Zak Pelaccio and Robbie Richter premiered tastes of their forthcoming Fatty Cue last night at Celebrate Flatiron Chefs event at Madison Square Park. The samples were excellent: a curry-cured Berkshire pork belly we couldn’t get enough of and some smoked lamb ribs that were long-marinated in a mix of potent Thai spices. But the event had other things worth seeing and tasting. At the Country table, Geoffrey Zakarian presided, visibly countering reports of his departure. Boqueria served a piece of transporting smoked lamb belly previously confited in Ossabaw pork fat, and Ilili made deboned lamb rib skewers with strawberry aleppo pepper marinade strawberry-scented shawarma. Gail Simmons looked tanned and rested in the Top Chef off-season, but Ben Pollinger of Oceana seemed nervous on the eve of his New York Times review. We’ve got more photos after the jump.
Gail Simmons forgives Josh Ozersky for all Top Chef wisecracks.Photo: Josh Ozersky
Correction: Ilili served deboned lamb rib skewers with strawberry aleppo pepper marinade. We had identified it as “strawberry-scented shawarma.”
