A new food festival on the site of the famed 1969 Woodstock festival, the Catksill Cuisine Fest, premieres Saturday, May 13. Headliners include Italian-American celebrity chefs Alex Guarnaschelli (of the new Food Network show Ciao House) and Scott Conant. Cesare Casella, the Italy-born New York chef and salumi entrepreneur, is also in the event’s inaugural lineup.
Tickets are still available for the fest, which will also bring Alton Brown, Marcus Samuelsson and Geoffrey Zakarian to the former farm that hosted one of the most prominent cultural events of the 20th century. Jimi Hendrix, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Janis Joplin and other now-legendary music acts played to an audience in the hundreds of thousands during the three-day fest that came to define the Peace & Love era.
(Coincidentally, Conant’s 2021 cookbook is titled Peace, Love and Pasta. He is also the chef behind the Italian steakhouse Cellaio at Resorts World Casino in Monticello, NY.)
Now the site of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, a music venue and museum with stunning grounds in the Catskills, the property will play host to a festival celebrating “Catskills cuisine.” The Sullivan Catskills Visitors Association partnered with Bethel Woods to create this new fest. The daylong event will also include tastings, demos and other food-focused entertainment, as well as live music, as one would expect for such an historic location. Tickets start at $78 general admission for adults, $25 for children ages 3-12 (2 and under are free). Visit catskill-cuisine.com for tickets and more information.
Carandini Hosted an Acetivo Hour at Brooklyn’s Clover Club
Wednesday night, Carandini brought its balsamic vinegars from Modena to Brooklyn for an “Acetivo Hour” at longtime cocktail hot spot Clover Club. Famed mixologist and Clover Club owner Julie Reiner crafted cocktails with Carandini sweet white vinegar and balsamic vinegar of Modena.
One of the hits of the night among the stylish crowd was a Mezcalita Bianca, made with mezcal, pineapple juice, Carandini Bianca sweet white vinegar, and soda water. The Acetivo di Modena combined bourbon, sweet vermouth and the Italian brand’s balsamic vinegar, along with a splash of sherry apricot liqueur.
Addressing the crowd, Reiner noted that the vinegars add “depth and complexity” to the drinks. The menu included two non-alcoholic cocktails as well—an NA Spritz with balsamic; and a “Carandini Club” with the sweet white vinegar, raspberry syrup, lemon juice and egg white.
Another Song’E Napule for NYC
Neapolitan pizza chef and New York restaurateur Ciro Iovine and his wife/partner, Austria Maldonado, recently opened an Upper West Side location of Song’E Napule at 474 Amsterdam Ave. Their popular SoHo location is a go-to for Italian expats and fans of Iovine’s Neapolitan pies, salads and antipasti. Now, Upper West Side pizza fans have a new place to put on their radar at Amsterdam and 83rd St.
