By: Talia Rona, YTK Editor
As a passionate kosher foodie, I was more than happy to represent YeahThatsKosher.com at the Kosher Food & Wine Experience (KFWE) this year, since Dani was in Uruguay for the week. You can read Dani’s previous KFWE posts here.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, KFWE is an annual event where various kosher wine companies and upscale kosher restaurants come to showcase their wine/food, and excited Jews go for a night of gluttonous pleasure. I was super excited to attend, especially because this year they added a new attraction– dessert and cocktails served on a yacht adjacent to their usual Chelsea Piers location!
When you arrive, every guest is handed a pre-toiveled wine glass for tasting all the wines (they rinse it in between each wine, have no fear) and a notebook with a pen to take notes on all the wines & dishes at the event.
The first booth I stopped at was the Prime Hospitality Group, best known for their restaurant Prime Grill, as well as a handful of other kosher eateries in NYC. The executive chef, David Kolotkin, was especially friendly, and the waffle encrusted chicken was divine! I had seconds before I headed on to the next booth.
Wolf & Lamb was serving apricot wrapped in pastrami with pineapple chutney & micro greens, a bunch of random flavors that blended together really well and was quite good.
My favorite dish of the night was a beef spring roll served with barbecue potato salad from Glatt-a-la-Carte. I was kind of surprised because I expected the Manhattan restaurants to be more impressive, but this Boro Park eatery outshone them all!
Basil, which is opening up a meat version of their popular Crown Heights dairy place in the Fall of 2014, was represented at KFWE, odd because most of the restaurants there were meat. Although in general I am a fan of Basil, I was not impressed with their sample at all. It was basically a cucumber with some smoked salmon on top.
Similarly, Le Marais, a personal favorite as an easy, go-to place that’s not crazy expensive where you know you can always get a good steak, also did not impress.
Maybe my tastebuds aren’t sophisticated enough to appreciate it, but their hanger steak was served super rare and really salty — not my thing.
I’m no wine connoisseur, but I did try out a couple of them. I really liked Jeunesse’s Black Muscat, but again, I’m no expert.
The coolest part of the event was definitely the dessert yacht. While food was sparse (just a couple of brownies and some individual ice cream desserts), they had cocktails that were divine.
The apple sangria was amazing, and Walder’s mixed their vanilla + vodka with pineapple and mango juice for the most girly/yummy drink ever.
Overall, aside from the long line to get in and check your coat, the event was really well run, the food was a 9/10, the venue was perfect, and the crowd was enthusiastic. Looking forward to KFWE 2015!
