The rules of a successful Super Bowl Sunday party are simple. Give your guests an unobstructed view of the television and gorge them with food. By those standards, Gourmet magazine's Super Sunday Bash at Blue Smoke did not disappoint. Restaurateur Danny Meyer and an impressive line up of chefs including Michael Romano (Union Square Caf? and Blue Smoke), Joey Campanaro (the Harrison), Kenny Callaghan (Blue Smoke), Wayne Harley Brachman (Pershing Square) and Food Network host Sara Moulton offered their take on the tailgate menu, filling the room with the tantalizing smell of hickory.
As nearly 300 advertisers and foodies crowded around a half dozen televisions provided by Sharp, servers brought out the pre-coin toss fare: heaping tins of cheese fries and plates of barbecue chipotle chicken wings, deviled eggs and Philly cheese steaks. Daniel Rodriguez—a.k.a. New York's singing cop—kicked off the game with his hardy rendition of the national anthem. It was the perfect start to another celebrated American pastime: eating to the point of discomfort. Diners joined one of three buffet lines, packing their plates with baked beans, St. Louis spare ribs, pork sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, and creamed spinach. And a few quarters later they attacked servers carrying trays of homemade Oreo cookies and ring-dings.
While the main attractions were undeniably food and football, the party (planned by publisher Giulio Capua, associate publisher Daria Fabian and special events manager Jackie Torren) offered a few distractions. Guests visited Grey Goose-sponsored bars featuring Moscow mules, salty dogs and Le Citron pink lemonades, bid on sports memorabilia and epicurean pleasures at a halftime charity auction, and posed for photo ops with New York Giants linebacker Dhani Jones and other celebrity athletes by a 200-pound ice sculpture duplicate of the Super Bowl trophy carved by Ice Art.
Still, it was difficult to compete with the television. During a cooking demonstration by Brachman and Moulton, the chefs vied for attention with a commercial featuring American's favorite dysfunctional family. "What's that rule?" Brachman joked. "Never follow kids, dogs or Ozzy Osbourne in show business."
—Michele Marchetti
As nearly 300 advertisers and foodies crowded around a half dozen televisions provided by Sharp, servers brought out the pre-coin toss fare: heaping tins of cheese fries and plates of barbecue chipotle chicken wings, deviled eggs and Philly cheese steaks. Daniel Rodriguez—a.k.a. New York's singing cop—kicked off the game with his hardy rendition of the national anthem. It was the perfect start to another celebrated American pastime: eating to the point of discomfort. Diners joined one of three buffet lines, packing their plates with baked beans, St. Louis spare ribs, pork sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, and creamed spinach. And a few quarters later they attacked servers carrying trays of homemade Oreo cookies and ring-dings.
While the main attractions were undeniably food and football, the party (planned by publisher Giulio Capua, associate publisher Daria Fabian and special events manager Jackie Torren) offered a few distractions. Guests visited Grey Goose-sponsored bars featuring Moscow mules, salty dogs and Le Citron pink lemonades, bid on sports memorabilia and epicurean pleasures at a halftime charity auction, and posed for photo ops with New York Giants linebacker Dhani Jones and other celebrity athletes by a 200-pound ice sculpture duplicate of the Super Bowl trophy carved by Ice Art.
Still, it was difficult to compete with the television. During a cooking demonstration by Brachman and Moulton, the chefs vied for attention with a commercial featuring American's favorite dysfunctional family. "What's that rule?" Brachman joked. "Never follow kids, dogs or Ozzy Osbourne in show business."
—Michele Marchetti
Guests at Gourmet magazine’s Super Sunday Bash at Blue Smoke filled their plates with baked beans, St. Louis spare ribs, pork sandwiches, and macaroni and cheese.
Guests could watch the game on television monitors throughout the restaurant.
Ice Art made a 200-pound ice sculpture duplicate of the Super Bowl trophy.
Pershing Square chef Wayne Harley Brachman and Food Network host Sara Moulton hosted a cooking demonstration during the game.
