Le Fooding Set to Conquer New York with Culinary Collaborations

Le Fooding

Some of the faces you'll see at this year's event.

This fall is filled with food- and beverage-centric events (hey there, Brooklyn Pour), but one of the most innovative is the annual extravaganza from Le Fooding, the Paris-based food-guide-and-festival group, which will be hosting events on September 17 and then again from September 23 to 25. The first event, called Campfire Session, will highlight culinary collaborations between chefs and musicians. The second event will be a 52-hour around-the-clock pop-up restaurant, during which time a new chef takes the reins every four hours. "The first year was more about the love story between Paris and New York than a fight. The second year, we were trying to make fun of that rivalry that became a scandal when David Chang criticized food in San Francisco saying it was always figs on a plate," explains Le Fooding media manager Emilie Papatheodorou. "This year is about trying to create bonds between food and music but also between chefs in such a competitive industry."

In past years, the group hosted its events at P.S.1. "[It] was great in the first years because we were completely new and needed to reach out to the largest crowd possible," says Papatheodorou. "This led to a bit of trouble with lines, though the party was fantastic. As we heard that, we want to try and make the events a bit more intimate and to a smaller scale this year."

Indeed, Campfire Session is based off of an event the organization had in France called Foodstock, and will only be open to 400 guests (tickets will be $50). For that event, James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem will cook alongside chef Iñaki Aizpitarte, while Muhsinah will be the sous-chef for Dante Gonzales of Dante's Fried Chicken, and the final duo will be Wylie Dufresne and Andrew Andrew.

The weekend pop-up, meanwhile, will be called Le Grand Fooding -- Exquisite Corpse (tickets $100) in homage to the French Surrealist poetic tradition of the Exquisite Corpse. Andrew Carmellini and Hugue Dufour will be the kickoff chefs, followed by an international roster of culinary pros including Blaine Wetzel, Adeline Grattard, Kobe Desramaults, Armand Arnal, Ana Ros, Sat Bains, Fulvio Pierangelini, Brooks Headley, Mauro Colagreco, Corey Lee, and Massimo Bottura. This $100 event (which includes a half bottle of champagne, and from which some proceeds go toward Action Against Hunger) is symbolic, explains Papatheodorou. Here, each chef will use a bit of stock from the former chef's menu at the beginning of his service, like the passing of a torch from one chef to the next. Says Papatheodorou, "Like the surrealists used to do collage, we want to create something collective."

For more dining news, head to Fork in the Road, or follow us @ForkintheRoadVV, or me @ldshockey.