Buick Discovery + Food & Wine Event

Last weekend, we had the marvelous opportunity attend the Buick Discovery + Food & Wine event (you actually could have too).

We got to test drive some cars.

After we signed in at the kiosks.

Female photo (not my painted nails) below, with Ming recipe on the event passes.

We had a quick nosh before the demos started.

The first group got to drive first. This was great, as I had the opportunity to drive the new Regal Turbo. It was a damn nice car, similar to the A6's I have driven previously. Our gracious test rider let me open her up on the short test drive, and let's just say, this car can move.

Here is a guy talking about the Enclave.

After that we had a pastry demo with Ben Roche. 

He applies molecular gastronomy to desserts.

His s'more "bombs" were nothing short of incredible.

He also made caramel soy sauce ice cream using liquid nitrogen. Awesome. I mean it was one of the best things I have eaten. That s'more next to it? A dried marshmallow "wick," and a chocolate ball filled with liquid graham cracker. Hell yes.

Here is a shot of the next chef, Jonathan Sawyer. I forget the name of the sous chef, but it didn't matter because all he did was stand there much like that.

He (they?) made ratatouille stuffed fried zucchini blossoms. Absolutely delicious to eat, will probably never make them at home.

Finally, after way too long without wine at an event sponsored by Food & Wine, we merged groups and headed to the main event. I was particularly excited to see Ming Tsai, as he is a legend in the food world. He came out to much fan fare, and did not disappoint.

He was witty, sarcastic, slightly off-color and enthusiastic. The perfect combination for an entertainer. He really made it apparent, the difference between the chefs we saw earlier, and a superstar.

He started with a soy noodle chicken. Nothing too crazy, but a satisfying dish. I actually went home and made stir fry the next two nights in a row. Thanks for the inspiration, Ming.

He waxed-poetic about his beloved Kyocera knives, and indeed threw a piece of ginger up and caught it on the blade. Show-off.

One of our group members correctly answered a trivia question, because I told them the answer (it was Thomas Keller – the answer, not the friend), so they were able to get a sample of his second dish.

It was a mango and pepper pork stir fry, he called it his "sweet and sour pork." I think this one was more for show, as it came out bland and kind of chewy. Nevertheless, it was really just a dish for him to demo techniques. Which must have seemed like insanity to the audience member that asked how he learned to flip food in a pan. Really lady?

We had an awesome time, received a free signed cookbook from Ming, drank some mediocre wine, and tasted soy sauce ice cream. What did YOU do on your Saturday night?

Rotisseur

100.5 S 21st St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 496-9494
Website

Open for a while now, Rotisseur is in that section of town that is only really accessible (and interesting) during the work week.

I found some time in my busy schedule to pay a visit during lunch on a Friday. The interior is small, clean and inviting, with an open kitchen/food bar set up and an over-sized rotisserie oven right there, for all to see.

The menu is limited, which is usually a good sign of care and attention put into each dish, and on this fairly hot fall day, I was in the mood for the cool ingredients of their "chicken bánh mì."

I waited patiently for my turn to order while watching the cook cut the fresh-out-of-the-rotisserie, steaming-hot, half-bird order for the woman in front of me, and thought to myself, "this is going to be amazing, look at that juicy bird!" Much to my surprise, when I told him my decision, he said, "oh, she has one already made up at the register."

Really? So, I don't get the fresh stuff? I kept my thought to myself and ordered a side of the beet and feta salad to complement the light sandwich, that I had yet to see. I mean, I saw EVERYTHING ELSE being prepared, but not the "bánh mì" – I obviously ordered the wrong menu item...

There it was, a nondescript brown box handed over with the freshly assembled beet salad – which was the day's special side. Now that was delicious. With fresh parsley, a hint of dill and a light vinaigrette, it was simply bursting with flavor.

What can be said of the sandwich? Not much. It wasn't even a "bánh mì," and bordered on becoming a po-boy meets pulled-pork-sandwich thing. No jalapeno, no cilantro, no pickled carrots, no radish, nothing that would even come close to making it match that Vietnamese street-food wonder. Not knowing how far in advance they prepared the sandwich was a serious let down; it could have been called anything, and made fresh, it would have had real opportunity to shine.

The chicken was tender and they served it with the dark, caramelized skin-on and that was really the only saving grace. The red cabbage was limp and the cucumbers were close to the same. With minimal mayo for lubrication, overall, I give the sandwich a big "MEH."

If ever I'm in the neighborhood again, with ravenous hunger for fresh rotisserie chicken, I'll try the whole.

-Posted by gabulous

Buick Discovery Tour

Do you like cars? Do you like dedicating time to charity? Do you like FOOD & WINE magazine? Do you like food and wine? How about Simply Ming? All of these things (besides Ming) can be yours!

No seriously, this Saturday and Sunday there is an event over in the Jerz with all of these things. I am going, and I have five spots (with a +1 each) to give away. For free. So read below, think about how many points you will get from your significant other (or friend you owe a favor to) and include a comment below about one of the best things you have seen made on a cooking show, whether you attempted it yourself or not. Contest closes tomorrow (10/5/11) at 3pm EST.

WHAT:
Buick has partnered with FOOD & WINE magazine to bring an exclusive culinary event to Philadelphia. Invited guests will have the opportunity to attend full cooking demonstrations and sample several dishes, while also getting a first-hand look at Buick’s 2012 line-up.

Guests will experience the following discovery sessions:
• Cooking Demonstration with FOOD & WINE Best New Chef 2010 Jonathan Sawyer, owner of Greenhouse Tavern in Cleveland, Ohio, the first certified green restaurant in the state
• Pastry Demonstration with Chef Ben Roche, Executive Pastry Chef of Moto in Chicago, Ill., and Co-Host of “Future Foods” on Discovery’s Planet Green Network
• Buick Test Drives, featuring the new Regal Turbo, Lacrosse and Enclave
• Wine Tasting with Michael Green
• Cooking Demonstration and Sampling with Celebrity Chef Ming Tsai, host and executive producer of “SIMPLY MING,” the Emmy nominated public television series

For every guest, Buick will make a donation to The FEED Foundation, in support of their efforts to create good products to help feed the world’s hungry, one bag at a time.

WHEN:
Saturday, October 8
• 11:00am – 2:00pm
• 2:30pm – 5:30pm
• 6:00pm – 9:00pm

Sunday, October 9
• 12:00pm – 3:00pm
• 3:30pm – 6:30pm

WHERE:
The Westin Mount Laurel
555 Fellowship Road
Mount Laurel, NJ 08054

John's Roast Pork

14 Snyder Ave
(corner of Weccacoe and Snyder Avenue)
Philadelphia, PA 19148
(215) 463-1951

I wrote about this one long ago. They STILL make the best cheesesteak around, but I felt that it was time to give something else a whirl.

The roast beef is another winner at John's (surprise!).

Thinly sliced and well seasoned, I added spinach and sharp provolone. The seeded rolls were good as always, and with a dollop of horseradish, this made for quite a lunch. Just so you know, they offer more than just cheesesteaks and pork sandwiches over at John's; although to be fair, we actually got all three and had them cut three ways. My God that cheesesteak is good.

Don Jose Rojo's Tacos REDUX

Another year brings another ride to Ocean City, NJ for the National MS Society's annual City to Shore fundraiser. After riding 80+ miles through the scenic Jers on a bicycle, who doesn't want a belly full of hot and delicious Mexican food to lull them to sleep by 8PM? Well, after last year's visit to Don Jose's, we decided it would become our team's trusted dinner spot – this year being the 3rd time around.

Of course, an order of super nachos with chorizo never fails. Talk about enough food to feed a small army! It's no joke, they give you 'whiz AND shredded cheeses.

This year, I decided to ask the man himself for a recommendation. I was in the mood for a torta, so I limited his suggestions to anything in that form.

Eager to please, he recommended I try the Milanesa de Pollo (breaded chicken). I was excited at this offer, specifically because I wasn't interested in having any weird beef or pork (chorizo aside) products sloshing around down there because tomorrow was going to be another 80 miles on the road.

It took the longest of our 6 dishes to arrive because they took great care to the pounding, fresh breading and deep frying of the breast fillet. I must say, it was well worth the wait. The thin breading was a rich brown, fried to perfection, and light enough that you would have thought it was oven-baked.

Served on your standard, deliciously thin torta roll with some mayo, sliced jalapenos, avocado, onion, tomato and lettuce, this sandwich stuck together and tasted just as any (somewhat) authentic torta should. I asked for plenty of queso fresco because it is served without, and that may have helped with its coalescence. In addition, I requested a side of the habanero sauce, and buyer beware, it sure is spicy!

All in all, Don Jose's is a great spot in an otherwise lacking town – where a visit in the off-season, with limited transportation, leaves you painfully hungry and looking for a Mexican feast.

-Posted by gabulous