At The James Beard House (top two photos), bottom photo: Executive Chef Corey Johnson and Owner Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery, Boston, MA
This past Sunday, I was graciously invited to join Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery (Boston, MA) and Le Palais des Thés tea for the wonderful afternoon tea at the James Beard House. (To those of you who read this site long enough, I did dine here in November for the wonderful Mercedes Benz 125th Anniversary dinner that featured James Beard awarded chefs and bartender.)
I met the lovely Joanne Chang who is gentle yet serious about her delicious creations – and rightly so, as she was nominated for the James Beard Award earlier this May (my photo of her and her husband when I covered the Beards). This house brings back two distinct yet memorable memories all at the same time.
Part of the major spread
Anyway, the tea’s spread was serious. We’re talking about 25 savory and sweet items to indulge in. There was also the wonderful raspberry Champagne cocktail made of macerated raspberry juice, Peychaud’s Bitters and topped off with lemon zest and Champagne.
My rounds of food and beverages
Since I arrived hungry, I ended up eating through all of that. My favorite bites were the mini pavlova (seen better on this photo) namely for the needed acid from the pomegranate arils (seeds), the nutty, wheat berry salad, the spinach and gruyere quiche, and Chef Chang’s famous sticky buns.
The Le Palais des Thés’ teas I had were Melange du Cap Rooibos tea that had a rich scent of vanilla and almost tasted chocolate-y. The Genmaicha was delicious with the roasted grains found in that tea blend. Both worked great with Chef Chang and her team’s food.
If you’re really inquisitive as to what was served, below is the menu:
The menu
This was a lovely late afternoon tea and highly recommend anyone who wants to eat or have an event at a historical, intimate setting, The Beard House would be a great venue (the Beard Foundation has almost nightly dinners here, by the way).
To view more of my photos of this event, please scroll through the slideshow below (or click through my Flickr set):
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Information:
Sweet & Savory Bakers Tea at The James Beard House
Website: http://www.jamesbeard.org/events
167 West 12th Street (near 7th Avenue South)
New York, NY 10011
(Map)
