My
first experience at the LUCKYRICE festival was the celebrity-chef studded Grand
Feast which was held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel at Columbus Circle in New
York City. And what a feast it was. Star chefs from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and
Japan served their best authentic dishes.
And, to complement the diverse Asian cuisine, sake and shochu from Japan
were served in addition to premium wines, Thai beer, French cognac, champagne and
specialty cocktails.
As
always, whenever I attend one of these culinary events, I get some photos or no
photos. With such crowded venues, it
could be difficult to sip, click and taste all the time, but I attempted to get
a few (very few) photos. Some are good,
yet most are bad--the photos, that is.
But, I have to say that chatting with certain chefs was, by far, the
best experience of the evening.
Since
we were early (I am "always" early for every event, meeting,
interview--you name it), we tried to get a seat at the bar/lounge at Per Se
prior to heading to the Mandarin Oriental.
At 6:15 p.m. on a Friday night.
Not happening. I've had dinner
there, but wanted to experience just the lounge. Maybe another time.
So
we proceeded to one of the other establishments in Columbus Circle, and ended
up at the Post House, Michael Lomonaco's steak house, which we've been to
several times before.
Actually, it is
the former convoluted V Steakhouse that Jean-Georges opened back in/around early
2003 and subsequently closed down. Because
it was the eve of the Kentucky Derby, there was only one drink to order. A
mint julep. The very nice attentive bartender did an excellent job creating one
for us. Having bartended myself, I know
what it's like to get requests for drinks that are out of the ordinary. Making a mint julep is not just opening a
bottle of beer. There's muddling of
fresh mint involved, simple syrup, bourbon, and ice. Did I say muddling? And we know how much bartenders love
to muddle drinks. Most can't stand
making drinks in a blender, let alone using a stick to chop up fresh herbs in
the bottom of a glass. It takes at least
five times longer to make a muddled drink versus just pouring bourbon, or
scotch, into a glass on the rocks.
After
The Post House it was time to head to the Festival. As I expected, it was very crowded and most of
the chefs left early to head over to the James Beard Awards (for Journalism),
which was being held at Lincoln Center.
The
first dish we tried was one of my favorites. It was edamame dumplings with a
shallot-sauternes broth from Buddakan. A
restaurant in my town used to make this particular dish since their chef was a
former employee of Buddakan. Unfortunately,
they closed down about a year ago. I
enjoyed having this dish again, and although I've made it myself, the best part
was no dishes to wash.
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| Buddakan Display |
 |
| Edamame Dumplings |
Chef
Ming Tsai of Blue Ginger in Boston made an awesome red roast duck with crispy
rice on gingered spaghetti squash with a sambai-lime puree. I can't say anything else about this, other than it is
Chef Ming Tsai and the description says it all.
 |
| Chef Ming Tsai |
 |
| Red Roast Duck |
 |
| Chef Ming Tsai |
Chef Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern prepared snapper with dashi and trout
roe. Chef Anthony has always been one of
my favorite chefs in NYC, and it was great to see him again. And, of course, his dish was another winner.
 |
| Snapper With Dashi and Trout |
 |
| Chef Michael Anthony |
I
also had the pleasure of meeting Chef Susar Lee. I've always enjoyed reading about his work or
watching him create and cook on Iron Chef
America and Top Chef Masters. He is extremely nice and has such a pleasant
personality and his Hong Kong shrimp taro toast was incredible.
 |
| Chef Susar Lee |
 |
| Chef Angelo Sosa |
 |
| Jeffrey Steingarten of Vogue Magazine |
And,
the epitome of Asian chefs, in my opinion, is Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. His signature spicy king crab legs dish is another
favorite. I've had it many times at his
restaurant in NYC and also make it at home whenever I purchase Alaskan king
crab legs.
 |
| Spicy King Crab Legs |
We chatted with the Chef himself
and attempted to get a new photo. I'm
disappointed that the photo didn't come out very well. Are there any apps out there that can turn a
blurry photo into a clear one?
 |
| Iron Chef Morimoto |
 |
| Chattting with Chef Todd English |
 |
| Dusse Drink Preparation |
 |
| Sake |
All
in all, blurry photos aside, it was a good food event and we decided to add it
to the list for next year.
Since
we were early (I am "always" early for every event, meeting,
interview--you name it), we tried to get a seat at the bar/lounge at Per Se
prior to heading to the Mandarin Oriental.
At 6:15 p.m. on a Friday night.
Not happening. I've had dinner
there, but wanted to experience just the lounge. Maybe another time. 
