On Saturday night, we made our way to the secret location of NY Bite Club (an underground supper club) where we ate an extra generously portioned tasting menu of dishes from Chihuahua, Mexico and drank cocktails by the famous Joaquin Simo of Death & Co. 433 East 6th Street, New York, NY 10009
The evening was paid for by BBC America who put together one of the best PR events I’ve been to in a long time. (Remember the Con-Agra fiasco?) We were there to watch a few scenes from their new ten-episode show, “No Kitchen Required,” and instead of making us all sit and watch, iPads dotted the room with a few scenes showing through the night. You could watch when you wanted to.
The whole evening was relaxed, more like just a party with friends, chatting away and munching on great bean and queso dip and spicy quacamole, until we were seated for dinner. I didn’t even look at the iPads until later, mid-way through the meal (and then couldn’t look away).
We started with a Blue Fish Ceviche served in a Tostone Cup which reminded me of the Jewish sour cream and herring… gone latin. The Pozole was served in such awesome dishware, it kind of over-shadowed the taste of the dish. It was luke-warm and the pork and hominy didn’t absorb any flavors. The ingredients felt individual. The Huitlacoche Quesadilla was crunchy and creamy, enjoyable except difficult to cut. The Pipian de Pollo was my favorite dish, homey and herbaceous. The chicken just fell off the bone.
That was when Kayne Raymond, one of the ruggedly handsome chefs from the show, sat down at our table. (BTW, I’m also a huge fan of Michael Psilakis and have been since way back when Kefi was a tiny restaurant.) After seeing clips of them butchering iguana (which looks like carving a mini-dinosaur), I had so many questions. Most importantly, I asked what was the one weird animal he ate that was so delicious I should work hard to find it? His enthusiastic answer was gibnut, a very large rodent eaten in Belize. He described some of it being like pork belly. So I’ve been scouring the Internet today trying to find gibnut and have not found a purveyor yet. If you know of one, please let me know.
Oh, and then the Roasted Baby Goat came. So much more meat then you’ll ever see on another tortilla. The flavor of chilies melded together and the cooling avocado cream perfected this dish. I enjoyed the broth of the goat innards soup. but I didn’t like eating the pieces and I tend to like offal.
We wrapped up with creamy flan and horchata for dessert and realized how late it was. Stuffed, we excused ourselves with compliments to the chef and BBC America for hosting a very nice evening. We left so excited to watch “No Kitchen Required” which airs Tuesday, April 3rd 10/9C!
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I find myself always thinking that these shows are over-the-top, over dramatized and kind of cheesy… but then once watching I find them fascinating. And what a spread! The food looks fabulous!
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