I’ve been a little behind in giving you the recap, but as you know I was one of the Blogger Ambassadors for Progresso Artisan recently at the New York City Wine & Food Festival, which turns out is one of the funnest gigs ever :).
Not only did I meet a fantastic group of fellow bloggers (big ups to Food And the City, Big Apple Nosh, Nutmeg Nanny, and NYC Talon), we got to explore the whole line of Progresso’s Artisan line up close and really get to see firsthand their presence at the festival. And it was major.
Not only did the Progresso Artisan have a stage right in the center of it all, they had the most exciting presence. All day, they had celebrity chefs come to do cooking demos, distributed a multitude of giveaways and raffles, trivia games, and what I think the crowd was most excited for, a chance to hear restauranteur Joe Bastianich‘s story about his journey from a young boy in Astoria to joining the family business and opening some of the most successful NYC restaurants (Becco, Del Posto, Eataly), working his all the way up to the owner of three wineries.
Turns out soup played a major part in Bastianich’s Italian upbringing. He talked about growing up and eating Progresso. “The Italian immigrant story is the Progresso story,” he told the audience.
Later that night, we were treated with the most exquisite private dinner at Bastianich’s restaurant, Del Posto, with the Progresso team. It was easily, and by no exaggeration, one of the best meals I’ve ever had. All the food had so many different flavors and textures, and instead of leaving heavy and full, the four-course meal was portioned out so perfectly so we enjoyed every morsel.
Antipasti: Pumpkin salad, foglie di noce, bee pollen citronettte, & tomato marmellata.
Primo: Pumkin cappellacci with brown butter
Secondi: Cabbage steak! (This was their vegetarian option — others ordered slow-cooked salmon rosemarino with cauliflower and calamari salad or chicken with red endive, coarse polenta, pumpkin and olives in amarena).
Dolci: Tarufo al caffe (dark chocolate sant’eustachio coffee)
Del Posto MUST be on your list of restaurants to try. The place itself looks like a dimly-lit palace.
Overall the day was exhausting but it was equally engaging learning about the brand and seeing all the different type of foods represented at the festival. Coming up, I’m going to give a final review of the delicious soups (and I can say delicious already because I’ve been sent samples to try and I went through it way too fast). Thanks Progresso for an amazing experience at the festival!
x
Shy
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