Blinded by produce at the Union Square Farmers Market

On my last day in the City, I decided to head downtown and catch the farmer’s market in Union Square.  I was blown away by the quality of the produce. It reminded me of France and it gave me hope for the direction of food in our country.  Great cooking is mostly about great product and this is on par.

Basking in the glow of Mario’s orange clogs

A fresh leg of Iberico ham being trimmed

After Katsuya’s Pop Up, I watched the last few minutes of Jordan Khan decorating a tree limb with food elements on the main stage while being accompanied by a five string ensemble.  Very bizarre and yet totally mesmerizing. 

Savoring a Pop Up Izakaya performance by Katsuya Fukushima

Mushimono: Bacon Chawanmushi with sweet corn

Today’s Pop Up was with Katsuya Fukushima.  I was especially interested in this Pop Up as we are both Academie de Cuisine graduates.  I chatted a bit with him before going into the dining tent and it turns out that we also shared the Jeff Buben experience as our first chef to work for coming out of Culinary School. 

Starchefs ICC 2012 – Thinning out the herd

Fresh Fish presentation by True World Foods

I arrived at the congress shortly before they opened the doors to the public.  Upon entry I noticed that they had changed the way they conduct the private seminars and classes on the floor of the products fair. 

Starchefs ICC 2012 – Jordan Khan Pop Up

First course

New to the ICC line up this year were pop ups and food carts.  I signed up for two pop ups and the first one featured Jordan Khan. Jordan made quite an impression on the audience the first time he came to the ICC two years ago. 

Starchefs ICC 2012 – Back to the Future

I knew I would run into the man of steel here

Once again my annual pilgrimage to NYC for the Starchefs International Chefs Congress came through at the last-minute.  I was selected as a judge for the Somm Slam a few weeks before the conference and quickly made plans to get to NYC. 

Michelin list of Restaurants in the Department of the Vaucluse (84)

Avignon (Photo credit: LucaXino)

Here is Michelin’s list of restaurants in my old stomping grounds of the Vaucluse a department that includes the town of Avignon and other cities of gastronomic interest .  Click on the link below to see the PDF with all the listings.  It was shocking to see that la Mirande lost its one Star status.

84_GM_2012_par_dept