One of the best parts of the holiday season is the yummy food we get to indulge in. This coming Monday, you can feast on a favorite traditional holiday food at the 11th Annual Latke Festival. Hosted at the Brooklyn Museum for the fourth year in a row, the festival draws in hundreds of New Yorkers to taste a wide variety of the beloved fried potato pancake.
Photograph Courtesy of Great Performances
The recipes available to taste, nearly thirty of them, vary from classic to wildly inventive. A few of the unique latkes that will be available for tasting include the Blackened Cajun Treif Nightshade Latke, a fried green tomato and andouille stuffed blackened potato latke with remoulade; the “Offbeat” World View Latke, an Afghani sweet potato pakora; the VerOkonomiyaki Latke, a Japanese-style octopus potato pancakes topped with sweet soy sauce, mayonnaise & bonita flakes and Classic Potato Latkes with whisky braised apples, horseradish crème fraiche, and chives. There is certainly something to please anyone’s palate.
Photograph Courtesy of Great Performances
Each latke will be vying for top honors in six categories, including two new ones – Best Vegetarian and Best New Participant Latke. The Best New Participant Latke category is a nod to the relatively large number of Latke Festival newbies this year, including Manhattan’s Graffiti Earth, David Burke Tavern, and Ha Noi House, Brooklyn’s Baoburg, Duet, Gumbo Bros, and Lighthouse, and another new 2019 addition, a home cook participant who won the latke recipe contest conducted by the Jewish Food Society. These newcomers will face off with festival veterans such as Benchmark, Dizzy’s Club, Kulushkat, and Mama O’s to win over the judges’ taste buds in categories including Best Overall Latke, Best Traditional and Most Creative. Attendees get to vote for the People’s Choice Best Latke.
Photograph Courtesy of Great Performances
The winning recipe will be made by Great Performances, New York City’s premier catering and events company that presents the festival every year as a benefit for The Sylvia Center, and will be served at the society’s booth at the event. All of the proceeds of the Latke Festival support The Sylvia Center’s important work teaching nutrition and healthy cooking to children and their families living in underserved neighborhoods in the five boroughs of New York City and in Columbia, Co, NY.
Photograph Courtesy of Great Performances
While latkes are the star of the show, there will be other food offerings including caviar, a pickle buffet from Jacob’s Pickles, and a jelly donut and bread spread by Orrwasher’s. The food will be complemented by an open bar service of: Grey Goose Vodka and Angel’s Envy Bourbon specialty cocktails; Schmaltz Beer; City Winery Wines; GuS’s Soda and Brooklyn Roasting Company’s coffee. The festive vibe will be further fueled by the masterful spinning of a DJ.
The 11th Annual Latke Festival will fill the Brooklyn Museum, at 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY on Monday, December 16th from 6:00pm to 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $75, including unlimited latkes and beverages. A $120 ticket grants exclusive access to the chic VIP Lounge, boasting another open bar and a (non-latke laden!) buffet. You can purchase your tickets online here!
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