EVENT: Taste Talks Foodstravaganza 2014!

Foodstravaganza weekend, also known as Taste Talks, kicked off last weekend in Brooklyn - composed of two days, the weekend starts off with a series of panels involving chefs, writers, or anyone else who's someone special in the food world, and then closes with the best BBQ you'll ever attend. If you consider yourself a foodie, then this is the best. weekend. ever.

Day 1, panel day: Popped quickly into the Future Food Expo at Colossal Media [the artsy workspace of my dreams], snuck in a bit of the Chicken and Waffles breakfast, snagged an Empire Mayonnaise sample, and headed to the talks.

I made it to two full panels - the first, Is Brooklyn the New Manhattan? with Andy Ricker, Frank Falcinelli, Frank Castronovo, Gabe Stulman [and moderated by Jordana Rothman] satisfied my gentrification fascination. I'm absolutely obsessed with learning about how NYC neighborhoods have been changing, as well as traveling far and wide to get to a food destination, so hearing all the perspectives on everyone's experiences in their respective boroughs [or, as was mostly the case, both Brooklyn and Manhattan] was definitely interesting.   Answer to the question? Brooklyn is Brooklyn and Manhattan is Manhattan.

We caught the beginning half of Sam Sifton's panel, "Reporting, Writing & Eating" - but left early for the tequila and mezcal tasting with Phil Ward, because, you know, priorities. Tequila and mezcal are probably the last on the list of potential liquors I would like in my cocktails, and I ended up being quite tipsy after that session - Phil walked us through a series of six sips, starting from the worst and taking it up to something a little higher-class. Do I remember any of the many new tequila and mezcal facts? I remember very few, but the point is a have a new appreciation for them, so I think it was a success.

On to day two: All Star BBQ is essentially a cookout with a whole bunch of chefs you've probably heard of [Ivan Orkin, Andy Ricker, Rob Newton, Danny Bowien, among others - oh and Action Bronson was there too] but it's really an event in which you stuff as many different animals as you can into your stomach.

Top dish for me was my first of the evening sessions, Nate Smith and Lee Tiernan's charred lamb tongue with deep-fried anchovies; the barbecue duck from Rob Newton and Oliver Strand took a close second - I have an incredible weakness for any duck dishes. Matt Rudofker's grilled blue whale oyster wins first place for the most Instagram-able dish, and I also had my first duck hearts ever [three actually, thanks to Ivan Orkin] and though they were good if you didn't think about what you were eating, I felt a little queasy thinking about them digesting in my stomach along with all the other animal parts.

Also on the menu - Will Horowitz's smoked char siu Long Island eel, David Santos and Jonathan Wu's pig head salad, Danny Bowien and Jamie Bissonnette's Mission Chinese Special, Danny Bowien and Inaki Aizpitarte's Mission Cantina Special, Brooks Headley's veggie burgers, Max Sussman and Eli Sussman's grilled chicken kebab, Action Bronson and Michael White's porchetta "Kra Prow" tigelle, Andy Ricker's boar collar meat, Dan Delaney's Texas hot gut sausage, and Josh Russ Tupper and Niki Russ Federman's grilled cinnamon babka. I'll leave you with the rest of the food porn for now - in the meantime, mark your calendar for next year, but I can only anticipate that Taste Talks is going to be even more popular in 2015.