Kudo’s to the Philadelphia crew for an excellent conference. After the recipe and ingredient commentary by Sean Paxton I was prepared for an outstanding meal. To my and my foodie groups disappointment the Stromboli could have been better described as a pretzel with the pork inside grossly overcooked. It was a shame that the chef’s ideas were so poorly executed, not typical of a Marrriot . Anybody have a great meal? I hope so.
My wife and I liked the food, much better than the banquet fare at my last conference in Minnesota. (Technically, as you said, it wasn’t a Stromboli.) We’re very picky, actually. Lots of times we avoid restaurants because the cooking is so much better at home.
I thought the stromboli was mediocre. The greens inside (broccoli rabe?) were overly bitter and stringy and there was too much of it in there. The pork was just okay. I didn’t finish mine.
I liked the pickled veggies and the salad. And I thought the dessert was fantastic and paired well with the hazelnut brown. I don’t really like the Rogue Hazelnut Brown by itself but it paired really well with that dessert.
In comparison, The BNA8 VIP dinner on Wednesday night was absolutely fantastic. I wanted another bite of every single dish and the pairings were great as well. Of course it’s a lot easier to cook for 100 people than 2200.
I totally agree. Our whole table was appalled at how much we paid, and what we ended up with on our plates. It was literally laugh out loud funny. We had a couple foodies and a person with food service history at our table, and we were all looking at this thing with our jaws hanging. Crazy. Presentation was prison like. One woman at our table kept saying "you can’t put stomboli under a steam cover’ or something like that. Basically, the dough was not crispy outside and soft inside, it was hard and chewy all the way through. She had trouble just getting a knife in it. Broccoli was totally overdone, and pork was totally dried out. No provolone was there to ooze out.
This is my third NHC; I’ve been to Oakland, Minneopolis, and now Philly. None of the meals were much to write home about. Sorry but ‘the emperor has no clothes’. Time for a different chef I’m afraid.
I’m sure it has to do with the execution and you can’t blame the chef for his meal getting screwed up. But on the other hand, he has to design a meal that can be executed by the kitchen he has, for the number of people he has. But I’m not a foodie or someone with catering experience. I’d just as soon have a Dominoes pizza and some wings. But for 2200 people paying $50 each, it ought to be good.
Thank God they kept wheeling out carts full of Rogue, we filled up on that instead.
I thought the pickled veggies and salad were good and I loved the dessert. I also enjoyed the beer pairings with everything. Our entres arrived later than everyone else’s. I think they had a problem with the vegetarian count or something like that. A psuedostromboli was not what I was hoping for, but I thought it was pretty good…but maybe because it didn’t sit…or I was really hungry…or I’m not a foodie. I appreciated the thought that was put into the meal by trying to tie into the local area. I also don’t think the Marriot did the meal justice either, but the hotel itself was not very impressive either. It might have been too much for them to prepare that many meals.
As far as the cost, I didn’t think it was bad. I’ve certainly paid more for a lot worse. The day before, I went to El Vez and payed about $40 for some good guac, a subpar entre, and a few beers. I would take the banquet dinner and much more Rogue beer over what I had there. I also had a great time at the dinner, which made it worth it.
They didn’t bring any more Rogue to our table! >:(
It was in ice bins around the room. You had to go diving for it.
Wish I knew that. :-[
Desert was great. Dressing on the salad was tasty.
The rest…no comment to make.
(Mama always said if you ain’t got something good to say don’t say it at all.)
That sums it up. I had really talked it up from having attended previous years.
A restaurant owner wants feedback positive and negative. Keeps the small guy from going out of business. You’re doing an owner a favor if you compliment or complain as long as it’s done properly.
I liked the meal and the beers, I was expecting a slightly more elegant main course, but overall it worked for me.
I still don’t have a clue how someone can cook a meal for 2200, so I’ve gotta give him credit for that. It’s just an impossible task.
to be fair, he didn’t cook a meal for 2200 people. He designed a menu, and recipes and oversaw the creation of 2200 meals.
Sounds disappointing but good to know the award dinner should probably be skipped in the future.
Last year’s dinner in Seattle was fantastic (they served salmon, and I am not a fish eater).
I would definitely not skip it in the future. I missed NHC this year, but in the previous ones I’ve been to Sean’s dinners have been one of the highpoints. As far as I can tell, this year was an anomaly.
I agree with Denny. Some of the dinners have been excellent start to finish. This may have a confluence of the concept and the hotel’s ability to execute the concept for 2000.
Hoping for an excellent meal in 2014, that will highlight the local ingredients in MI.
No, I wouldn’t say that. In the past he has done a phenomenal job. Last year in Washington everything was delicious. This year was not his finest moment, but still far better than the usual convention hotel rubber chicken dinners.
+1
I wish I could remember more of the details, but I was, uh, drinking. It was great though.
various root vegetable mash, a mushroom bisque, and a sort of coffee/chocolate/donut trifle?