Another night, another food-fest charity event at the Puck...
Yeah. Sure. Right.
In all honesty, I was thrilled to be invited to New York Magazine's Taste of New York event last night, chock-a-block with gourmet glitterati and savory tidbits from the likes of Gotham Bar & Grill, Le Cirque, WD-50, Telepan and Per Se. But, would this charity extravaganza get me as jazzed (and buzzed) as the Tre Bicchieri? Goodness knows that my last trip to the Puck for ViniPortugal left me less than impressed.
Within seconds of walking into the threshold, I saw a sign that boded well for the evening: Phil (pictured above). For those of you that read this blog regularly, you'll know that Phil is one of my favorite people on the planet - a mixologist with great talent and great humor. He is usually found behind the bar at Pegu Club, but tonight he was shaking up Applejack Cobbler and Intro to Aperol cocktails for the Taste of New York's clamoring crowd.
I could have easily stayed at his station all night, but I knew that I needed to explore - and taste. I grabbed a Cobbler to-go and made my way through the maze.
And, what a maze it was! A maze filled with a throng of mice, overwhelmed by a wonderland of cheese.
In other words: It was Bar Mitzvah buffet on crack cocaine (a Long Island Bar Mitzvah on crack cocaine, at that).
Never in my life had my palate been on such a rollercoaster, rollicking up and down and up again in a sea of textures, aromas and flavors, the finest of which included Blue Hill's Vegetables on a Fence...
...Aquavit's Goat Cheese Mousse with Lemon Curd and Basil-Apple Compote...
...and Bouchon Bakery's selection of Autumn Pastries...
I was on culinary sensory overload - and elbow room was essential.
So, would I return to another Taste of New York event? For it's charitable benefits to City Harvest - absolutely. For a truly remarkable epicurean event - I'll have to think twice - but some more of those Bouchon Bakery pastries and another cocktail from Phil might just push me over the edge - and push me right back to the Puck.
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