Foodbuzz Last Supper: A Communal Table Like No Other

So what’s it like to share a family-style dinner with over 200 food bloggers in a produce warehouse? Well, it was cold. But not enough to dampen the mood ;).

So this was our big dinner event to cap off the Foodbuzz Bloggers Festival in San Francisco, and it was definitely a night to remember.

It was big. Very big. The table was connected. Seriously. It twisted and curved around the warehouse to accommodate all of us. All 250 of us. An ingenious way of planning a dinner, courtesy of the folks at Outstanding in the Field. And plates of food went around (albeit slowly). Plates of wonderfully prepared and devised Asian dishes from the crew at Namu Restaurant in San Francisco.

And the warehouse? The famous Greenleaf Produce. These guys have known organic, locally grown, sustainable produce before the phrases were even in vogue in foodie circles. They are the trailblazers of the movement.

Here was the menu:

Various wild mushroom dashi

Udon w/grilled calamari in browned butter ponzu, cucumber, tomato and chojan & sesame vinaigrette

Salmon baked with dashikombu, fried garlic, and Japanese curry powder (this was my FAVE of the night)

Mushroom risotto with Japanese rice and crispy mushrooms

Soy braised beef cheeks and oxtails, baby carrots and fingerling potatoes

Roasted brussels sprouts with ponzu fried garlic, guanciale (a Spanish “bacon”), bonito flakes

Japanese rice pudding w/cookie crumble and warren pears from Frog Hollow Farm

The meal was subtle yet deliberate in its conception and it’s execution. An inventive and ambitious menu to pull of for such a large group. However, it was the experience itself that made it a memorable night. It’s something I will never see again. The best food experiences are when they’re shared with great people. This was definitely something to remember.

And a shoutout to the wonderful foodies and food purveyors I had the pleasure of meeting:

Frog Hollow Farm
479 Popcorn
Black Stallion Winery
Recchiuti Confections
Neo Cocoa
Jimmy (The Thirsty Pig)
Arnold (Inuyaki)
Dan Lee (Namu Restaurant)
Danielle (Bon Vivant)
Marc (Chefectomy)
Loren (Foodbuzz)
Gudren (Kitchen Gadget Girl)
Stephanie (Lick My Spoon)
Jo (Taking Over the World One Bite at a Time)
Bonnie (Cocochanelella/Chrysanthemum)
Kathleen (Katz9Lives)
Elizabeth (Ms. Lin Guide)
Fanny (YummySF)

See you all next year!