Sotheby's Art Of Food Event Honors Chef Claus Meyer And Architect Richard Meier

More than 25 Upper East Side restaurants were represented at the third-annual Our Town's Art of Food, an epic and upscale walk-around tasting that was hosted at New York's Sotheby's last weekend. The event was attended by hundreds of well-heeled food lovers, including guests of honor Claus Meyer, the trailblazing Nordic chef who co-founded Noma and today runs Agern and the Great Northern Food Hall in Grand Central Terminal; and the legendary architect Richard Meier.

During the event, attendees were treated to tastings of signature dishes from Upper East Side favorites, and as a nod to the setting, each restaurant's chef was assigned a painting (on display near their table) to "pair" their dish with. The connections were sometimes a bit tenuous, but it was still a fun idea.

Some of the standout dishes included Crave Fishbar's pineapple ginger shrimp cocktail, 5 Napkin's Salisbury steak, Fred's at Barney's lasagna alla nonna, La Esquina's shrimp and hamachi aguachile, Jones Wood Foundry's vegan shepherd's pie, Mighty Quinn's crispy smoked shellfish arancini, butternut squash and lime soup from Sahib, torched Nikkei salmon ceviche from Sen Sakana, sage ravioli from Serafina, seafood paella from Socarrat, and sweet and sour pork meatballs from The Meatball Shop. Wines from Kettmeir and cocktails from Effen Vodka, Rums of Puerto Rico, and Bombay gin were also free-flowing.

The event was held in a larger space than last year's, so guests had plenty of room to move around without any long lines for food or bottlenecks. There was also a VIP lounge with seating and additional cocktails; VIP guests were also allowed early access.

Access to this event was provided at no cost to the writer.