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The food festivals were out in full force this weekend, from the 12th Annual Taste of Tribeca, to the behemoth Ninth Avenue International Food Festival, to newcomers BLT Crab Fest (more on that later) and the NYC Culinary Festival. It was a hectic weekend, so the jury was still out on visiting the NYC Culinary festival, at least, that is, until we got an email from the gentleman behind the Big Apple Dining Guide with the ominous subject heading "Don't go to the NY Culinary Festival this weekend." Intrigued, we read on.
Where to begin? They take your ticket (I bought mine online and printed it at home) and give you another, smaller ticket. No direction, no brochure, no map or list of vendors, NOTHING. It's 6:25 and I am excited to hear Max McCallum (USA's cheese whiz) and Terrence Brennan (Artisanal/Picholine) talk about cheese and fondue - scheduled to take place at 6:30. But no one seems to know where they are or if in fact a cheese demo is taking place today. I am then told to come back in a half hour. Okay. So I check out the booths...apparently there are supposed to be 80 vendors...currently I'd say there are 25 set up at most. Less than half. What the hell did I pay my $20 admission fee for? So I wait on this unbelievably long line to purchase food/drink coupons. It takes awhile but I have nothing else to do. A half hour or so later and Josh DeChellis is making a trout is miso marinade which is kinda cool...but he looks like he'd rather be in the weeds at Sumile or Jovia. I wish I was in the weeds at Sumile or Jovia.An hour later and still no one knows what's going on. And, it turns out, that there won't be a cheese demo tonight. But no one is sure exactly why.
He concludes that it was "[t]ruly the world's worst run event. I've never seen something run so poorly." Foodite was not impressed either. "For the most part it was unexciting, unorganized, and most notably, not worth the $20 admission fee." The Girl Who Ate Everything was the only report we got that didn't sound completely awful, although she shared some similar views about the organization or lack thereof.
Did any of you out there get to the event? How was your experience?
Photo from The Girl Who Ate Everything
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Anyone knows if there's going to be a Singapore Chili Crab festival this year?
Ugh, that event is so misrepresented. The little, soft crabs are nothing like Singapore Chili Crab! If you want something that tastes authentic, go to Fatty Crab in Manhattan!
i went with friends, first on saturday night and then on sunday evening. the festival was supposed to go until 1 am on saturday.
we showed up at 10:30 and were told that only about 1/2 of the vendors were still there. since our tickets were only good for one day (pre-bought online) we decided to come back on sunday after church since it was supposed to be open until 9pm.
we showed up on sunday evening ... oh around 7:30ish and were told that we didn't need our tickets anymore cause there wasn't much left. sure enough the only food left was a chocolate souffle contraption and cafetasia which is 5 blocks away from my apartment anyway.
so basically we travelled 40-some blocks and paid $50 to eat crab rangoon and beef skewers from a restaurant that's actually right down the street.
this is a message to whoever organized the new york culinary festival: you are a (@*#&$ crook.
On the upside, many NYC food bloggers finally met each other and are falling in love.
Ah, I was at the 9th Ave Food Festival enjoying myself immensely among the eight buck bowl of crawfish etoufee and four buck crepes and I saw several people passing fliers out for the Culinary Food Festival. People were having so good a time though, that most of the fliers were ignored...
>>>Josh DeChellis is making a trout is miso marinade which is kinda cool...but he looks like he'd rather be in the weeds at Sumile or Jovia
Where?
www.forgotten-ny.com
Ditto regarding Singapore Chili Crab fest. It's not even soft shelled crab and they just give you a couple of meager pieces w/ too much sugar in the sauce and not enough of the chili. Although the free scenic ride across the river to the festival on the free taxi ferry was nice, otherwise yea, just go to Chinatown or elsewhere for your crabs.
Yeah, I showed up on Sunday evening at around 6:30 and all they had available was a few bowls of nachos with guac, some really good chocolate souffles, and, thank god, some even better lychee martinis..Lichido something or other...I asked the woman up front if I could get a refund for the $20 entry fee and she looked at me like I had two heads. How sad.
Hi Kevin, Josh DeChellis' demonstration was on Friday at the NY Culinary Festival. It took place around 7:30pm or so.
>>>Josh DeChellis' demonstration was on Friday at the NY Culinary Festival. It took place around 7:30pm or so.
Nah, I meant
>>>Josh DeChellis ... looks like he'd rather be in the weeds at Sumile or Jovia
Where the heck is Sumile or Jovia? Restaurants? They're in the weeds?
www.forgotten-ny.com
The culinary festival was a joke. I've seen elementary school carnivals with more style. The food was overpriced and overall, mediocre at best. The two of us paid $60 for a meal that wouldn't have filled up a parakeet.
I had a TERRIBLE experience there Fri. night as well - much like Big Apple Dining Guide's experience. I was entertaining 2 friends from Italy who were absolutely miserable there. We have no idea why we wasted about $100 there btwn the 3 of us. NOTHING was included in the price of admission. Unless you count the HORRIBLE, excruciatingly loud Jimmy Buffet cover band playing when we arrived!!! The singer would actually yell, scream, & yowl into the microphone between songs as well.
What we paid 2-8 a plate for was miniscule and highly overrated. The entire atmosphere was incredibly smoky, poorly ventilated, half ass, lifeless, sorely misrepresented. I was soooo embarassed to have brought my friends there! I feel obligated to complain due to my connections in the restaurant industry, and utter disappointment. I am actually in the process of writing a complaint letter. If anyone would like to collaborate, ban together on this, has advice for me or whatever else, I'd be happy to hear from you and also let you know my progressso far.
spills.wine.on.self@gmail.com
P.S. Getting more pissed the more I relive & recall it.... I just Read The Girl Who Ate Everything's report & no, it wasn't "completely awful" but she was ultimately disappointed. She also says that those people who came there mainly for the food wasted $20. Well it was CALLED the culinary festival & they plugged this so-called event on their website that was simply NOT THAT atmosphere on Fri. night!
Just one example from the site:
Admission includes all concerts (including headliners), all special features (such as the award ceremonies), all chef demos, all lectures, seminars, and wine tastings, plus access to all exhibits, and all activites for kids. It also includes a goodie bag upon exit.
Here are the extras I witnessed aside from the horrifying Jimmy Buffet cover band: 1. Josh's demo, and 2. a guy carving a small dolphin out of ice. Which was cool, but hardly anything new. 3. A guy playing a piano and a woman half-assedly singing along to the same lite FM music on the way out, away from main room. No goodie bags, no free wine tastings, no direction, no "exhibits" unless you count a booth selling cigars & a generic Chinese massage booth. Both like you would maybe find at the San Gennaro feast. It would have been cool to see Berlin but there was no way we could've held out until 10:30pm. Besides being so pissed off, we were STILL hungry & even if you get stamped & return there's really nowhere worthwhile to go in the surrounding area as you are on the Pier.
Grrrrrr.....
Hi Kevin,
Sumile and Jovia are two restaurants that Josh is the chef and/or owner at in Manhattan.
To be "in the weeds" is to be so busy that you are literally in a different frame of mind.
On a side note: If you are able to say that you are "in the weeds" (like that one guy on Top Chef did) you are NOT in the weeds. To truly be in the weeds, you are on autopilot and can barely communicate with others. It's a scary feeling...and you will go to sleep having really awful dreams that night. Been there myself before and its pretty tough. But I digress...