A few weeks ago, I compiled my May food events post and was sure to include Pittsburgh Magazine’s Best Restaurants Party. Well, not only did Pittsburgh Magazine see my post whilst out jaunting around the Burgh blogosphere, but they invited me to come to the party on Monday, May 24 AND they’ve given me two tickets to give away to a lucky reader! That’s a $220 value – my biggest giveaway yet!
On top of that, Editor-in-Chief Julie Talerico and Food Editor Kate Chynoweth were kind enough to answer a few questions about how the annual June Best Restaurants issue comes together, and what you can expect.
The Best Restaurant Party includes winners in three different areas of judging: the 25 best restaurants in Pittsburgh, as chosen by Pittsburgh Magazine’s anonymous Restaurant Review Panel; the Legends, which include such stalwart institutions as Common Plea (my very first job in Pittsburgh!), the Grand Concourse and Le Mont; and of course, the Reader’s Poll winners, in categories from “Best Italian (non-chain)” and “Best BYOB” (a subject I should really cover here).
In addition to the 25 Best, the magazine also awards prizes for Chef of the Year, Rising Star Chef, Best New Restaurant, and Delicious Design. The winning restaurants are chosen based on overall dining experience, including service, food and sustainability.
PM started including the Legends category five years ago. According to Julie and Kate, they wanted to devote the slots of the 25 Best to new young chefs and restaurants, or otherwise the Best 25 list might be the same year after year. The Legends category allows the magazine to acknowledge the forerunners of today’s restaurant scene while still keeping the annual list fresh. Check out last year’s Legends.
Looking forward, I’ll be watching to see how the growing fascination with local, sustainably-produced food starts to more deeply affect the restaurant world and its attendant rankings. Sustainability, particularly in terms of sourcing food that’s local and organic, is certainly part of the consideration in choosing this year’s 25 Best. The absence of chain restaurants from the list, for example, is one nod the magazine gives to the trend.
At the party, you’ll find samples from about 50 of the winners from across all categories. ranging from Franktuary to Eleven. 50 samples is about 3 full meals, but you won’t want to miss a single bite, so come hungry. Tickets are $95 in advance or $110 at the door – but the party usually sells out, so don’t dilly-dally.
(Also to note: the Best Restaurants Party is the kickoff of the new Local Restaurants Week. More details over here.)
To win tickets here, the deal is simple: leave a comment about the best food party you’ve ever been to. I know for me, the “Watch a Vegan Eat Bacon” party was definitely one of the best. The winner will be chosen from all the comments at random, and will receive two tickets to Pittsburgh Magazine’s Best Restaurants Party, held next Monday, May 24, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
Giveaway rules:
- Leave a comment on the blog (not Twitter, not my personal Facebook page) about the best food party you’ve ever been to.
- Make sure to use your real email address, because otherwise I won’t be able to reach you if you win. (Email addresses are never, ever published on the site, so you are always safe from spammers.)
- You must leave your comment by 11:59 p.m. EST, Friday, May 21.
- Only one entry per commenter.
- If you aren’t able to go to the party, you’re still free to comment because I want the party ideas. Just say in your comment that you don’t want to be in the contest so I can pick a different winner. It would be a shame for these tickets to go to waste!
Le Fine Print
No purchase necessary. Winner will be selected at random by Burghilicious using Random.org. All entries received after the giveaway comment deadline will not be considered. Duplicate entries will be disqualified. Entries that do not follow the entry requirements will not be considered. Winner will be notified via email and will have 24 hours to confirm receipt of the email. If the winner does not reply within 24 hours, another winner will be selected. Giveaway has been sponsored by Pittsburgh Magazine.
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Best food party I ever went to was Savor Pittsburgh – an event very similar to the 25 Best Restaurants party. There was food, wine, music, and it was all for a good cause! It was my favorite because it showcased Pittsburgh’s diverse cuisine and spirited nightlife. Yay!
Oooh I would LOVE to go to this! It sounds fabulous! Best food party I have ever been to was a tasting party in Vegas in 08. But this may beat it.
I’ve been eyeing this event…. I mean, who wouldn’t want to go?
Best food party? That’s a toughie. Best professionally thrown party I’ve been to was Polotini a few years back. As for non-prof, we generally don’t do “themes” (other than, say, Happy Birthday!), but I think the mini-martini/mini-plate idea translates. I’m also a fan (depending upon the size of the party) of make-your-own parties. I do make-your-own paninis and pizzas.
To have the opportunity to attend Pittsburgh Magazine’s Best Restaurants Party would be a dream come true! As i’ve mentioned in previous posts on your blog…i’m always researching the latest restaurants around the area, and to have all the best in one place at one time sounds like a wonderful event! Not to mention, my birthday was a couple of days ago, and I was hoping to get tickets as a bday gift, and unfortunately did not…therefore, a belated bday gift to the party would be absolutely amazing!
Hmm…I’d have to say a birthday party where we had individual chocolate melting cakes and ice cream. Or, for a professional event, a recent wine tasting with mini-bites for accompaniment: one bite of steak-topped salad, a morsel of ceviche, a mouthful of strawberry shortcake, etc.
My friend Diane has the best food parties. The theme is always “Good Wine”! She makes to die for crab cakes.
Thanks for the chance to win tickets to this event. It looks like a blast!
Any party serving bacon is top of my list.
No way! We’ve been trying to go to this for years but our schedule & finances never allowed it… but this would be a great opportunity!
And best food party? Hmm… the Super Bowl party we hosted 2 years ago when the Steelers won was food overload and it was pretty awesome.
I’m not sure that I’ve ever been to a “real” food party, but if it counts, I’ll say when Molto Mario came to Lidia’s several years back and did cooking demos from a crane that was cranked up above the diners so we all could see.
He wore his orange crocs, which I complimented him on and he said not everyone likes them, and then he signed my cookbook. And, of course, the food was awesome.
I remember some awesome-looking food at a Steelers Super Bowl party, but I was too nervous to really enjoy it.
Best food party was a diy taco party where there was no room to eat at the table because the hosts had put together so many amazing choices for taco fixins’
Homemade keylime party for dessert. So delicious.
I’d love to win this! Best food party? Probably the all seafood dinners my family would throw years ago. Several generations all bringing some kind of Pugliese seafood dish and then we’d all sit around, eat, drink wine and enjoy being together. The combination of food and company made these dinners so memorable.
I was lucky enough to go to the James Beard Awards in NYC. It’s food themed from start to finish. But the after party at Bar Boulud is the best food party I’ve ever attended. The mini burgers were to die for!
The best food party I’ve been too was the year we decided to do all appetizers for our family Christmas party. So much yumminess!
I think the best party was one that never happened. We wanted to have a “never have i ever” potluck party, where everyone brought a dish they had been thinking about making had never made. Perhaps this summer it will finally happen! The best food party that DID happen though, was a 4th of July BBQ we had last summer with homemade ribs, corn, cornbread, gelato… everyone needed to take a nap afterwards, it’s hard to beat a good BBQ!
I once attended a communist food themed party on International Labour Day right after Slobadan Milosevic died. There was a lot of alcohol at the party, so I unfortunately remember very little of the food offerings.
I’d love to win this one- I’ve always meant to make it to so many of the top places and never seem to do it (not enough foodie friends). The best food party I’ve attended so far would have to be friend’s 30th birthday which he turned into a cook-off. A tater-tot cook-off. People were amazingly creative and I still remember fondly a delicious fig quiche with a tater-tot crust and the tater-tot filled wontons with chive and herbed cream cheese.
This would be such an amazing thing to attend! The best dinner party I have ever been to was in college right before Thanksgiving. Everyone made a dish they had every year with their family. It was great way to try out new dishes and celebrate a holiday together.
Hosted a “Smoking Day” last year that was tons of fun. Fired up a smoker and my Weber grill early in the morning and it was BYOM (M being “meat”) throughout the day. Capstone was when we pulled the “Bacon Explosion” off the smoker–bacon wrapped sausage wrapped bacon.
In my family we have a habit of eating appetizers and then not being full for dinner. So when asked about the food for my 40th birthday party, I suggested all appetizers, all day long. It was wonderful. Also, at a foods day at work we had Casserole Day. I was a wonderful (and fattening) day.
Best Party by far was the very first Martinifest held in Pittsburgh. We were very upset at first at the size of the “taster” martini glasses. Then realized that by the time you made it 1/2 way around the room you were more than a little tipsy. The food was great, the music even better – Kenny Blake on sax – and the congo line that my sisters and I started was the BEST!
We hosted a progressive dinner once – where we went from one establishment to the next – thing is the establishments were places like Sheetz for nachos, Hills Department store (remember them) for Hot Dogs and then on to our favorite bars! Indigestion doesn’t get any better!
Geez, how do you pick? All the best parties involve good food.
Probably one of my favorites was the first dinner party I threw in my own apartment when I moved back home from college. I was maybe 22. I did all Italian – a big tray of lasagna, pasta side, huge salad, home made bread and lots and lots of wine. I invited neighbors and old friends and was happy to see that everyone ate well, had a great time and all got along. (It may have had something to do with the wine.) Oh yes – and tiramisu for dessert. Nothing like rum soaked lady fingers to get things moving.
My wife had a birthday party and we made different kinds of dips, she made lots of cookies. It was not too heavy but very good.
The best food parties I remember growing up in an immigrant family were the ones around holidays when my family would get together with a bunch of other immigrant families. This meant loads and loads of delicious ethnic foods, which for us as Asians meant soy-stewed meats, dumplings, steamed buns, steamed fish, vegetables, stir-fried noodles, soups full of daikon radishes and fish balls and cabbage, etc. So delicious!!
I’ve never been to a ‘real’ food party but would love to go to this one. In grad school we had Thai/Spanish/Japanese nights which were fun because some classmates from Thailand/Spain/Japan cooked but I think my favorite might be the family Christmas Eves when we just had ‘appetizer dinner’ – veggies & dips, cheese & crackers, shrimp, homemade chicken fingers, ground pork/ham meatballs in a mustard-vinegar sauce, turkey salad, crostini w/olive tapenade, and lots of champagne!
I have been wistfully considering the Best Restaurants Party for a long time; to win tickets would be amazing! We had a 70′s-style fondue party last fall that was fun and delicious. Cheese fondue, 70′s-style apps and cocktails, great disco and funk music, then topped off with the absolute best chocolate fondue I have ever tasted.
Our first (and destined to be an annual event) “Lobsterfest on the Patio.” A good meal shared with good friends.
Can I say, I’m officially inviting myself over to all of your houses? Fondue? Lobster? Smoking Day? I am so there!
My family’s annual nationality-themed Christmas Eve dinner is always a great time……learning about a new country, deciding on a menu, cooking new things, experiencing the food, special cocktails, listening to music, trivia, games…..since we don’t have any long-standing ethnic traditions (due to being mutts), this has become a treasured yearly event. This year was Peru……..
I’m free on Monday night!!
Best food party was “Pittsburgh Family Thanksgiving” hosted by friends this fall – everyone contributed a homemade, holiday favorite, we deep-fried a couple of turkeys, and all crammed into the dining room to share the meal…a truly unforgettable evening!
Best food party was by far the lunch spread I enjoyed at a family friend’s house in Italy. These people know how to do lunch. 5 courses, everything homemade (including wine) and lots of Italians that did not speak English and Americans that did not speak Italian. At one point, someone reached out an open window, snagging a lemon from a close by tree. It was quickly wedged and placed into my water glass. Heaven.
One of the more interesting food parties I attended was a Japanese New Year dinner, where I got to try a lot of traditional Japanese dishes.
The best food party I ever attended was the wedding of two chefs – all their chef friends made their signature dishes. SO GOOD!
The best food party I was at was my parents’ Christmas eve party in 1987. Lot of hors d’ourves on silver platters about 100 guests. Always nice to be with lots of friends having a good time!
Mexican fiesta with tapas and margaritas! Always a good party
One summer, we got a crate of basil and had a pesto party. Everybody who came to the party went home with at least a tupperware of pesto and we had a bunch leftover throughout the winter. Handy tip: pesto freezes great – just don’t add the cheese until you thaw it.
Maybe I’m sheltered, but I’ve never been to anything I would classify as a “food party”. Instead, I’ll list my favorite restaurant in Pittsburgh: Casbah. I very much enjoy great food and fine dining so getting free tickets to this event would be very welcome!
Best food party without a doubt was the “All of Libby’s Favorites” – my husband planned my 30th birthday around all of my favorite foods. It was a crazy spread but so, so amazing.
@Chris I assure you: The “Watch a Vegan Eat Bacon” party was many things, most of them awesome, but definitely not classy.
It was an Iron Chef Avocado party. I don’t remember who won, but it was incredible. Not that you can really go wrong with avocado.
My best friends and I don’t get to see each other much because we all live in different cities, but we always get together over the winter holidays for a big breakfast potluck. Nothing better than hanging with the girls, opening presents and eating delicious food!
exotic fruit party
Best food party? My friend throws a Valentines Day “Decorate your own cookies” party every year. There is a great back story to it. And alcohol.
Best food party – a New England Clambake….with all of the fixins…on the beach. Corn, clams, lobster, beer, wine and a beach sunset! I can just close my eyes on a busy day and I’m there again!
Barb
I would love to win the tickets. I have never been to a food party. Ive been to parties that have had food but not a party just for food.
Best food party was at my friend’s apartment, which overlooks Central Park West, on Thanksgiving Day. It began with breakfast featuring an outstanding assortment of recognizable and unrecognizable foods (and lots of Bloody Marys) as we watched the balloons of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade pass right before our eyes from the Sixth Floor. It continued with the traditional Thanksgiving feast that lasted long into the night.
oh my dog, what a wonderful prize! can i still enter if, regardless of how much i love food, i don’t think i have truly been to a food party? (unless of course you include any and every family function that my huge extended family throws!)
this is truly a wonderful giveaway. thanks so much!
Mmm brunch parties are my favorite
I’ve Never, Ever been to a big food party. My friends started this grill meat thing for a while, but it’s just meat. We didn’t expound from there.. I think I should get out more….
thank you, FireFox, for failing me on this comment. I need to go out more because I’m unemployed, maybe going back to school and good grief, I can’t afford much food. Hi, Unemployment. You pay my bills, but my food stuffs are getting to the negative. Woo hoo!
OK. It wasn’t the most elegant event I’ve ever been to, but a group of friends held a wings sampling about a year ago. The idea was to share tastes from our favorite wing places around town (and maybe wash them down with a little beer). What we got far exceeded my expectations — places I’d never heard of, places I didn’t know served wings and, as it turned out, one talented friend who made her own and won first prize in the process. The best part, though, was spending an afternoon — and evening — with some of the best friends I have.
That or the wings from FatHeads. They were pretty good.
I’m pretty certain I’ve not been to a food party that didn’t involve Pampered Chef but I’d sure like to addend a real food party!
We have also had smoker parties. Last 4th of July there were 4 smokers and enough food for about 30 people, ribs, pork roasts and brats. Good stuff.
When I was growing up, mom would joat a holiday party every year. One year, she had a potluck “international holiday food” party. The food that walked through our front door was amazing. I don’t think I ever really knew what everything was, but it was to die for!
Hands down a birthday party/fiesta for my boyfriend where we grilled beef tenderloin for fajitas, made cilantro rice, homemade salsa and guac.
I’d say the best food party I’ve been to was my late grandmother’s 85th birthday party. She was a snow bird and flew the entire family down to Longboat Key for the party. They had Gulf Shrimp that were enormous. Plus the citrus fruits, as one might expect from Florida, were fantastic. You’ve not lived until you’ve had Key Lime Pie made from real Key Limes.
I’ve never been to a food party. I’d love for this to be my first!!
The best food party I’ve ever been to was one I threw – this year’s St. Patrick’s Day, Observed party.
Every year, my friends and I skip the parade and party in our own neighborhood. It begins with breakfast at my house. This year was build your own breakfast burritos. I scrambled eggs up fresh as the guests arrived and everyone built burritos with the fried peppers and onions, sausage, and bacon I did up earlier, plus cheese and tons of different salsa and sauces.
We then head to a local watering hole to catch an early (early!) show by some friends’ band. While lunch cooks in the crock pots.
One crock pot holds a corned beef brisket. The other has cabbage, potatoes, carrots & onions (cooked separate from the meat so the veg folks can eat them too.) I also have a big basket of crusty bread from the Strip out to munch on.
This year featured a special dish. It was a dear friend’s 30th birthday. He is a carnivore, but his girlfriend isn’t and he doesn’t eat meat as often as he likes. So my mom and I made him a meatloaf cake. It was a two layer cake, complete with mashed potatoes for icing. I’d share pictures, but it was devoured much too quickly to snap any.
Anyway, that was the best food party I’ve been to.
My mom used to throw an annual “Crab Feast” where my brothers and uncles would drive to Baltimore and get three or four GIANT coolers filled with blue crabs. We had vats of boiling water ready by the time they pulled in the driveway and ate all afternoon long. YUM.
This isn’t exactly ‘fine dining’, but one New Year’s Eve my friends and I had a party where we all brought/made different flavors of chicken wings. Everything from boring to exotic (and yummy to not-so-much). It was a blast!
When I lived in Central NY (Syracuse area), there was a place called Hinerwadel’s where my company held its annual clambake.
Piles of fried clams, shrimp, steamers, you name it — all in this awesome outside picnic grove.
Their specialty, though? Salt potatoes. I never got the lure other than the fact they were little baked potatoes that, when cooked, turned into a salty, buttery bath of spud goodness.
the best food parties are the ones with lots of wine!!
My parents used to do a Plum Pudding party during the holidays, in which each of the families invited were responsible for a part of the recipe. Then when it was done, we would deliver the plum pudding to each of the families that were there. It was a great time, and made the holidays even more fun!
Party of the Senses at WDW
I’ve always had a great time at Progressive Dinners — seeing old friends and making new ones, checking out neighbors’ homes and decor, and eating & drinking delish food and wine. So much fun!
On an old job, I worked with translators from 8 different countries, 4 in Asia and 4 in Europe. They would travel to Pittsburgh and work here for 12 weeks at a time, so in order to help them acclimate, I hosted 2 food-based parties at my house. For the first, the Asian group brought appetizers or small bites from their countries, and the Europeans brought desserts. I supplied wine, beer, and other beverages. We switched it up 3 weeks later, and to this day, my kids talk about some of the food we tried.
The Halibut at Pier 66 in Seattle
Pretty simple – the Best Restaurants party a couple years ago! It’s an amazing time and the food is just unbelievable.
Best food party is always my friends’ Jeremy & Christina’s fondue parties!!!!
The best food parties I have ever been to is at our friend, Jerry’s house…he is the king of the smoker!
Any party with food is good for me, so I don’t need much – a good ‘ol fashioned BBQ/pot-luck (with beer and wine, ideally) works for me!
Do good potlucks with friends count? I hope so…
The best party food I have ever had was one of the fellowship dinners at my church. Those ladies can COOK.
My wedding reception/bbq that was held 6 months after a city hall wedding. Mini pizzas, mini grilled cheeses, and fresh sangria.
The best food party that I’ve ever been to was Elvismas. A post-Christmas party on Elvis’ birthday with all Elvis themed food. Peanut butter & banana sandwich anyone?
Favorite? Probably a low county shrimp boil with shrimp, potatoes, corn, etc. that were dumped on a table covered with newspaper or an oyster roast. Mmmmm.
The best food party I’ve ever been to was my mother’s 75th birthday.
Everything deep-fried party. Cheeses, pasta, pies and cakes, sandwiches, fruits and vegetables, bacon…EVERYTHING deep-fried.
Crab and beer party
dear friends held a “foie gras” party prepared at their home by a local pittsburgh rockstar chef – the foie courses were sublime, as was the foie ice cream, but i have never before had such a horrible “food hangover”!
The best food party I’ve ever been to is known as Christmas….and it takes place at my Polish relatives house. I’m surprised the table didn’t collapse under the food. Haluski, golumpki, mizeri, borscht, pierogie, kielbasa, sweet and sour red cabbage……I could go on and on.
Is it lame if I say my own? I love to cook, I love to eat, I love to cook for people and then eat it with them. I think my Christmas party last year might have been the best. Though really, any party with good food and good people is the best. I have a hard time picking one over another. Not a Party but Eleven’s benefit dinner for the Food Bank this fall was unbelievably good. The short rib…..drooooool.
I really really really really want to go to this party, but I cant swing it this year. Too much other stuff requiring funding. :/
I don’t know that I’ve ever been to a food party. I’m partial to the Whiskey Festival myself, but I would love the chance to go to an awesome party in an awesome town!
I was traveling in France and visited a friend of my fiance’s parents in the French countryside. He had a dinner party and my favorite was his homemade rice pudding!
A pizza taste-test party with each person bringing the one from the pizzeria they swear is the best. No one was convinced by anyone else’s contributions.
Not quite a food party, but a festive occasion nonetheless: my first Christmas Eve seven fishes dinner hosted by my husband’s family. Amazing!
I enjoy the wine tastings at The Mighty Oak Barrel in Oakmont!
I don’t think I have ever been to a food party–if I have, it wasn’t memorable.
BBQ party!!!
I am not sure if it counts as a food party but one weekend my fiance went to Parma Sausage then proceeded to have Sausage Fest 09, a weekend full of eating nothing but various types of sausages and sausage containing foods. I need a prescription for Lipitor after that weekend, but it was fantastic!!
I studied in Italy one summer and all the gradaute students in the program had a pot luck dinner on the roof patio of an apartment building. Not only did we have the beautiful view of Florence, but everyone brought amazing food too.
This past summer, my friend won a trip to Napa Valley where the grand prize was dinner with Mark Mondavi and his wife of Charles Krug Winery. So, here are the six of us common folk from Pittsburgh having a 6 course wine dinner with the Mondavi’s at their estate on top of Howell Mountain with just the 2 of them and their servants. It was completely surreal. Food was amazing and the wine never stopped flowing!!! That was the dinner party of a lifetime. I highly recommend a Napa Valley trip for any true food and wine lover.
I pretty much love food…so all food parties are fun. If I had to pick one though, it would definitely be the homemade pierogi party that my friends and I had. We spent hours making and filling dozens of homemade pierogis. Only to eat all of them hours later!!!
mmm the best is the tapas party! Easy and sooo yummy!
went to a party at another couple’s house last summer where they had the biggest, most amazing sushi spread I have ever seen…..unbelievably enjoyable food!
The best food party I have been to was a Halloween party. We had kitty litter (tootsie rolls melted into Grape Nuts cereal), pickled male members (Hot Sausage), goop (Cherry Trifle), skeleton fingers (mozzarella sticks), Mummy Pee (beer), and other food with crazy names. People were really creative and some of the stuff really did look nasty!
I need to hang out with Spazzums. Awesome sounding party!
I recently entertained for Brunch and I served everything delectable and scumptious. I love the “finishing touches” to a party. The small details make it memorable.
I went to a crepes party once. It was delicious and something I hadn’t seen before.
Probably the best food party I have ever been to was a Super Bowl party I held a few years back. I made all the food for the first time, and it was actually great! I was happy and so were the guests!
A wine & cheese tasting party in Erie’s wine country
Best food party: One I had at my house for a housewarming last weekend, because I never cook and cooked A TON of food!
A great food event I went to was at Keuka Lake in the Finger Lake Region of NY. Every winery around the lake had a food pairing with wines from a different country. 8 wineries in all! It was so much fun and the food was amazing!
I’ve never been to a “food party” per se, but something that opened my eyes to different foods was a program in middle school where we tried a different international food based on what we were studying. It was a fantastic way to introduce different flavors and textures to our young tastes.
A classmate of mine who is Chinese spent the day creating a lavish feast of all her favorite Chinese dishes. Simply wonderful! Amazing food and company…but stay away from the Chinese wine!
A friend of mine owns a community pool and at the end of the season, to get rid of excess inventory, he would have a fryfest. Also, everybody would bring something they would like to try/have fried. It might not have been the best food, but definitely fun!! You never knew what would show up on your plate!
Italian Christmas Eve at my grandmother’s house.
I went to the Hershey Chocolate Food Festival once. Not only did it have all the delicious chocolate you could find, but chocolate was used in some of the most elaborate dishes as well. I love chocolate, but chocolate in great food, now that’s what I call an awesome food party!
Taco bar always wins. Also, cheese.
The best food party I’ve ever been to was a breakfast party where everyone wore PJs and brought their favorite breakfast dish. It was fun to see everyone’s favorites… and who doesn’t like breakfast for dinner?
I don’t know that I’ve ever been to a ‘food party’ (when your boyfriend is an excellent cook, every day is food party!!)
But that homemade pierogie party sounds awesome!!
I’ve never been to a “food party” but the best food I ever had at a party was at a dinner I went to when I lived in Hawaii with a bunch of local and Japanese dishes!
The best food I ever had was on a cruise ship to Mexico. Gourmet delights around the clock! Part of me though (as an original Chicago native) wants to say the best food is either a real Chicago Dog at Wrigley or a deep dish from Gino’s East. In Pittsburgh, I have to toot the horn of Sonoma Grill and Seviche for fresh delicious delights that rival my favs back in the Chi. Cheers!
I have tons of food allergies and a daughter who is determined to feed me gourmet food without causing me anaphylactic shock. So the best food for me is always the meals she makes for me with new techniques she’s researched. Amazingly, most of the time I can’t tell the difference! Kids are great!
We have a food party every Sunday at my grandma’s house. She’s off the boat from Italy, so there is always something good to eat
In my grad school days someone threw a potluck where everybody had to bring a dish that represented either a.) their ethnic heritage or b.) the region of the US where they grew up. DELICIOUS!
I really have never been to an actual “food party.” Though I did go to the International Food and Wine Festival at Epcot and that was pretty awesome!
My friends and I started a Cake Club in college. Every Sunday we would bake one cake, eat it, and watch Mad Men. It was delicious, and it was really great to have all those different cakes with my best friends.
My best food party (or at least most memorable) was a crawfish boil my coworkers threw for my wife and I before we got married. It was there that I started to learn how to boil crawfish and also a friend made the best crawfish etouffee I’ve ever tasted.
Best food party….Chron’s and Colitis Wine and Chocolate Party at the Terminal Building.
Harvest Dinner was a great fall party (basically Thanksgiving, but with a group of friends who all spend the actual holiday with our families) – and where I rediscovered cornbread stuffing – YUM!
I have never been invited to a food party of that nature. As a girl scout leader however every year for a holiday called thinking day we choose countries and get to sample food from those countries as well as other activities. I always enjoyed having the girls try things from other cultures and things they aren’t used to eating.
Zoo party has good food
Super Bowl Party Food … the best
Best food party I attended recently was a fondue party with friends. We ate, talked, cooked, ate more, laughed, and then made a dessert fondue. Perfect evening with great food and wonderful friends!
My best buddies, Dougy & Philip, put together an impromptu dinner party –
cheesy mac & to-die-for chocolate cake…good times!!! Unforgettable