Universal Studios International Cafe Bloggers’ Tasting Event

Posted on Feb 10, 2011 under Uncategorized | No Comment
Menu and flower display from bloggers event

Menu and flower display from bloggers event

Last night I attended, with my neighbor Todd, a very nice food blogger’s tasting event held at Universal Studios International Cafe.  The event was held to celebrate the Cafe’s recent Santé Award for Outstanding Achievement in Culinary Service and Hospitality, Chef Eric Kopelow’s 2010 Chef of the year award by Chef Magazine, and to offer food writers a chance to sample the delicious food offered at the Cafe.

red carpet

red carpet

The folks at Universal made us feel like stars from the beginning, leading us down a red carpet to the cafe.  We really thought this was a classy touch.

Tables/harp at event

Tables/harp at event

The cafe was nicely set up with satin napkins and beautiful flower displays at each table.  About thirty food writers/bloggers attended.

Flowers

Flowers

bloggers at event

bloggers at event

The European style International Cafe opened its doors at Universal in 2010, providing a new type of healthy “theme park” food.  The menu offers a wide variety of salads, cheese plates, soups and artisanal sandwiches, as well as juices and mineral waters.

me and the chef

me and the chef

After enjoying some champagne, I posed for a quick picture with Chef Eric Kopelow before the tasting began.  He then greeted all of the attendees and before each course was served came out to describe what he was serving.

chef Eric Kopelow addressing crowd

chef Eric Kopelow addressing crowd

Our first course was a trio of soups, included roasted cauliflower with cheddar, chanterelle mushroom and corn bisquue, and New York clam and mussel chowder.  No butter was used to prepare the soups and each one came in under 100 calories.

trio of soups

trio of soups

roasted cauliflower and cheese, yum.

roasted cauliflower and cheese, yum.

mushroom corn bisque

mushroom corn bisque

New York clam and mussell chowder

New York clam and mussell chowder

All three were yummy, our fave was the roasted cauliflower with cheddar. Next was a nice arugula salad with olive oil, buffalo mozzarella and heirloom tomatoes with a balsamic vinaigrette.

salad

salad

Next came a nice trio of sandwiches.  All the bread is made in-house daily at the Cafe.  We were served oven roasted turkey with muenster cheese and a roasted garlic sauce, smoked salmon with pickled onions and cucumbers and a dill sauce, and shaved roast beef with brie cheese and roasted pears with a peppercorn aoli.  My fave was the roast beef, Todd’s was the turkey.  It came with some tasty house made garlic dill pickles and marinated olives, as well as homemade bbq potato chips.

sandwich trio

sandwich trio

turkey

turkey

salmon

salmon

roast beef, my fave

roast beef, my fave

After sandwiches, Chef Kopelaw was awarded two honors, the Santé Award for Outstanding Achievement in Culinary Service and Hospitality for the Cafe and the 2010 Chef of the Year award from Chef magazine.

awards

awards

Our tasting finished with two nice desserts, a chocolate cake and mousse with chocolate ganache and a banana meringue tart.  Both came with chocolate dipped strawberries.

chocolate cake

chocolate cake

banana tart

banana tart

These probably weren’t as figure friendly as the rest of the menu items, but they were delicious.  It is nice to know that the next time you head to Universal you can enjoy tasty and healthy food in between the tram tour and rides.

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