About a week ago, T and I joined our good friend Judith for the inaugural NYChiliFest. This incredibly festive event took place over at Chelsea Market and was a celebration of chili and beer. While I didn’t get to drink much beer (the beer line was nuts), I did eat a lot of chili.
I was really happy that the meat was supplied by Dickson’s Farmstand Meats. They provided each contestant with locally-raised beef from Wrighteous Organics in Schoharie, NY.
Dickson’s is a great company and I have a lot of respect for the way they work with animals that become meat and the farmers that raise them. They are purveyors of artisanal meat and meat products. They like heritage breeds, grass-fed, and organic meats. They pay attention to how sustainably the farmers use their land, as well as how humanely they treat their animals. On their website, they outline some “baseline criteria” for product they handle:
- The entire supply chain (farm to slaughterhouse to point-of-sale) must be no more than 400 miles long.
- Animal based feeds, prophylactic antibiotics or added hormones are not administered at any point of the animal’s life.
- The animals from which our meat comes must spend their life on the farm – no CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) or feedlots.
I also like what they say here: “We only work with farmers who take pride in their product and want their name, before ours, on each package. We believe the farmer is a far more important part of this system than we are.”
On top of everything, the meat is extremely tasty. And it was so nice to taste it prepared in chili. The three of us are big fans of chili.
Overall we had a wonderful time! It did get really crowded at one point, and we were glad we had gotten there as early as we did. Oh, and the event sold out by the Thursday before the event, so we were smart to order tickets on line earlier in the week.
My favorite chilis were from Toloache and Telepan. Toloache topped theirs with kimchi and crema, while Telepan made a chili with green chiles topped with a Mexican semisoft cheese, which was unique. Toloache’s was unique because of the kimchi – and let me tell you, kimchi and chili is a stellar combination.
I also enjoyed very much the two chilis that came with an avocado crema – The Green Table and Blue Ribbon Bakery. I am a sucker for avocado, so having that as an element in the chili pleased me to no end.
Almost all of the chilis were delicious, with only a couple of exceptions. I was sorry to not have tasted the winner, made by Northern Spy Food Co.
Here is a selection of images from the event:
From left to right, clockwise: crowds in front of Toloache’s table; pot of Telepan chili; kimchi from Toloache; commemorative chilliest bowl with spoon; Toloache’s chili; Blue Ribbon Bakery’s chili with avocado creme; Telepan’s green chile chili with Mexican cheese.
As a result of attending this festival, I plan to check out a number of the restaurants that were there, especially The Green Table. Toloache is definitely on my list, too.
Hooray for NYChiliFest! Looking forward to next year’s, too.