Monday, April 16, 2012.
The Best Chefs Of Louisiana. The Lion Sleeps Tonight. In The Rain.
Another line of destructive storms ripped up Tornado Alley today. We're on the tail end of that system, where the moist Gulf air meets the cooler land and the thunderstorms begin. I drove through a particularly bad cell of this stuff on the Causeway today. I worry about a lot of things, but the greatest threat to my life is almost certainly that daily passage.
I would ordinarily have stayed home today, but I was asked to be master of ceremonies for the second annual Best Chefs of Louisiana event. It honors chefs whose careers have reached a certain level of achievement, as determined by the New Orleans Chapter of the American Culinary Federation--the chef's association. The selection process makes more sense from the chefs' point of view than it would to the restaurant customer. For example, many of the chefs here run not restaurants, exactly, but school or hospital food services--both enormous compared with even the largest independent restaurants.
This year's Best Chefs of Louisiana (the event needs a better name) were all present to show off their cooking. The best dish I had was a spice-encrusted, smoked square of salmon atop an equally spicy and very rich fettuccine Alfredo. That was made by the Audubon Tea Room's team of chefs led by Alan Ehrich. Haven't heard of him, have you? That's because his gig is in the catering department at Audubon Park. He was ranked fourteenth on a list of the twenty-seven Best Chefs. (Fifty-seven chefs put themselves forward as candidates.)
Another good one came from the hand of Mark Quitney, the chef of the Marriott Hotel on Canal Street--a hidden talent to most Orleanians. He created a bananas foster poor boy. The bread was soaked in custard. Look at the photo, above.
The list of Best Chefs was given to me in order of ranking, but I'm not sure whether this starts with the best and counts up, or the other way around. Either way would make sense. The chefs at the top of the list were on average older than the ones at the bottom, but the ones at the bottom may be better known to the public. I managed to think of an anecdote about almost all of them, or their restaurants.
Chad Gilchrist--New Orleans Riverside Hilton
David Haydel, Sr--Haydel's Bakery
Joey La Bella--La Bella's Catering
Michael Uddo--Tulane University Olive Blue Catering
Paul Miller--K'Pauls Louisiana Kitchen
Mark Quitney --5Fifty5
Dominique Macquet--Tamarind
Xavier Laurentino--Barcelona Tapas
Yusuke Kawahara--Little Tokyo
Travis Johnson--Sodexo Tulane University
Stanley Everage, Double Tree Hotel
Aaron Burgau--Restaurant Patois /TruBurger
Alan Ehrich--Audubon Nature Institute
Bradley McGehee--Ye Olde College Inn
Lawrence Brown--Lagniappe Luncheonette
Spencer Minch--Emeril's Delmonico
Blaine Guillot--St. Charles Hospital
Christ Tefarikis--New Orleans Country Club
Michael Farrell--Le Meritage
David Bockstruck --Martin's Wine Cellar
Joshua Laskey--Emeril's NOLA Restaurant
Chris Barbato --Café Adelaide
Justin More--Matt Murphy's Irish House
Drew Dzejak--The Grill Room – Windsor Court
Chris Lusk--Restaurant R'Evolution
Stacy Hall--Dick and Jenny's
Tory Stewart--Broussard's
Also honored as Food Service Professionals were Ti Martin, the co-owner of Commander's Palace; JoAnn Clevenger, the owner of the Upperline; Dr. Mary Bartholemew, from Delgado College, and Frank Brigtsen. But wait! Unlike the others, Frank is a chef! Well, he won that already. Tonight he was honored for his activities as an educator.
Then came The Legends--chefs so revered that they needed no introductions. I introduced them anyway. Paul Prudhomme, Tory McPhail, Susan Spicer, Philip Chan, and Tenney Flynn were all there. Leah Chase couldn't make it (she has a bit of trouble getting around in her eighties).
The rain kept the paying customers from arriving at first, but the hall filled up to near-capacity. Despite that, there was so much food that the only time a serious line formed was when Chef Paul Prudhomme began giving out autographed copies of one of his recent books. (He still has the magic.) Louisiana Spice--the band for the evening--was good enough to draw people away from the food and the bar and onto the dance floor.
I had to interrupt the band for a one-item auction. A chef's jacket autographed by all the new Best Chefs had to be sold. "Try to get $500 for it," said Chef Damian Thomas, the president of the ACFNO. Chef Tory McPhail and I managed to boost that to $700. All the money taken in went to Children's Hospital, The International School of Louisiana, and the ACFNO Culinary Scholarship program.
"What else do you need me to do?" I asked, unsure of my duties tonight. "You want to do a song?" said a voice from a member of the band. I think he was kidding, but you never say that to me unless you mean it. Not when I have a live microphone. I started in on "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." It's a great 1950s song that everybody knows (even kids), but nobody ever performs because it requires a good falsetto. Which I have. The room--emptied by the auction--filled back up again. I don't know whether the band members (terrific musicians with a wide repertoire) were rolling their eyes, but they did an extra chorus of the song. Mary Ann--who never holds back criticism of anything I do--said it wasn't embarrassing.
It's over three years since a day was missed in the Dining Diary. To browse through all of the entries since 2008, go here.
