A Gluten-filled Gala!

Joe and I attended our first "New York City Gala" last night, the 11th annual Taste of the Lower East Side. A fabulous benefit for the Grand Street Settlement. I don't really know true true definition of "gala", but for the sake of this post, I attended a gala.

Hundreds of people attended TLES

The Grand Street Settlement is a non profit organization that expands opportunities for low-income families  by providing cultural services that support community-building, advocacy, self-determination and an enriched quality of life.Taste of the Lower East Side is an event, held in Soho ironically, where the restaurants from the neighborhood come and showcase their food for the benefit of these programs. Essentially you buy a ticket, you show up, your money goes to a great cause, and you get to eat fabulous food for a few hours while listening to a kick ass DJ. My kind of event.

So many restaurants and chefs gave their time and energy to this cause, it was pretty amazing. My favorite part was getting to meet and chat with famed chef, Wylie Dufresne of WD-50. Such a nice guy, very friendly, and just solidified the feeling I had the entire night, that I was a judge on Top Chef. Wylie created a cauliflower soup with surf clam, smoked raisin, and crispy caper. It was unbelievably outstanding.



Chef Wylie Dufresne of WD-50 chatting up the guests

WD-50's amazing soup

As much as I loved Wylie and his soup, it wasn't our favorite table. Our favorite food of the night goes to Salt on Macdougal St. I have never eaten at Salt before, but after doing my research, I found out it's known for seasonal ingredients and being able to customize your meal. We ate the best bacon wrapped date with a honey drizzle that I have ever had.... and I feel I can say with confidence that I've had my fair share of bacon wrapped dates. This was not your every day date! They also had a sample of soup, with a drizzle of truffle oil. Unfortunately we didn't ask exactly what the soup was, we were clearly too busy getting seconds. It was definitely vegetable in nature, and it was one of the best things I've ever sipped on. 

Bacon wrapped dates and "the soup" from Salt

Overall the night was really fun. I love these types of events that you can only find in NYC. The quality of food was outstanding and the fact that you were benefiting a great cause made it even better. I guess Joey and I didn't win our bid at the silent auction for a trip to the Virgin Islands, since I haven't received a call yet. Ah well, worth a shot! Overall a fabulous evening, thank you Hadley for turning me on to this! Can't wait for next year.

Some of our other favorites....

Classic meatball and polenta, and a chilled shrimp gazpacho from Gemma

A sampling of appetizers from Pulino's; olives, razor clam, egg salad, octopus, spiced orange

Goat Town, need I say more?