As Oliver Twist sang out, “Food, glorious food” – and what a glorious spread was served the length of Hudson River Park‘s Pier 84 in celebration of New York’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center.
You’re only 30 once and The Center celebrated its milestone birthday with a massive sunset Garden Party attended by more than 1,500 chic gourmands, including New York Senator Tom Duane and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn who braved the humidity for a 40-restaurant smorgasbord curated by Zagat.
What started as a fundraiser in 1984 with one catering company has evolved into the largest LGBT food festival in the country and one of the most celebrated tasting events in the culinary world.
(Source: MRNY)
If you’re a New York City foodie (and what true New Yorker isn’t?), then you know you’re in the right place when you’re at an event that’s curated by Zagat. As the Center‘s Executive Director Glennda Testone extolled the crowd, these are the hot restaurants to support when New York gets cooking hot.
For Marcel Proust, it was a madeleine and lime-blossom tea that transported him back to his childhood. Something similar happened for those who waited in line for the Danish Chef Mads Refslund’s ACME, which offered a vegetable crudité with truffle aioli, rye crumble, and puffed quinoa that was the essence of a halcyon summer.
For the past few years, the food world has paid obeisance to the chefs of Copenhagen, particularly the protégés of René Redzepi, the chef of Noma, the restaurant widely regarded as the best in the world. As Noma’s philosophy artfully states, “[W]e look to our landscape and delve into our ingredients and culture, hoping to rediscover our history and shape our future.”
(Source: MRNY)
Similarly, the bounty at this year’s Garden Party was a compendium of culinary Americana, which included lamb sliders, red velvet cupcakes, chocolate fluffernutter sandwiches, Mediterranean calamari salad, heirloom tomato gazpacho, white almond mole, chocolate espresso cake with chunky peanut butter, chilled watermelon soup with shrimp ceviche, caramel crème sandwich cookies, sushi Parma, salted caramel poppers, and seafood salad with Meyer lemon vinaigrette.
Frozen banana pops with bittersweet chocolate and salted hazelnuts were offered with a playful leer from the pulchritudinous posse at The Standard Grill, while Chef Steven Picker of Good served an ethereal herb and tequila-cured salmon atop English pea salsa verde and cornbread.
Always a showcase for summer fashion, guests at this year’s Garden Party were as colorfully attired as the food they devoured. A surfeit of seersucker was complemented by bow ties and suspenders, waistcoats and festive hats, alongside splashes of gingham, tulle, dune grasses, and leather.
(Source: MRNY)
For years, the Center‘s annual Garden Party has been the kick-off event to New York’s Pride Week and this year’s event was made all the more celebratory by the possibility of further progress toward LGBT equality with upcoming decisions from the United States Supreme Court.
Throughout its 30-year history, the Center has built community through arts and culture, wellness and recovery, in its mission to envision a world where LGBT people no longer face discrimination or isolation because of who they love.
Thanks to sponsors such as this year’s presenting sponsor Prudential, the Center‘s longest-running event is also its largest annual fundraiser. More than 6,000 people visit the Center weekly, with more than 300 groups meeting at the beloved West Village institution.
(Source: MRNY)
The Center is home to a rainbow coalition of life-changing and life-saving organizations, from the Youth Pride Chorus to Center Families, as well as the largest LGBT job fair in the Northeast – and the proceeds from the Garden Party enable the Center to remain open 365 days a year.
Apart from a spectacular sunset, Garden Party guests enjoyed an open bar sponsored by Smirnoff and Perrier, while also bidding on a Foodies Silent Auction.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Click here for MRNY slideshow of Garden Party 30.
(Source: MRNY)
