• 13Feb

    Social Eatz Food Shoot

    Chef Angelo Sosa came over to our studio for a long, but very fun and rewarding, 7-hour shoot. Angelo has worked with the amazing photographer Jeremy Johnson in the past, and decided to have him do the food photography for Social Eatz – a comfort food restaurant featuring hamburgers, tacos, ribs, sandwiches and salads, all Asian inspired. And VERY yummy!

    I am especially excited since everything is over a “5″ rating in terms of how the meats are humanely raised, organic and processed for his restaurant. Angelo has a higher standard than Whole Foods meats. I was very impressed as I only buy humanely raised, non GMO, etc.

    Social Eatz is Angelo’s second restaurant opening, of many more to come. He’s also started on a biography/recipe book. Jeremy will be traveling with Angelo to Asia for 10 days in April to get great shots for the book. Maybe I can tag along.

    So back to the photoshoot … Angelo brought his sous chef, and marketing and web design team. My job was to assist the photographer and help make the food look tasty on the plating. We propped ribs on top of styrofoam, and glazed leaves with oil using my makeup brushes. Numerous Q-tips and toothpicks were used. Angelo called the shoot very intense and said he saw me doing more of this! (LOL, I work intensely and am a perfectionist!)

    The best part was, extra food was made so we could snack in between plates being shot. And not because I’m biased, but Angelo’s food is so amazing! One of his glazes for ribs has coffee in it. Who would’ve thought?

    There will be a few events in the next couple weeks before the grand opening – an opening party at Social Eatz with all the cast from Top Chef All Stars, which Jeremy will be covering and networking; and a family and friends dinner that we’ll be attending but not working! We’ll be sure to post pictures from those events. Life is great in the foodie world!

    www.socialeatz.com
    www.angelososa.com

    Be sure to watch Angelo on Bravo’s highest-rated television series, Wednesday nights, 9 pm EST. I can’t tell you the results, so you’ll have to watch the rest of the season!

    P.S. My fridge was left stocked with Asian hamburgers, ribs, special sauces, cheeses, and freshly ground spices.

    Filed under: Celebrity Chefs, Social Eatz Food Shoot
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  • 03Feb

    24-Hour Restaurant Battle, Part II

    Great friends of ours, Sam & Alexa, visited us from Phoenix for a week, the coldest week in NYC, I might add. They weathered the snow storms, and we are thrilled they’ll be moving to NYC in September of this year!

    We decided to take them to taping number 2 of Food Network’s 24-Hour Restaurant Battle. They love food as much as we do, and thought this would be a fun day. We arrived at the studios in Brooklyn an hour late, signed our releases, and walked to waiting room number 2 right away. From our last taping, we learned that you really don’t have to be there right on time.

    The four of us sat down with a group of about 50 people who had been waiting awhile. We were sitting for no longer than 10 minutes when the producer’s assistant came up to the four of us and told us that we were chosen to be alongside the judges as they entered the restaurant. She said we were camera friendly. We followed her backstage and felt the glares as we had just walked through the door – late – and others would still have to wait.

    Backstage we chatted with Chef Scott Conant. He mentioned how he had just flown in to NYC the night before, worried he wouldn’t make it because of the storm that had just hit. I thought he was very friendly, definitely more relaxed from day 1 of taping. I’m a fan!

    We did our thing as background people as the judges walked into the restaurant, then sat down to order and eat from restaurant “Bout”, a roller derby themed restaurant.

    Not a great experience compared to the first restaurant we critiqued. We waited almost an hour for our food! Appetizers were pork sliders, greasy potato chips, and deviled eggs. The main course – greasy hamburgers, fried cod, burnt fried chicken. Alexa had to order another meal because of burnt fried chicken. This resulted in major camera time … lol.

    Dessert was good – bread pudding … yum! We had a great time besides the fact that the food was greasy and a long wait. My opinion is that Bout does not win this food battle.

    Filed under: 24-Hour Restaurant Battle, Celebrity Chefs
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  • 12Jan

    24-Hour Restaurant Battle, Part I

    Jeremy and I arrived at Brooklyn Fireproof Studios at 1:00 pm to sign our releases for the taping of season 2 of Food Network’s, 24-Hour Restaurant Battle, episode 1. Our waiting area was inside a local Brooklyn cafe, a place you’ll find no tourists. We snacked on Brooklyn water bagels, whole wheat of course, and organic coffee. After a couple of hours, we walked backstage to our first restaurant as cameras and crew watched our every move. We tried to act normal but it’s a little hard when cameras are all around.

    We were seated and ordered our drinks. As our waiter Andrew approached (his real job is as a standup comedian in SOHO), he told us they ran out of all dessert. My heart dropped, as I am a sucker for sweets, and I gave him an “Oh really, that’s okay.” Really it wasn’t.

    As he walked away, the producer came up to us and said, “I understand your waiter just told you that they are out of dessert. We’re going to shoot that again.” As the mic came over our heads and as they prepared to shoot this re-enactment, I started to get nervous. Finally the waiter came over, and I replied, “Oh really, that’s okay.” They ended up shooting it again and again. Each time my response was the same. A little boring I know. Was I supposed to “act it out”? Who knows? Hopefully it doesn’t get aired; I had a bad hair day today! lol

    Halfway through our appetizer, the producer moved us to a table directly next to the judges’ table. Jeremy continued to eat his clam chowder and my plate of well-seasoned clams topped with chorizo and spinach. This was my favorite dish. For our entree, Jeremy ordered the roasted duck with mixed white and sweet potatoes. Something I’m going to try and make. I ordered the cod drizzled with a chipotle sauce and spinach. The cod was perfectly cooked and very tasty!

    The judges ate and shared their entrees, including the dessert – a whoopie pie that they had “run out of” – which seemed to last about 2 hours. Halfway through, the producer added a couple to our table and the waiter continued to bring us more drinks and food, but no dessert. Adding a couple to our table made the experience much easier and by the time shooting was done, we weren’t nervous. Round two, in a couple of weeks! A blast for sure!

    About the show: Hosted by renowned chef Scott Conant (chef and owner of Scarpetta and Faustina at The Cooper Square Hotel), each episode of 24-Hour Restaurant Battle features dueling two-person teams of aspiring restaurateurs who have 24 hours to conceive, plan and open their own restaurants for one night. On each team, one person handles front-of-house issues like decor, seating and service while the other manages back-of-house matters like menu planning, shopping and, of course, cooking. When the doors open, each restaurant serves a discerning group of diners, along with Scott and a rotating panel of judges representing three areas of expertise: restaurant marketer, restaurant reviewer and restaurant investor. Based on the restaurant’s concept, execution and viability, the judges choose a winning team to receive $10,000 seed money toward realizing their dream.

    Filed under: 24-Hour Restaurant Battle, Celebrity Chefs
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