eat me drink me

Last night cocktails flowed like water at Edible Brooklyn’s Good Spirits event at the Bell House.  As the quarterly magazine’s first event at this venue, they certainly got the goods right, unfortunately the place was packed by 7pm and many of the stands ran out of food and/or drink by 7:30.  Lucky me, I got there early and indulged in the melty Duroc pork belly on polenta chips from Fette Sau and sipped their paired cocktail, The Gardiner, which had Hudson Corn whiskey, lime, and a rim of the restaurant’s special rub.

I was overall pretty impressed with the spread.  There were creamy, mustard tinged deviled eggs from Fort Defiance; soft yet chewy beef jerky from The Vanderbilt, mini smoked meat sammies from Mile End, and savory meatballs with parsnip and pickled fennel from The Farm on Adderly.  One of my favorite stands, and by the length of the line, other people’s as well, was Palo Santo’s.  I last saw chef Jacques Gautier dishing out treats at the Gourmet Latino Festival preview, but was more impressed with the wild boar in mole negro tacos and tangy ceviche he served last night.  It went perfect with the smoky Ilegal Mezcal Joven and Reposado and spicy sangrita chaser he doled out along side the food.

Despite the tight, shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, I was able to pick out a few familiar faces.  Of course Rachel Wharton and Gabrielle Langholtz from Edible Brooklyn and Edible Manhattan were there, along with cookbook author Louisa Shafia, and Rick Field of Rick’s Picks, my favorite pickle company.   I finished up the night with a dark chocolate bonbon (or three) from Tumbador Chocolate and samples of Compass Box’s smoky, artisan scotch whiskey.  By the end of the event I was full and warm from too many cocktails like my favorite, Fort Defiance’s Warwick Bramble, which went down twice in smooth, berry sweet gulps.   Despite trying numerous concoctions and liquors, this morning I woke up refreshed, and wanting to do it all over again.