The New York City Wine & Food Festival has to be the single most aggressively hyped foodpalooza out there, but the good news is all the breathless preview posts are over, the festival is here, and unless you’re like Dan Barber and you’re off getting hitched, you can finally eat your meatballs and get on with it. If you have tickets, that is: Pretty much all of the events are sold out, with the exception of Sunday’s Grand Tasting, a Bob Dylan Wine Pairing, a few other wine events, Alicia Silverstone’s culinary demo, and a $325 dinner hosted by supper club a razor, a shiny knife. If you’re the type to live vicariously, here’s a bird’s-eye view of last night’s action.
Alain Ducasse oversaw his chefs at a Beard House dinner: “Interestingly, he was most vocal about fresh black pepper: He wanted lots of it on nearly everything, calling for its addition the way other chefs demand more salt.” [Feed/TONY]
At Chelsea After Dark, Jacques Torres offered to paint women in chocolate and Jeffrey Steingarten told AlwaysHungry that the best thing he’s eaten recently was “a steak in Spain from a 15-year-old steer, whose meat had been aged for 120 days.” [AlwaysHungry]
More from Chelsea After Dark: Katie Lee Joel gives herself 10-1 odds of winning the Burger Bash tonight. Metromix]
675 Bar’s chocolate bacon sticks were the highlight of Thrillist’s Bacon and Blues party. [AlwaysHungry]
The Feed entered the “Guy’s Knuckle Sandwich” zone, didn’t get up the nerve to chat with him, but liked his pork en fuego sammy okay. [Feed/TONY]
The Feedbag brings you the sights and sounds (well, the sounds anyway) via a podcast from opening night. [Feedbag]
