Le Fooding, a French foodie collective that aims to bring fun to fine dining, returned to New York last night, opening Le Grand Fooding 2010 to sold-out, hungry crowds at P.S. 1 in Queens last night. (Part two opens tonight at 7 p.m. with appearances from Pulino's Nate Appleman and Blue Hill's Dan Barber, among others.)

While the first Le Fooding played off New York's rivalry with Paris, the sophomore effort was pegged as New York versus San Francisco. Hometown darling David Chang returned for another session, offering a delicate take on a beet salad that masqueraded as a parfait. There were roasted meats, amazing toasted almonds soaked in lavender and sea salt, freshly made pizzas (kudos to installing an actual wood-burning oven in the middle of the P.S. 1 courtyard), and lots and lots of Veuve Clicquot and Belvedere drinks.

Even in a crowded event where people were presumably very hungry, the foodie crowd was unfailingly polite and convivial. That said, we saw and smelled some meat pies that we would've liked to try. So if you're attending tonight's event, be prepared to wait in between little bites. (Some groups came in sets of 4 or 5, and like modern hunter-gatherers, kept a few friends in line while others made drink runs.)

So. Let's just go along with the premise that San Francisco's star chefs swaggered into town and tried to show us how it's done. How'd they'd do? Honestly? S.F. for the win! In particular, we'd like to single out Chef Laurence Jossel of Nopa, who served melt-in-your-mouth wood-grilled pork ribeye with smoked tomato jam that made everything else seem like an appetizer leading up to the main event. The Nopa stand also kept serving well into the night, even as the crowds thinned and security guards made hopeful shooing motions. Some of us might have gone back twice... or three times.

The pizza station, commanded by Pizza Moto's David Sclarow (Brooklyn) and Pizzaiolo's Charlie Hallowell (Oakland) also served fantastic thin-crusted tomato and seafood pizzas as others started to close down their stands.

A Speakeasy favorite, Brooklyn's Robert Newton of Seersucker, made an impressive showing (according to buzzing in the crowd) with his Tennessee-style fried chicken. (The Seersucker food ran out just as we were within sight of the stand, breaking our hearts.)

There really was nothing less than delicious at Le Fooding. Even the food we didn't get to try looked (and smelled) great. If we have a quibble it's that maybe there should be less tickets sold so that the lines are smaller, the crews don't get overwhelmed and people can sample everything.

But for food, atmosphere and a memorable night out, we'll be back next year.