There are few things Brooklynites like
more than a good meal. That truism was in evidence on Monday
night when about 1,000 noshers from the borough and beyond piled
into the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott in Downtown Brooklyn
for the ninth annual "Brooklyn Eats Food, Wine & Beer
Tasting Festival."
It was quite a sight. The vast ballroom was filled with the offerings
of 68 restaurants, gourmet groceries, wineries and micro-breweries.
Everything from a beer milkshake to an eight-tiered autumn-inspired
wedding cake was set forth for the taking – and take they did.
Beneath the sparkling chandeliers, eaters congregated around
each table nibbling on sushi, sipping mojitos and even sampling
pickles.
The opera of gulping, slurping and gnashing came to a halt just
once early in the festivities, when Brooklyn Borough President
Marty Markowitz unified the attendees with a short battle cry.
Sharing the stage with Markowitz was the "Queen of Creole
cuisine" Leah Chase. Chase is the chef and owner of Dooky
Chase, a famous New Orleans restaurant that was damaged by Hurricane
Katrina. She flew to the event to thank Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce
President Ken Adams for arranging a raffle that raised over $3,000
for the reopening of her eatery.
Also touched by Chase’s plight were Tom Potter and Steve Hindy,
founders of the Brooklyn Brewery in Williamsburg. The authors,
who signed copies of their new book, "Beer School: Bottling
Success at the Brooklyn Brewery," during the event, will
donate the night’s proceeds from sales of the book to Dooky Chase’s
revival.
After the speeches, it was back to the tables. Some of the best
dishes at the event were the most familiar: macaroni and cheese,
hot sandwiches and deviled eggs – to name a few favorites.
Stacey Mooradian and Christine Zeni of Park Slope’s Luscious
Foods, a six-month old gourmet to-go shop and first-timer at
Brooklyn Eats, served a decadently creamy macaroni and cheese
as well as spoonbread, a souffle-like, pleasantly sweet corn
pudding.
At last year’s celebration, chefs were enamored with shrimp.
This time, slow-cooked meats such as brisket and short ribs made
a big showing. The best brisket award goes to Hugo Amador of
Tavern on Dean in
Prospect Heights who heaped smoky barbequed strands of beef and
caramelized red onions on a soft potato roll for a sweet and
savory, utterly delicious mouthful.
Buttery bites of rich beef short ribs appeared in several forms:
Chef Paolo Nozzoli of Scottadito
Osteria Toscana in Park Slope, a newcomer to the event, was
the most lusciously tender. Mango barbeque sauce with a fruity,
smoky aroma lent the ribs of BAMcafe’s Chef Lynn Bound a jolt
of enjoyable heat; and chef Anthony Rinaldi, of the Pearl
Room in Bay Ridge, married melt-on-the-tongue gnocchi to
the braised meat for an unbeatable union.
Lighter and just as satisfying was the fluffy couscous with big
pieces of moist chicken, caramelized onions and raisins from
new-to-the-event chef Bou Gassimi. Couscous and tagines, the
stews baked in a conical earthenware dish, are specialties of
Gassimi’s Les
Babouches, a Moroccan eatery in Bay Ridge.
Making their introduction at the affair with brightly flavored
seafood dishes were chef Alfredo Luna of Maria’s Mexican Bistro
in Park Slope, and Adam Shepard of Taku in Boerum Hill. Luna
scattered thin slivers of crunchy jicama root and mango over
citrus-enhanced salmon. Shepard delighted diners with rare slices
of pork tenderloin paired with sauteed spinach and creamy polenta.
Salty circles of fried shallots added an irresistible, brittle
crispness to the dish.
First timer Pequena, a Mexican
restaurant in Fort Greene, served big bowls of spicy guacamole
and rich, peppery pork enchiladas, courtesy of the eatery’s chef
Johannes Sanzin.
Remember deviled eggs? Vincent Demarti, who mans the stove at
Maggie Brown’s in Fort
Greene, brought those luncheon treats back with style. Demarti
served five varieties of those whipped yolks squirted into the
hollow bowls of hard-boiled egg whites; the best held a center
of mustard-tinged yolk topped with a few grains of saline black
caviar.
Another delectable nibble can be attributed to Brooklyn Eats
neophyte chef Tommaso Verdillo, whose restaurant Tommaso’s has
been dishing out great Italian fare to the Dyker Heights community
for 30 years. Verdillo filled golden slices of roasted yellow
peppers with a blend of goat cheese and tuna and topped the plump
rolls with a sliver of salty anchovy that magnified the delicacy
of the cheese and the mild fish.
No matter how stuffed an attendee became, few passed on dessert.
Pastry chefs Melissa Murphy and Andrea Mai Lekberg of Sweet Melissa
Patisserie, on the border of Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens,
lured diners to their table with two spectacular cakes, including
a charming, two-tiered indulgence covered with dusty pink and
mauve fondant roses and tied with a pink gingham ribbon. The
other included three-layers of white-iced cake behind a cage
of sorts made from twigs of chocolate textured to mimic tree
bark. While those pastries were for display only, Murphy cut
slices of devil’s food cake layered with peppermint-tinged dark
chocolate ganache that was akin to the creamiest Thin Mint candy
imaginable.
Chef India Ennis of Panino’teca 275 in Carroll Gardens, offered
lush little panna cottas, heavily laced with bourbon that cut
the richness of the custard. A swirl of brandied cherry sauce
added another tart and boozy note to the dessert.
About that beer milkshake, which came in vanilla and chocolate
varieties, the drink was blended by the staff of Schnäck,
an informal eatery with branches in Red Hook and Gowanus. It’s
three parts ice cream, and one part Dog Fish Head beer. The ale
cuts the richness of the ice cream and gives the drink a slightly
bitter edge.
This year, three aspiring chefs were awarded the fourth annual
Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce "Brooklyn Eats" scholarships
of $1,000 each. The winners were Kimberly Goodman, Jesus Melendez
and Michell Mingo, students of the New York City College of Technology,
CUNY, Hospitality Management department in Downtown Brooklyn.
The trio served "City Tech Jammin’ Caribbean Pineapple Cake":
two chocolate layers with a rum-soaked center, topped with roasted
pineapple slices and served with a rum-spiked pineapple coulis,
a dessert they created for the occasion.
At the end of the evening, one could hear overindulged diners
groaning, "I’m dying."
But they’ll return to "Brooklyn Eats," as they do each
year, determined to taste everything.
