Earlier this month @ArielleKlein and I got to enjoy the annual Kosher Food & Wine Experience at Chelsea Piers in NYC. If you haven’t been, it’s basically a large event space with 30-40 booths of kosher restaurants and caterers and another 30-40 tables of kosher wineries from around the world (but mainly the US & Israel of course). Thousands of Jews of all shapes and sizes attend, and it’s a generally fun event all around.
Attending specifically to capture the “best” food, I forcibly had to pull myself away from shmoozing with my friends who I haven’t seen in months / years, (or ever since we met on Twitter), and make sure to try ALL the food put forth by the restaurants … or whatever is available when I get to their table.
Arielle already wrote about her favorite dessert dishes from this year’s event, which you can read here.
Based on what I tried this year, here are my favorites:
- Abigael’s – Vietnamese Chicken: Stir Fried Bell Peppers, Napa Cabbage and Bok Choy with sweet & sour sauce. Well presented.
- Basil – Artic Char & Icelandic Cod Crudos: 1) Artic Char, Kirby pickle with Salmon roe caviar, avocado mousse and jalapeño + 2) Icelandic Code Crudo with grape/caper tapenade. Very different and excellent choice for a dairy restaurant at a heavily meat event.
- Le Marais – Grilled Hanger Steak: with a ragu of winter veggies. Prepared hot, cooked perfectly, juicy and soft. Delicious.
- The Prime Grill – Porcini Kobe Sliders. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought there was cheese on it. My favorite of the night.
Disappointed by:
- Citron and Rose – Kasha & Mushroom Knish: smoked kasha, wild mushrooms and potato with carrot mustard and tsimmes. Was just underwhelmed by this choice from the new fancy Philly restaurant that I’ve heard such great things about.
Other mentions:
- Pardes had an interesting dish that had many unique ingredients and flavors, but I think it was just too out there. Sometimes simple is better. They are quite inventive though.
While I didn’t focus on the non-restaurants in attendance there were two tables I have to mention:
- Hakadosh BBQ – 15 our Apple & Hickory Wood Smoked Beef Brisket
- Jack’s Gourmet – Facon (fake bacon)
I loved that hanger steak – was a favorite of mine!
I have to disagree on the hangar steak ( could have been my piece, but it was tough and had bad mouth-feel but the veggies were good) and I have to agree on the Basil crudo with grape/caper tapenade.
Great roundup! My favorite of the night was definitely that burger from Prime Grill. I think I told every person I saw to go over and get that burger :)
great post, love that you put your favorites!
I’m not much of a meat eater so i would agree with a great review of Basil’s Arctic Char. Overall it was a great event to meet gourmet kosher food vendors from all over the world.
I want that burger, that is all everyone is talking about!
[…] have been attending the KFWE events in NYC for the past few years. You can read about them here: 2013, 2013 desserts, 2012, and in 2011. This year, they are running a 2nd event in South Florida at the […]