My lunch date with Tom

Tom Colicchio knows my name.

Kinda sorta. OK, not really. But he did say my name.

I was invited to an intimate lunch hosted by Vitaminwater this past Saturday, part of the TIFF festivities. I willed my tastebuds to be in tip top shape (I’d had a cold all week) as I anxiously counted down the days til lunch. Why so excited? If you’re into food, you get my giddiness. I’ve had “eat at a Tom Colicchio restaurant” on my to-do list for awhile, but have yet to do so. So to attend a private lunch and meet the Top Chef judge? Oh. Em. Gee. (if you’re like my bestie who thinks it’s weird I get excited over chefs, well, then I got nothin’ for ya).

I arrived perhaps overdressed (gold dress, five inch heels) for a  Saturday lunch, but whatevs. Lunch was served family-style, which always stresses me out a bit (“What haven’t I had yet? What’d the waitress just put down? I have to try that before they take that bowl away,” is pretty much all I can think about in this situation). Plus, there’s that awkwardness of how much is it polite to serve yourself. Because, really — I wanted to park this bowl of lobster salad in front of me and chow down.

Let’s get back to the best part, though. Tom (I’d like to think we’re on a first-name basis now) came out as we started dessert and one of the first things he said “Lots of tweets….Karen’s been tweeting a lot…”.

“THAT’S ME!!!” is all I could think. Oh, he also talked about how he cooks in his teeny NYC kitchen, too, but I was kinda distracted thinking about the fact that he’d seen my tweets. I know he said his kitchen is so small that the fridge and the oven can’t be open at the same time.

(To top it all off, we were given takeout containers to load up with leftovers and you’d better believe I loaded that puppy up to the brim — it were as though I’d died and gone to foodie heaven).

(Oh, and the food was delicious, btw — lobster salad was my fave, followed by this cuttlefish salad).

2 Comments September 12, 2011