Sobe Wine and Food Festival: Burger Bash Slide Show

Hey! So last we spoke I was at the pool here blogging away with a bottle of bloody mary mix as my companion. I got up to head up to my room and get ready for the Burger Bash and ran in to the burger man himself ...Bobby Flay and that's my girl Aarti! She was just coming from the beach with her husband. We all chatted briefly then Bobby had to head off to make I think he said "five hundred fifty thousand" burgers lol ... Bobby is hilarious I can't wait to see him as a judge on his new show America's Next Great Restaurant.

Ok, here are some pics from the night ...

That's Burger Bash is held in that huge tent and every packs in like a night club, it's packed!
Rachel Ray is the host and architect of the evening and Lee Schrager got up on stage to make some welcoming remarks as well. The band really made the night great. They covered songs from Kool and the Gang to Ke$ha and it was allllll good! Here's Bobby Flay's burger ...made with his signature Crunchafied chips and a nice slather of goat cheese. It was pretty tasty!! Then, I headed over to Spike Mendelsohn's booth only to find him in a Hamburglar outfit ... this dude is crazy!Spike is really a cool guy, he always has some kind of gimmick involved, good thing his burger is slammin'!!! This time around he offered his Coletti Smokehouse Burger, here's the namesake of the burger, Mike Coletti ...
That BBQ sauce was something serious. I want a jar right now for a night I get lazy and don't make my own. I stepped away from Spike's burger spot and bumped into Robert Irvine hanging out at Michael Symon's offering ...

Robert and I chatted for a quick second, then I got to business by stepping to the man and asking him for everything he had to offer, in turn I got a burger I ended up calling "meat on meat on meat, a meaty burger" ...

Look, I don't know what to focus on with this burger, but let's start with the with fried salami. I saw about a jillion little crisps sitting on a wire rack in his staging area and immediately got excited. Then he layered on a really good shacha sauce, provolone cheese, pickled onions and there was fresh basil involved ... very tasty! He won the big prize and I'm not surprised I walked away and thought to myself, geez, he plays dirty ... all that MEAT! That just ain't right! Crazy!! Check out who I ran into on the way out of the tent ...

Duff Goldman hosts tomorrow night's Best Thing I Ever Ate on the Beach event. I also have a booth there and I can't wait to share with you the best thing I've ever had at the beach! Stick around for that and if you are here, I also have a cooking demonstration tomorrow, Saturday in the grand tasting village at 3:15. Come on by and hang out!! Here are the culinary students that prepared all my ingredients today for the event tomorrow ...

Alright! I'm heading out again tonight, hope you had a good week, if you are here and you see me, stop me and say hi!!

Carvin' out pumpkin/burger time

Hey there! Well, today was a full one. It started in midtown Manhattan with Aarti Sequeira, Anne Burrell, Claire Robinson, 8 pumpkins, 2 carving kits and 1 photographer. Confused? Well, it's a bit ahead of it's time, but we all four gathered to carve pumpkins for a feature in Food Network Magazine's Halloween 2011 issue, yes next year's October issue is already in the planning stages! I can't tell you or even show you what I, or anyone else did to their pumpkin, but they were all pretty different and unique. Here's an obstructed view of my pumpkin, not even completed ...

That's Aarti in the background working on another assignment for a future Food Network Magazine issue. Often times when many of us hosts are in town for something like this festival, other people utilize the fact that we'll be together to get work done. So, once she was done with carving pumpkins, Aarti also had another feature to finish for a future Food Network Magazine. If you are wondering why we did work this year for next year's Halloween issue, well it's pretty simple. Magazines are usually produced and planned 3 months in advance and 3 months before Halloween is the worst time to look for carving pumpkins. Pretty forward thinking and I was happy to be invited. If you are looking for some ideas this year, never worry! Because this month's issue has pumpkin carving ideas from many other Food Network hosts, which makes me wonder ... did they do theirs a year in advance as well? I guess so, eh? There were pumpkins left when we were done today so I took two with me for carving at home. Can't wait! It was good quiet creative time! Can't wait for you to see all of our creations ... next year :-).

After carving the pumpkins this morning, I headed off to run some errands before the Burger Bash. I called up my girl Lisa Evers and we hit Brooklyn ready for burgers, beers and shakes. It was sooooo crowded! Here we are with Bizarre Foods' Andrew Zimmern ...

I mentioned before Andrew and I met at an industry event in Chicago and since then we've done some interview stuff for his website and each time I see him he's such a joy. Really nice guy. We said our hellos and I headed out to search for Bobby Flay's burger and found it was still "Crunchified" with blue corn tortilla chips, jalapenos and a creamy cheese sauce over a juicy slider ...That's a tequila shake in the brown hand :-). Crazy! I actually wish I had a couple of them, I'm not a real tequila-only drinker. I like to mix it, but this was a very good combination. Very good. I headed over to another section of the Burger Bash tent and immediately ran into my buddy Spike, dressed up for the occasion ...Teeheehee, he is so funny! His burger (king) was a play on a Vietnamese Banh mi. He followed up the theme with his own shake, a Vietnamese Coffee Shake, pretty smart! His shake, again maybe I have a thing for shakes like cupcakes, but they just make me happy and his, well I couldn't slurp through the custom-cut straw fast enough! My starter shake is a Shake Shot, simple and easy ... what I'm all about! Give it a try if you have a frozen hard corner of vanilla ice cream somewhere and a shot of vodka :-).

Not long after having Spike's burger everyone headed to the stage area to hear the results of the competition ...
Oh, wait ... I didn't tell you? Well, burger bash is more than just a festival of eating, it's a competition. Each chef puts out their best burger and each is evaluated by a judge. Those scores are added to the amount of chips each chef gets deposited in a bank on top of their display table and those chips come from each attendee at the party. If you have a burger and like it, it gets your chip. Can you imagine being a judge and having to eat 24 or so sliders? That's heavy duty work. I had 2 of Bobby's and one of Spike's, that was enough to call it a night for my belly! Ahem, save for a pumpkin ale beer :-). After all the dust settled, it was neither of the guys with the top braggin' rights. Bobby Flay did win the People's Choice award and for the Heinz award of the night and the big overall trophy ... seems us ladies know how to make a burger right!!!Congrats to the team at The Shake Shack! (Ahem, I'm sure there were some guys that helped out, but it's the ladies holding the trophy, quick joke, not a stab at the whole team I'm sure it took to win Burger Bash). Although I didn't have one of the @ShakeShack sliders at Burger Bash, I've had a Shake Shack experience and I know the award is very well deserved! I mean people share tables and pack it in tight for a Shake Shack burger! It's so hard to get around to all the burgers at this event. Anyone that does it deserves a button, plate or a beer stein like the Volksmarches I did growing up.

Ok, that's it. I'm heading out to Comix tomorrow for a cooking demonstration at 130PM. If you have tickets I can't wait to hang out and Cook, for real :-). I have an easy menu perfect for this weather changing that's goin' on ... Take care and a special hello to blog reader and occassional comment maker, John. It was great running into you and thanks so much for taking time to say hi! What an event, eh? Ok, I'll see you out and about if you are in town for the NYC Wine & Food Festival!

P.S. Catch a NEW episode of Cooking for Real tomorrow, Saturday at 12noon eastern/11am central, hey Texas :-). I call it "Wonton Be Startin' Something" Hope you like it!!!

NYC Wine & Food Festival begins!

Hey! I hope you are in NYC for the Wine and Food Festival, but if not ... I hope to bring you along for the ride with a few pictures and stories! Last night was the unofficial kick-off party hosted by Food Network Magazine for it's readers. Subscribers were invited to come hang out and since I love the magazine I was more than excited to meet some readers. Here I am with some other attendees ...
That's Marcela from Mexican Made Easy, Food Network Magazine Editor Maile Carpenter, me and Food Network Magazine Publisher Vicki Wellington. The event was also a chance for all of us to raise money for Share Our Strength. Some signed items will be auctioned off for donation. There were so many Food Network hosts there and every time I turned around I got a chance to talk to someone that read the magazine and also watched Food Network. I gotta tell ya, if you want to meet any one on Food Network, these festivals are the place to go because every time I turned around I was bumping into a host. When I was in radio, there was a person notorious for having high-priced birthday parties and the guests would pay crazy amounts of cash to get in only to find the host locked away in the VIP section. Out of sight, no pictures, no chance meeting, not even a chance to say happy birthday. I felt it a waste of people's money and couldn't believe they did it year after year and got away with it. If I pay $$ I want something for it! lol, So the cool thing is here you get great wine, food, experiences and at these events everyone is approachable, so it's not like you have to look from afar. Get up close and personal and say hi! If you are here in town and reading this, please stop me and say hi if you see me and want to meet!

Check out my girl aka "hot mama" ...

It's Melissa d'Arabian, host of $10 Dollar Dinners! Even though she lives all the way in Washington we keep in touch pretty well over the phone and her kids and I are fast friends! They are too cute! There was plenty of tiny finger food around to nosh on, but the treasures of the night were the regulation-size Sprinkles cupcakes being offered as dessert. One of the owners Candace Nelson and I met back in 2006 before I was on Food Network. I was trying to get a show on the network and they sent me out to Los Angeles to shoot a pilot featuring some great places to eat in Los Angeles. Sprinkles was my first stop and after traveling to many other places and eating more food, Sprinkles was also my last stop that night lol. No shame in my game, I went back when the cameras weren't rolling that evening and indulged some more. Suffice it to say, it was a neat reunion with Candace because now not only do I have a show on the network, so does she! She judges the popular show Cupcake Wars! Here we are along with Maile, Aarti and Cooking Channel's newest addition, Lee Anne Wong (you may remember her from Top Chef).

Lee Anne hung out for a second and promptly found out we had the same goal ...

Eat cupcakes!!!! This actually was right before I left the party, so I made sure to grab another one and take them with me for a late night snack at home. Again, no shame in my game ... I'm pretty sure I was the only one walking out double-fisting cupcakes. Then when I got to the car I realized I had to find a way to transport them. I give you the reason why all cars should have cup holders ...

Because every once in awhile, a girl needs to travel with cupcakes! I thought I was pretty clever with this discovery and felt good about leaving them in the car while I mingled at the next party. This one had no press, so I bring you some real behind the scenes pics! The next party was thrown by a company many Food Network hosts work with as well as other television hosts and production companies. I walked in happy knowing I had cupcakes for dessert and immediately got another happy surprise ...

That's Travel Channel's Samantha Brown! I watch her show allllllll the time and really enjoy the way she tells a travel story. She really makes you feel like you are a friend on the trip. What a sweetheart in person and come to find out, she lives in Brooklyn! Her husband was there with her and they looked so cute together. I see a Brooklyn dinner in our future! It was pretty crowded at the bar so I wiggled my way around and ran into the Cake Boss ...

That's Buddy Valastro, owner of Carlo's Bake Shop and the producer of Cake Boss, Art Edwards. Then I ran into one of my favorite people ...

That's Spike Mendelsohn of Good Stuff Eatery. I have to say he makes one of the best burgers ever and if you live in the Washington D.C. area, it's a must try. The shakes are crazy too. I'm looking forward to this week's Burger Bash in Brooklyn. I'll make sure to stop by his booth and get a close up of the juiciness. He also has a pizza place next door to his burger place, but I haven't tried it yet. I think I need to give Amtrak a call and make arrangements! I can't wait for the Burger Bash and I hope he makes a repeat effort on the milkshakes he did at the last South Beach Food & Wine Festival. Can't wait for Burger Bash! Ok, last pic then I'm headed into the city to pick up my passes...It's Guy Fieri and Cooking Channel host Darryl Robinson from Drink Up.Darryl and I worked together on an episode of Next Food Network Star: After Party. He made some really tasty drinks, I remember a cucumber one that was soooo good. I'm a sucker for cucumber drinks. Try my Mean Green Cucumber Juice if you are like me. Alright, I have to get out and start my day. Hope you enjoyed the pics. Like I mentioned before, if you are here for the festival and you catch me walking around, please stop and say hi! The weather is perfect! I have plans to head out to another kick-off party tonight hosted by Art Smith, so if I see anything fun, I'll snap a pic! Check back in ...

One day @ a time - #2 Balthazar, Books & Burns - May 31

This is part 2 of several posts today. I'm just catching up after a computer meltdown, scroll down for the details ...

Monday, May 31, 2010

So after I left The Today Show, I headed down to SoHo for breakfast at Balthazar. Usually, I'd head back home or run errands, but that day was the same day Spike Mendelsohn was on GMA promoting his new cookbook. We saw each other the week before when I visited Washington D.C. and found out we'd be on opposite channels at pretty much the same time, so it would be hard to watch and support each other. That's when I suggested we toast and celebrate his book right after our morning gigs and he chimed in with the location. Here we are mimosa toasting away ...

Balthazar is pretty darn good, it's one of the first NYC cook books I bought when I moved here back in 2001. Spike's book: The Good Stuff Cookbook is killin' the charts and you can get it here. At one point in our conversation we started talking about cooking scars and burns and I showed him my newest one. He was confused because we'd just run into each other the week before and he didn't notice it, that's when I had to explain how I doctored it up so it wouldn't look nasty for my meeting with the Vice President, his wife Dr. Biden and the troops. I'm not great at covering up a mess on my face, but I did pretty darn well on my hand. It's in the palm of my right one so I knew it would be a yucky shake if I didn't doctor it and make it less noticeable. Anyway, that's not what I want to share, because most of it probably should've been done by a professional with some medical skill. What I do want to share is how I think it was funny that Spike couldn't figure out what the burn was from until I outlined it for him right there at the table ...

Can you tell what gave me the burn? As soooon as I showed Spike my outline, he not only chimed in with what burned me, but what brand ... that's a hint :-). I'll let you know in the next post on the way...

Post VP Visit Vittles!

Hey there! Well, it's the morning after and I'm still totally not even believing I was at the Vice President's residence for such a special occasion. I met veterans and active duty members that have made sacrifice's to keep us free and then also met the brave families that support them. It was a pretty awesome event. I took photos to share, but need to get them approved by his staff before I put them up. Totally understandable, so in the meantime ... Jacob over at FoodNetworkAddict.com has a couple of pictures up from the Associated Press. There we were just leaving the Vice Presidential residence after the cook out, when I got an email from him that he had a post up ... with pictures. I was like ... huh? How'd you do that so fast? I just left! And where'd you get the pictures??? Jacob's on his stuff!

So, as I wait to get some of the photos I took approved, I thought I'd share what we did after hanging with the VP and his crew ... BTW Dr. Biden, our Second Lady is a joy. A total joy. I've seen her discuss military veterans and her efforts to make changes in the way we treat our war heroes, but to see it and hear it up close, it truly touched me as a veteran, military brat and honestly ... as an American. I am pretty happy to live and see these times. Ok, more when the photos get approved ...

Where do you go after feeding the Vice Prezo? Well ... you go eat where the President sometimes stops for a bite ... Spike Mendelsohn's Good Stuff Eatery!! He and I met a coupla years back and since then we've kept in touch and I've made several attempts to get to his place, finally I made it and feel it's almost poetically meant to be that I'd catch him after I went through what he must have felt the first time he made something for our First Family. Here we are actually in his new pizza place next door ...
That's one of his partners on the left, Mike. I've met Mike a few times, but he told me last night that he used to skip class to listen to me on the radio in NYC ... made me feel old lol. Spike's new pizza place isn't open yet, but he has a cool name for it ... "We The Pizza". Get it? Cute for a D.C. pizza joint name. He's gonna have soda jerks and he's even getting serious about the dough on the pizza, doing several tests with different flours. I suggested he just ship in some good ol' NYC tap!! It's the best! Here's the line ordering ...
Then I looked down to figure out which brew I was going to drink with my Obama burger and Spike's Village Fries and saw his trophy!!
Here's my burger ...
Man oh Man oh Man! What a juicy, squishy, meaty burger! It was so good I knew it wasn't just chuck, so I asked and it's chuck, sirloin and brisket and I think I remember him saying he grinds in fat from the brisket as well, whatever it is, it's crazy delicious like Mr. Pibb and Red Vines. (A lil SNL humor, which was also a topic of discussion over beer and burgers). Anyway, the burger was also perfectly hand blended and loose, but not fall apart loose. That's key in a good burger. Ha! "Good" Burger. Quite appropriate word, eh? As for the bun it was perfect and the texture of the brown toasted area was like heaven, it was so chewy and the lightest hint of stiff and crunch from what I think was a quick ride on the flat top grill. What a foodie pleasure. I ordered two, but was more than happy to pass my other one on to new arriving guest at the table, Jacob ...

That's the Colletti's Smokehouse burger. We passed our last bits for a bite and it was just as yummy as the Obama burger, but I favor the Obama burger. I forgot to mention it has blue cheese on it ... yummy and the perfect level of blue, not too strong. We all sat and chatted up a bit and then Spike dropped off his first cook book!!!
The Good Stuff Cookbook, click away on the title to order straight from Amazon. The pictures remind me of a book I like called Zest. His food pictures are so close up they feel like they are on a plate in front of you and the typeface is easy on the eyes. Gooooo Spike!!! I checked the book out and when I looked up there was a delivery of dessert!!
That's his toasted marshmallow shake. It was thick and had a custard flavor like no other! I already knew from this past year's South Beach Food and Wine Festival that he knew how to make a shake, so this was a nice treat.
I sipped half at the table and took the rest back to my hotel room for a slow-sip I.V. the rest of the night.

I'm actually pulling into NYC's Penn station now ... gotta get off my lapper ... more later on the event!!