Eric Gabryonwicz made a comment during our Tavern interview that didn’t make it into the video. He said, “The Hudson Valley is growing into a food capital.”

As I surveyed the enormous Harvest-on-Hudson dining room at the HV Restaurant Week kick-off reception, I understood what he meant.  This was a gathering of chefs, restaurateurs, farmers, food suppliers, tourism leaders and media members, all celebrating the bounty of the Valley.

It’s quite a bounty.  There are amazing products coming out of our region: award-winning wines, craft beers, artisanal cheeses, farm-raised meat and poultry, locally grown produce… not to mention the tremendous restaurants, many of which utilize those local ingredients. Eric was right, we are growing into a food capital!

And this will be the biggest HV Restaurant Week yet, running from March 15th-March 29th, with more than 135 participating restaurants.  Had your eye on a particular restaurant?  Now’s the time to try it!

Small Bites guest blogger, Linda Lombroso, wrote a nice post about the kick-off and the various attendees.  So as not to repeat what she already covered, I’ll report on a different angle: what we ate.  Harvest-on-Hudson not only hosted the reception but provided an impressive spread of food; local purveyors and sponsors also set up tables throughout the room, serving up samples of food and drink.

Conclusion: We ate and drank well.  Very, very well.

First off, isn’t Harvest-on-Hudson a beautiful space for an event?

I brought along my friend Jillian because she’s a food lover and I knew she would have a good time.  The two of us prowled the room sampling everything there was to offer.

We had barely walked in the door when we were presented with these strawberry cocktails.  I’m not even sure what alcohol was in them, but they went down real easy.

So did these: Hendrick Hudson gin with a piece of cucumber.  Who knew cucumber went so well with gin?

We were served two types of pizza: one sprinkled simply with basil, and another of fig, goat cheese and prosciutto — one of our clear favorites of the night.

I was horrified to learn that Jillian dislikes prosciutto.  She had me pick it off her slice and put it on mine, which I did, gladly. Prosciutto must never go to waste.

There were juicy lamb spring rolls.

Plus bacalao, beef empanadas, and a first for both of us, rabbit rillete on garlic toast.

I hesitated before taking the bite, unsure of what to expect. Would it be gamey? Rabbity?  Surprisingly, neither.  Just intensely flavored and smooth, almost like a bean dip.

A bite of American caviar.

Baldor Specialty Foods had a table where they showed off their meat and poultry products.

For the second time in my life, I tried foie gras.

There’s a texture and finish about foie gras that I’m just not able to enjoy yet.   May require a third try.

But the spicy pulled pork sliders with cucumber — those I could get behind.

We ate carrot bread, sunflower pesto, and another huge favorite, duck tacos with guacamole and bruschetta. Drippy and messy and delicious.

But for Jillian and me, nothing topped the crispy/creamy white truffle potato croquettes, which I believe we snagged on the first, second and third passes.

I think it was at this point when one of the servers pointed out, “I keep coming around to you two because I know you’re going to eat it.”  Yup, pretty much!

There were so many excellent local cheeses, like these huge hunks of parmesan and romano.

Here one of the vendors pointed out the drunken manchego to Jillian.

I love drunken manchego; it was served with a brightly flavored quince paste.

Holy Chicken!  Chicken bacon.

And chicken sliders.

Several vineyards were represented with their wines. Tuthilltown Spirits showed off their products, including their Hudson River Rum. One sip almost knocked me out — that was seriously potent and oaky rum.  I also tried their absinthe.

Hands down though, the drink that wowed us was the Kopparberg pear cider.

Served on ice, it was incredibly cooling and refreshing.  We just couldn’t get enough of that stuff, and the vendor gave Jillian a bottle to take home with her.

Of course, Harvest also provided an ample selection of desserts.

Our plate of cake, brownie, key lime pie and cream puff.

Lastly, at the Red Barn Produce table, they were taking photos of guests and putting them on complimentary fridge magnets.  So here it is on my fridge, a reminder of a fun night with interesting people and great food.

Where will you be heading for Restaurant Week?

Absinthe’s making a comeback.  The anise-flavored, highly alcoholic spirit — once thought to provoke psychosis and hallucinations – was banned in the United States in 1912.  Took almost 100 years, but now it’s back, having been made legal in 2007.  If you enjoy the flavor of black licorice, then absinthe’s for you.

Had my first taste of it tonight at Pour Cafe & Wine Bar and liked it quite a bit. (No hallucinations either!) The fun is in the presentation ritual, called La Louche:

First, absinthe is poured into a glass.  The absinthe spoon is laid across the top of the glass, and a cube of sugar is placed on the spoon.  Then ice-cold water is poured through a funnel into the glass, dissolving the sugar and diluting the absinthe. (Good thing too — this absinthe was 136 proof.  I would have been on the floor after one sip.)  The ice water also transforms the color of the mixture into a milky green, and that transformation is called the “louche.”

I got the presentation on camera, but dropped the audio out, because my inane yammering was really annoying.  So you’ll just have to imagine the sound of that little spout flipping back and forth with a tic tic tic tic tic tic…

Essentially, that’s what I set out to do when presented with The Ritz-Carlton’s dessert sampler of champagne, six desserts and two warm drinks: graze and move.  But then everything was so damn good, I ended up eating way more than planned, and honestly, if it wasn’t for trying to maintain a shred of dignity, I would have polished off every last bite without much of a problem.

The Ritz-Carlton is celebrating “Classic Desserts Redefined” by offering several comfort desserts and beverages in the Lobby Lounge for the next three months, possibly even longer.  To select the desserts that would become part of the menu, Ritz-Carlton pastry chefs from around the country gathered together and refined the recipes.  I don’t know if they need tasting volunteers for the next time they do that, but, um, I’m available.

I was lucky enough on this occasion to sample the entire dessert menu.  Tough job, to be sure, but I took one for the team in order to pass the information on to you.  I hope you appreciate the sacrifice.

For starters, a lightly fruity concoction of St. Germain liqueur and Moët & Chandon Brut champagne.

Then the pastry chefs brought over the artfully presented desserts and placed them on a series of stands, one higher than the next.

To the far right was a double fudge chocolate cake with chocolate almonds.

The Executive Chef suggested that I start with the chocolate cake and work my way to the left.  When I asked why, he explained that unlike wine tasting, where you go from light wines to heavy, with desserts it’s preferable to start heavy and end with the light and creamy.

Moving on to plate two: On the right, an ice cream sundae with chocolate brownies and caramel sauce; on the left, my favorite, key lime pie topped with lime zest and accompanied by a jam-filled macaroon.

I can’t remember the last time I had an ice cream sundae, and now I’m reminded why they’re so popular — it’s that awesome contrast of cold, creamy vanilla ice cream and warm chocolate and caramel sauces. The not-too-sweet brownie pieces were a great addition.

The key lime pie was super smooth and tart, and I loved the thin graham cracker crust.

Plate three (are you trying to reach through your computer screen yet?), starting at the right and moving clockwise: Carrot cake with a slice of roasted pineapple sitting on top, cheesecake with marinated strawberries, and creme brulee.

The pineapple made the carrot cake for me; the cheesecake was exceptionally light and fluffy (not one of those gut bomb cheesecakes you sometimes get), and the creme brulee… a crack crack crack with my spoon and I was through the hard crust and into the silky soft custard.  That’s heaven in a cup. It’s a toss-up which was my favorite, but it’s between the key lime pie and the creme brulee.

I had barely taken a deep breath to recover when the warm drinks arrived.  These were desserts unto themselves.

An almond chocolate coffee with amaretto, Bailey’s and Godiva chocolate.

And a mocha cafe with cognac, Godiva and Kahlua.

Whoo — that cognac had some kick!  And is there anything that’s not elevated with Bailey’s in it?

Before I left, I was given a booklet with the recipes for all of the above desserts.  They’re surprisingly straightforward. Looking forward to trying one.

This was the epitome of decadence, the sugar rush to end all sugar rushes.  The hotel staff called a cab and rolled me through the lobby and out into the street.  Okay, that’s not true.  What really happened is that I ran, no sprinted to the gym, and bounced off the walls like a ten-year old on Halloween night.

My suggestion: Pay a visit to the Ritz’s Lobby Lounge, and have a sugar rush of your own.

The Ritz-Carlton
Three Renaissance Square
White Plains, NY
914-946-5500

Take for example an event in the city with author and Food Network host, Dave Lieberman.

Dave’s got a new cookbook, The 10 Things You Need to Eat: And More Than 100 Easy and Delicious Ways to Prepare Them, and he was at a culinary loft in Soho to do a cooking demonstration and show off a few of his recipes. Danielle received an invite as part of her job, so she brought along her little food blogger friend — me.

The crowd included media types, photographers, a camera crew and several other bloggers.

Here’s the cover of his new cookbook.  It’s got some good info and nice recipes, focusing on healthy ingredients and easy preparation.

Dave had the guests do a bit of hands-on cooking.

Danielle put on her apron and went to work on the chipotle, corn and squash chowder, under the watchful eye of one of the food stylists. Food stylist — how do I get that job??

Unfortunately, Danielle’s masterpiece was whisked away before we had a chance to try it (Did they not trust her cooking prowess?). But we did receive samples from the kitchen.  The chowder was great — sweet from the squash with a smoky and spicy kick from the chipotles.

Really liked the chicken cacciatore too, cooked to a perfect fork-tender.

Then it was on to the desserts, which included interestingly, beets as an ingredient. Like this beet chocolate cake.

And chocolate beet cupcakes.

Sounds strange, but it worked.  The beets lent the cake and cupcakes a natural sweetness and beetiness. I imagine this would be a useful recipe for parents trying to slip veggies past their picky kids.

Someone on Twitter requested that I ask Dave if he’s single, but I completely forgot. Whoops.  Anyway, thanks to Danielle for inviting me to tag along. This food geek had a good time.

What’s great about it?  Well, lots of things: gorgeous scenery, the sweet smell and serene open space of the orchard, the elusive search for the perfect apple, pumpkin patches, cider, and of course, donuts hot out of the fryer.

Apparently, others agree.

I’m a Wilkens Farm guy.  Hadn’t been to Outhouse Orchards in several years.  Holy crap was it packed.  People everywhere double fisting funnel cake and pizza.  Put it this way: When an orchard — an orchard — requires traffic cops?  It’s crowded.

Thankfully, most of the crowd was on the farmstand side where all the food and activities were.  The orchards themselves across the street were fine — much more manageable.

My friend Danielle and I carefully scrutinized the orchard rules. As it turned out, we would violate rules #3 and #4, and fully understand why they included rule #7.

Because it’s late in the season, the remaining apples were high up in the trees, requiring a picker.  It was heavier than I remembered, but we got pretty good at snagging apples with it.

Let me tell you, we worked for our apples.  They were up there. Slowly, the bag began to fill.  This apple was particularly nice.

Rule #4: No Climbing Trees
Good in theory, but the apples were so high up that Danielle and I had no choice but to get up in those branches to reach them. Plus, we both like climbing and it was really fun.  Shhh, you didn’t hear that from me.

Rule #3: No Throwing Apples
Umm… yeah, we violated that too.

Rule #7: Pick at Your Own Risk
The strategy with the picker is to work the apple off the branch so that it falls into the bag at the end of the picker.  Problem is, half the time the apples miss the bag and fall to the ground, so it’s like an apple air raid.

Incoming!

I took one apple square in the face. That hurt.  Danielle and I joked that we should have worn our bike helmets.

By the time we were done, our bag was ready to spill over.

And we’d worked up an appetite.  Time to head across the street to the food court and the sea of humanity…

Where there was a lot of food, for human and non-human consumption.  Like these gourmet dog treats.

The calzones looked good.

So did the enormous turkey drumsticks, although they reminded us of one of those creepy Renaissance fairs where the guys in tights take their role-playing just a little TOO seriously.

I don’t have a picture, but there was one stand handing out free samples of pumpkin cheesecake.  Delicious.  And not cheap.  The cheesecakes were $20 a pop.  Later, while waiting in the donut line, a girl — who let’s just say looked like she was used to getting her way — came up to her boyfriend with one of the samples.

“Pumpkin cheesecake.  It’s unreal,” she said to him.  ”We need one, right?”

We wandered through all the food stands weighing the options, including a BBQ stand serving beef brisket sandwiches.

“I think I want the brisket,” Danielle said.

I agreed.  ”Me too.”

So it was back over to the BBQ stand, where a man was wiping “brisket” off the dry erase board.  A moment’s indecision and this was the result: sold out.

Terribly disappointing.  Once your mind is set on something, that’s all you want. We shuffled away with sad looks on our faces, and continued the search, ending up somewhere near the giant turkey legs.

But every once in a while, a person performs a gesture that makes you think, “Gee, that was extremely thoughtful.”  We turned around, and it was the woman from the BBQ stand, who had somehow tracked us down through the thick crowd to tell us, “I have enough for one more brisket sandwich.”

Wasn’t that nice of her?

“She must have seen how disappointed we were,” Danielle noted.

The nice lady prepared our sandwich and only charged us a few bucks for it.  A little hot sauce and North Carolina vinegar sauce on top, and we dug in.  It was excellent — all the bits she had scrounged up were tender and flavorful.

Thank you again to the BBQ lady!

Finally, no visit to an apple orchard is complete without a pilgrimage for cider donuts.  Just like at Wilkens Farm, the line snakes out the door, and you end up waiting a good 30 minutes or more.  I compared it on Twitter to a line at the DMV, only this line smells much, much better.

It’s an exciting moment when you finally reach the counter. You’ve been waiting forever, and now, at last, you’ve made it.

A hot batch of donuts was coming out of the fryer and being sprinkled with cinnamon just as we reached the window.

We ordered a half dozen cinnamon, and took the steaming hot bag outside to sit down.

Maybe it’s because they were so fresh and warm, but I dare say these were some of the best donuts I’ve eaten since my family’s trips to Schultz’s in Armonk.

I sipped hot cider, and we munched on our donuts.  Later, Danielle and I split up our freshly picked apples and I began planning out several recipes.

Apple picking is the best.

Outhouse Orchards
130 Hardscrabble Rd.
North Salem, NY
914-277-3188

You run a business that attracts a steady stream of affluent customers, who are drawn in by the prestige of your name and are willing to pay your high prices. Your customers accept and forgive missteps in the quality of your product, because they understand that your workers are apprentices still learning their trade. You pay no labor costs. In fact, your labor force pays YOU for the opportunity to work.

Now that’s a good business model, wouldn’t you say?  Money in the bank.

Welcome to the American Bounty Restaurant at The Culinary Institute of America.

Even on an overcast evening, you’d have to be blind not to notice that The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park is a beautiful place.  I suppose it should be — the CIA’s the premier culinary college in the country.  Here’s an aerial view from their website:

Still, my parents and I, the inquisitive folks that we are, wondered, how does the CIA have so much money?

The answer became clear when scanning the names of campus buildings:

Anheuser-Busch Theater
Marriott Center for Career Services
General Foods Nutrition Center
Colavita Center for Italian Food and Wine

Ah, okay, that explains a lot.

The CIA operates four on-campus, student-run restaurants, including American Bounty.  It’s a handsome restaurant.

We were seated not far from the open kitchen, viewable through the window.

The pastry chefs are front and center.  I don’t know about you, but I’d find it pretty unnerving trying to do my job with a bunch of gawking diners (with cameras) looking on.

Again, American Bounty is student-run.  They’re not being paid to work in the restaurant; this is part of their coursework.

We found out from our server that students work as cooks, pastry chefs and waitstaff, doing three-week rotations of each. Our server had just come out of his kitchen rotation and was on his final rotation as a server — this was only his second day.

He did a fairly nice job.  We only noticed two obvious errors: reaching across my mom to place her roll on the plate, and placing my knife down facing the wrong direction.

A few more interesting tidbits of inside information, courtesy of our server:

1) Yelling, screaming, people throwing things?  Not just on tv.  It really happens. Par for the course in the restaurant biz.  I was hoping some edgy line cook would start chucking plates while I had my camera out, but no such luck.

(Note: Is there any other business where physical aggression is not only commonplace, but perfectly acceptable?  Can you imagine this happening in an office environment? If I ever had a boss or co-worker hurl toner cartridges at me, we’d be throwing down in the conference room.)

2) The toughest part of working the kitchen?  It’s not knowing how to prepare the food, it’s timing the cooking so that all dishes at a table come out at the same time. Requires careful synchronization among the cooks and sounds like an ulcer waiting to happen.  We were told that if a dish sits for more than three minutes, it’s thrown away and the dish needs to be re-fired.

So the next time you send something back to the kitchen?  Your chef’s probably cursing you out, and possibly spitting in your food, because you just screwed up his whole timing.  (The server didn’t tell us that last part, I’m just drawing conclusions.)

3) Our server doesn’t want to cook as a career.  He’s hoping to become a food writer (don’t we all!) and wine seller.

And now, moving on to the meal…

Starting with appetizers, like my mom’s sweet corn chowder.

Dad’s lump crab cakes.

My seared sea scallop with pork belly in a smoked tomato marmalade.

The sauce was too salty, and the squarish piece of pork belly was odd — the meat side was a little tough — but the scallop was cooked very nicely.

For entrees, my mom ordered the beef short ribs.  It’s hard to see under the mound of greens.

She said the ribs were okay, but fatty, and she wasn’t psyched about the haphazard presentation of greens dumped on top of the ribs.

My dad found more success with his double thick Berkshire pork chop.

My entree of smoked Long Island duckling, set on top of edamame, corn and greens, in a curried almond sauce.

This was a mixed bag.  The mild sauce was flavorful and the duckling was nice, but I didn’t taste any smokiness, and a few areas were overcooked and chewy.  I also could have used a starch — at least a puree or something.

The strongest part of the meal?  Undoubtedly the desserts.  The desserts were really good.  Like my dad’s profiteroles with homemade ice cream and a side of chocolate sauce.

Mom’s lemon-lime meringue tart.  Tangy and smooth.

And my enormous piece of Bananas Foster breading pudding, topped with rum ice cream.

Like a soft, warm banana bread.  Great flavors all around, and a really nice way to end the meal.

All in all, maybe the food was slightly disappointing, but we had a fun time nonetheless.  What’s apparent is that the CIA is very, very savvy.  American Bounty ain’t cheap — you’re paying full restaurant prices for food being prepared by students, who while on their way to becoming excellent chefs, aren’t quite there yet.

I admire these students though: they’re putting out solid dishes and are likely working long, hard hours under intense stress.

And I mean, come on, they have to cook while people scream and throw things! How many of us have to deal with that??

American Bounty Restaurant
The Culinary Institute of America
1946 Campus Drive
Hyde Park, NY
845-471-6608

Take yesterday, for instance; I was driving through Port Chester doing a few errands, when I noticed an unusual amount of traffic, plus balloons and people milling around in one of the parking lots.

Then it hit me like a slap in the face — the unmistakable aroma of meat on a grill. The smell was so strong and so drool-inducing that I doubled back, parked the car and hustled over to discover the source.

And there it was.

Turns out I’d wandered into Port Chester Fest, the city’s second annual multicultural festival of live music, crafts and food.

There were Indian and Chinese food vendors, but I honed in on the Brisa Marina tent and their grilled meats, like the kabobs up above.

There were just too many Latin favorites to resist, and I ended up getting a small plate… well, not that small.

On the bottom, boiled yuca with red onions and moist rotisserie chicken with thyme.  Sitting on top — an enormous soft and sweet fried plantain, and an even more enormous barbecued rib, grilled to perfection.

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this little mountain of a plate.  I’d just finished a swim, so I was tired and semi-famished to begin with; it was also chilly out yesterday, and nothing, I mean nothing, sticks to your ribs like yuca, plantain, chicken and ribs. Starch, starch, meat, meat.  I felt so energized and fueled up that I went for a two hour bike ride later in the afternoon.

The moral of the story?  Listen to your nose.

Brisa Marina Bar & Grill
40 Grace Church St.
Port Chester, NY
914-934-909

I haven’t watched the broadcast and probably won’t, since I’m one of those people who can’t even stand hearing himself in a voicemail message; I think, My god, I sound like that?? But if you watch it, just know that we had an insane meal tonight: there was food and wine, more food, more wine, dessert, wine…  you get the picture.

I’m going to bed.

I only recently learned how well wine and chocolate can pair together.  Oenophiles may disagree, but then I’m no oenophile. I do think that paired correctly, wines and chocolates complement one another, heightening particular notes and flavors.

Anthony Colasacco of Pour Cafe & Wine Bar arranged for a fantastic wine and chocolate tasting tonight.  We were each given a tasting sheet, five glasses and five packaged chocolates.

Only these were no ordinary chocolates; they were Vosges gourmet chocolates, and they were unlike any I’ve ever had, infused with spices and exotic flavors that you’d never think would work in chocolate.  But somehow they do.

Since I have only a novice’s understanding of wine and chocolate, I worried less about what I should be tasting and why, and more on basic, gut reaction: Do these taste good together?

I must have a very non-discerning palate, because except for one pairing, they all tasted good.  Here’s what we had (wines are in bold):

1) Temprannilo & Barcelona (hickory smoked almonds + Fleur de Sel grey sea salt + deep milk chocolate)

Observation: Loved the salt in the chocolate — the wine really enhanced the saltiness and the flavor of the almonds.

2) Negroamoro & Black Pearl (ginger + wasabi + black sesame seeds + dark chocolate)

Observation: Didn’t care for this one.  Separately each tasted fine, but together the wine became tannic and unpleasant.

3) Moscato d’Asti & Naga (sweet Indian curry + coconut + deep milk chocolate)

Observation: One of my favorites of the night.  Who knew that curry-flavored chocolate could be so delicious?   I felt like I needed a side of naan.

4) Gewurztraminer & Red Fire (Mexican ancho and chipotle chilies + Ceylon cinammon + dark chocolate)

Observation: Mixed reaction on this one.  A few people strongly objected to the Gewurztraminer’s aroma, with one person saying it smelled like a “perm.”  I liked the combo of the spritzy sweet wine and the subtly spicy chocolate.

5) Rogue Chocolate Stout & New Orleans (Chicory coffee + cocoa nibs + Sao Thome bittersweet chocolate)

Observation: Another big winner.  Anthony mixed things up on us, pairing a beer with the chocolate.   First time drinking this beer and I loved it: full-bodied and rich but not heavy. And a very unique chocolate.

We finished the night with a sampling of Pour’s excellent food, like bruschetta of tomato, ricotta and aged balsamic, and these flatbreads with caramelized onions, manchego cheese and chorizo.  Can you ever go wrong with chorizo?  Not a chance.

This was a real treat of a night and I think everyone agreed: Wine, good. Chocolate, good.  Wine + chocolate, very good. Give it a try sometime.

How’s that for a catchy title?   I’ll explain a little later.

Hudson Valley Restaurant Week is coming up in a few short weeks, and tonight was the press reception, held at the Thayer Hotel at West Point.

The room was filled with restaurateurs, chefs, local food purveyors, media members and lowly food bloggers like yours truly.  I was just happy to be there.

I made sure to sample from all the vendors, like Sprout Creek Farm and their excellent artisanal cheeses.

The Pastry Garden’s desserts were fantastic, especially the cake filled with Bailey’s Irish Cream mousse, on the bottom right. Wow was that good.

I tried to nosh on shrimp and other finger foods while holding a pad, camera and press packet. Sometimes you need a third hand.

The chefs gathered together for pictures.

I had an interesting conversation with one chef in particular, Eric Gabrynowicz, Executive Chef at Tavern in Garrison.  A few tidbits: he raved about Chef David Martinez of Union Restaurant in Haverstraw, calling Martinez’s ceviche “one of the top five foods I’ve ever put in my mouth.” Here’s Chef Martinez being interviewed.

Eric also raved about Mima Vinoteca (I agreed) and mentioned he wanted to try Velo in Nyack (which I strongly recommended).  We got to talking about what chefs eat, and I commented that it must be impossible for a non-professional to cook for a chef because they’re used to such a high standard of food.  But he said it’s just the opposite, he could care less about the caliber of the food — what makes a home-cooked meal enjoyable is the idea that someone is putting the time and effort into cooking for him.

At the end of the night, the organizers drew raffle tickets to give away free prizes.  One of the prizes was a wheel of Ouray cheese from Sprout Creek Farm.  I’d sampled it earlier, and I wanted this thing.  (Not really sure what I would have done with an entire cheese wheel — I mean, how much cheese can one person eat?) Anyway, the emcee called out the number… “170!” And what do you know, I won!  At that moment, Liz introduced me to Peter Kelly, who you see here (that’s not me on the right, by the way).

I had two options — either A) excuse myself and go up to collect my wheel of cheese before they gave it somebody else, or B) talk to Peter Kelly.  I chose B, and I’m glad I did; he’s a very nice man, and a very gracious man.  I think I managed to stammer out something about enjoying X2O and having the venison.

So that was my introduction to Peter Kelly.   I went home cheeseless, but I got to meet an acclaimed chef.

Now I’m all fired up for Restaurant Week.  Don’t forget to make your reservations before everything gets booked up.  I’ll be floating around that week guest blogging for Lohud.com, so hopefully I’ll see you out there. The weird guy taking pictures of his food?  That’ll be me.