Fun and Fearless Adventures: Panopticon Gallery

Last night, I had the honor of attending a Photography Salon at the Panoptican Gallery.  I've previously written about my huge adoration of this small photography gallery located in the Hotel Commonwealth.  I highly recommend that you stop by here sometime to check out their ever-changing photography exhibitions.

I've been meaning to head back to Panoptican to check out their newest exhibition when the gallery owner, Jason Landry, invited me to meet and view the work of some amazing local photographers at a private event.  Every other month, Jason hosts a private salon to meet some of the photographers that he works with and to check out their portfolios.  Last night was only the second salon, but it was definitely abuzz.  Bret is an amateur photographer and he was really thrilled to be my plus one to this event.  We spoke with the vivacious Roger Farrington, who described his experience as the first authorized photographer to document a recording session for John Lennon & Yoko Ono's "Double Fantasy" album.  I saw some really creative photographs of blank billboards by Brian Kaplan, who was so passionate about his work.  Mingling with some museum curators and collectors, Bret and I got a chance to see some wonderful work and to candidly speak with some of these artists.  Again, I encourage you to stop by Panoptican Gallery sometime and I can't thank Jason enough for inviting us to this wonderful event.

Afterwards, Bret and I were starving so we headed downstairs to Eastern Standard Kitchen for dinner.  We were seated right away by the bar and the service, per usual, was superb.  On a cold rainy night, we truly indulged...

Crispy Sweetbreads over a Carrot Frisee Salad

Roasted Bone Marrow with Gremolata and Sea Salt

Seriously, how good does this bone marrow look?
For a great roasted bone marrow recipe, check out my friend Justin's blog.

I chose an appetizer as my entree - Moules Provencal

Bret went with the Steak Frites

Bret chose a delicious heirloom apple tart.

While I went with the AMAZING pumpkin creme brulee with a ginger madeleine.  

Sure it was a lot of food but we were celebrating too.  Our visit to the Panoptican Gallery and this lovely dinner at Eastern Standard Kitchen resulted in....my 500th blog post! Yup, this is 500 and I can't believe that what started as a personal online journal in July of 2008 has led to such an amazing journey.  Thanks to my readers for always being so supportive and for helping me keep this blog alive!

One more thing, if you haven't already, please help me to advance to the next round of Project Food Blog by clicking here.