Breakfast at Restaurant LuLu

THE FIRST ANNUAL Foodbuzz Blogger Festival came to a close on Sunday morning with a Farewell Brunch held at San Francisco’s Restaurant Lulu — hosted by Nature’s Pride.

Restaurant Lulu is a family favorite, so I was looking forward to returning — and hoping we’d be eating fennel-scented rotisserie pork loin and mashed potatoes drizzled with olive oil, or perhaps a Fruits de Mer platter featuring some briny Point Reyes oysters…

I had to settle (*cough*) for crunchy applewood smoked bacon, salad greens tossed with ripe Frog Hollow Farm pear slices, silky bleu cheese and toasted walnuts; Crouque Monsieur (featuring smoked ham and a killer Truffle Mustard), Italian Panzanella studded with chunks of Kerrygold’s aged Ivernia Cheese — and an over-the-top build-your-own Bloody Mary bar (featuring SKYY Spirits).

How I suffer for my blog…

My tablemates at Restaurant Lulu included Joel (Six By 10 Tiny Kitchen), Catherine (Munchie Musings), and Chef John — who won Saturday night’s first “Best Video Blog” award for his site Food Wishes.

We all agreed the first Foodbuzz Blogger Festival was a winner — and we all look forward to attending next year.

Thank you to the Foodbuzz team — who worked long hours to keep us exceedingly happy — and the event sponsors who were exceedingly generous with their products and enthusiasm for food blogging.

I’ll be enjoying — and writing about — many of the products we tasted in coming weeks!

Pear, Bleu Cheese & Walnut Salad

Festival Participants at Breakfast

Crouque Monsieur with Truffle Mustard

Panzanella with Ivernia Cheese

Ryan Addresses the Crowd