Edible Skinny Does Tales of the Cocktail

Edible Skinny is delighted to announce that we’ll be in NOLA to enjoy Tales of the Cocktail next week!!!

Tales of the Cocktail is the world’s premier series of cocktail festivals – highlighting what’s now, new, and next in the spirits industry.

Founded in 2002, Tales of the Cocktail has grown from a small gathering of cocktail lovers into the world’s premier cocktail festival. Each year the international spirits industry is welcomed to New Orleans for a week of seminars, tastings, networking events and much more. With 200+ annual events developed specifically for bartenders, distillers and other spirits professionals, Tales of the Cocktail is the industry’s annual meeting place for the exchange of new ideas, products and techniques.

Tales of the Cocktail is produced by the New Orleans Culinary & Cultural Preservation Society (NOCCPS), a non-profit organization committed to supporting, promoting and growing the cocktail industry in New Orleans and around the world.

While at Tales we’re excited to be checking out Nicolas Feuilatte Dynamic Duo Happy Hour, a lively happy hour featuring a friendly Champagne cocktail competition between Mixologist Lynette Marrero and Tableau Beverage Director Barry Himel, as they compete to create the official 40^th Anniversary Champagne Cocktail for Nicolas Feuilatte. 

So here’s to life being delicious and seeing you at Tales!!!

Heaven and Earth in Our Mouths at Allegro at the Wynn

Edible Skinny was lucky enough to recently dabble in a dinner at Allegro restaurant in the Wynn Hotel & Casino and all we can say is Bella Bella!   

Located at the cornerstone of theater row in the Wynn, Allegro offers a salute to Italian American cooking.  Inspired by the literal translation for themusical term ‘allegro,’ aka a cheerful, brisk and lively tempo, this bustling Italian eatery allows Executive Chef Enzo Febbraro a stage to merge old-world tradition and new-world innovation.

A native of Naples, Italy, Chef Enzo Febbraro’s passion for cooking was sparked as a young child when he spent many hours learning to cook alongside his mother and grandmother, perfecting their heirloom recipes.  His rustic cooking and commitment to the finest, distinctive ingredients have been showcased in meals the chef has created for the likes of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush

The energy of Allegro's open kitchen with its wood-burning oven compliments the many house-made menu items like fresh pastas, wood stone fired pizzas, and Chef Febbraro's signature burrata that he crafts each and every day.

While dining at Allegro Edible Skinny noshed on the fantastically rustic Bosco pizza.   Composed of credit- card-thin pizza crust, roasted mushroom puree, ricotta cheese, and white truffle oil: a culinary fait acompli.  Bosco is translated to a walk in the woods from Italian, and that's exactly the journey that occurred for our taste buds.  The taste was the perfect combination of creaminess and earthiness, heaven and earth in our mouth!

This was balanced out with the healthiness of the classic Italian favorite of an Arugula Salad tossed with Fennel, Orange, Lemon, Shaved Parmesan, and Lemon Vinaigrette.  I also complimented these two dishes with the delightful side dish of Allegro’s fantastic Eggplant Parmigiana.  A fabulous log cabin of slice pieces of eggplant baked to perfection with tomato sauce, and mozzarella. 

It should be noted that because Allegro is located in the Wynn, it, like all restaurants at this hotel/casino has a Vegan menu.  Options include a Vegan Pizza composed of Almond Lemon Ricotta, Caponatina Vegetables, Serrano Peppers and a Gardein Chick’N Parmigiano comprised of Vegan Mozzarella, Silky Tomato Sauce, and Linguini.

So for those looking for an authentic, feel-good Italian American experience (that includes tons of Vegan options!!!), perhaps you should briskly head over to Allegro.

Here’s to life being delicious and every day including heaven and earth in our mouths.

Muy Caliente with the Peruvian/Brazilian/Sushi restaurant SushiSamba

Muy caliente!  Edible Skinny was lucky enough to recently check out the Peruvian and Brazilian sushi fusion restaurant SushiSamba in the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas!

SushiSamba is a culinary melting pot of Japanese, Brazilian, and Peruvian cuisine, music, and design.  Founded in New York City in 1999, the restaurant chain has expanded in the past 15 years to locations that include Miami Beach, London, Coral Gables, and Las Vegas.

SushiSamba is like sun south of the Equator: pipping hot, but still welcoming to visitors.  We were over a half hour late on a Saturday night and the restaurant still honored our reservation.  The décor of the restaurant is bright and loud, a festive Carnaval inspired environment that included a three-dimensional ribbon sculpture that wraps around the room creating a dynamic feeling of movement.  Music and film projections feature images from the cultures off Japan, Brazil, and Peru were projected around us.

For libations we sipped of the delightfully spicy Brisa Caliente composed of Tres Agaves Blanco tequila, ginger liqueur, mango nectar, fresh lime, passion fruit, orange bitters, with Fresno chili shaked and served in a shichimi lined coupette.  Shichimi, BTWs, is a Japanese spice mixture consisting of 7 flavors, including red chili flakes, sansho pods, black hemp, white poppy seeds, white sesame seeds, rape seeds, dried yuzu peel and/or dried nori.  There’s a lot to be learned about international food at SushiSamba…

Along with the Brisa Caliente we also sipped the delightfully deadly Chucumber served Martini-style and composed of lichiko shochu, St. Germaine elderflower liqueur are shaken with fresh muddled cucumber, sugary syrup, and fresh lime.  Shochu is Japan's other indigenous alcoholic beverage.  Originally from Kyushu, Japan, where the warm climate wasn’t conducive to brewing sake, thus unlike sake, shochu is distilled.  Schocu’s alcoholic content is usually 25%, although sometimes it can be as high 42% or more. 

The libations were mucho international, but where SushiSamba show’s its global versatility was the food!  To start off with we noshed on burnt to perfection Shishito peppers finished off with sea salt and lime.  For those unfamiliar, shishito peppers, are a narrow, sweet-hot, thin-walled pepper popular in Japan; high in vitamins A and C.  The dish was absolute perfection, a balance beam combination of charred and tart.  

I also made sure to try SushiSamba’s signature Vegan roll (as they have a Vegan menu for those who are veggie inclined) the Amazonia.  Wrapped in collard greens and stuffed with Portobello mushroom, takuwan (aka pickled daikon radish), cucumber, avocado, and wasabi-onion soy.  The texture was crunchy earthiness, the taste was absolutely divine blended heaven.  

With so much food consumed we didn’t have room to be privy to SushiSamba’s Gourmet S’Mores dessert which was recently featured as one of Food and Wine’s 9 Over-The-Top 4th of July Dishes to Devour.  But from the sidelines we watched others indulge in the dish’s playful take on the classic American campfire treat.  SushiSamba S’Mores dessert features lucuma ice cream covered in decadent Peruvian chocolate, shichimi-graham cracker and flaming marshmallow.

So if you’re looking for sushi that screams worldwide appeal, SushiSamba is your place to jet set off to!  

Here’s to life being delicious, our days being muy caliente, and our nights full of delightfully deadly international martini drinks!