Posts tagged city grit

Ever want a shot at being a food critic? Or maybe part of one of those focus groups where you test out new stuff? Well, CITY GRIT is giving you the chance to do both.

In our first Sidetour Test Kitchen series, we are giving you a preview of our San Gennaro: Taste of Italy feast featuring Italian chef, Stefano Braganti.

In his NYC debut, Chef Stefano will be serving a series of five-course dinners featuring his most beloved Italian dishes from September 20-22 as part of this year’s San Gennaro festivities at CITY GRIT.

On September 19th, you will have the opportunity to preview this meal, as well as influence the final menu for the week. Not only will you get the first tastes of the dishes Chef Stafano has lined up for the Italian feasts, you will have an intimate Q&A session with the chef AND select the dishes that will make it onto the menu at the San Gennaro Dinners.

Check it out on Sidetour!

Here’s a sneak peek at what’s on the menu for this week’s Southern Small Plates dinners:

• Double Spiked Sangria, Spicy Olive Pastries
• Creamy Gazpacho with Blackened Shrimp
• Padron Peppers, Pimento Cheese, Serrano Ham
• Cornmeal Crusted Calamari with Heirloom Tomato Relish
• Halumi with Peaches, Arugula, Spicy Peas, Chili-lime Vinaigrette 
• Candied Scallops with Carrot Puree
• Lamb with Hot Garlic Jam, Mint Jus; Patatas Bravas with Spicy Aioli
• Creme Caramel Custard with Sour Cherry Compote

Wednesday’s dinner is sold out but there are still a few seats left for the Tuesday night dinner. Grab them for $55 at citygritnyc.com! 

It’s been a little over a year that I decided to change careers completely. I left a three year old retail consulting practice that was just starting to take off to cook full time. Some days I wonder what the hell I was thinking. But most days I still have to pinch myself when I think about what has happened over 378 days.

I served my dishes to Eric Ripert, Daniel Boulud, April Bloomfield, Anita Lo, and more at the Michelin Restaurant Guide NYC Release party. I shot videos for Daily Candy and with the crew at Food 52. I was on the TODAY Show, as well as local NY news programs, and filmed a pilot for a TV show. I wrote articles for Bon Appetit and Glamour and had articles written about me. And I started a catering business taking on jobs serving 250 conference-goers and four-course dinners for some of the world’s most prominent brands.

All of that is super cool and exciting. But I have to be honest, I’m most excited about the next 378 days. My team and I are still developing TV programming and I’m still catering, but I’ve also decided to expand my supper club as a first step towards something HUGE.

Once I can talk about Project HUGE, I’ll share the details.  In the meantime, I’m taking City Grit out of my home and into larger venues in NYC, as well as hitting the road to host dinners in other cities. And my dear friend, Michael Galpert is joining me. Me is now a WE!

Next week, we’re hosting our first series of dinners in NYC. I’ve been working with my good friend, Jeremy Kittredge – known as the King of Breakfast, and we’ve got a fantastic menu planned for Breakfast for Dinner on Wednesday, April 6th.

Here’s a glimpse of our last Breakfast for Dinner dishes.

The new menu we’re working on puts this menu to shame! Grab tickets while you can as it is close to selling out!

We’re also hosting two weekend dinners on Friday & Saturday nights. These dinners which we’re calling “Parlez Vous Francais, Y’all!” will feature an eight-course tasting menu of classic French dishes with a Southern twist. I’ve been working on this menu for weeks and can’t wait to serve it. I’ll be sharing sneak peaks of the dishes in progress throughout the next week or so.

So for the next two weeks, I’m going to be heads down working on this. But hopefully, I’ll have some time to post a recipe or two, as well as celebrate all of the exciting things that lie ahead!