A Change of Eatery

To be honest, I’m a little terrified of Black Friday and all the madness that accompanies the official kickoff to holiday shopping season. Over the next month, you’re more likely to find me bouncing around Amazon.com than shaking my fist at spot-snatchers in crowded parking lots. Not my scene.

However…if you’re willing to brave the busiest shopping weekend of the year, there’s a chance you’ll end up at the West Farms Mall if you’re in the Hartford area. If this is the case, here’s my only tip for you: plan some of your mall shopping for Saturday, November 27th.

Here’s why:

On Saturday from 12-2PM, Vinnie Carbone of Carbone’s Ristorante in Hartford will be preparing and sampling his Shrimp & Butternut Risotto at the Williams Sonoma store in the West Farms mall. Stop in and you’ll also receive a recipe card, complimentary appetizer coupon and the chance to enter a drawing to win dinner for two.

The cooking demo promises to be both delicious and dangerous. It’s hard not to buy (or at least want to buy) every single item in the Williams Sonoma store. Recipe for disaster?

Shrimp Butternut Risotto

As the 2010 recipient of the “Best of Hartford” award for Best Italian Restaurant (Hartford Advocate), Carbone’s serves authentic Italian cuisine in a cozy, elegant atmosphere, with a mix of classic dishes and  innovative twists on old favorites. Check out their website for a full menu and list of special events.

And don’t forget! Take a break from mall madness and come sample some risotto!

To say that November has been a complete flurry of activity would be an understatement. And, before I know it, November 21st is here and so many amazing events and restaurant specials have come and gone without the chance to hop on board. But don’t feel bad- I haven’t been depriving myself by any means. It’s still been a month of indulging in some of the best restaurants in the area (posts to come…).

My only regret is that I’ve been keeping some valuable info from you for the past few weeks. During November, Trumbull Kitchen in Hartford is offering a mouthwatering list of happy hour dishes for $1.99 each.

Not even close to your typical bar bites.

So, last Monday, armed with partner-in-crime Nick Caito, I set off on a mission to sample the entire happy hour menu.

Regrettably, I only have my fuzzy cell photos- but I’m sure the dish descriptions (dishcriptions? yes?) will speak for themselves:

We enjoyed:

• Warm Mission Figs accompanied by Foie Gras on pancetta crostini
• Savory blackened pork & andouille quesadillas
• Prosciutto-wrapped Medjool dates stuffed with herbed goat cheese.
• Steamed Canadian mussels
• Yellow fin tuna tacos
• Chipotle angus beef slider (ok, we got 2 of these)

Again-  $1.99 each!

All were so tasty, as expected, but stuffed dates were by far the star of the meal. You have until the end of November to know what I’m talking about.

Here’s the happy hour schedule (According to Trumbull Kitchen’s Facebook page):

M-F: 4-7pm

M-W: 10-11pm

T-F: 11-12pm

——–

Trumbull Kitchen

150 Trumbull Street, Hartford CT

860-493-7417

After days of living off leftovers, Saturday evening’s festivities gave me a renewed fervor for flavor. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the grand tasting event at the 4th annual Foxwoods Food and Wine Festival at MGM Grand. This three day festival featured a full itinerary of culinary events ranging from cooking demonstrations and wine/spirits seminars to celebrity chef dinners and lavish epicurean luncheons.

The grand tasting, held in the premier ballroom at MGM Grand, featured 40 acclaimed restaurants from around the region, each serving up signature specialties for their gourmand audience. As if being inundated with flavor wasn’t dazzling enough for event attendees, the restaurants and their renowned chefs were accompanied by vendors offering 600+ superb wines, beers, and spirits. It was truly an evening to celebrate delectable cuisine from the finest restaurants around.

Deviled Egg with tuna tartar, olive tapenade, and arugula, from Gargoyles on the Square of Somerville, MA. (Photo by Nick Caito/CTNow)

If I decided to go on about everything I sampled, you’d be reading for hours, craving flavors you didn’t know existed, and you’d probably be annoyed at me if you aren’t by now already. So, rather than describing every decadent dish in painstaking detail, I’ll provide a quick and painless recap of my personal favorites so you can use this teaser to put the event on your calendar for next year– as if you weren’t convinced already.

To summarize the evening’s highlights, I encourage you to take a look at the Foxwoods Food & Wine photo gallery on the Hartford Courant website (photos by Nick Caito) because i was lucky enough to try the majority of the dishes displayed in the pictures.

Here are several of my most memorable dishes and desserts from the event (all photos courtesy of CTNow/Courant.com):

One of my personal favorites- A “savory dessert”: Sweet potato gnocchi, sparkling quince soup, and meyer lemon sorbet, prepared by Franck Iglesias, Foxwoods' Executive Pastry Chef. (Photo by Nick Caito/CTNow)

Mediterranean Burger stuffed with feta cheese, from 'Cooking With Georgia & Dez' (Photo by Nick Caito/CTNow)

An Esplette-bacon chocolate martini from the Bon Bon Boogie Bash dessert event (you know, that whole died-and-gone-to-heaven sort of afterparty, as if the grand tasting wasn’t enough) (Photo by Nick Caito/CT Now)

Three types of foie gras. Right: pan seared with tamarind puree; left: chocolate dipped foie gras; bottom: a terrine with pomegranate, date, and fenugreek-- all prepared by Bella Bella Gourmet Foods (West Haven). Absolutely incredible-- especially the last. (Photo by Nick Caito/CTNow)

Seared venison over a roasted Yukon gold potato chip with a red onion marmalade and blackberry syrup. Prepared by Chef Duane Owen of Foxwoods. (Photo by Nick Caito/CT Now)

Delightful pulled pork from Bobby Q's in Westport, one of my top BBQ eateries in Fairfield County (Norwalk native that I am!). This pulled pork is on my to-eat list every time I visit Southern CT (Photo by Nick Caito/CT Now)

So here I am, days later…still recovering from sheer epicurean wonder, surrounded by a scattered mess of menus, business cards, and scribbled notes about eateries from around the region…as always, just plotting my next move.

Where do I go from here?

Whenever I go to McDonalds, which is more often than I should admit, I’m always loyal to the crispy ranch snack wrap. I haven’t strayed from the order in a long time, so my taste buds were all sorts of shocked and confused when I succumbed to the hype of the McRib earlier this week. On Tuesday, the official date of the sandwich’s comeback, I was lured to McD’s for a taste-test with Nick Caito– mostly out of curiosity and because his overwhelming enthusiasm got the best of me. The lovely, fast food-craving-inducing photos are thanks to him.

Beforehand, I tried my best to get on board with some of the hype by understanding it. Here’s some background if you have no idea what I’m going on about. The McRib, a ground pork patty smothered in barbecue sauce and topped with onions and pickle slices was a staple in McDonalds back in the 80s and has since been dropped from the menu.

Even a brief skimming of the McRib wikipedia page left me intrigued and intensely creeped out by the scores of devoted McRib enthusiasts…evidenced by A McRib farewell tour back in 2005- at the end of a limited release. A Save The McRib campaign. Tons of cultural references, including an episode of How I Met Your Mother where one of the characters takes up smoking after he realized the McRib has been taken off the menu. Before I go any further, if you’re still skeptical about the level of this McRib buzz, just pay a visit to McDonalds.com, specifically this very link. It’s truly amazing.

I guess it’s like how I felt when Dunkin Donuts took away the Dunkaccino for a few years, and then the second I found it was back (uhmm…New Years Day, 2009) I drove to my best friend’s house to hassle her into joining me for the grand return, as she was similarly heartbroken during its absence. It felt like a homecoming.

I digress. What I mean to say is that I know this is a joyous occasion for many folks out there. Sometimes we don’t realize how much we miss something until it’s back in arm’s (stomach’s) reach. It’s deep stuff.

Ok…the verdict? Mmmmm. I enjoyed the McRib, and I expected to, since I’m a fan of just about anything slathered with barbecue sauce. Tasty in that artery-busting, strangely satisfying kinda way. However, I have to be honest; even though this was a successful taste test, I’m going to stick with the snack wraps. Old habits, especially those guilty pleasure ones, die hard.