The Heavenly Harvest

The omniscient Wikipedia tells me that the harvest marks both the end of the growing cycle when crops are gathered and the beginning of the food-making and distribution process. That’s kind of like what City Harvest does year round – except that they gather food from sources that would otherwise waste it and distribute it to individuals in need, instead of feeding themselves… OK, so even if historical parallels are less obvious, what is very clear is that the food gods are siding with this inspiring organization: for they gave unto City Harvest the support of New York City’s most renown chefs to partake in this awesome annual charity event.

In reality, City Harvest is the product of common sense, not the supernatural. In the early 1980s, a group of ordinary citizens noticed that local restaurants were discarding perfectly good food while more and more New Yorkers were hungry. So they started gathering and transporting the leftover food to where it was needed most – a City Harvest. Since then, City Harvest has cost-effectively distributed more than 300 million pounds of food to a network of nearly 600 community food programs throughout the City. The organization now delivers an average of over 83,000 pounds of food daily and more than 30 million pounds this year.

The Bid Against Hunger is an annual event aimed at raising money for this cause. And with more than 60 of New York’s best chefs serving delightful seasonal dishes (and many more chefs supporting the cause) and some incredible auction items, the event raised more than $1 million. Since the cost to deliver a pound of food is just 27 cents, the money goes a long way. In fact, this is enough to provide food for more than 4 million meals for hungry New Yorkers!
And I digress… On to the food:

Enter Caviarteria . I loved the salty and sweet combination of caviar with watermelon or fig and the unusual mix of textures. And does anyone think this may have been Georgia O’Keefe-inspired? This was really one of the more elegant samples of the night, especially with the fig/caviar combo.

On to heavier seasonal specialties, I was delighted to try Ariane Daguin’s duck filet mignon with foie gras mousse, black truffle, and balsamic reduction. You might be thinking: I don’t know… that sounds like a little much. But no, Daguin’s dish maintained the integrity of each of these rich proteins without being overwhelming.

Julian Medina’s Toro Taquitos, Toloache 82. Who doesn’t love Toro + crunch? But there was definitely more to this equation. A little bit of TLC, some citrus, and some heat made these adorable snacks more than just good ingredients.

Chris Santos of Beauty and Essex whipped up some awesome sheep’s milk ricotta and truffle to go with his oven braised chicken meatballs. The fresh and creamy ricotta and pecorino sprinkled on top were a great complement to the juicy meatballs and gave this classic a modern spin.

Le Bernardin’s warm crab “cake” with tequila guacamole, potato crisps and aji pepper lime emulsion was a complicated and delicious seasonal marvel. In other breaking news, the sky is blue and pigs can’t fly.

Seriously though, Ripert’s dedication to City Harvest almost distracted me from all the beautiful colors and textures in the dish he prepared (stress: almost, I can multi-task). Currently chair of the organization’s Food Council, he’s been active in City Harvest for 15 years. He told me that a major reason he is so dedicated to this organization is that it gets things done. Coming from a no-nonsense guy like Eric Ripert, that means a lot.

Another long-time City Harvest supporter and Food Council member, Gramercy Tavern’s Michael Anthony wins my prize for preparing the dish most in tune with City Harvest’s Bid Against Hunger . The pickled peppers with aji dulce and smoked paprika were like a seasonal firework of flavor, with sparks that fell safely and quickly to the ground with the help of the house-made chorizo paté. The thyme cracker brought it all home. The dish was seasonal, healthy, and everything was utensil and waste free. For me, this was totally City Harvest and so true to Gramercy Tavern’s approach too.

I see I’m getting a little wordy on the most obvious contenders, so I will try to be more concise – sorry Dan Barber (as if you need my lowly songs of praise). Ditto all of the above re: involvement with City Harvest, Food Council Membership, staying true to the seasonal theme and the locavore motto. Tone down the simplicity, though.

As you can see, there was a little more décor in Blue Hill’s forono beets with yogurt , but everything was tasteful and freakin’ bio degradable! The sweet, deep magenta beets coupled with the rich and slightly savory yogurt, topped off with a faro cracker and pine nut butter, left me salivating for more (seriously).

Two colorful panna cottas that I loved : Picholine’s pumpkin-crepe panna cotta with Brussels sprout kimchi (Terrance Brennan) and Kerry Haffernan’s piquillo pepper panna cotta with Maine crab and lovage coulis . Both of these were great to look at and had really interesting flavors! And if you’re wondering, lovage is a celery-like plant.

Maybe my favorite savory dish all night was the excitingly complex and somehow familiar acciughe al verde – ligurian anchovies, lemon butter, salsa verde and hazelnuts on house made flat bread by Sorella’s Emma Hearst. It was like having my favorite Italian dish broken down and reconstructed by a cubist painter. I loved the salty anchovies with the crunch of the hazelnuts and the simple but delicious cracker – balanced in texture and flavor by the lemon butter and salsa verde. Bravo.

As always, I’m rambling and there’s no way I can fit everything in. So just a couple of sweet-tooth shout- outs. First to Jon Snyder of Il Laboratorio Del Gelato for his delectable concord grape and peanut butter gelatos – a play on peanut butter and jelly. What’s so amazing about Jon Snyder’s gelatos is that their flavors are always so true to their stated source – but it can’t be that simple! I’m willing to try any flavor he offers (p.s. try olive oil and basil, they’re amazing together).

Last, but most certainly far from least, Ron Ben Israel’s delightful apple bourbon cake with vanilla bean and pecan buttercreams and cranberry almond cake with coffee and crema di caramel buttercreams. They were both moist and heavenly, like autumn in a cake with the right amount of everything.

And I can’t help noting that Mr. Ben Israel is another of the many fabulous chefs dedicated to City Harvest. He was also lovely to talk to and told me how he sometimes makes extra large cakes just so he can donate the extras to City Harvest (actually, quite a few chefs mentioned similar charitable tactics). Can you believe that?! So awesome.

On a personal note, I think this organization is amazing and encourage all of us to take some time out of our “busy” schedules and donate it to City Harvest. I’m sure financial donations are also welcome (sorry if I sound like an advertisement). Finally – the end, with love.

Photos by Karen Ko for Appetite for Good.

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