The Gold Standard

The Gold Standard wrapped around 5 pm or so yesterday and there were still people meekly nibbling on chicken wings or gelato, I suppose, but most of us were so full that we were done. I mean DONE. What an event. “Thank you, Mr. Gold, for inviting us into your home,” is what I actually told him. Munching on the brilliant shrimp skewer with duck breast from the Lou booth, I got emotional and thought, “Mr. Gold, you are a good man.” The one thing that made me feel great is to see chefs like Ludo, Susan Feniger, and Mary Sue Milliken, giants in the industry, serving food and even eating from the various booths. Much has been written about the struggles of the restaurant business but it was encouraging to see that some restaurants are making it and I was glad I could be a part of this community of food enthusiasts. I felt so good that I walked up to the Jitlada booth and shouted to them: “I love you guys so much,” (because I really do). They beamed. I told La Casita chefs Ramiro and Javier that I saw their smackdown of Bobby Flay on Throwdown. They loved that and gave me a lot of food. Well, they gave everybody a lot of food. And there were other highlights: the roasted green salad with burata from Huckleberry, pot roast from Jar, stuffed jalapeno from La Casita, the tomato basil lasagna from Angeli, the vegan taco from Kogi, and the kurobata pork shoulder from Upstairs 2. I went to Gold Standard with my posse: my mother, sister, two brothers and sister-in-law and I met with fellow blogger Amelia and her husband and two friends. Here were some of my impressions as I discussed things with them, and this by no means is scientific: The moles at Moles La Tia won the day. As much as I like La Casita, La Tia wins this match-up. Lightning Rod Dish of the Day: The Nickel’s Maple Bacon Doughnut. You either loved it or you didn’t and it seemed to separate the women and men. Men loved it. Biggest Disappointments: Mozza and Hungry Cat. Whereas some of us didn’t think Hungry Cat stepped up to their usual reliable brilliance, Mozza didn’t show up at all. I didn’t get to sample anything from them because they ran out of food. Lightning Rod Dish of the Day, part 2: The green curry chicken pot pie from Good Girl Dinette. Whereas I and others found it delicious, several others found that it entirely missed the mark. Towering home run: Little Dom’s gelato. It just came at the right moment and delivered. It helped that their booth was near the mind-numbing hot wings of Kyochan and so their gelato served as a palate cleanser. Huge points for Little Dom’s excellent oyster po'boy. Towering home run, part 2: Meals by Genet. This was widely praised. The greens were perfect, the meat melted in your mouth, it was way too much, and yet, I had to eat it all. Way out in Left Field: Ludo Bites chorizo sorbet. Need I say more? It was a strange dish and even stranger, I liked it. Biggest dark horse: Sona. Now when you think of seafood, you don’t automatically think of this place. At least, I don’t. But their salmon with green curry sauce was hitting on the right notes, salt, sea, spice. Final thoughts: My mom and sister thought the avocado taco at Ciudad the single greatest dish of the day, my brother thought that title went to the vegan taco at Kogi, my other brother liked Jitlada, my sister-in-law loved Saffron Spot, and I dug Lou. But the highlight? Meeting Mr. Gold. There was something for everybody at Gold Standard.