Boston Food Bloggers Launch Party

A few months ago, Rachel from Fork it over, Boston, decided to create a new site called Boston Food Bloggers, a resource for Boston-area food and drink bloggers. Boston Food Bloggers features a blogroll, an event calendar, networking opportunities, posts promoting best restaurant review of the week or best photo of the week, and guest posts from bloggers in the community. While we all knew the site was a really awesome idea, Monday night became the chance to see it in action.

Along with Christine Liu of Urbanspoon, Rachel threw the Boston Food Bloggers Launch Party at The Gallows in the South End. The party, which began at 6, was already hopping by the time Daisy, Meghan, Alicia, Michelle, and I arrived at 6:08.

We got in the door and signed in with Rachel and Joel, her boyfriend and right-hand man of the evening, and received our swag bags (more on those later).

We worked our way to the center of the room, got small glasses of Pretty Things Jack D'Or and some Gallows' "mini" burgers.

The burgers were far from mini and hit the spot.

Later, I grabbed some poutine -- fries, served in a paper cone with cheese curd and gravy.

There were also bowls of Bacon Caramel Chex Mix everywhere to munch on!

We mingled with bloggers, seeing some familiar faces and some new faces. I enjoyed seeing, catching up with, or meeting all of these fabulous food bloggers, and more!

• Michelle (Fun and Fearless in Beantown)
• Alicia (The Clean Plate Club)
• Meghan (Travel, Wine, and Dine)
• Daisy (Indulge Inspire Imbibe)
• Shannon (Tri2Cook)
• Kerstin (Cake, Batter, and Bowl)
• Justin (and his wife Leah) (Justin Can Cook)
• Jen (Beantown Baker)
• Katie (The Small Boston Kitchen)
• Fiona (A Boston Food Diary)
• Lara (Good Cook Doris)
• Renee (Eat. Live. Blog.)
• Christine (Urbanspoon)
• Rachel (Boston Food Bloggers)
• Janel (Eat Well with Janel)
• Elizabeth (Free Food Boston)
• Ashley (Cooking for One)
• Kara (Peace, Love, and Food)
• Lizzy (Food to Run for)

The event was well put-together and well run. The only drawback is that there were just so many people it was hard to meet and chat with everyone. I think there were more than 150 people in attendance!

Toward the end of the 2-hour party, Meghan, Alicia, and I made our way to the door, saying goodbyes as best we could on the way out. Alicia so nicely dropped me off at home so I didn't have to spend forever on the T.

When I got in, I plopped down on the couch and went through the contents of the swag bag. I could not believe all the stuff from Legacy Place. I love Legacy Place and bug Jeff to go there with me most weekends. Now, armed with all these great gift certificates and coupons from Yard House, b.good, Aquitaine, King's, Wicked Fire Kissed Pizza, and the movie theater, I think I'll be able to convince him to head out there even more often. I see some great date nights coming up! Whole Foods Dedham even threw in some of their fabulous fig jam (I have an open container of it in my fridge right now).

And don't think the local spots left us out... I found gift certificates and coupons for Island Creek Oyster Bar, Union Bar and Grille, American Provisions (has anyone been here yet?), Morton's, Eastern Standard, Russell House Tavern, and more!

There were also coupons and a calendar from Whole Foods River Street and a discount for classes at BCAE. And last but not least some Biscotti Babies, Pretzel Crisps, and Chocolee chocolates. I've never heard of Biscotti Babies, so I'm looking forward to trying those, and I already know I love Pretzel Crisps.

I feel like we've been incredibly spoiled!

Thanks to Rachel and Christine for putting together such an amazing event.

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Were you there? What was your favorite part of the launch party?