The Last Meal 2011 Recap
As the year draws to a close, we all have a tendency to look back and reflect on what happened in 2011. For Studiofeast, it was a great year filled with events where we had the privilege of bringing people together with food. You can surf this site to see the things that ensued in 2011–through prose, video, and photo–but a less visible reflection of our year comes in the form of the responses to that question on our invite form, “You’re about to die, what’s your last meal?”
Studiofeast Sunday #1 Recap
For the past few years we’ve been doing events that have become more and more ambitious in scale, concept, and execution. This has been a good thing, as we’ve been able to push ourselves to create some really great dining experiences for our guests. These events have been our way of continuing to explore the culinary & social gray area between a high concept restaurant and dinner at your best friend’s house.
Photos & Recap: The Doppelganger Dinner
I had a thought once about couples where one person was a vegetarian and the other was a meat eater. It seemed like they could really never share a meal and have the same experience without one person–usually the omnivore–compromising to suit the mutually agreeable meal. To a normal, well adjusted human being, this is a totally banal observation that wouldn’t warrant losing sleep over.
But to us at Studiofeast, we thought it’d be cool to do a meal where an omnivore and a vegetarian could both share the same meal without the former forgoing meat or the latter having to try flesh. That was the seed of an idea that grew into our most recent dinner: a 7 course meal with an omnivore and vegetarian option where each corresponding course looked identical across the meat/vegetable line. And on July 17th, we seated 40 guests–20 omnivores on one side of the table, 20 vegetarians sitting opposite them–and served them our Doppelganger Dinner. [Full menu & photo gallery after the jump!]
The Epic Tale of Eat Retreat
How do I even begin to describe this? It’s been just over a week since I returned from my weekend in Sonoma County, CA at the Eat Retreat. I’ve recovered from the post-event serotonin dive, I’m rested and life is getting back to normal. Physically, I’m left with a mild sunburn, a jar of Harold McGee’s Yogurt starter, some lovely Guanciale from my camp buddy Julie, and an SD card full of photos.
Mentally, I’m left with a challenge: how do I “get back?” Not “get back” as in “get invited again” or simply taking another trip to the wine country, but how do I get back to that incredibly high creative buzz that I felt all weekend. How do I sustain that level of intensity everyday? How do I recreate the scenario of being in such close quarters with people with such outsized passions and creative output?
“I Scream,” at Eyebeam NYC
This past Saturday at the Eyebeam Art + Technology center, I was invited by Stefani Bardin and Brooke Singer to present at their Counter Kitchen event series. The Counter Kitchen brings in guests to deconstruct items that are in the mass marketplace and often have chemical ingredients of questionable nature.
A Valentine’s to Fu#%ing Remember
On Sunday, February 13th we had the great pleasure to cook at The Noble Rot for their “Happy Fu#%ing Valentine’s Day” event in Williamsburg, at the home of Fine & Raw Chocolate. This is the second time (here was the first) we’ve cooked at The Noble Rot and I can’t say enough how enjoyable it is to work with them. They are State-Certified gentlemen through and through, and I look forward to collaborating with them soon.
Studiofeast in AM New York
We had the great pleasure of being featured (big) in AM New York on January 27, 2011. Despite the giant snowstorm that day–and the relativel lack of newsies handing these out at subway stations–we managed to get a few copies and made a big scan for posterity. There’s a web version for your reading pleasure, but we prefer the print version below.
Studiofeast photo by David Christiansen of Pop Up Studio.
