This is another awesome Tasting Collective dining club event we attended. (You can read about the previous posts about Tasting Collective events here: Fish Cheeks, Win Son, FOB, Xixa, Huertas, Bessou, Maharlika, Traif, Lalito, Noreetuh, Traif #2, Txikito, Oka ). Tasting Collective is a dining club for food lovers, and they offer brunch and dinner at great NYC restaurants. They close off the restaurants for the club, so we get to have the entire restaurant and chef(s) all to ourselves. So, this is more than just eating food at a restaurant, but you get to have the background story and its passion from the chef(s), eating 8- to 12- or more course brunch/dinner created specifically for Tasting Collectives.

This is our second Tasting Event we attended at Xixa (You can read about our first visit here: https://www.foodlovergirl.com/xixa/).  The chef also owns another restaurant a few doors down called Traif, which we became serious fans after first visit. This event has become an annual thing in the last few years, and it was held at Traif…until now! This year, it was held at Xixa! An amazing and delicus holiday event with 16-course feast, called : CHRISTMAKWANZAKKAH Party Series” – to celebrate each and all holidays! 

We started off the festivities with “Tortilla-Less” Soup, mad with sherry-braised onion soup, creamy and crispy Vidalia onion and chipotle. It was more of a soup “shot” but it was amazing! It was so good that that I forgot to take a photo… It was just the perfect soup on a chilly day, I could’ve had a huge bowlful! Then some small canapés were passed around. We had Foie Gras al Pastor, made with French toast, roasted pineapple, and achiote. Then Spicy Blue Crab Sopes with Siracha aioli, nori, sesame, and sweet soy. They both were small bites full of flavors! I don’t know how something so small can have such big flavors, but Chef Jason really know what he is doing… 

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The next one up was Actic Char Tostada with snow peas, corn, puffed rice, soy, and sesame. This was a fun item, nice crunchy texture with several different ingredients working together to create a nice harmony. If the purpose of these canapés were to give us small amount of delicious bites, just to entice us to come back for more…then I say it was a big success! We all wanted more! 

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Then the king of Mexican appetizer (in my opinion), Guacamole! They gave us Winter Guacamole with toasted corn and various chips. I am not a big fan of guacamole, unless it is done right in a way it has transformed itself into something fabulous…and yes, they have done just that! It was so tasty, and I loved all the different chips!  We also had Buffalo-Style Baby Corn, which I forgot to take a photo of…again. It was made with lime aioli and blue cheese. It tasted almost like hot wings, but it was just a tiny cute baby corn. So cool!

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Next one was one of my favorite, even thought it is very hard to choose any favorite when you are presented with table full of yummy dishes! This one was Fundido of Muenster Cheese with green chorizo and buckwheat flour tortillas. Ah, the gooey, melty cheese with chorizo and whatever the magic that this dish was made with…pure indulgence. And I loved the little kick! An amazingly elevated comfort food! I wanted to bath in this cheesy dish…

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But I had to pull myself out of this delicious dream and return to delicious reality. Few other “side dishes” we had included Refried Garlic Butter Lentils which was like velvet to my tummy, Spicy Pineapple Salad which was super fresh, and Toasted Saffron Rice Pilaf, which was one of THE BEST pilaf I’ve ever had… 

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And yes, we did get some more serious food too, like Smoked Pork Belly. This one was made with black mole bbq, curried pickled carrot, and tomato-strawberry pico. I know, you must be thinking “tomato-strawberry what???” But hey, once you taste this baby, you don’t care what this precious gem is made with…because it was simply divine! My goodness it was so tender and the tangy sauce was just incredible! 

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We also had an item that kind of surprised us. It was Grilled Carrots Elote with feta, dill, and coriander. Now, these carrots were so soft and tender, fluffy and almost sweet. Somehow, Chef Jason has used another one of his spell to transform an ordinary carrot into something fantastic! From what he told us, these babies have been grilled, roasted, and then steamed! Wow! All the time and efforts were completely worth it, since it was out of this world, super delicious! 

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Another major food item we had was Confit Short Rib, made with green pumpkinseed mole, pickled celery, and pear-tomatillo pico. Yet another very interesting and creative pico. This one was great too, the meat was juicy and tender, fall of the bones (even though there was no bone) good! Very decadent and satisfying. And the bright red tortilla (?) that came with was interesting too, maybe made with beet? Had a bit of sweetness to it. Nice!

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The last savory item we had was something we were all curious about. Fried Brussels Sprouts Bravas with almond-guajillo romesco. What???!!! Oh yes, Chef Jason had done it again… It was quite delicious! Not only creative with his own twist, but came out perfect. Even though it was fried, but not greasy at all. Had nice crunchy texture on the outside, but not overdone. Excellent!

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Now we move on to desserts! The first one was Gingerbread Tres Leches Cake with whipped cream cheese frosting. These babies were the bomb! Very moist as it should, soft and sweet, party in my mouth for sure! Loved the whipped cream cheese frosting, and the gingerbread flavor was not overpowering. Very decadent and simply joyful. The last dessert was Buckwheat Churros. Say what? I have never had buckwheat churros… And it was crunchy on the outside, soft and moist in the inside. It didn’t taste like buckwheat at all! And chocolate and passion fruit dipping sauce were great accompaniments. We were saying how we can have so many of these without feeling guilty, well, because it is healthier with buckwheat, right??? So, I would take another 20 please…

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So here it is. Another successful CHRISTMAKWANZAKKAH Party by Chef Jason and Tasting Collective! I am glad they hosted the party at Xixa this year, as I have not had the chance to try out their food much. Every dish was amazing, including each and all canapés and side dishes. I hope I can attend this annual party every year!!!

For those of  you who are interested in joining this great dining club, Tasting Collective, you can use this link to get a discounted annual rate of $115 (over 30% off the normal $165/year) for the first year: https://tastingcollective.com/?invite_code=JUN4346

Xixa – 241 S 4th St, Brooklyn, NY 11211