Cochon 555 – Boston 2010 video coverage

Cochon 555 at the Boston’s Liberty Hotel is ripe for piggy puns. But hey, I tried to restrain myself to 2-3 in this video/audio slideshow of the event, narrated with a sarcastic edge. But you know I’m all love. Really. Truly. Happy Passover. Please distribute this widely and share the non-kosher love.

Edit: Forgot to mention, thanks to foodbuzz for the tickets!

Cochon 555 Boston 2010 slideshow – So much pig.

Whine and Dine: You Whine, I help you Dine.

This is not cheap sushi. (From my meal at O Ya in Boston.)

I like getting hit up. For recommendations.

Most frequently, it’s for how to pick a date restaurant. Sometimes it’s more specific – where do I find good Belgian beer, or maybe a wine bar. (I try to redirect them in that case, because booze ain’t my specialty.)

If you’re a Harvard affiliate (or not, I guess no one really cares), I’ve started up a dining advice column for The Crimson.

Email questions to flyby@thecrimson.com or leave a comment, and I’ll answer it, space and coherence taken into account.

This week: where to get decent cheap sushi and the best cupcake I ever ate.

I have to admit, I kind of took the easy way out of the cupcake question. But as a frequently broke ass college student, I thought it suited the situation…

Unlike my six inch biker boots with all the crazy studding. I just wear those for fun.

Photos from Cooking for a Cause – East End House – 2010

Jody Adams' Heirloom Bean Soup

Cooking for a Cause is the kind of orgiastic food fest that only sweet charity could really dream up.

In between tables of single-serving plates from the likes of Jody Adams of Rialto (heirloom bean soup with truffled spring vegetables), Will Gilson of Garden at the Cellar (grilled octopus salad), and Tony Maws of Craigie on Main (chilled squid noodles, house cured bacon), there were plenty of boozy libations, both sweetly mixed and poured. The biggest personality of the night had to be Evan Percoco of BOKX 109, who dished out bowls of soup with charismatic aplomb.

Will Gilson of Garden at the Cellar - grilled octopus salad, marinated peas, hen of the woods mushrooms

One cocktail, with chipped ice and kaffir lime simple syrup, blew my mind. “Did you make that yourself?” actually came out of my mouth. Saying that to a chef or mixologist is akin to asking it of a potty trained child. A little insulting, and the answer is always affirmative.

I got there late, and by that point, Toro, Kickass Cupcakes, and Tremont 647 had already packed up their tables.

But I did get to see the cutest moments: when the chefs took care of their neighboring tables by bringing food and complimenting one another. I sensed a fraternity of onion tears and knife-nick blood, a bond that only laboring until 1am, weekends and holidays, for $30k/year could bring.

After gorging myself mindlessly for an hour, I wandered into the lobby and got myself a cup of coffee and a diet coke and alternated between caffeinated drinks before eating some more.

Then I tottered back to the T, high of heel and heavy of stomach.