Food, Glorious Food: NYC Events for Gourmets, Gourmands & the Culinary Minded
By Troy Segal
In honor of the kickoff of NYC Restaurant Week — when restaurants all over town bring out their best, for insanely good prices — we serve up a variety of talks, activities, and festivals guaranteed to make your mouth water over the next few months.
At The Hops: Citi Field becomes the site of a different type of Great American Pastime — namely, having a brew — at the Bacon and Beer Classic, July 26. As the name implies, there’ll be suds aplenty from microbreweries (many of them native to NYC or NY State), coupled with bacon-heavy bites from local eateries, including, say, a bacon-bedecked slider by Bareburger and Ronnie-Sue’s chocolate-coated bacon strips. A big selection of brews (and hard ciders, too), along with a more varied food menu, is yours for the tasting at Edible Manhattan’s Good Beer pairing event, a week later, on July 31, at 82 Mercer.
Dim Sum And Then Some: A trip to Chinatown for some authentic Asian eats is a NYC tradition. Learn all about the different sorts of establishments — “From Coffeehouses to Banquet Halls” — and they reflect the quarter’s metamorphosis from bachelors’ den to family neighborhood, in this guided tour offered by the Museum of Chinese in America, July 26 & August 30.
Credit: nybg.org
Mangia, Mangia: Superstar chef Mario Batali planted some vegetable and herb gardens at the New York Botanical Garden a while back, and now his efforts are bearing fruit — so to speak. All are cordially invited to family dinners on July 27, August 10, September 14 & 21, cooked by chefs from the maestro’s restaurants and Eataly food hall — three-course affairs full of fresh, seasonal produce.
What’s For Dinner? Food historian Mark Kurlansky (Cod) and his daughter Talia had a unique way of deciding: She’d pick a spot on a spinning globe, and that would dictate the sort of meal they’d have. The two discuss their Friday International Night tradition at the 92nd Street Y, August 19.
Photo: The Food Network
The Daily Grind: If anyone can be called a celebrity butcher, it’s Pat LaFrieda, Jr., who’s famed for creating customized ground-meat blends for different restaurants. He and his papa, Pat LaFrieda, Sr., describe their family’s century-old adventures in the beef business, at the 92nd Street Y, September 9.