Olive oil infused with CBD. Dried crickets integrated in granola. Micro plants harvested as salad…read more These were some of the innovative creations/wave of the now future I experienced at the Food Loves Tech expo at Industry City over the weekend. It was the 3rd annual and this bi-level exhibit was a delight to those who were in attendance. I was the fortunate guest invited by my friend who managed to snag a free pair of tickets via Yelp. There was something here for everyone. I enjoyed several albeit brief chats with the exhibitors regarding what was on tap for visitors. What about organic farmed raised Rainbow Trout? Sounds like an oxymoron since wild caught is what's suggested for seafood but these were organic and involved a detailed series of steps on how they're caught. It was also one of my favorite samples. In addition, wine (i particularly loved St. Francis Chardonnay, named after St. Francis of Assisi), yogurt, salad, beer, meat for the eager carnivore (venison, bison, pork, duck and beef. Did not try as I do not eat red meat), olive oil & other snacks. One of the coolest exhibits was a photo booth whereupon the image was applied on a latte. Talk about innovative. This was a 3 day event that seems to be gaining popularity. Attendance could vouch for it. If you didn't catch it this year, I'm sure it'll be back bigger and better next year. A few tips---no coat check, some exhibitors' products wasn't available for purchase, very few sample give-a-ways and last--no bottled water available in sight. After a good amount of sampling, we felt like two camels in a desert--in need of water. Despite these few hiccups, this was an enjoyable expo held at the perfect space/location. Real nice.

Thanks to Katey & Yelp for providing me with 2 tickets to this expo!…read more Food Loves Tech hosted a number of businesses that value sustainability and innovation in the food and drink space. From rainbow trout to wine and ice cream, this expo had a little bit of it all, and we were happy to sample. With 2 floors packed full of cool innovators, there's something for everyone. We spent about 2 hours here talking with business owners and trying out some cool bites. The only caveat, I would say, was that we were parched after taste testing everything and there was not a single bottle of water in sight. Just be sure to bring your own if you're coming here! We got some free goodies - tote bags, samples of Annie's cookies, peanuts, etc. Very cool! For those who are interested in purchasing tickets for next year, check out the website or Eventbrite. Tickets start at $55, I believe.

This is one of my favorite film events, a baby of uniFrance and Film Society Lincoln Center. Annual…read morefor several years now, it takes place at the end of february and introduces new french films to the US. The main venues are usually Lincoln Center, BAM and IFC. My favorite part is receptions and Q&As - i don't even mind if the movie might not be my type - getting into the process with the creators and the stories behind the feature is always fascinating. At the last one I saw "Populaire" & Thérèse Desqueyroux" @ BAM - went for the Q&As, especially the latter, because nothing in the world would make me see something like that. Unexpectedly, ended up liking the film itself too.

I have been wanting to attend Village Voice Choice Eats for a long time, but was always put off by…read morethe high price of the tickets (I never seem to be fast enough to nab those $70 general admission tickets). For their first ever Brunch Eats event, GA tickets were $60 and who can turn down an all you can eat brunch at 8pm? After going to a few different food events I really have to say the Voice seems to know what they're doing, and I feel much more confident shelling out the money for Choice. The event was extremely well organized. They picked a great venue (the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum), which was always kept clean, had adequate bathroom accommodations, space for both vendors and attendees, containers to hold your food samples, plastic ware, and garbage cans. I know that sounds like it would be common sense but I can't tell you how often these simple things are over looked at festivals and events. They even seemed able to book the right amount of vendors in proportion to attendees, so lines moved quickly even if they looked long. And the vendors they chose were great! Ess-a-Bagel was there with delicious smoked salmon and whitefish spreads on their fresh bagels. There was a fantastic Cuban pork sandwich with a red mojo sauce that I've forgotten the vendor of. There was ceviche, poached eggs, BLT's, french toast, tons of donuts. My favorite vendor by far though was Nha Minh, who made Duck Eggs and Vietnamese Ham in a Crepe Pinwheel with a chili oil made with dried seafood. WOW. It sounds as amazing and multi-faceted as it was. The booze selection was also excellent. There was a large beer station, as well a one for mimosas, Bloody Mary's and other vodka based cocktails (Eddy's Vodka), and Rose (Angel Whispers!). There were also a ton of freebies being given out by Haagen Dazs, Bark Thins, Uber Eats, Frames Bowling Alley. They had a live jazz band playing- such a nice backdrop! Plus we got to explore the museum a bit, and go up on deck at night and see the beautiful skyline views. I had a great time, left full, a little tipsy, with a tote full of goodies. The quality of the vendors as well as the organization of the event itself (not to mention that it's all you can eat and drink for three hours), made this a really good value. I'll definitely be attending more Voice events :)

I was here for a beer tasting event and it was wonderful. It's a nice small museum house in a…read morebeautiful area. I had a great time and look forward to attending future events.

I was the lucky recipient to win a pair of music badges through yelp Brooklyn! I was extremely…read moreexcited as I've attended the free events of the festival in the past, but never had access to all the venues and events that this year's festival had lined up. Since this is a four day music festival I took advantage of all events occurring on each day/evening including the Bedford avenue block party (which was freel), the collabs between upcoming shows like TNT's Claws, Tidal, Wild honey Pie's Beehive event as well as the main stage with performers during the weekend. There were tons of indie bands performing throughout Bushwick, Williamsburg and Greenpoint which made traveling to each venue pretty easy. The headlining concerts at McCarren Park was surprisingly spacious, with different variety of food trucks, vendors promoting new or unknown Apps, while giving away free swag to entice new member with a month's or a few months of free membership; as well as cityMD providing concert goers with first aid needs and announcing a contest for a pair of panorama tickets (I did not win lol). My PIC and I had a wonderful time attending all the different venues, and listening to all the great artists who for the first time, I got a chance to hear up-close and personal. Look forward to next years festival!

I purchased a music badge for Northside Festival when it was just announced. For $75 (plus fees)…read moreyou have access to every indie show in the area plus the headliners each night. This year: The Dirty Projectors and Miguel, so I couldn't be more excited. The festival is four days long with a block party on the weekend. In addition to the acts, the badge gets you access to parties with other badgeholders: both lovers of music and tech. It makes for an interesting crowd, some people only have tech badges while other have music and some have both. It offers a great exchange of ideas and better yet libations. There is also a cute little block party running down Bedford Ave with performances and vendors cheerfully welcoming summer. As for the headlining concert, that takes place is McCarren Park in a parking lot by the tennis courts. It's a great location. Large enough to be comfortable, but small enough to have great acoustics and to be able to see the performer from any place there.

Ok - here it is Saturday afternoon and I am finally sober enough to type this review of the beer…read morefest. I was absolutely blotto last night after this. Even more so after downing more drinks at Raines Law Room afterwards. I literally forgot my own name last night. My friend Sean and I got on line at around 7:30 and had to wait until doors opened at 8. Yes, it was raining out but at least we were kept entertained by some crazy drunk girl that was kicked out of the earlier session. She was actually foaming at the mouth while screaming out stupid nonsense to everyone. When doors opened we got in quickly and proceeded to get a few beers within a minute. Yes! The event was held in a nice event space in the Altman building. Well air conditioned, bright, and clean bathrooms. There were food and beer stands along the walls, and a main beer area set up in the middle with about 100 beers on tap all labeled and numbered. Terrific variety of beers to choose from. Light, dark, malty, creamy, reds, ambers, stouts, you name it. At one point near the end we were just calling out numbers to slug down beer after beer, With some of these in the 7-10% alcohol content we were feeling no pain. There was also a band playing throughout, and a downstairs area with communal benches and tables. I honestly can't remember too much more as I lost my mind by the end of the night. All I know is that we sampled a lot of terrific Belgian style beers. All the servers working the stations were cool and the event staff was nice and helpful. The crowd was not too bad either. It was busy but they did not oversell it. Never had to wait too long on lines. Plus, waited until the day before and Groupon put up a $40 ticket deal so we saved big time. Now I have to drink more tonight at a UYE German restaurant event. My liver hates me. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hitting this up tonight as the beer festival started today! Located in the Altman Bldg on West 18th street. Afternoon and evening sessions Fri and Sat. Hundreds of Belgian style beers to imbibe and sample. Good God this is gonna be epic! Will update review when I'm sober!

"I'm never drinking again"…read more That was the first thing that went through my head as I woke up at 6am Saturday morning, having attended the late session of the Belgian Beer Festival the previous night. This was a very well organized event. I was expecting massive crowds and long lines for beer and food. There was a pretty long line outside to get in but Phil H. and I got there pretty early and were lucky enough to be entertained by a crazy, screaming drunk girl from the afternoon session. They took care of checking everyone's tickets and stamping our hands while we were on line so at 8pm we were shuffled in with no delay. Once inside we were given a souvenir tasting glass, which I ended up way to drunk to keep track of at the end of the night. For three hours we were treated to tons of great Belgian and Belgian-style beers, mostly on tap and a few in bottles. The toughest part of the night was picking what to drink. I didn't have the same beer twice the entire night! In addition to the beer there was plenty of good snack from Luke's Lobster, My Friend's Mustard, and a few others. I did just read on their site that the first session was apparently littered with problems. Fortunately they cleared those up or did a great job of masking them by the time the evening session began. All in all it was a great night! The organizers put on a good event. It was crowded but nowhere near packed. We didn't wait more than a minute for anything. I look forward to attending more of Get Real NY's events.

The schedule for this was intense. The offerings were pretty impressive but I would make a few…read morerecommendations. -The program shouldn't run until 11pm on a weeknight. Things didn't start on time and with no time to snack in between people were hangry. -Select a location with food options OR create significant breaks between showings. - Start on TIME. This is my biggest pet peeve with events. I show up 10 minutes before. While others aren't as courteous, it is beyond rude to have me sitting somewhere waiting because things are running behind. -Consider the audience and their attention span. If that means being more selective then be so and create a shorter program. Overall, the program seems promising and I look forward to the next round BUT will be more realistic about my needs.

Awesome night for Charity!…read more I've lived in Queens for a majority of my life and never knew about this event that's been going on for 26 years. Maybe it wasn't always as grand in the past but this was a pretty nice turnout for a chilly and rainy Tuesday night. There were lots of food, an awards presentation for chef of the year, gaming tables and many interesting items up for auction all for charity, all of which went off without a hitch, at least from my perspective. There was a little of everything as far as the food was concerned, Italian, Indian, Chinese, Ethiopian, Filipino, American, Thai, etc,.... Gluten free options for dessert were also in the house! The range of options was incredible and better yet, all the restaurant servers were great. I personally liked that rich Italian Bolognese, the Indian Samosas/desserts, and that fantastic bite sized Mango Panna Cotta. I honestly couldn't have taken another bite for the evening. After I was done eating, I went over to the gambling tables and perused the many charitable items up for silent auction. There were a couple of things I was interested in including the autographed sport memorabilia. I even ended up winning a Carmine's restaurant branded basket with a gift card, pasta, and sauces which was pretty cool! Shout out to Queens Center for Progress (QCP) for a fantastic evening. The overall mood for the night was so festive. Specials thanks to Shaun Caruana for my tickets and for holding my Carmine's basket for me! Thanks to our Yelp CM Sam for organizing this event for Yelpers. This is one of the few times where doing something good for the community and having a good time intersect. Glad that I was able to participate!

Honestly wasn't even sure if I was allowed to write a review as the terms of my win seemed pretty…read moreserious lol I actually won my tickets on Instagram via Yelp and their partnership with QCP for their annual event. I didn't know what to expect, but loved the cause as I am an occupational therapist and this population is near and dear to my heart. It was a very rainy night, but thankfully my husband and I drove. Check-in was pretty smooth and we got upstairs and entered a grand room with 2 sub-level sides and a large opening in the center for all the auction tables. Tables to sit and eat were on the sub levels and the food rounded the edges. There was a casino section where you could play black Jack and roulette to win tickets for a raffle. They had a photo booth and tons of generous vendors. Tables were labeled and Yelp had a few small round tables that we ended up sharing with some other Yelpers :) There was so much that we didn't get to try everything, but I was happy to see Glaze Donuts, which are so yum, and enjoyed the chocolates and so much more! Didn't end up having enough time to look around at the auctions, but hope they raised a lot of money! We enjoyed ourselves and had a nice time. Would love to experience this again! Thank you Yelp and QCP for the opportunity to win these tickets! We are grateful! :)