Cybernet Expo - My Show & Culinary Report

[miz_wright]

Originally Posted by mmemmer

Ok Hell Puppy, I see how it is where was my invite during all of this. Sound like some great times and Good Eats.

As to the show I am working still to rate it a success, thanks to a bit of time with Dirty D and Kevin we have some potential in the works and as to other opportunities well we can only wait to see how things develop.

For any of you who were contemplating a server, hit me up directly and I can still give you the show special!

Mark, it's worth noting that HP wasn't there - Toby was his direct emissary in all matters food-related. I am lucky enough to know a few other food-geeks, and we joined forces to seek out deliciousness.

My other dining experiences included
Essencia on Thursday (when we originally tried to go to Bar Jules, but they were SLAP FULL, so we walked down the street and checked out this little haven of yummy).

We started with the Sea Bass ceviche (and ordered a second one, because it was so lovely), but the rest of the menu that is currently posted is not helping me determine what all else we had. I CAN tell you that thefive of us sat in there for a GOOD two and a half hours, savouring every single thing that we ate. I do know that I had the pork loin, and while it was a little tough, it was incredibly well-flavoured and presented. The accompaniments were well chosen and made nice compliments to the main dish itself.

A16 on Friday, where my companions and I dined upon --
Starters:
-- Mozzarella burrata with olive oil, sea salt and crostini (I know not a one of us is shocked that I had to have this, right?)
-- Arugula salad with pluots, fennel and house-made ricotta salata
-- Roasted Monterey sardines with fried breadcrumbs, currants, pickled chiles and herbs (turns out, I am still not a fan of sardines, no matter how well presented)
-- Roasted local calamari with garlic and leek scapes, meyer lemon, chiles, basil and pine nuts (I am not typically a fan of calamari at all, but this was tender, not breaded, and completely delicious)

Salumi:
-- La Quercia tasting: Americano, Berkshire and speck prosciutto (all of my companions at dinner that night are lovers of good charcuterie, so we were excited to sample theirs. Sadly, the varieties provided were not particularly exciting)

Pizza:
The organiser of the dinner is a HUGE pizza fan, so of course we had to give these a try:
-- Margherita – tomato, mozzarella, grana padano, basil, olive oil
-- Funghi – roasted mushrooms, smoked mozzarella, grana padano, garlic, oregano, wild arugula
(Both were lovely and well presented, with tender, flavourful crusts)

FINALLY, we got to the main courses:
-- Local rock cod, Penn Cove mussels and bay scallops in acqua pazza with chiles and basil
-- Watson Farms lamb sausage with fennel, carrots, radishes and herbs
-- Roasted half-chicken with roasted cipolline, wheatberries and fino verde basil
-- Scaloppine of Berkshire pork shoulder with anchocress and lemon
Everyone seemed pleased with their selections.

They also had a lovely coffee presentation, though as part of the local/ slow food movement, there was no Diet Coke to be had (GAH! WHAT ABOUT MY NEEDS!), instead having some sort of concoction called GUS -- which would've been fine, except it was 99% CAFFEINE FREE. We mustn't have such silliness. (We actually encountered this a few places, due to the high-fructose corn syrup content of Diet Coke, no one carried it. (Clearly, A16 made more of an impression on me, but I was also more familiar with their menu going in, as I knew we'd be dining there one night)

Delicious!

One last note about Bar Jules - the grilled squash blossoms that accompanied the quercia prosciutto (which was an incredible iteration of prosciutto) with fresh mozzarella (we all know how I feel about same-day mozz - I would live on it, were it possible)? Actually were my favourite part of that dish. Seriously.