Thrillist, the website known for drawing crowds of bros and their pals to partake in all kinds of citywide antics, was at it again last Saturday (remember this summer’s Best Day of Your Life?).
All afternoon, the New York blog showcased the best dishes from its favorite restaurants of 2014, alongside a slew of swanky beverages courtesy of Grey Goose. Titled “Fest of the Best”, the day took place in a cavernous loft space in Williamsburg’s Villain venue.
The DJ, Kasey Berry, jammed her way through toe-tapping faves, while a wickedly talented saxophonist, Kareem Wilkes, weaved his way through the pumped-up crowd, carefully avoiding the restaurants that set up their wares left and right. With so many Instagram-able dishes around, Samsung was on hand in a “Food Porn Lounge” to show us all how to be our own food stylist, while a photo booth gave everyone the opportunity to snap themselves.
If you’re the kind of person who goes out to eat prepared, the dishes on show were, more or less, all worthy of note.
- The Bowery’s Bacchanal served a confit lamb shoulder with a mint-olive-caper relish that melted in your mouth.
- The Flatiron District’s BLT Fish served its James River oysters with wasabi peas & nori. (Tasty enough, but give me a simple mignonette any day.)
- Midtown East’s Crave Fishbar served Shetland Island salmon crudo with charred cauliflower, lemon prawn oil & prawn dust that was a much better seafood option.
- Emily served a savory and comforting smoked chicken with a potato puree, sunchoke chips and house-made pickles.
- Fletcher’s Brooklyn Barbecue was flipping wood-fired sliders with all-natural organic beef, salt, pepper, burger sauce and a fridge pickle on a potato roll. (This was my husband’s fave, but it aired a little too much on the smoky for me.)
- Another BK local, French Louie offered up snails Merchand de Vin with Falls Mill grits (snails, bordelaise sauce, mushrooms and grits), which the less brave baulked at, but shouldn’t have. This was one of the best.
- The Village’s Horchata served guacamole de calabaza (avocado, roasted butternut squash, serrano chile, pumpkin seeds, cotija cheese, lime) with house-made corn tortilla chips. Always a good bet, though it did just taste more or less like really good guac.
- Margaux at the Marlton Hotel (near Washington Square) served a chocolate budino (think rich pudding) with Sicilian olive oil & sea salt that was the stuff of dreams.
- The Randolph Group of restaurants were represented with a warm grain and kale salad with bulgur wheat, quinoa, brown rice, mushrooms, asparagus and charred tomato that was a kind of wholesome savory you wish you could do yourself, but never quite can.
- The LES’s Seoul Chicken served its Next Day Fried Chicken (double fried chicken thighs on Kings Hawaiian rolls with habanero spiced honey, kimchi pickles and miso mustard aioli) to one of the longest lines in the joint.
- Sweetgreen served its not-at-all bad Rad Thai (organic arugula, organic mesclun, sprouts, carrots, shredded cabbage, spicy sunflower seeds, cucumbers, basil, citrus shrimp and spicy cashew dressing).
- The Monarch Room from Chelsea showed off its seared octopus with fennel, celery and citrus.
- Two Hands (which promises good food by good dudes) went back to basic with Aussie-fave Avo Toast (thick-cut wholegrain pullman loaf, smashed avocado, olive oil, sea salt, cracked pepper, chili flakes & a lemon wedge).
Throughout the festivities, attendees were asked to vote for their favorite dish by putting a poker chip in the respective bucket.
My personal fave? Oddly enough, with so many tastes on show, it was the comfortably delicious Randolph warm salad that took my cake…though Seoul Chicken’s fried chicken sandwich already has me craving more. But it was my husband who guessed the overall winner of the People’s Choice Award: Bacchanal’s confit lamb. With so much sophisticated flavors in the star dish, it’s little surprise it took first. Will I be going back for seconds? Maybe. But first I’ll be checking what Thrillist will be dishing up next.
Twisted Talk: Which of these best restaurants will you be trying next? Do you have a favorite NYC dish? Discuss below!
