets to local talk shows. It’s been rare that I win something as I’m not the guy that stays till the last minutes to ensure I get the last bid as I see some are serious enough to do so.

This evening some of my favorites were here: A voce had a great rigatoni with a lamb sauce, Craft and one of my top dishes with a pork butt lettus wrap, Tailor had a good pork belly, Perilla had great scallops served in their shell and Hearth offered a thinly shaved octopus app that was excellent as well. This year there were more wines and less beers. I sampled all the wines except the South African’s and found the Italian wines offered a better range, depth and nose (Great Montalcino); and then the French and a very nice Rhone blend Rasteau.

While at the event I bumped into Tom Colicchio, a board member for the cause and one of the purveyors of the best food offered this evening (Craft). He was chatting up Marco Canora, the head chef at Hearth. I found the exchange much friendlier than I perceived Tom from his demeanor on Top Chef (the only “reality” show I watch on cable), until I understood the history.

When Marco was sous chef at Gramercy Tavern, Tom’s first established ventures in NY, Tom pulled Marco to helm Craft in 2001 and soon grew the brand to include Craftsteak, Craftbar, ‘wichcraft and established ventures in Tokyo and Vegas.

Unfortunately I didn’t win any of the auction items this round but I did make friends with the brew masters and took home some samples (to much embarrassment of my fiancee – apparently it’s a faux pas to take home booze from a charity event – it was only getting trashed and how could I let that happen to good beer?!?). The gift bags were a little light this year, with only a few magazines, some pistachio chocolate “bark” and a Tava drink. Last year I received a $500 gift cert to H Stern and some health spa discounts.

The event was fantastic over all, the children will hopefully benefit from the money raised and donated excursions and influx of attention that’s much needed to assist these kids, and my palate and stomach are satisfied with plenty of wine and food from the evening… Looking forward to next year.