Saveur Dinner & Test Kitchen

Now I don’t think I really need to ask if people know what Saveur Magazine is. I happened to be nominated for an award in one of their categories, for best recipe, guess which recipe? Crispy Penne. Okay so I remain a nominee (nice name for *ahem* LOSER!) but I did get to go to their dinner, which was delicious, to say the least.

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But really, after one second of schmoozing and boozing, I wasn’t all that interested in the crowd. I just wanted to peek behind the scenes, look inside Saveur Mag’s test kitchen with three hyper active male chefs and of course I did not forget to bring my very dslr. But now this DSLR is getting real excessive what with Instagram being very fast and light. But instagram has it’s limits.

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Moment before the hurricane.

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Feel free to swoon, girls. What was that they say? That the way to a woman’s heart was her stomach? But what about the latest Raf Simons?

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One of the chefs thought I was going to eat all the caviar…he made sure the jar was closed at all times.

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The white fish tartare for the sushi plate you’ll see below.

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This was one of those crispy sushi courses, with a white fish that I couldn’t exactly put my finger on.

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This was like some mini fried potato pancake that garnished the sushi along with the ceviche or wait this is more like tartare? Excuse me I am not an expert with all these fussy food terms. Believe me, you can ask me a lot of questions about food, and I don’t/won’t know the answer. Anyway, the more you know, the less you know.

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Mini pot stickers. This is a no brainer crowd pleaser.

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See everything looks so much better plated, esp with a drizzle of sauce from those squeeze bottles. Saveur-style.

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In the book Kitchen Confidential by my hero Anthony Bourdain.. …“Line cooking done well is a beautiful thing to watch. It’s a high-speed collaboration resembling, at its best, ballet or modern dance…” Yes this is true. And every chef here was very OCD, constantly cleaning, wiping garnishing…

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Some sauce for dumplings, in small individual spoons.

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So there was this one dish that was my favorite, they steamed these asian style buns but they were laced with barbequed meat, topped with this basil paste of sorts… it’s like those typical chinese buns but finished like a slider….I wish I remembered the ingredients more, I should have brought a notebook and written everything down for the sake of being formal. But after two cocktails maybe we’ve crossed that line.

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Basil oil drizzle.

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Another sashimi small plate, I had several, a little too much food and booze but guess what? I went out again for…. fried chicken wings… and you must know the Saveur Test Kitchen is right next to Korea Town. Can’t say no to a chicken winged dessert.

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