Celebrate Coffee Culture at a Buzz-Worthy Event

I don't know if you've noticed this, but coffee has become a very diverse thing in the past few years. A cuppa joe is no longer just a cuppa joe, if you know what I mean. The flat white has been imported from Australia by Starbucks, Portlanders (from Oregon) encourage roasting your own beans, and San Franciscans have been pushing 500 different ways to brew your coffee. But whether or not you can tell a Chemex from a French Press, there is something for everyone at The New York Coffee Festival.

This inaugural event will be taking place September 25th-27th at the 69th Regiment Armory (Lexington Ave & 26th St) will celebrate the ideology behind the coffee industry--from the farmer to the barista, and all of the steps in between.

The 3-day festival is being launched by Allegra Events Ltd. as part of Coffee Week NYC, and will be highlighting over 70 innovative exhibitors, including Starbucks Reserve, La Marzocco, La Cimbali, Pacific Foods, La Colombe, Steampunk, Joe, Toby's Estate, Irving Farm, and more. It will also feature the Coffee Masters NYC barista championship, sponsored by leading US artisan roaster Counter Culture Coffee.

The Festival will also feature live music as part of the Coffee Music Project, The Coffee Art Project gallery, gourmet street food, and The Espresso Martini Bar. Additionally, The Lab sessions will give attendees the opportunity to participate in in-depth educational workshops and seminars given by some of the industry's most influential leaders..

Half of ticket proceeds will be donated to charity: water via the Allegra Group's Project Waterfall initiative. Through these donations, Project Waterfall will be able to continue bringing clean water to coffee counties such as Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Rwanda.

To purchase tickets, click here. Standard passes start at $20 for a single morning or afternoon session and VIP tickets start at $45 and include fast track entrance, all day access, a free espresso martini and a tote bag.

Grazing on Some Great Greek

Living in Astoria, I've tried some excellent Greek food. So I definitely approach any new Hellenic epicurean event with a keen sense of taste. 

I was invited to Avaton Estiatorio (1 East 35th Street) recently and was instantly struck by how clean, chic, and welcoming the space was, especially mere steps away from the hell-hole block that is 34th Street right outside the Empire State Building. It's tucked away from the hubbub and features a small but protected sidewalk cafe and 2 separate dining rooms, plus a private upstairs section. 

On the way to our table, we passed by the fresh local and Mediterranean fish display, which makes for quite the appetizing welcome. We sat in the back dining room under an impressive chandelier and across from a wall-sized replica of an olive tree.

Fresh fish display

View from my seat

I'm not sure how much pineapple is a part of classic Greek cuisine, but it was a hot day out and a tropical cocktail sounded great to me. I tried the Elpinia (at least it had a Greek name!) with vodka, fresh pineapple, fresh squeezed lime juice, ginger and a cinnamon stick. My friend was a bit weary about the combination of cinnamon and pineapple initially, but the combination totally works! I also appreciated that the drink wasn't too sweet.

Elpinia

Before our "official" food even arrived, we were smitten with the bread. The bread! I know! It had olives in it and was toasted and drizzled with some high class EVOO. It was all gone fairly soon after it arrived.

Olive bread

Our first appetizer was the tuna tartare served with diced yellow fin filet, avocado, soy ginger vinaigrette, and an oregano tortilla. This was good, but nothing special or unique. In fact I've had this dish at restaurants that define themselves as anything from Italian to Mexican to Japanese. And now it's Greek. Don't let this stop you from ordering it, as if you know you like tuna tartare, this one will satisfy you very well.

Tuna tartare

Next up we sampled the platter of Avaton dips: Taramosalata, htipiti, skordalia, melitzanosalata, tzatziki. We pretty much finished this crazy amount of dip. My favorite was the skordalia because garlic. Don't eat too much of this on a date.

Avaton dips

For the main course, we split the special seafood risotto. The chef explained that his tomato sauce has no sugar in it, which was great because fresh tomatoes have plenty of natural sugar. I liked the wide array of seafood in the dish including scallops, mussels, clams, and prawns--two a piece so perfect for sharing (or boarding Noah's ark). It was all topped with feta cheese.

Seafood risotto

Dessert may have been my favorite course of this meal. We were treated to three different sweet offerings and all were completely unlike anything I'd ever had before. My favorite, the textured halva, was made from semolina, raisins, nuts, and cinnamon citrus syrup. The chef told us he borrowed from the Turkish tradition and made the halvah with milk as well, which definitely added richness. My friend's favorite was the Karidopita, a moist and surprisingly gluten-free (no flour!) walnut cake, which was served with caramel fudge. We also tried the chocolate pot which is the dessert to order for all chocoholics. It's very apparent that high quality cocoa when into this treat as it's as rich as it is balanced and creamy.

Dessert trio

Avaton offers a $33 price fix lunch or $38 pre-theater dinner. I would definitely recommend parking yourself in one of their outside tables if the weather is nice, but a seat in the back room under the chandelier is certainly transportive. The waitstaff was very cordial and friendly and will certainly answer any questions regarding the menu and work with you over any food allergies and restrictions. Whatever you do, save room for dessert!

Disclosure: Avaton provided us with a comp'd meal but all opinions in this review are my own.

Bringing the Potato Back into the Cool Zone at Burlap Sack

Potatoes have gotten a bad rep' with the rise of the healthy food craze. But the thing is, spuds--while very tasty fried--can very easily be integrated into a well-balanced meal. At least that's what the folks at the new Murray Hill potato eatery Burlap Sack (507 Third Avenue @ 34th Street) hope to prove.

I visited Burlap Sack earlier in the week and was wowed by all of the changes in the neighborhood since I moved away almost 3 years ago. Onwards and upwards I suppose!

The fast-casual restaurant is the brainchild of Miguel Franco, former executive chef of Dos Toros (an Awesome in New York go-to!), and a slew of other restaurateurs. He took me through the menu, explaining that the concept is similar to Chipotle (or Eons or Chutney Kitchen), but for your base you can choose from several potato options: baked potato (whole or cut into medallions for easier forking), traditional or sweet potato fries, tater tots, or rice (for the potato noninclined). Because of this setup, all dishes are gluten-free. 

Next you choose your meat (all locally sourced), either grilled chicken, spiced ground turkey, grilled steak, or slow-cooked pork. Then there's an assortment of 4 different cheeses, hot mushrooms and onions and a variety of cold, fresh veggies that remind me of a the baked potato bar I used to visit as a kid in the food court of my mall. The best part of this station was all the house-made sauces to finish your bowl off (Miguel loves the Dad's marinara sauce as it's a family recipe, but I went with the truffle aioli).

All bowls will run you under $10 and, in my opinion, give you more than enough food for a single meal. I used my leftovers as a side dish for lunch the next day. Needless to say, I made everyone in my office super jelly.

My creation: Spiced ground turkey over baked potato medallions with broccoli, mushrooms, cheddar, scallions and truffle aioli

Burlap Sack is open Mon-Thurs 11:30am-10pm, Fri 11:30am-11pm, and Sat-Sun 12:30pm-8pm. Check them out and let us know what you think!

Note: Burlap Sack gave me a comp'd dinner but all opinions on this review are my own.

Get Your Greek On at Eons

The Chipotle model has obviously proven so successful for Mexican food, so it's no surprise we've seen numerous other cuisines steal the build-it-yourself meal restaurant and make it their own. The Greeks have done it this time with Eons in Murray Hill (633 Second Ave @ 34th Street) and it's bound to be your new go-to for fresh, flavorful food.

Walking in, you get the view similar to what you seen in Chipotle--a line of people waiting to choose their base (here you get you meal served as a pita, over rice, or over salad), protein (chicken, pork, shrimp, octopus, steak, lamb, salmon, or veggies), and toppings (tzadziki, garlic spread, feta spread, eggplant, humus, or something called lado sauce). Then you can choose from a variety of veggies and condiments to top off your meal.

We met the owner Anoush and she sweetly walked us through our options and made some recommendations.

Anoush making my lunch

Proteins!

More proteins!

Toppings!

Prices range from $7-$15 (with octopus by far being the most expensive). I opted for salmon over rice and have been craving it for lunch ever since! The fish is super flavorful and you can tell that it hasn't been sitting there for days just waiting to be served. The tomatoes which topped my bowl were some of the reddest I've ever seen and I would definitely recommend you not skip the lentils! Also they serve Boylan's sodas, so Eons officially gets 2 thumbs up.

Anoush also brought us a sample of Eons' spreads. The humus was, well, not my favorite, but all the others were great, especially the garlic spread! Mmmmm. No vampires here!

A spread of spreads

Our lunches

If you live or work in the area, Eons would be a great place to pick up lunch or dinner. And if you're anything like me, you'll even have leftovers! Don't be afraid to splurge for bigger ticket items like the salmon because they are fresh and definitely worth the few extra bucks.