NYC Hot Sauce Expo 2019

I’ve been going to Raffetto’s for as long as I can remember to stock up for our traditional Italian Sunday suppers. My father grew up just a few blocks away on Thompson Street and when I moved to the city in the 90’s I was at Rafetto’s every week. Over the years a lot has changed around the neighborhood but Raffetto’s still has the simplicity and old-world charm of doing one thing really really well. I don’t think the pasta chart has changed since I was a kid. Pick a flavor. Pick a size. Done. One thing that has changed at Raffetto’s is Sarah Raffetto, the fourth generation great-granddaughter of Marcello Raffetto. She grew up and opened a pop-up pasta restaurant inside the shop. With her partner Emily Fedner, of @foodloversdiary, they offer intimate meals on Sunday and Monday when the retail shop is closed. Dubbed Petite Pasta Joint, the experience is a food and story filled evening hosted by the two carb fanatic founders. We expect nothing short of the fresh and perfect Rafetto’s pasta paired with some equally delicious sauces and sides. Currently, it seems events are by inquiry only. We can only imagine COVID restrictions are to blame.

If you’re a proper NYer you know the part a “slice” plays in your daily borough to borough maze run. We’ve written about the necessity of this iconic mainstay extensively. Since we’re kids the price for this necessity has seen a 1000% increase. Enter the recent trend in $1 slice joints. Slice Out Hunger takes the price of old, the best pizza places in NY and a HUGE charity angle on creating their Annual Dollar Slice Night. Fifty of the best NYC pizza makers under one roof for one night of a pizza party unseen since the first Napolitano’s landed on Ellis Island. 100% of proceeds benefits New Yorkers in need. We’ll be there with a bib on. Hope to see you. Wednesday, October 5 from 6pm-8pm in Soho, NYC.

SunFest is a great excuse to spend 5 days hanging on the West Palm Beach Gold coast. Besides a line up with The Roots, Meghan Trainer and Steve Aoki (that barely does the lineup justice) the whole mini-week ends with a fireworks blowout over the inter coastal. The best part of all of this is you can break up day 2 with a food bonanza featuring some of WPB’s best culinary artists. SunFest Pairings is in it’s 5th year and is a bit like a bar crawl for food. The best kind of crawl in our book. Thursday, May 26th from 5:30-9pm in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Tuck your napkin into your shirt, grab your Wet-Naps, and get ready, because the Ulster County Fairgrounds are about to be taken over by the 12th Annual Hudson Valley Rib Fest, a yearly affair where more than 16,000 people converge to celebrate all things ribs-related. The day will include more ribs than that rack that flipped over the Flintstone’s car at the drive in PLUS live music, cooking demos, children’s country games, and a contest of 60 teams battling it out in the Empire State Barbecue Championship. There’s a little bit of heart behind all this rib-related activity, too — all proceeds from the event will go towards supporting Rotary activities at home and around the world. Friday 5pm-10pm, Saturday 11am-10pm Sunday 11am-5pm in New Paltz, New York.