Fancy Food Show 2012 Followup-Aunt Sassy Sauces, Sheila G's, Nuts to Serendipity 3, Powell & Mahoney Mixers, Fudgey treats, Fancy Food Show Highlights

Submitted by peek on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 1:07pm

I recently returned from my 2nd trip to the Summer Fancy Food Show, taking place in Washington, DC. I stayed in a lovely room at the Marriott Metro Center, a short stroll from the Convention Center. The room was lovely, spacious and hotel very quiet. A handful of food trucks were always present during the day to feed the locals and tourists alike.

At the Summer Fancy Food Show I met some fabulous independent, gourmet chefs, entrepreneurs, wine purveyors and tasted amazing trendy treats, wines, cheese along the aisles. And my, were there a lot of aisles!

Here is part one of some of my favorite things.

Much more to come.

AUNT SASSY SAUCES: 3 Sassy All Natural Sauces: Original Honey Slightly Naughty Sauce, Cracked Pepper Slightly Naughty Sauce, Slow Burn Slightly Naughty Sauce. And as the legend goes, Aunt Sassy Sauces was launched in 2010 with the idea of sharing a highly coveted and closely guarded family recipe with the world.AUNT SASSY SAUCES: founder, Leslie, was born and raised in Atlanta, GA before moving up north, where she attended college and later got married. As a child, she remembers folks all over Atlanta delighting in her aunt’s “naughty sauce,” a famous local recipe that is as addictive as it is versatile; whether used for BBQ, dipping, marinade or, umm, other situations.

I was introduced to the brand via an odd items, not a piece of steak or chicken, even a cracker, a pecan. That is how I became Nnts with a bar-b-que sauce-SASSY style! I sampled one pecan and it was memorablebly mixed with the Cracked Black Pepper Sauce. This creative entrepreneur has fun with cooking and created many recipes to spice up a meal. Check out : http://www.auntsassysauces.com/category/sassy-recipes/ Aunt Sassy says "Aunt Sassy has a heart o’ gold," why? Because AUNT SASSY SAUCES: donates 10% of profits to charity with a a twist. The buyer gets to decide where the money goes! Visit Aunt Sassy's website and votes for their charity of choice once a day. The gifts are allocated based on the total votes received. Currently the brand can be found mostly in Connecticut but online orders are easy at $7.50 each or all three brands for $21 in a variety pack.

SHEILA G's BROWNIE Brittle- call it a chip, call it a bite, call it a crisp, but I dare you to eat just one! Delicious, end-of-brownie, corner, crunchy, chocolately brownie brittle. OMG, yum! As the story goes, in 1992, Sheila G. Mains, better known in the food business as Sheila G, took a treasured family recipe for fudge brownies and baked her way into a thriving business. Like many brownie aficionados, Sheila is particularly fond of the crispy edges. In fact, on many an afternoon she would walk through the bakery gathering the brittle batter off the sides of the sheet pans as the brownies cooled in their racks. It had that same rich chocolate taste, but with an amazing crunch. That started her wondering: How could she create a whole pan of crunchy edges? Well, lucky for us, she figured it out! Now you too can satisfy your sweet tooth in a snap with Sheila G’s Brownie Brittle! A handful of flavors: Chocolate chip, toffee crunch, walnut, double chocolate and peanut butter chip. MMMM. Thank you Chef Sheila G for the crispy edge treats. Yes please, may I have another? Buy wholesale: http://www.browniebrittle.com/wholesale. Koshercertified, all natural, bulk pricing available and peanut free.

POWELL and MAHONEY- Like dating someone or fiinding a great friend, sometimes you just connect with people. The folks at POWELL and MAHONEY, namely Brian Powell, Mark Mahoney and Meredith Cyr, let me just say, these are good people! POWELL and MAHONEY have created the world’s first all-natural, hand-crafted Vintage Original Cocktail Mixers capturing the clean and classic tastes of America’s original cocktails, in an all-natural, micro-batch produced mixer.They make some of the best tasting, natural mixers known on the earth from low-cal Marguarita to Gineger, Bloody mary (YUM!), cosmopolitan, simple syrup,peach bellini, lemon sour, hot toddy. Oh my. Did I mention how affordable. Restaurants and hotels never have to worry about consistancy with these mixers.

(Seen left Meredith Cyr and Mark Mahoney). I adore their flavors, perfectly melded to work with the alchohol of choice, but doesn't overtake the chosen booze. Contact mailto:patti@citypeek.com for price list-I will hook you up!

FERIDIES PEANUTS. Some of the best peanuts Virginia produces, but done with fun, lots of love and a special energy. Love their creative packaging and willingness to touch the young kids to the supper club sophisticates. Seen left is Jane Fries Riddick and her trusted employee/CPA. Did you know how the business, established as The Peanut Patch in 1973 changed its name to FERIDIES? Well FERIDIES name was developed showcasing a piece of each of our family member's last names (Alice & Paul ShafFER, Judy & Bob RIDdick, Jane & Ted FrIES).

FERIDIES PEANUTS mission continues to be promoting Virginia peanuts - by selling them worldwide, by educating the public about the healthful qualities of peanuts, and by leading their promotion in the gourmet food industry. The Riddick family thanks you for your continued support and patronage. Some of the nices and most forward-thinking foodies out there. Adore the product and have been a paying customer for years. They have a great easy website and even a peanut variety club plan shown here: http://www.feridies.com/prod_detail_list/Variety_Club_Plan.

I must say, the creme de la creme of the chocolate show, well, there were 3 in the chocolate category were:

Meeting Mr Stephen Bruce, one of the three founders of SERENDIPITY, now Serendipity 3 Fame. He explained that the tree all wanted to be famous on Broadway, but found the evenings in their soon-to-be hotspot or should I say sweetspot, their stage. The Serendipity 3 pooled their entire fortunes of three hundred dollars and staked a claim to a tiny principality in the basement of a tenement on East Fifty-Eighth Street.
It was New York’s first coffee house boutique. Serendipity had come into the world four tables, sixteen chairs and a towering espresso machine strong. In no time, patrons out numbered the facilities. Nightly the line formed, stretching around the block and under the old Third Avenue El. Before he was anyone, Andy Warhol declared it his favorite sweet shop, and paid his chits in drawings.

In honor of National Hamburger Month (May), Serendipity created a haute cuisine version of the iconic American dish! Known as Le Burger Extravagant, this $295 burger is a mix of Japanese Waygu beef infused with 10-herb white truffle butter, seasoned with Salish – Alderwood smoked pacific sea salt, topped with cheddar cheese – hand-formed by the famous cheesemaker, James Montgomery in Somerset, England and cave-aged for 18 months, topped with shaved black truffles, a fried quail egg and served on a white truffle-buttered Campagna Roll which is topped with a blini, crème fraiche, and Paramout Caviar’s exclusive Kaluga caviar – a beautiful golden caviar with buttery, nutty taste, large pearls from the Huso Dauricus farm raised in Quzhou, China. The finishing touch to this incredible burger is a solid gold “Fleur de Lis” toothpick encrusted with diamonds and designed by world renowned jeweler, Euphoria New York.

The profits of this record breaking burger will be donated to the Bowery Mission – serving homeless and hungry New Yorkers since 1879.This Guinness World Record setting hamburger is available for a limited time for $295.00 with a 48 hour notice.

Guylian Artisinal Belgian Chocolates-

Delicious, elegant, creamy, luxury.

Must mention some of the most fine sweets found in a box.

Love their famed seashell mini box and Belgium memories.

And the world renown, very humble, talented chocolatier and 'fudge master,' John Kelly of John Kelly Chocolates in LA/Santa Barbara fame. Yup, tasting his sample of salted caramel-chocolate fdge or was it the peanit butter fudge was my Harry Met Sally Moment. When asked who his most frequented famous client, he said "Leonardo DiCaprio, but I have so many."