At the Food & Wine Classic, there were lots of interesting seminars to attend, some aimed at consumers, others aimed at the trade (chefs, restaurateurs, sommeliers). I wandered into the tail end of the panel called "The Future of Fine Dining," with Thomas Keller, Tom Colicchio, and Drew Nieporent, moderated by Steve Dolinsky. They're all really smart folks good at what they do, but it seemed like they are all still wrestling with the contemporary definition of fine dining....
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Every year Food & Wine throws a huge party honoring the Best New Chefs its editors have just named in the magazine. This year the event was held at Aspen Meadows, part of the Aspen Institute. The setting was magical. Mountains sprouted out of every window you looked out of, with streams and rivers placed ever so perfectly between them. The event was held in a space with three levels. My favorite on the first level was April Bloomfield's pork cheeks. Bloomfield is the chef partner at the Spotted Pig in New York City. But I had a feeling I would find something even better higher up, so I huffed and puffed my way to the third floor (the altitude...
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After two days of nonstop eating, drinking, and food-schmoozing in Aspen, Colorado, I have to say that the 25th annual Food & Wine Classic (it's been around as long as my wife and I have been married) is the ultimate serious eater's hang. My wife said it best: "The Food & Wine classic is the Sundance of food."...
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Yesterday I headed out to Aspen, Colorado, for the Food & Wine Classic. I'll be filing periodic reports from here, but since I knew I was going to be getting a lot of fancy-pants cooking in the next three days, I decided that my travel day would be hot dogs–hamburgers-and–pizza day. It actually turned into a fun food adventure day....
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