We spent the good part of three days visting the showrooms of some of our existing suppliers like Boston Warehouse, Tag, Evergreen, Oxo, Kuhn Rikon and Zyliss stocking on up on staples and picking new items from their spring and summer lines. Check out the koozies below ... in addition Beach and Boat, we also got Pool and Lake (with coordinating napkins and other accessories, of course).
We also took some time to explore new showrooms and added some new lines like BBQ tools (perfect for Dad in June) and Gel Pro mats. I ordered the standard size (20 x 36) in the three most popular colors ... my favorite, Truffle, is shown below.
On Friday night, we ate at F.A.B. (French American Brasserie) which is a short walk from the hotel. I've been there several times but the first time was the best! This time the food was ok ... the wine was ok ... the service was ok ... the best part of the meal was the fresh crusty rolls, the butter and the escargot. I ate the snails while Mom soaked up the buttery, garlicky sauce with her bread.
On Saturday night, while waiting for a friend for dinner in the lobby of our hotel, Tyler Forence walked past Mom. She smiled at him and he smiled back. Dang it ... I wasn't wearing my glasses so I saw him leaving! Luckily I got to see him again! He was having dinner at the same restaurant we were (with his wife and family) and we saw him as soon as we walked in. He is still SMOKING HOT!
We had dinner at BLT Steak in the W Hotel. The whole experience was fantastic! We were seated as soon as we arrived and presented with some chicken liver pate and crostini while we reviewed the menu. They have the option of an a-la-carte menu or a three course prix fixe menu that changes every night. We opted to share a couple of appetizers (shrimp cocktail and beefsteak tomato salad with stilton). Between the appetizer and dinner, the biggest and best tasting popovers I've ever had were brought to the table with butter and sea salt. They were amazing ... the texture, flavor and moistness were perfect and they were topped with gruyere which added another layer of flavor.
For dinner we had steaks, filets and New York strip that were cooked and seasoned perfectly -- served in individual Staub cast iron dishes which helps retain heat and makes a fantastic presentation. We made the mistake of ordering three sides (macaroni and cheese with shaved white truffles, grilled asparagus, and leek and potato hash browns) which were so yummy and rich that we barely put a dent in them. We chose a bottle of Chappellet Mountain Cuvee (2007) to pair with our meal, one of my favorite red blends. Everything was so good we had to try dessert ... apple and cranberry cobbler and sticky toffee pudding cake ... both were excellent! The service was amazing and we were not rushed at all ... I like this in a restaurant.
When we're at these shows, Mom and I are usually celebrity chef stalkers. We rearrange our schedule to attend the demos and book signings of the celebrity chefs ... this time we didn't. We were so tied up all three days that we missed Tyler's cooking demonstration and missed Alton Brown's demo and book signing (on two separate days). Thank goodness we saw Tyler in the hotel and the restaurant and we got a sneak peek at Alton during his book signing. I'll have to get my priorities straight for the July show!
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