It was a long Wine & Food Fest weekend, and one that provided a good deal of outside experience which doesn't seem to come as often in the present economy. Here are some random pictures. I wasn't as quick with my camera as I should have been.
Breaking out the caviar machine. We never use this, unless we need caviar for a thousand people. Notice the creative weight devices used to drive the syringes down with equal force.
Behind the scenes for the massive plate-up of an all-star chef dinner which was a tribute to Emeril Lagasse held at the Loews Miami. The count fell somewhere under 600. This photo was taken during Charlie Trotter's first course... a gumbo terrine (crawfish, sausage, and duck confit set with gelatine and agar). Through Chef Trotter's courtesy, Chef K and I were actually able to eat a couple of the plates which was like a gumbo version of hog's head cheese. A garnish of duck gizzards with okra... can't go wrong with that as a plate element.
The unsung heroes of the night... Chef Gordon Maybury (center) of the Loews and his team (that's our good friend, Brett, on the right). It's not easy to balance a full culinary team, different celebrity chefs and personalities, Food Network organizers and your own hotel management, sponsors, etc. and have it all run down smoothly through the course of an evening for an event this size. It's the role that the guest will never notice and the press won't care about, but as hotel chefs we were amazed at how fluid the night was managed. Congrats on an impressive overall job.
And the guys who take the glory... The Emeril Tribute dinner was actually hosted by Martha Stewart. I snuck this shot in while they were doing press shots with some of the guest chefs... Eric Ripert and Mario Batali. Other chefs contributing to the menu were Michael Laiskonis, Bobby Flay and Norman Van Aken. It was very interesting to be amidst so many culinary teams working under different chefs. It was an honor to meet Chef Ripert and work beside him for a minute.
Mario and Mark Ladner demonstrating how to plate the baked orecchiette.
During the dessert plate-up... Chef Michael Laiskonis was representing Le Bernardin, and he was also the number one reason that Chef K and I were there. We were fortunate enough to be given an opportunity to be part of his 'kitchen team' for an evening while assisting, observing, and asking a lot of questions. The dessert was a chocolate cremeaux, purée of banana, caramelized white chocolate, and passionfruit, a burnt orange 'meringue,' gremolata of pistachio, orange, and chocolate, a chocolate pain de genes soaked in cacao liquor, an orange sauce, and chicory ice cream. Sounds like a lot, but the presentation was very clean and concise. I learned something about using Versawhip and slow whipping. I also learned firsthand why Michael is on top of his game... every plate element was a perfect balance of taste and texture. His ratios, techniques, and judicious use of ingredients truly set him apart.
The chocolate cremeaux as they were unmolded.
Michael's assistant, Simon. True dedication to your craft is standing in a freezer scooping ice cream for 4 hours, and he did it. Simon didn't really expect to leave New York for Miami and have to spend hours in a freezer. I hope he was able to get a little beach time before his flight out the next morning. It was cool hanging with you, Simon. Let us know if you ever make it back here in the vacation capacity.
Here's a photo op from Sunday at the Grand Tasting. This is Chef K and I with Kimber and Mika from Food Fashionista. We met them at the Tyler Florence afterparty and again on Sunday.
Start your engines...
It's not everday you see sixty KitchenAid mixers lined up on the beach.
It was a fun and exhausting weekend. I am thankful for the opportunities, and we had a great time. Thanks again to Chef Laiskonis for his graciousness making the entire experience even better, and allowing us the chance to be shadows among many other shadows. Now, all we have to do is get up to New York for some staging.
Happy Mardi Gras to my fellow refugees everywhere.