http://jamesbeard.org

for all of you foodies out there, you probably already know the james beard foundation. if you don’t, it’s america’s pre-eminent culinary foundation. they have beautiful member dinners produced by the best chefs of the country, along with the james beard awards and many educational programs. we had the honor of being part of the team that took on the huge project of updating a website with thousands of archival entries and daily updates. we never wrote about it before because our blog wasn’t live in early 2008.

although we finished the first phase of jamesbeard.org in april of 2008, we spent the following 8 months adding to the massive structure built on the drupal framework. the site was beautifully designed by our friend scott of simplissimus (with whom we’ve done other projects) and we did all the multimedia and interactive elements along with the build. the site currently gets about 37,000 hits a month.

anyway, fast forward… the reason we’ve decided to write about it now, is because today is the last entry day for the w3 awards (yes, yes, i’m always running late - but we make the deadlines). we think it’s a really beautiful and comprehensive site and therefore we decided to enter it in the the food and beverage category. so if any of you out there have any pull with the w3 awards judges —-> nudge, nudge, wink wink.

sweets at sweet revenge

in a previous post i mentioned how sweet revenge was one of our favorite new places on carmine street. well we had the honor of shooting their food photography - with dave behind the lens. here’s a couple of shots of why we’re fans…and man is it making me hungry.

our favorite new place is called sweet revenge and it’s located 2 blocks away from our office on what i consider one of the most authentic manhattan streets still around: carmine street. the actual address is 62 carmine street and what we really love about the place is the ambience and sensibility that the owner, marloe, brings to the place.

we walk up and down carmine street a half dozen times a day and frequent all the bars, restaurants, bookstores and shops that line this beautifully preserved street. carmine street still retains its old new york charm. this 3 block long stretch of manhattan is simply magic for us and sweet revenge is literally the icing on the cake. it’s been open less than two weeks but already it’s getting to be our favorite little watering hole. this intimate little spot (4 tables and maybe 10 barstools) make it the perfect place for a light bite or dessert - or an amazing pour of guinness stout. it also ensures that you quickly become acquainted with the people sitting around you. when we were there last, it was full of marloe’s pretty friends and it was only a couple of minutes before we were all chatting it up.

since it only has a beer and wine license the selection is small, but marloe has made a great job of choosing the perfect range of drinks to complement her unique dessert and appetizer dishes. the decor is right out of old-world europe. white tiles, small glowing orbs for lighting and beautiful woodwork complement one of the coolest high tech machines i’ve ever seen. it’s called ‘the surger’ and it’s made by guinness to ensure a perfect pour of stout every time.

when i first ordered a guinness at sweet revenge, i was a bit taken aback (and a little bummed) when marloe pulled out a can and poured it into a pint glass. but then she went on to explain that the surger had been developed by guinness to always ensure the perfect pour. she then placed the glass on the circular plate of the surger and turned it on. the hight speed vibrating device literally made the stout look as it it had been poured from a fresh tap by the best bartender in dublin - and tasted just as good. you really gotta see it to believe it. best of all…that guinness went great with the fresh olive cake that marloe presented to us. i’m ready to try the jamaican curry next…

no kiddin’ - you gotta go, and tell them you heard it here first.