New York City Wine and Food Festival

Food Network personality Anne Burrell has come a long way since appearing as Mario Batali's sous chef on Iron Chef America; this coming Sunday, Oct. 30, she'll have come full circle, appearing as a contestant herself, as part of the star-studded cast of Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs.

Earlier this month, we sat down with the brazen blond chef to ask her a few questions about appearing on the show's upcoming fourth season, her brand-new cookbook, and what she's seen on her other show, Worst Cooks in America.

YumSugar: Was the whole experience filming Next Iron Chef emotional?
Anne Burrell: It's all so emotional, the roller coaster, the ups and downs of all of it, beyond words. I was really shocked about how much it got to me. When the whole thing was said and done, I couldn't believe how much of it stuck with me. I thought about it, I went over it, I rehashed it, all of this stuff, the highs and lows of the season, stayed with me for weeks.

After the break, more of Anne on Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs.

Eggplant parm is one of our favorite vegetarian entrées, and we love how it's ideal for feeding a crowd. But did you know that it makes fancy-looking party bites, too?

I came across the creative idea at Carts in the Parc, where FoodParc vendor Fornetti was serving bite-sized antipasto skewers — along with miniature stacks of eggplant parmesan. The execution was elegant, but the idea simple: construct a towering sandwich of battered, fried eggplant slices, mozzarella cheese, and flatbread, then skewer and slice into one-inch mouthfuls. Serve each skewer on its side to show off its layers of flavor and texture, and top it off with marinara sauce and a chiffonade of basil.

Two important takeaways: serve the skewers on their sides to show off their impressive construction, and insert some sort of bread to help secure everything in place. Oh, and takeaway number three: everything tastes better on a stick — eggplant parm included.

Pork belly, short ribs, and chocolate are all expected to make an appearance at a food festival, but this time I was astounded to find another item added to the regular rotation of palate-pleasing foods: green juice.

These freshly pressed and bottled juices showed up everywhere at the weekend's events, from the grand tasting, where festivalgoers checked out the Blueprint Cleanse booth and the Cooler Cleanse table, to Carts in the Parc, where The Juice Press was passing out free juice samples.

Although the umbrella term "green juice" can refer to any mix of bitter green vegetables, many of these concoctions were a mishmash of kale, parsley, spinach, lemon, cucumber, and celery. And it's not just being targeted to health-conscious diners: the folks at Blueprint told me their cleanse was "targeted toward foodies" with its gourmet lineup of juices, salads, and raw dessert bars.

After days of eating everything but vegetables, I rode the green juice wave like everybody else. Do you think this trend will catch on near you?

To kick off the third morning of the NYC Wine & Food Festival, four of the industry's top tastemakers, restaurateurs Mario Batali and Marcus Samuelsson, TV host Andrew Zimmern, and Food & Wine editor in chief Dana Cowin gathered for a panel discussion to talk about what makes the best restaurant experience.

They all had plenty to say about the state of dining — especially the jocular Batali. Here are just a few of his one-liners.

• On turning tables: "We have loud music at Babbo while you're eating soigné food. From 7:30 to 8:15 p.m. we turn it up and make it faster to get people out of there."
• On tables in New York: "The beauty of New York is, even if five million people on Yelp hate me, there are still eight million left."
• On how far the industry's come: "Thirty years ago, restaurant staffs were people who just got out of jail or people who'd just gotten out of the military and were on their way to jail."

Keep reading for the rest of Mario Batali's restaurant zingers.

As someone who's always been on a budget, I've never understood as much about caviar as I'd like to know. After all, I've always told myself, what's the point of getting to know a delicacy that I can rarely afford to enjoy, anyway?

I was fortunate enough to attend Petrossian's caviar seminar at the NYC Wine & Food Festival, and that's when I realized my thinking's been a little backward. After tasting a handful of varieties, I realized that's why I should get better acquainted with caviar: so that when I do want to make the splurge, it's easy to make well-educated purchasing decisions.

Among some of the facts I learned: caviar is only one fish (sturgeon) but composed of many species (such as osetra, beluga, sevruga, and kaluga) — and almost everything you'll come across today is farmed. Keep reading to see more caviar basics.

We've hit the ground running at the New York City Wine and Food Festival, and last night we kept busy (and full) stuffing our faces at Meatball Madness (our favorite: a brilliant duck and porcini creation).

While our mouths were pretty much full the entire time, we'd have been remiss not to catch a word with the evening's host, Giada De Laurentiis, who had the weighty task of evaluating all 25 meatball contenders at the event. She took a minute to tell us what makes a great meatball at home, as well as her Halloween plans and her latest big project.

More on meatballs, her favorite homemade Halloween candies, and food trends she's over when you keep reading.