Serious Eats: New York
Choice Eats: How Much Peruvian Tuna with Potatoes Can One Person Eat?
Choice Eats was a fun event. It was reasonably well-organized, lines for food were not ridiculously long, and it was terrific fun to see all these international foods being served to people who would probably never venture to these restaurants on their own.
I didn't try everything, but Fatty Crab's tender-as-all-get-out beef ribs on rice were a highlight, as was Fette Sau's pastrami, though half of the brisket they used to make it was barely smoked. I also liked Mercadito's impossibly cute two-bite shrimp tacos. I truly regret not trying Kampuchea's ribs, which by all accounts were crazy good.
The weirdest dish: A cold tuna salad and potato or cornmeal pudding from Queens-based Peruvian restaurant El Anzuelo Fino. I actually kind of liked it, but it was strange for sure. And that's the point. Village Voice food writer Robert Sietsema, who helped choose the restaurants in attendance, challenges all of us to eat foods truly foreign to us.
Salty/Savory/Sweet has a write-up that's thoughtful and basically right-on. Choice Eats was by no means a perfect event designed for maximum deliciousness, but I'm sure they'll tweak it and make it better next year.
In the meantime, props are due Robert Sietsema, the Village Voice, and all the restaurants who, according to Sietsema, were incredibly cooperative and enthusiastic.