Foodbuzz & The Featured Publisher Dinner

Perhaps you noticed the pop of color over there on the right? That lovely banner is courtesy of the folks at Foodbuzz. In the willy-nilly searches of the internet, it's still difficult to sift through bloggerland, and find the ones that really resonate with you. Enter Foodbuzz with a solution. Their mission is to gather food bloggers in a central location and with their handy search tools, this is a great spot to find fellow food bloggers.

Back in May, I took a trek out to Vermont. On Foodbuzz, you can sort the blogs by location, so I was able to quickly pop into local blogs and get the lay of the land. My time in Vermont was way too short, but in the future, I wouldn't hesitate to contact bloggers for a little rendezvous.

While Foodbuzz is still a fledgling organization, they're growing at a pace that would make a dot.commer drool. The website's infrastructure is very user friendly and I have spent hours poking around, reading a slew of blogs. Some of my new-found-favorites? White on Rice Couple, FX Cusine.com, Food Junkie Not Junk Food's Flavor, and Tamarind Trees.


Earlier this year, the Foodbuzz folks made a sweep through Seattle, and organized a dinner with a handful of Featured Publishers. Through the lively chatter, wine and course after course of food, I managed to snap a few photos....


Restaurant Zoe: This Belltown spot is a favorite among food aficionados. When I think of Zoe, I think: gourmet comfort food. Note: The ingredients used are farm-fresh and seasonal. In the pictures below, when you see "spring peas & morels," that's a dead giveaway that I'm playing catch up...






East Coast Scallops with Morels and Spring Peas I'm a sucker for scallops and these were seared on the outside, moist and cooked to perfection on the inside. That savory mushroom jus still haunts me.

Seasonal greens with Boiled Egg and Olives. This dish hit all the right notes: sweet & sour vinaigrette with bitter greens and briny olives.

Peking Duck Breast with Nicoise Olives, Braised Fennel, Caramelized Endive, Oranges and Duck Jus - Just one question: do I really have to share? The duck was flavorful without being the slightest bit gamey and this dish made me a convert of the fennel, endive and orange combo. I'd seen it in cookbooks and raised an eyebrow more than once, but it was divine.

Big Eye Tartare with Celery Salad & Granny Smith Apple - Fresh and light tuna, on a bed of celery and granny smith apple. Together, these flavors were fantastic! A new-to-me pairing discovery that worked really well.

Chocolate Moose on Genoise with a Candied Fennel Frond Garnish - How beautiful is this? It tasted even better!

Salted Caramel and Candied Peanuts on Housemade Ice Cream - Ditto. Delish. In this photo the whipped cream looks like it came out of a canister, it didn't. That's freshly whipped cream, loaded in a pastry bag and piped with a star tip.

Unfortunately, I didn't catch everyone's name or blog...but on the left, that's Lisa & Chris of We Heart Food, Ryan of Foodbuzz and author of Ryan the Girl, that's Jen at the top of the table from Foodbuzz and author of Eating Plum, and near right, meet Jessie from Cakespy.

What a wonderful opportunity to connect with the San Francisco crew and meet fellow bloggers. Thanks Foodbuzz!