Posts Tagged ‘Chris Cosentino’

Flavour Gallery whets appetites for stylish shirts

2013 LAFW tee

2013 LAFW tee. From Flavour Gallery.

If you’ve been to some of the country’s major food events, including LA Food & Wine, LA Times The Taste, Pebble Beach Food & Wine, and New York City Wine & Food Festival, then you’ve seen Flavour Gallery‘s T-shirts. The vintage wash and modern prints make these event shirts way cooler than the typical festival apparel.

Flavour Gallery has also teamed up with celebrity food personalities, including Chris Cosentino, Andrew Zimmern and Jenn Louis, to create unique food-inspired designs. Remember those stylish LudoBites T-shirts the pop-ups’ staffers wore? Those were Flavour Gallery’s, too.

Husband-and-wife team Erin and Alfredo Malatesta founded the company a couple of years ago after 10 years in the fashion industry as an expression of their love for food.

“We had spent many years designing and manufacturing for other brands and wanted to create something that was near and dear to our hearts,” Erin said. “At the time, there was no lifestyle brand focused on food — something that you would wear to express how passionate you are about cooking, being a chef, festivals or wine.”

If you order a shirt online, it’ll arrive wrapped like a piece of freshly butchered meat (this is a good thing), like so:

Flavour Gallery package

Flavour Gallery package

This style, called Classy Utensils, features some on-trend neon print on a soft burnout tee. I received a size medium, and Erin was right when warning me that this style runs small because even the medium is snug. I recommend a large if you like a looser fit.

Classy Utensils T-shirt

Classy Utensils T-shirt

While I’m generally not a big fan of tees with graphics, Flavour Gallery’s shirts are fun stuff for those of us who enjoy food and food-related things. That’s me, natch.

Note: This shirt was complimentary.

28

09 2013

A tiki bar to end all tiki bars: Tonga Room San Francisco

Pineapple Royale at the Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar

Pineapple Royale at the Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar

If you’re a fan of tiki bars and haven’t been to the Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar in The Fairmont San Francisco hotel, then you don’t know tiki bars.

This Polynesian paradise, or “the greatest place in the history of the world” per Anthony Bourdain, is the perfect combination of kitsch and upscale dining. Not only can you get a ridiculously large, sugary and potent drink — preferably aflame — but you can also get contemporary takes on Asian and Polynesian cuisine while dining alongside a pool, periodic rain showers and a live band on a floating stage.

When it comes to strong drinks, this is the place. The Pineapple Royale, a huge portion of aged rum, brandy and fresh pineapple juice served in a hollowed out pineapple, is dangerously good (and fun!). You could easily share this with someone, and you might want to just to split the $17 cost. The Singapore Sling ain’t no slouch, either, with Tanqueray gin, Cointreau, cherry Heering, fresh lemon and pineapple juices, Angostura bitters, and a Benedictine mist.

The Quintessential “Pu Pu” Platter, with BBQ Kona pork ribs, shiitake egg rolls, chicken skewers, and coconut prawns, is a good bet, and the restaurant’s inventiveness comes out in dishes such as the Forbidden Blend Fried Rice, which features forbidden black, white jasmine, Bhutanese red and jade pearl bamboo rices.

Quintessential Pu Pu Platter

Quintessential Pu Pu Platter

Forbidden Blend Fried Rice

Forbidden Blend Fried Rice

The well-known Huli Huli Chicken — boneless fire-roasted chicken, grilled pineapple, red onions, sweet peppers and scallions — was too sweet for my taste, but it was cooked nicely.

Huli Huli Chicken

Huli Huli Chicken

Check out Bourdain and Chef Chris Cosentino’s visit to the Tonga Room for “The Layover” to see some of the tiki drinks and the rain storm in action.

Note: This meal was hosted.

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29

07 2013