New York Celebrity Chefs Serve Up Street Food
On Monday, Feb. 8, 500 lucky New Yorkers will get a chance to taste gourmet fast food of sorts from some of the city's most popular chefs. It'll be the street cart equivalent of New York City Ballet dancers doing pirouettes on a subway platform, or Broadway actors singing karaoke in a dive bar. In other words, a rare treat.Four top chefs - Daniel Boulud, Alain Ducasse, Paul Liebrandt and Michael White - will be operating street carts and in four top secret locations around Manhattan. The lunches will be free, but you know what they say about free lunches.
Would-be lunchers must win one of the 500 lucky "golden tickets" to munch by answering some New York trivia questions at NBCNewYork.com/around-town/contest from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. The winners will be given a cart location and a secret password to present at the cart, speakeasy-style, in exchange for their free lunch. The contest was dreamed up to promote NBC New York's new food site, Feast, and produced in conjunction with the South Beach Food & Wine Festival, at which Daniel Boulud will be honored this year.
For those not in New York, the street cart is the latest in a series of humble food trends recently elevated to greatness in the Big Apple (hot dogs and hamburgers are also among this list). If you don't win a ticket, head to Boulud's latest spot DBGB Kitchen & Bar and try his heartburn-inducing Frenchie Burger with pork belly topping. Then take a nap.
If you're feeling like a gourmet philistine, here's a quick cheat sheet.
- French-born chef Daniel Boulud, has restaurants all over the world but is best known for his eponymous New York restaurant Daniel, which this year was awarded a coveted three stars in the 2010 Michelin Guide.
- Alain Ducasse is the only chef in the world to operate three restaurants in three countries each awarded three Michelin stars. In New York he runs Adour at The St. Regis and the bistro Benoit.
- Paul Liebrandt is the chef and owner of Tribeca's Corton, which was give two Michelin stars. He was also named one of Food & Wine's Best New Chefs in 2009.
- Michael White was named Esquire's Best New Chef in 2002 and is the acclaimed chef of Italian restaurants Convivio (3 stars from The New York Times) and Alto (1 Michelin star).
