New Kitchen Conspirators all week on Food2 or Those Hipsters Are At It Again With Their Expensive Menu

Hi all! Last week was quite busy so I didn't get to shower you with wonderful tidbits. The friends at Food2 are doing up this week Kitchen Conspirators style, premiering a new episode every day covering their High Society party which was filmed a while back I imagine.

High Society? They'll be working off an old menu, older than "vintage" so I'm pretty excited. Considering the trend of speakeasies and going back even farther, Victorian charm here in New York over the past year and a half, it's very fitting and looks to be a pretty damn awesome menu and distinctly American which intrigues me for some reason.

This segment seems better produced than their first outing (or inning, since this whole thing is built up as pretty mysterious and exclusive). My good friend Mr. Simon has known them for a long time and says they are always up to much good, and that's a good sign. Hipsters with skills without the word "designer" in them are kind of not hipsters in my opinion; they are productive people.

Check out the first video where the gang sits with a MacBook and goes over their menu:



For more, go to Food2.com.

For more on hipsters and/or much of north Brooklyn, go here.

Williamsburg is getting pretty attractive from last times I went. Maybe it's not hipster anymore, but glamster?

NYC Casting Call: Food2's $12 Challenge reality dating show. aka getting 100 dollars to admit you're love lorn AND can cook

So the friends at Food2 are doing a casting call this summer (episodes will probably film in the East Village where the first three episodes take place) right here in New York City promising more blowtorches and irons, you basic tools of the trade to make a meal on the street with 12 bucks and 2 hours to spare. They'll be filming all during August, a mouthful of episodes so I would suggest going here to sign up: 12 Dollar Challenge Casting Call

Did I mention cast members will get 100 clams? That's right, I read the fine details. With a 50/50 chance of winning on each episode, chances are if you're charming enough your date will actually go out with you after the filming/eating is done. You can also use that Benjamin to go to Flash Dancers. Or get really wrecked.

The episodes so far have progressed into fun 5 minute low budget treats, not much romance but plenty of fun. Blowtorches are really key, check out the second vid for that:

Food2 Presents: a NYC cocktail that has a bunch of ingredients that I wouldn't know how to get my hands on

Chinatown bars, what an anomaly. Enter Apotheke, whose mixmaster (ok ok ok mixologist) Orson Salicetti (sounds like he should be north of Canal) has something that will put a spring in your step and all around, put the spring in spring, and involves "dust" that isn't from drugs or Peter Pan.

Picture and ingredients taken from the friends at Food2:

"Ingredients:
1 oz. Navan Vanilla Liqueur
1 oz. Ice Wine
1 oz. Fresh Honeydew Juice
1 oz. Honey Lime
Honeydew and Madagascar Vanilla Dust Garnish"

I have none of these things. Which is why on my way to pick up some noodles, cheap seafood, oyster sauce, and other assorted Chinese things, I'll make a stop.

Drinks are flowing and Minds are molding....

So as the night is wearing on, we have some awesome people in attendance, we've got USA Today, Midtown Lunch, NY Barfly, and several others who have graced the kitchen.

Those Kitchen Conspirators are hanging in there, Michael, their guest chef from their first episode, is having a no-smile policy for these Polaroids, touche sir.

Mingling around and getting the dish from Liza at Culture Kitchen....

But wait...they are pulling the booze away.....I guess we're winding down.

It's Begun!

So what do you get when you have 50+ bloggers and editors in a room with tons of food, fancy music, and fancier drinks? Food2 Freebie Friday.

It's mid-way through and friends from The Music Slut and Yelp have shown up early to try the mutton sliders and arepas. People are digging the vibe including The Amateur Gourmet and Taste As You Go Blog chat it up with folks from all over the city.

Greasy Guide is in the house! And Aleta Meadowlark from Omnomicon, a contributing Food2 blogger. Jason from Me So Hungry is enjoying the festivities, as Whitney Matheson from USA Today chats with Scripps about Food2.

All photos credited to Mark Kwan at NYC Movie Screenings!

Chatting with Kelsey Nixon at the Food2 Launch

Photo by Mark Kwan at NYC Movie Screenings.

So the wonderful people at Scripps just introduced me to Kelsey Nixon, who was a fan favorite on The Next Food Network Star and also is currently on the Food2 show, Kelsey & Spike Cook.

I asked her about the pairing of grapes and steak, which I admitted I had never seen but it sounded great. "It's really the sweetness with the steak that just makes it so appealing and interesting, and on top of that the bleu cheese butter really is a great combo."

I agree, anything with bleu cheese is the bees knees.

Kelsey went on to tell the KCB about driving large vans and trucks in New York on Lex at 5am. Ever the consummate pro, she's already getting into the mix coming from Salt Lake City.

More to come!

At The Food Network Kitchens for Food2 Launch

And....I'm drunk. No just kidding. But that's how we come up with wonderful prose in Brooklyn. Things are setting up and shaping up as things will start to get rolling at 5pm. Got caught in the rain a little but that doesn't stop me from the smells of the grill. If you close your eyes, the multitude of sounds coming from all angles is intoxicating. The interesting thing about Food Network Kitchens is it melds cooking and hosting spaces with TV production crews, it's charming and very cool how they can mold whatever events they want because they have the capability and man power to do so. "Oh we can set up the lights, decor, anything you want". Must be nice!

There will be some special guests (one who has already shown up) and some fun Polaroids hopefully by the end of the evening. We shall see, Oroku Saki....

My SLR is making things as miserable as the weather, but I'm hoping to get a few shots in (or borrow from other peeps).

I am a bit thirsty though....

Food2 Freebie Friday - Blogging from Chelsea Market Tomorrow with Tastemakers

So our friends at Food2, which includes those Whisk & Ladle kids on that Kitchen Conspirators show I mentioned a few posts back in Williamsburg (shout out to Scott Simon for giving me more details), are hosting a Food2 Freebie Friday.

What is this, you ask? Well it's a few things. Just know that if you either friend them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, or give them a shout out (such as what I am doing now), you get a chance to receive some cool, quirky gifts throughout the day. You don't even have to leave the computer to get free swag!

Here's the kicker: The KCB is getting the scoop, maybe an ice cream scoop, tomorrow on some extra special Food2 goodness. There will be food, beverages, some candid photos, and general hilarity among some of your favorite New York blogging and online denizens. Can't quite let you in on it, but we'll be updating throughout tomorrow as the event goes on so visit tomorrow for some fun rabble rousing. Take that Kitchen Conspirators, I guess I AM invited!

And, I am ever so grateful to Time Out New York for their little ditty on The Feed Blog. Check it out here. TONY is still my fav!

To see details about how you can garner some shout outs with Food2 and to start seeing their beta site (with plenty of video episodes to get you through the day), go here.

New Food2 show: Kitchen Conspirators or Why Didn't They Invite Me!

So for all the Brooklynites out there, you'll be able to judge for yourself whether or not you really want in on this top secret supper club (how do they pick "strangers"? The KCB is on it!). I'm unsure of where they host these culinary diversions/experiments but there's always something new in the mix from the menu to a guest chef...

Does anyone recognize any of the chefs in the preview? Or what nabe they might be in?

The new, totally online show is called Kitchen Conspirators, and I'm also not sure what they are conspiring against, but if they can impressively whip up a menu on a dime (but not a real dime, the phrase....ok I'm done) and present it to a party of influential Brooklynites, I smell a contest down the line. If I were one of them I'd just make tons of noodle dishes. Oh yeah.

But enough of me digressing, here's the preview for the show:


For more on Food2 and what's to come, just check out their site: www.food2.com

According to them, they want to put the "oo" back in food. It usually doesn't take much for me to sigh like that so getting a dose of Food dos is fine by me.

Some Food2 News: 12,000 Dunkin' Donut contest! I gotta go to the BATHroom

The good people over at Food2 have let the world in on some sweet sweet love: a doughnut idea worth 12,000 dollars. Now as an occasional fan of the wonderful texture of doughnuts, my favorite always being strawberry filled ones from DD (none of that jelly crap), I have to say this should affect NYC and Brooklyn in the ever constant battle of Starbucks vs. DD (in terms of coffee price and taste).

Or maybe not, but it's always good for a sound bite (this morning I'm just on fire). You choose from a host of flavors in each category, there's a public vote in May with a winner announced on June 5th, and that doughnut gets duplicated for America to chow down on.

Here's mine:
It's called the PB & StrawJelly.


To fulfill your wildest doughnut dreams, go here. For more on Food2 and their fun posts, go here.

Food2 presents: Cheese Doodle Day

One of my new favorite blogs is Food2 (that's Food to the power of 2, technically Food squared, but Food2 sounds better, I guess if they had Food squared Day, they could do like food that is square shaped, like lasagna, or brownies, or rice krispy treats, I think I'm onto something!!). I'm all for Eater and Slice and Chowhound and this is a new one thrown into the mix, poppy and bubbly and light. Unless you're talking about cooking lard. That's just heavy.

Anywho, I guess it's Cheese Doodle Day, which means the Levee in Williamsburg must be pretty happy about since they serve up free cheese balls and cheese doodles (puffy kind). We're having an argument at work about puffy vs. crunchy, I used to hate puffy (crunchy at least FELT lean to eat) but the best part about puffy is when you chomp it down it becomes this dense amoeba-ish thing before swallowing that has such a funky texture. Am I right or am I right?

For more on the article with a sick picture of people constructed entirely out of Cheese Doodles, go to the Food2 site.

Here is a shot of the Levee's Frito Pie with a cheese ball taken by my friends at The Cinephile New York, mmmm....