15th Annual Chefs in Shorts Event @Seaport Hotel/World Trade Center Boston

  I didn't get a great pic of this awesome projected image.  Credit: The Boston Foodie

What a wonderful event!  Even after torrential rains and residual drizzle, I'd say it's one of the best events I've attended outdoors in some time.  We'd experienced an unusual heatwave, so the rain was welcomed, I'm sure, by many!

Proceeds support Future Chefs whose mission is below.

"Future Chefs prepares urban youth in Greater Boston for quality early employment and post-secondary education opportunities in the culinary field and supports them in developing a broad base of transferable skills as they transition into the working world."

It was great meeting the young culinary artists.  They worked the event with great enthusiasm and really seemed to enjoy themselves!

Over 40 chefs/restaurants participated!

My lovely friend & assistant for the evening Jessenia and I

Mela Modern Indian Cuisine

Chef Ranveer Brar prepared a delicious Chicken Dosa.

Time to make the crepes!

Spicy Chicken Dosa!

Future chefs at the Mela table preparing the dosa!

Rosa Mexicano

Chef Darren Carbonne served up Rosa's famous guacamole (made table side in the restaurant) and a pulled pork taco.

Rosa Mexicano's table

Rosa Mexicano's guacamole, chips, salsa verde, and pulled pork taco.

Jerry Remy's

Chef Jackie Kelly served a Chicken Soffrito.  The best part of the dish for me was the charred pineapple relish.

Chef Jackie was not at the table during our visit, but this gentleman was a lot of fun!

Haru

Haru is one of my favorite places to hang in Back Bay. Chef Alex Aratake has real talent!  He served tender, grilled teriyaki rib eye with a jalapeño sauce and grilled curried cauliflower!

Trina's Starlight Lounge

The talented Chef Suzi Maitland prepared a wonderful pork slider topped with mango slaw!  I loved it!  The pork was cooked table side on an open grill and was so tender with flecks of fresh ginger that really stood out.
It was also her birthday!

Attendee Anthony Riviera, from Back Bay by way of Chicago said,  "The pork is good.  Not dry but very juicy! You can't go wrong with pork!  Mango sauce is a bit of a gamble because I normally don't like mango, but THIS I LIKE!"

I also enjoyed chatting with Chef Suzi's sister visiting from Chicago. I can't wait to receive her recommendations for my next trip to Chicago in a few weeks!

Bambara Restaurant
I just remembered that I meant to ask Chef Jay Silva if he was familiar with my favorite rum in Turks & Caicos that bears his restaurant's name :0)

Me and Chef Jay Silva of Bambara

Chef Jay served beef short ribs braised for 12 hours with Peruvian peppers (which I am now obsessed with since my recent trip to Vancouver---of all places), glazed onion and beer.  The ribs were then finished on the grill over high heat for carmelizing.  They were topped a mango-pineapple chutney.  Very good!

Chef Jay also shared that buys from local farms and fishermen.  He gets his lobster from Snappy's out of Scituate where Larry Trowbridge and partner Chef Adam Fuller provide fresh, locally-caught seafood!

Jay's Sous chef extraordinaire!

 ArtBar

Chef Brian Dandro served a wonderful amuse-bouche of five-spiced grilled shrimp, lime zest and panna cotta with salsa on a French baguette!  I wish I had a better picture to share with you all.

 

Summer Winter Restaurant

Me and Chef Podolski with a cameo by the tasty taco!

Chef de cuisine, Todd Podolski served a taco stuffed with braised beef brisket topped with habenero bbq sauce and creamy queso fresco.  The sauces (sold in the restaurant & online) were amazing and on display as was owners/chefs Mark & Clark's cookbook!

Sofra Bakery & Cafe

Sofra offered an amazing goat gyro.  The goat's meat was smoked, braised, and shredded; seasoned with beautifully and topped with a perfect tzatziki sauce and pickled red onion.  The mini pitas were dusted with cumin.  It was an amazing dish.

Goat gyros

 Future Chef Kency Mondesir, Chef de cuisine Scott Ryan, and me

I was super impressed with Future Chef Kency!  Not only did she land from a cross country trip just hours before the event, she was intelligent, friendly, and enthusiastic.  I can't say I would have been able to pull that off!

Legals Seafood Test Kitchen

Chef Patrick Keefe, Culinary Director at LTK presented a lovely, moist yellow fin tuna burger.  It was accompanied by black rice salad with asiago cheese, carrots, whole peanuts and grains.  It was a wonderful crunchy contrast to the tuna burger.

Temazcal Tequila Cantina

Chef Todd Hall prepared an amazing clay-roasted whole turkey! It was quite a treat!

Whole turkey encased in clay!

The clay is from Arizona and the turkey is roasted inside for 4-5 hours!  The clay really does help the bird retain all juices.  The turkey was then sliced and placed on a tortilla topped with mole, shaved cabbage, and sliced radish.

Turkey after the clay has been cracked

I also enjoyed a grilled salmon taco topped with salsa verde and toasted coconut!  It was fantastic!

David (an attendant) from South Boston said, "It's very moist and balanced.  The spicy sauce was very good!"

I really enjoyed this event.  Next year, I hope to try many more samples!  

A great cause with good food makes this foodie VERY happy!

Hamersley Bistro, 553 Tremont Street Boston, MA

Menu cover designed by Randy

www.dailybag.com

Succulent had NO real meaning before my latest dinner experience at my friend Chef Gordon Hamersley's Bistro!  I am now reserving this adjective for meals and dishes on Chef H's level!  He has set a new bar for all others to strive towards!


Now, Chef Hamersley has been a friend (on twitter and beyond) of mine since I'd say mid to late winter 2011-2012.  I enjoyed a delicious lunch at Hamersley Bistro during the Super Hunger Month charity weekend benefiting The Greater Boston Food Bank.  Twenty-three restaurants donated their food, time, and fine service to offer a $25, $35, or $50 brunch to nearly 1600 guests – all to benefit The Greater Boston Food Bank.  The event raised $68,406 for GBFB – enough for us to distribute food to provide 159,177 meals to those in need;
and also enjoyed a few great dishes at various food events.


I attended the brunch in support of the cause and left with a sense of Chef Gordon's spirit after a very brief encounter that day.  Since, I've dedicated a few moments to things I enjoy the most: Noteworthy charity events combined with food+cocktails+great chefs!  More often than not, Chef Gordon was present and an active participant at numerous food/cooking themed charity events that I either attended or was unable to attend due to schedule conflicts.

Even during our familiar chat and exchange when I ventured into the dining area just past the open kitchen (we were seated outdoors), I was surprised to see him as I assumed he'd be working to feed the needy with his talent elsewhere in New England! :-)

Ok...I'm done gushing ;0) On to the meal!

Our servers Peter (photo below) and Jose were excellent.  Peter was such a sweet heart and so gracious.

Starters:

Crispy Duck Confit with Spring Garlic Custard and Rhubarb Aigre-Doux

The duck was amazing with crisp skin and tender, moist meat.  The rhubarb aigre-doux was a nice addition and the spring garlic custard was light and airy!

Tiny Duck Meatballs in Sherry Broth and Parmesan

The duck meatballs were divine.  Loved the sherry broth!


We started with glasses of Schamberg's Brut Rose which became a favorite of mine during a sparkling wine tasting at Chef Jim Solomon's The Fireplace.
With dinner, we ordered a lovely bottle of 2009 Cantina Zaccagnini Montepulciano d'abruzzo!

Main Course:

Seared Sea Scallops and Foie Gras with Braised Endives,
          Cipollini Onions and Roasted Lemon Sauce

Scallops are usually hit or miss with me.  I actually enjoyed them and the pan-seared foie gras of course was a hit.  The sauce contained the oh-so-trendy stone-ground mustard and was actually a nice touch to balance the sweet scallops and rich foie gras!

Chef Gordon's Infamous Roast Chicken with Garlic, Lemon and Parsley

Of course the chicken was amazing!  Didn't expect anything different!


The highlight of my evening was the wonderfully tender Spring Rabbit with Persian Spiced Chickpeas, Preserved Lemon, Green Peas and Pistachios: A lovely dish!  

Spring Rabbit

Dessert:

Chef Gordon then graced us with two lovely desserts!


The Rhubarb-Frangipane Tart with Ginger Sauce and Golden Meringue, left me and my friend fetching for words.  I actually paused mid-sentence when I took my first bite!  It was absolutely heavenly!

The Tart

The Warm Chocolate Molten Cake with Raspberry Ice Cream was equally fantastic: dark, rich, warm chocolate with an amazing raspberry ice cream, garnished with a mint leaf!  Loved it!

Molten Cake & Raspberry Ice Cream

Chef Gordon is a master in his kitchen and an all around good guy!

Look out for his Summer Menu!  I'm sure it will be fabulous!

Please Hamersley's Bistro SOON! 

New England (Boston) Food Truck Festival @ UMASS

The day didn't start off the best with the poor organization of this festival.  VIP ticket holders had the benefit of beginning one hour earlier at 11 a.m., which I'm sure most attendees were aware of and could appreciate. The general ticket holders, however, were not warned that though they stood in line for close to an hour or more, they would be turned away at the check-in table.  It would have made more sense to have the volunteer line-runners inform those general ticket holders versus allowing them to get to the front of the line only to be turned away. It was quite bizarre!
Several aggravated, overheated patrons, myself included. voiced their frustrations to no avail.  The volunteers at the check-in table informed us that the phone apps would not allow them to check in general admission tickets until noon.  We were all very frustrated and I hope the next event runs more smoothly.


Once checked in,we received a ticket book.  Each ticket had a single number which corresponded with a number displayed on each truck. Unfortunately, only one item could be ordered per truck and trucks were not allowed to sell additional items for cash.  A few of the ticket books were missing numbers 2 through10 due to a printing error.  This led to a problem ordering from trucks with the corresponding tickets as they were leery of accepting the extra tickets (as the "Foodie Official" volunteers advised patrons) for fear that they would not get paid for tickets with the wrong number.  Here is another instance of the festival folks apparent inability to communicate effectively.

I tried a number of items, but with the lines becoming outrageously long (not surprisingly so), I could not make it to each truck.  I definitely recommend purchasing a VIP ticket which were sold out on Travelzoo when we purchased our general admission tickets months ago.

Del's Frozen Lemonade was much needed after waiting in the line for over an hour.  I was peering over at the truck for the entire wait so I dashed over there first chance I got!

Away Cafe served the worst food of the day.  

Thai Basil Wings.  They were bland and unappealing.

Away Cafe's dumpling...with peas & carrots???  I was SO confused!

Delicious chipotle & wasabi coleslaw topped with Maine Lobster claw meat

I washed the lobster coleslaw with a cold blueberry soda!

The Chubby Chickpea made great falafel with a spicy hummus!

 

The pork sandwich at Mei Mei Truck was fantastic as expected.  They never disappoint!  Served on a flavorful scallion pancakes, it was topped with homemade cranberry sauce which cut the richness as did the brie!

The Green Monster Ball by Mei Mei

 

 

 The pulled pork sandwich from the Dining Car was a huge disappointment.  It lacked flavor and the sauce was watery.

Pulled pork sandwich

However, their signature crispy cauliflower was awesome!  It was drizzled with curry aioli!  They also served a great, refreshing rosemary lemonade.

Crispy cauliflower

Go Fish! Brother Trucker served a good chowder but the highlight was the seafood fritters! The spicy (horseradish?) was phenomenal!

Though I've tried it before, I had to get a bacon grilled cheese sandwich from Grilled Cheese Nation!  Unfortunately, I was too exhausted to stand in the Roxy's line, but GCN got the job done!

 

After the terribly rocky start, I'd say the festival went well.  I can only hope that they become more organized and work on their communication with customers in the future.  

http://foodtruckfestivalsofne.com/