A Demo from John Besh at FCI and Dinner at Despana!

I took a PTO day today to see a cooking demo by John Besh at FCI. Really awesome guy, very down to earth and told a lot of funny anecdotes while he demo'd coq au vin for us. We got to eat samples of it and it was really really good. He also gave us copies of his new book and signed them - I'm so glad I decided to go to this. Some pics:

A sample of the coq au vin that he made, served with cavatelli

John and I

 After the demo I went to Despana, which was close by - it's a Spanish food store that also serves sandwiches and tapas and has a small eating area:

Pulpo with Olive Oil and Paprika atop Mashed Potatoes: I've been obsessed with octopus for a while, this dish was really good - the texture was perfect and paired very well with the mashed potatoes

Chorizo in Apple Cider: the chorizo became sweeter from the cider and the cider developed a nice chorizo flavor - very nice dish

Marinated White Anchovies with Olive Oil and Garlic: really oily and fishy, perfect with bread

Afuega Cheesecake with Blueberries: this was really amazing - the afuega cheese they used is savory, and it's complimented perfectly by the sweet blueberry topping - a unique-tasting cheesecake, I loved it