Monday, October 18, 2004

Brooklyn Eats (and DRINKS!)

First, thank you to James Reid and his students for being such a big help today with the "Brooklyn Eats" event, and to the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce for putting on the event in the first place.

That said, and like the Time Out New York event a few weeks ago, it doesn't surprise anyone to learn that people make an extra effort to make their food look interesting. Huge floral arrangements, hand woven baskets the size of Rhode Island, blinking lights, balloons and tablecloths of many hues...

There is the axiom that if it looks good it IS good... At Schnack we don't exactly have a budget for transplanting small forests or ordering bountiful flower arrangements. We did bring three small bunches of flowers from Miss Lee (our Union St. Neighbor), and a few ears of colored Indian Corn. The award for the least unique presentation item goes to... Indian Corn. It seems everyone had an ear or two, or a few dozen.

So while our booth was plain and our presentation less then sublime, we hit some solid runs with our Beer Shake. In a room filled with a half dozen styles of jerk chicken, more crab, clam, and fish cakes than could be counted, and at least as many shrimp dishes as well.. we stood out. Why? Because we had something people hadn't really tried before and something that made them actually think about food and what they think they might like. And of course, after tasting the beer shake perhaps finding out there are some things they like which they didn't expect that they would.

Other highlights? The Marriott Kitchens' jumbo shrimp with bacon.. It was perfect and huge. Truly JUMBO. Blue Ribbons' sushi, and killer Mac'N Cheese from Mama Dukes!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by!!! We had a great time!!