Aside from the venue and the host, it seemed that they’d also learned to invite a lot of people to the show for free. Of course, these people were very young and not very connected to the food world. When my friend got to the after party, she asked how many people there I thought were foodies and how many were just Brooklyn Influencers–my guess? Most were influencers. And that makes a ton of sense–you’re trying to build your brand, a reputation and get people talking. However, you must still know your audience. If you invite a lot of young folks with an internet presence, then you have to give them a show that won’t force them to start walking out in droves because you’ve slowed the energy down. There were three awkward moments of the show: the musical act, Sneaks, while very young, hip, and talented, played to a seated audience which was very strange. I think they need to cut that out and just have their artist kick off the after party. The fireside chat with Wylie Dufresne was rather dull and felt more like a plug for Wylie’s book than anything else. Cut it and replace with the kind of talk that they decided to close the show on: a very interesting panel discussion hosted by Dana Cowin, talking to Claus Meyer, Johnnymae Robinson, and Philip Hoffman who all work together on Brownsville’s Melting Pot Foundation. Which I’m particularly interested in as I talk of Claus on my Winter tour. But this is not how you end a show–serious talks should be saved for the middle of the show. Alas, we made it through the show, enjoyed our drinks and ice cream, and let loose on the dance floor until it was time to head back to Upper Manhattan for a little rest before the morning sessions began.