What a gorgeous May Day it has been thus far and it isn't over yet! My day was full of running around town and two of the events I went to today are with sharing about -- one with plenty of cheese and one completely without, at least for me. The first was Floralia, the New Amsterdam Market's May Day celebration that was all about greens and plants and of course, local jams, chocolates, cheeses, meats, breads, and more. The New Amsterdam Market organization had even erected a May Day pole. Morris Grilled Cheese that was written up Friday in Daily Candy had a twenty person deep line, shows what press will do for you, right? The Cellars at Jasper Hill were present with their fabulously aged Cabot Clothbound Cheddar and Landaff and my favorite Rhode Island Cremery, Narraganset was on hand offering samples of Atwell's Gold, homemade mozarella and yogurt. If you were looking for the best deal, a nice large hunk of aged Cabot Clothnound cheddar was available for $5 and it is just at the right age currently -- nutty, butterscotchy, caramelly, and tangy for all the right reasons. Made me look forward to the upcoming weekly New Amsterdam Markets this summer, a personal favorite of mine!
Heading from the South Street Seaport and the New Amsterdam Market's first market of the season, (they start up weekly June 5th), to Txikifest, we got plenty of time to soak up the sun and get nice rosy cheeks. We arrived at Alex Raij and Eder Montero's first ever Txikifest that took place in a back alley behind their restaurant Txikito on 9th avenue and 24th street just a little after 1pm and were pleased to see it wasn't that crowded.
So what was Txikifest? It was a celebration of the low alcohol Basque Spring time wine, Txakoli, with a variety of restaurants providing small plates of food to pair with the light and fanciful wines. Present were: Taim, Txikito and El Quinto Pino, Co, The Hurricane Club, Edi and the Wolf, Lassi (being resurrected for one day only), La NewYorkina, and traveling the furthest distance Poole's Downtown Diner from Raleigh, NC.
What were my favorites? Before we get there, I should probably mention I couldn't eat all of the food so should you be a meat eater, you might have had different opinions. For me there were three front runners. First up were Taim's homemade falafels with an herb based tahini, perfect with this light white wine. Flavorful and herbaceous but not heavy and fried, just the way a falafel should be. Next up, I had the Ramp roasted tomato coleslaw from Poole's that was supposed to be served with a Pulled pork slider but the cole slaw alone on a mini brioche bun was amazing -- dynamic, aromatic, vegetal, crunchy and slightly creamy, this wasn't even comparable to your average deli coleslaw, it was a salad unto itself. Lastly I got to try Co's new pizza -- a homemade walnut spread lightly coated the thin pizza crust which was topped with caramelized onions and hen of the woods mushrooms, EVOO, and some local herbs. Nutty, rustic, barnyardy and fantastic, this vegan pie managed to walk the perfect line between lightness and heaviness. Such an inventive combination of ingredients!
Overall the Txikifest was an excellent wine and food tasting -- not too crowded, fabulous weather, and I had the pleasure to learn a lot about a particular wine varietal I didn't know that much about.
A great day if I do say so myself with plenty more fun adventures to come before the day is done.
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