Last night’s 3rd Annual Meatball Slapdown at The Brooklyn Kitchen was gastronomically entertaining in so many ways.

Jayson and I were immediately distracted and drawn to the wide range of beautifully displayed kitchen tools and old appliances.  The vast color and arrangement provide a warm welcome that made you want to hang out.  We also made our way to The Meat Hook butcher shop tucked in the back, finding it just as difficult to peal ourselves away from perusing over all of it.

The foregoing objective of the evening – the meatballs!  I diverged from of usual practice of avoiding red meat and beer to enjoy an evening of tasting meatballs from 6 NYC restaurants, all with varying ingredients and flavors while washing them all down with beer from the Brooklyn Brewery and SixPoint Craft Ales. Being that this was a competition, Jayson and I sampled each meatball knowing we must decide which was our favorite.  My favorite was the sausage meatball from The Meat Hook. Although the casing was very tough and hard to chew threw, the flavor was that of a true Italian meatball that consisted of meat and pork.  This was the only sample that came on bread from Grandaisy Bakery like a true meatball hero.  The bread and the sauce complimented the meatball very well all making this meatball my enjoyed tasting.

Jayson’s first choice was the lamb meatball from the Gramercy Tavern.  As you can see from the picture, it was served with the perfect little amount of tzatziki sauce.

Other meatballs included a Rueben meatball from the Meatball Shop served with sauerkraut and a soup based meatball from Riverpark served with kale and a mussel.

Thank you so much Brooklyn Kitchen for hosting a great event. Everyone was so nice and pleasant.  We had a great time and walked away satisfied and delighted. Of course, we made our way back to the store and to the butcher to purchase a few things.  I can’t wait for dinner tonight!