Part Two - You can read Part One here.
I attended a Share Our Strength benefit in Cleveland to blog for Foodbuzz.com. Not Cville-related, but I would hope to experience an SOS benefit here someday. Share Our Strength is an immensely important cause, and Foodbuzz.com is a great community of food writers. Thank you to both for giving me the experience of a lifetime.Share Our Strength is an organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America by 2015. Their 10-point plan includes increasing free breakfast to children who need it, expanded nutrition education, and broadening resources so children in shelters are eating "real" not processed, food.
Their motto is, "Poverty is complex; feeding a child is not. It's time to roll up our sleeves and put an end to childhood hunger."A Tasteful Pursuit is their touring dinner series, bringing this mission to the masses by pairing acclaimed chefs with folks passionate about food. Chefs cook their signature dishes, and the proceeds from the dinner and auction work to end childhood hunger.
This video profiling the event in Cleveland explains it better than I ever could.
At the end of last post, Hubby and I were just about to enter a realm we'd never experienced. A foodie benefit full of richies complete with famous celebrity chefs. Would one of us end up with spinach in our teeth? Falling down the stairs because we'd inhaled the wine pairings with all five courses? Inadvertently buy ourselves a $3,000 dinner in the auction because we scratched our ear? Could we even get in the door? To this day I experience velvet-rope anxiety in a new environment. But here it was misplaced - we breezed in with the rest of them and immediately downed the prosecco offered. The bubbles calmed our nerves and fluttery stomachs.
Oh yes, dear reader. We. Are. DORKS! We wanted to "Act like you'd been there before," but our racing hearts betrayed us. We were so excited - after YEARS of following
Michael Symon's career we were finally here. We were finally going eat his food, and I knew in my gut it would be phenomenal. Helping him tonight? Why it's
Jonathan Waxman. We'd just seen him two weeks ago on Top Chef Masters. And there was
Paul Kahan, owner of Blackbird (Chicago). He cooked for Tony Bourdain last season on No Reservations. And, oh yeah, there was
Bobby Flay, who signed on to help out only a few weeks before. To have them all, right here in this room, cooking for all of us was pretty heady stuff.
Heady stuff to us anyway. The rest of the crowd, 100-150 of Cleveland's well-heeled, acted like this was their usual Sunday night activity. Sure there was a local camera crew and a few folks sneaking camera phone shots, but most chatted, sipped, and nonchalantly ate the AMAZING hors d'oeuvres being handed to them by Lola's hardworking staff. My camera stayed tightly AWAY as I tried to pretend this was my normal too. Sipping our prosecco, eyeing Table 10 for the moment they told us to be seated. Because we SUPER fans wanted to get the very best seat to watch the action from Lola's open kitchen.
Michael Symon, Jonathan Waxman, Bobby Flay, Paul Kahan, Nate Appleman
(photo credit - Share Our Strength)
Some of Lola's hardworking kitchen staff is just as described in Michael Ruhlman's,
Soul of a Chef. Dim lighting, modern, linear furniture, with a bar at one end and open kitchen on the other. Part of the dining room is situated on a platform, so seated there you can watch the action from both areas. This is where Table 10 would be - place setting for eight. The bar itself is just gorgeous - all lit from within, with a soft, yellow glow that can only look complimentary - so Hollywood - as you sit on a stool sipping a Manhattan. Complimentary whether you're 20 or 50. The soft light promotes conversation and lingering. It's the stuff of old movies.
We tucked ourselves into a corner (the small restaurant was PACKED) and ate everything any server presented to us. It was all just heavenly. Prepared by Jonathan Sawyer and Jonathan Seeholzer of
The Greenhouse Tavern*, which that very week had been named by
Bon Appétit as one of 10 best new restaurants in the country.
Boudin noir agnolotti (blood sausage ravioli) with rice, brown butter and walnut was earthy, nutty with a smooth creamy finish characteristic of the finest pasta.
Hand-cut Ohio beef tartare with sheep's milk blue cheese and smoked olive oil was so many things - fresh like a carpaccio but with the tang of the cheese and the smoke of the oil giving it another dimension entirely. Our favorite?
Foie gras steamed clams with saussignac & red onion brulee. What a combination! Creamy, buttery foie gras mixed with the briny taste of clam to create a third flavor. Almost an umi but deeper. Remarkable. Paired with the
Riondo Pink Prosecco, crisp and light - they were perfect together.**
Iron Chefs in action! Let the plating begin....
(photo credit - Share Our Strength)
Finally we were seated.
First course - Mango lobster with corn sauce, guacamole, and crunchy tortilla salad.
Paired with an ice cold Stella Artois. Prepared by Bobby Flay and Jonathan Waxman, Bobby's chef mentor, and owner of
Barbuto in New York. I loved this dish. The lobster was beyond tender, sweet already, but the corn sauce gave it an sweeter taste almost like that of the best chowder you EVER had. And the guacamole? This is Jonathan Waxman's specialty, and it was THE best guac I've ever had. Creamy with a nice acid finish. Lime maybe? Tomatillo? Sprinkled with toasted tortilla strips which gave it an extra oomph of texture. Paired with the lobster made for a nice summer-y start to the meal. The Stella was great with it - the ice cold pilsner brought out the sweetness of the corn and the creaminess of the guac. More on that guacamole later in the story...
I apologize for the picture quality - the lighting was dark and so had to use MEGA flash,
but trust me, I inhaled this like a woman possessed. Nom! Nom! Nom!***
First course - mango lobster with corn sauce, JW's guacamole, crunchy tortilla salad
Stella Artois
Jonathan Waxman and Bobby Flay
Second course - Ricotta gnocchi with corn, pancetta, pecorino. Paired with Paul Dolan Chardonnay 2007, California. Yep, corn makes another appearance. In the summer, in Ohio, I expect nothing less. Here the corn offers a place for light-as-air gnocchi to rest their little yummy selves. The pancetta and pecorino add depth. With the chardonnay, the combination is perfect, perfect, perfect. I HATE chardonnay, but this one is fine by me. Not too oaky, Goldilocks-right. We'd had some less than stellar gnocchi at
C&O just weeks before, so tasting these were a welcome change. Lightness, but with so much flavor.
Prepared by Nate Appleman, Executive Chef at SPQR and A-16 (San Francisco), and his Chef de Cuisine at SPQR, Chris Behr. Nate just earned a Rising Star Chef award in May by the
James Beard Foundation, and it shows. Look out for this guy. I expect great things - especially since I read he left both restaurants as of July 20th...
Second course - ricotta gnocchi with corn, pancetta, pecorino
Paul Dolan Chardonnay, Mendocino County, California '07
Nate Appleman and Chris Behr
Three guys to make one lil' ol' squab? Oh yeah baby! This course was the bee's knees. Okay Libby, how about a descriptor occurring AFTER 1922? I just can't think of enough words! Simply put, it's Symon's whole notion of "urban comfort food" knocked upstairs to the penthouse level of gourmet.
I'll admit, before that first bite, I had a serious moment of trepidation. What if it didn't live up to all the hype I'd managed to stuff in my brain from reading, watching, following this man's career? I needn't have worried. My first time trying squab and now I'm ruined for anyone else's preparation. SO moist, so tender. And come on, SMOKED peaches? Who is going to come up with that? It added a layer, a sweetness to the gamey quality of the meat. With just a touch of heat on the back end. The smoky sweet sauce lulled you, and the heat surprised you. Then the crunch of the tiny little peach croutons and almonds surprised you even more. Just a hint of lime, that great acid flavor that is like the period to a fine food sentence.
Graaawwwwlrlrrrr! Sorry, but by the time I was finished with this course I wanted to gnaw on the little nubby drumlette attached to the breast. Would that have been unseemly?
And I haven't even TOUCHED on the wine pairing. I never order Cotes du Rhone. I'll drink it if it's there (wino me) but just always get something else. But my God this wine was like silk on silk. Like if someone wearing silk was sledding down a silk slide down a mountain made of silk. Great on its own, but positively sublime with the squab. My favorite wine, and course, of the night by far.
Third course - squab breast with smoked peach creme fraiche, peach panzanella, lime, almondsJean Louis Chave, Mon Coeur, Cotes du Rhone '07
Michael Symon, Matthew Harlan and Derek ClaytonOkay, a quick food porn intermission. We were seated at a table for eight. What a great group!
Unlike the beer dinner we went to last December, this group was chatty. Friendly and chatty. All of them from Cleveland and most of them devout foodies. We spent the entire meal getting to know one another and raving about the event. One of them had even taken a food writing course offered by the CIA, so I was picking her brain most of the night. It really made a difference and added another dimension to the experience. Good conversation is what takes a good meal and lifts it to the realm of a great evening. A memorable event. It stays with you, maybe even talking about it for years to come.****
On to the fourth course which was Hubby's favorite. It involved pork, our FAVORITE ingredient, so not a huge surprise.
Fourth course - Confit of Slagel Farms suckling pig & blood sausage with lobster mushrooms, minestra nera, cherries, and verjus. Prepared by Paul Kahan of Blackbird, Avec, and The Publican (Chicago) and Koran Grievson of Avec. Wow, was this good. I've never had blood sausage before, but like it. Grainy in texture, not fatty. Nice flavor though - earthy and deep. Oddly, lighter tasting than most sausage. Almost like gourmet scrapple (I'm from the South dear hearts, and ADORE me some scrapple). The pork was succulent, juicy goodness from the get-go. Ultra comfort food. Kept thinking this dish would be good for what ails you on a cold winter's night, but even in deep summer, it was damn tasty. And the
Joseph Drouhin Chorey-Le-Beaune, 2006 was delicious as well. Another perfect pairing.
Fourth course - confit of Slagel Farms suckling pig & blood sausage
with lobster mushrooms, minestra nera, cherries, and verjus
Joseph Drouhin Chorey-Le-Beaune, 2006
Paul Kahan and Koran Grievson
Dessert! In addition to good conversation, another part of what makes a good meal experience is when you try and like (sometimes even LOVE) new foods. Things you never even knew existed, and after trying them, you think, "How did I go my whole life not eating this?" I'd already tried blood sausage (check), squab (check), several PHENOMENAL wines (check), and had some great conversations (check, and check). And here was a brand-new-to-me DIVINE dessert.
Fifth course - Sweet corn pan de elote, horchata sorbet, Frog Hollow nectarines. Prepared by Cory Barrett (Lola's pastry chef) and Luis Amado (CIA). Paired with Max Ferdinand Richter Riesling, Spatlese, Veldenzer Elisenberg, 2007. Holy cow. It was like a combination of custard, bread pudding, and corn pudding. As a Southerner and total rabid connoisseur of some corn puddin', this put me in my happy place. I could've eaten an entire lasagna pan and begged for more. I may have even smacked my lips! At this point I was so in the zone it wasn't even funny. And the Riesling? Again, another wine I never order - way too sweet. But this particular one was just sweet enough. A great pairing - it brought the corn flavor out even more. SCRUMMY!
Fifth course - sweet corn pan de elote, horchata sorbet, Frog Hollow nectarines
Max Ferdinand Richter Riesling, Spatlese, Veldenzer Elisenberg, 2007
Cory Barrett and Luis AmadoThe fact these chefs can serve high caliber food to over 100 people is astounding. I've been to enough wine and beer dinners and weddings and watched enough Top Chef to know producing gourmet for the multitudes is where a lot of chefs fall short. Not these guys. They rocked it in spades. Totally on their game the entire time. Behind the scenes might've been frantic, but actually there WAS no behind the scenes because of the open kitchen. Or was there.....?
...went to the bathroom...and HERE of all places I got a behind-the-scenes glimpse of Lola's hardworking kitchen staff. Giggling like schoolgirls, giddy and starstruck. Just like me. I can't tell you how heartening this was - at last I had found comrades! Jumped right into their conversation and we laughed and chatted away. Total henhouse time. Phrases like, "Isn't this AWESOME?!" and "SO COOL!!" floated around the room like we'd just met the Jonas Brothers. Made sure I showered them with praise for their hard work, the food, everything. They shared with me what a thrill it was to be cooking with these celebrated chefs and what a great night it had turned out to be. They even told how Jonathan Waxman made his special guacamole! (Shhhhh...). It was awesome. What a great group! Getting to know them made me want to give this restaurant business, to eat there every single night of my life. The whole impromptu, unplanned experience propelled the night even further into something extraordinary for me, something I'll talk about for years to come.
Then came the auction. While the auctioneer proceeded to raise over $100,000 for
Share Our Strength, Hubby and I sat and smiled, in our happy place, and in the end, donated just a little more than we had already. We couldn't help it. When Michael Symon donated, off the cuff, a complimentary 10-course meal to be prepared at his house and it went for $10,000, just like that, we thought, "Okay, we can do a little more." When two couples were competing for an evening at Jonathan Waxman's Barbuto, and it stalled, one at $2,500, one at $3,000, Waxman said, "You know what? I'll give it to them both." Just like that. When Paul Kahan did the SAME thing for two competing couples wanting to go to Blackbird, it sealed the deal. Not only had these guys flown here to donate their time and talent for
Share Our Strength, but here they were donating even more. We certainly could too.
That feeling of generosity permeated the whole evening. It lived in the food, the ambiance, the conversation, and in every smile I saw. At the risk of sounding corny, I felt like I was part of something great. A truly great event. No one had a stick up their ass, everyone was beyond friendly. Talking with total strangers where maybe before they wouldn't. Laughing with ease. You could see real cheer on the faces of the kitchen staff, the chefs, the attendees, everyone. That's rare in a busy restaurant. It made for a great evening.
Afterward we lingered at the bar for an after-dinner drink, chatting, not wanting the evening to end. Then we looked at each other and thought, "You know what - no way it could get any better - let's go." We strolled down East 4th, passing by Symon, Waxman, Flay, Kahan, and Appleman - all sitting outside The Greenhouse Tavern having a beer. Just a bunch of really great guys enjoying themselves after a successful dinner service. We didn't hound them for autographs or ask for a picture. We had said thank you to Michael as he walked by after the auction, that was enough. Just to say thank you. Thank you so much.
135 people attended
A Tasteful Pursuit in Cleveland,
raising over $100,000 to end
childhood hunger in America.
Won't you consider donating?
Together, we can end
childhood hunger by 2015.
Thank you.
An incredible group of caring folks who just HAPPEN to be amazing chefs.
Thank you for giving me the experience of a lifetime....
(photo credit, Amelia Zatik Sawyer, "Chef's Widow" -
a fantastic blogger, go read her right now!)
**The only food I didn't get a shot of - standing up, one hand holding prosecco, other hand wolfing down everything put in front of me without looking like Viking on a tear!
***Have you noticed this is a hashtag on Twitter now? Leave it to Cookie Monster to create a phenomenon...
****This is why Hubby and I sit NEXT to each other rather than across at a group dinner. It forces you to get to know your tablemates. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't...
(hence, the golden flatware)
