Monday, April 8, 2013.
The Chefs Congratulate One Another.
The chefs' association has put on an awards event for the past three years. Mark Uddo made it clear from the beginning that I was the only person they would consider as emcee. I had to dump out of the first one--I couldn't walk at the time, what with that infamous ankle injury. But I did the deed last year, and here I was again tonight.
And happy to be. The eating and drinking aspect at the "Best Chefs Of Louisiana" is superb. The cooking is performed by the two dozen chefs who are up to receive awards. Since most of the attendees are either chefs themselves or otherwise in the food biz, the cooks feel the need to really knock us out. And they do. Almost nobody phoned in their dish. The ingredients were big sea scallops, big shrimp, major pork and beef and duck and crabmeat--even though crabmeat is very hard to come by this season so far.
Mary Ann loves grazing events, so she was there with me. We agreed that the dish of the night was the pork cheeks turned out by Chef Peter Sclafani III of Ruffino's in Baton Rouge. This was just melt-in-the-mouth fabulous, with an underlayer of grits and crisp greens.
Chef Philip Lopez of Root had the biggest scallops of the evening, seared nicely and topped with about six different condiments and sauces, most applied very gingerly for purposes of subtlety. It worked.
The senior chef among the honorees was Randy Buck. He who has been at the Monteleone for many years, and the Fairmont before that. Good guy. He had a wonderful appetizer that could be best described as an avocado and crabmeat gazpacho, served as a shooter. I had two of those.
The drink of the night was a variation on Pimm's Cup, with some actual flavor. Kind of a tropical fruit background instead of the citrus for which Pimm's is known. I would have had two of those had it not been for my self-imposed limit of one. (I have seen intoxicated masters of ceremonies on a couple of stages, and it's not pretty.)
Mostly, I talked to chefs and other people in the business, some of whom I haven't seen in a long time. Frank Sclafani, for example--Peter's uncle. Barbara Chifici, the owner of Deanie's. Michael and Mark Uddo, who are still remembered for their brilliant G&E Courtyard Grill from long ago. (They're both still in the business, cooking in school situations.)
I realized for the first time why they asked me to introduce the winners. I'm one of the very few people outside the chef community who knows enough about the honorees to introduce most of them with anecdotes. (Although I stumbled when someone from outside the New Orleans area came up.)
My other function was to conduct a live auction of a few items. Very difficult in this place, with the crowd split up into many rooms. But we managed to get $4250 for a week in Chef Andrea's villa in Capri.
The band was the excellent Louisiana Spice, which had played last year. They remembered that I got on stage and sang "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." They were ready to do it again. I did, but after all the shouting one has to do to make conversation in Generations Hall, I was not in good voice, and went off key--not because I wasn't trying to get up there, but because my usually reliable falsetto failed me. But it seemed that everybody was entertained.
The party broke up around ten-thirty. That's early for chefs. But it seems that everybody is going to bed earlier than we used to.
