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Queens' Best Chefs to Serve Up Their Spin on Local Ingredients at Food Fest

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | July 13, 2015 7:20pm | Updated on July 14, 2015 7:26pm
 Foie gras and Guinea hen with hazelnut oil prepared by chef Danny Brown.
Foie gras and Guinea hen with hazelnut oil prepared by chef Danny Brown.
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NY Epicurean Events

QUEENS — While Queens has traditionally drawn foodies with its international fare, an upcoming festival will be highlighting food closer to home.

The Catskills Comes to Queens food fest will feature more than 20 chefs, mostly from Queens, who will  serve up dishes made with ingredients sourced from various farms in the Catskills, the organizers said.

With a $95 ticket, guests of the Aug. 1 fest will be able to eat an unlimited amounts of food prepared by renowned chefs who will be "putting their own culinary spin" on products from the upstate farms, said Joseph DiStefano, a Queens-based food writer and vice president of New York Epicurean Events, which organizes the festival.

“I can’t wait to see what they prepare,” he said.

Among the chefs, who will participate in the event, will be two head chefs of Michelin starred restaurants in Queens — Danny Brown of danny brown Wine Bar & Kitchen in Forest Hills, who will make a terrine of foie gras and Guinea hen with hazelnut oil, and Hugue Dufour of M. Wells Steakhouse in LIC, who will prepare a “gigantic tagine of lamb,” DiStefano said.

Several barbecue chefs, including John Bowen of John Brown Smokehouse in LIC, and Big Lou Elrose of Charred in Middle Village, will also be preparing “meats smoked low and slow over hardwood smoke,” according to the organizers.

A number of chefs from the Catskill region, such as Graziano Tecchio of Mint in Kingston and Ric Orlando of New World Home Cooking in Saugerties, will also participate.

Among the products that the chefs will be using, will be grass-fed beef and heritage pork from Catskill farms like La Belle Farm in Ferndale, one of only several foie gras producers in the country, and Larry’s Custom Meats in Hartwick.

Vulto Creamery of Walton will serve a variety of its cheeses.

Local beers and wines will also be offered during the event, which will feature live roots music, the organizers said.

“Queens has been a foodie destination for a long time … but it’s nice to be able to bring a premier event like this to Queens and to expose the chefs to these great products,” DiStefano said.

Tickets cost $95 (which includes unlimited tastings of all food and beverages). Those who buy three tickets, will get one free. The event will take place on Aug. 1 at Flushing Town Hall at 137-35 Northern Blvd. in Flushing from 6 to 9 p.m. To get more information and to purchase tickets, go here.