Recipe for Relief 10/6/05

Tonight, Jimmy Bannos, owner of heaven on seven held his Recipe for Relief Fundraiser at McCormick Place to priovide assistance to the food service workers affected by Hurricane Katrina.

It was a grand night and a great value for food fans with admission of only $50 and almost 80 restaurants represented there.

I had the honor of seeing PDaane, Trixie Pea and Pigmon there.

While I didn't get to sample everything, here are some things that really shined for me:

Nacional 27's cold smoked Tasmanian salmon with three kinds of Olives and marinated onions.

Gioco's really simple and generous serving platter of fresh figs and wonderful prosciutto ham.

Al Forno's (of Providence RI)shaved crimini mushroom and shrimp salad with a citrus dressing (my fave of the night)

Rosebud had a terrfic Italian braised short rib over creamy polenta.

Tin Fish served a wonderfully fresh raw tuna with chili over a potatio chip

Susan Spicer of Bayona displayed how simply one can prepare great fresh seafood by serving elegant light, lemony sauteed shrimp with a black bean cake and crema.

Erwin focused on simplicity too with a simple sweet slow roasted tomato served with a contrasting salty pecorino.

Rick Bayless personally worked his own table serving a fiery black bean and braised pork tostada with a very hot sauce. i believe it may have been habanero.

Mindy Segal did many root beer floats.

Via Matta (from Boston) made an outstanding panzanella.

Nine did a fantastic lobster bisque.

Sean McClain had a unique and tasty curried shrimp dish.

Fresh marinated Beets made the round at two presentations tonight. my favorite was the marinated beets with goat cheese and Macadamia nuts served by Avec(?).

Homaro Cantu of Moto did not disappointed with his dissolving bacon and egg flavored patch and an eye dropper of melted cheese.

Finally, I adore panna cotta. Adobo Grill delivered a fine one which I paired with the Union League Club's crab salad and white chocolate bread pudding.

In all, I estimate that I ingested somewhere around 20,000 calories between 5:45 and 8 pm.

YourPalWill wrote:It was a grand night and a great value for food fans with admission of only $50 and almost 80 restaurants represented there.

Will,

Sounds like a wonderful time. Sadly a horrid end of summer, lung congesting, eye watering, mind numbing, morale depleting, appetite suppressing cold kept me from the festivities.

Enjoy,
Gary

I agree, this was a wonderful benefit! I'm coming off of a terrible cold and still haven't regained my full appetite, so unfortunately I was unable to take full advantage.

However, highlights for me were:

"bacon, eggs & cheese" from Moto. Served by Chef Cantu himself, it was a wafer, not unlike a communion wafer, with a picture of bacon and eggs on it. You put that in your mouth, and then squirt in a cheese mixture from a syringe-like object, and voila - it tastes amazingly like baacon, eggs & cheese! This won't be a surprise to those who have already dined at Moto, but for the rest of us, it was a neat introduction.

Parsley soup, from North Pond. Bright green, richly flavored, with a mussel at the bottom, this was the perfect soup for an early fall evening.

caramel apple, from Fox & Obel. They had two kinds of caramel apples (tiny, tiny apples), one "traditional" and the other baked (?), with a walnut-caramel filling.

bacon-wrapped fig, from Avec. Ok, so I've had this dish a number of times, but it never fails to delight, and Koren Grieveson was right there cooking them in front of us.

The portions were all small, but there was such an abundance of wonderful food, that there was no way one could enjoy it all. It was like having an 80-course meal at your fingertips. For $50, what a steal!

I'm embarrassed to note that I didn't include John Bubula's excellent braised pork belly in an orange barbeques saucein my highlights list. Mighty tasty.

Yeah, 80 course meal is a good way to describe it.

The event was just as I thought it would be -- samplers and tons of marketing on the resturants behalf. I now have a few more places that I want to stop by, so the resturants win in the long run.

I did get my picture taken with Jimmy Banos and Rick Bayless. My girlfriend got her picture taken with Art Smith.

I'd happily pay $100 per person for this type of event. I really wish Second Harvest puts this on once a year (hopefully not for another hurrican relief though)

…I also ran into Mr. and Mrs. Harry V., MAG and TPA, ReneG.

Yes, what a great event. This registers in the top five of food related events for me. I concur with the previous posts, only my embarrassment is that I was like a kid in a candy shop and I can’t remember who made what that I snarfed down on my journey of gluttony.

I will note a couple of highlights that I did remember. Smith and Wollinsky made a fantastic tenderloin sandwich. Susan Spicer’s shrimp were not to be missed. These had to have been flown in unfrozen; the only other time I tasted shrimp that fresh has been down in the gulf. I also remembered the braised short rib over lavender and gruyere polenta…it was one of the last things I ate that I could enjoy.

Shortly before the short ribs, I had run into Your Pal Will and got the scoop on the other end of the ballroom. I tried many of his “must haves” with slightly diminished enthusiasm. It was right about that time that I also partook of North Pond’s parsley soup…what a refreshing palate cleanser. He was right, the shrimp with crimini was a strange combination, that seemed to work awfully well.

So, O.K., I can’t remember all that much, but let me point out why I thought this event lives up to my hyperbole. There were a lot of high end restaurants represented. Not that Jimmy Bannos is any slouch, but I don’t put him in the ranks of North Pond. That said, as far as I could tell, the Executive Chef from each high-end restaurant was present at each station. Alright, I am not a chef stalker. I really couldn’t tell you how many Executive Chef’s and owners were there, but let’s hit a few…Rick Bayless handed me a tostada, right next to Homaro Cantu handing out eggs and bacon stamp and cheese tubes, Susan Spicer had someone serving, but only because she was sautéing shrimp all night. etc. etc. Everywhere you turned people were popping up from the food world. I saw Alpina Singh cruising by the Wishbone etoufee station.

Yes, I would pay $100, maybe even $200 for an event like that again..although I doubt it will ever happen. Just to be able to taste that many creations from all of those creative folks, it truly was an exceptional event. I certainly would pay $100 each to have two events with half the dishes on back to back weekends. Not only were most of the A-game chefs there, many brought A-game dishes. Surprisingly, I only had one or two dishes that were ho-hum.

I believe the wine was sponsored by one of the distributors, so I shouldn’t be too vicious, but it would have been nice to pair some of the high end dishes with a couple of nicer wines. I am no wine snob, or shy away from drinking $8.00 house wines, but I am afraid that $19.95 a plate appetizers just do not go well with $9.99 bottles of Big House Red.

The only other issue that I would try to limit, would be the amount of schmoozing being done by PR folks and recruiters at the party…it was a party folks! Save the schmooze for the trade shows. There is really no need to hold up a line for ten minutes to chat up one of the workers, hand them a card if you must and then move on. Next time, you’ll get a satay skewer through your pretty little manicured hand . These incidents were few and far between, but they were noticeable as the night wore on.

As someone else remarked, this was Taste of Chicago on steroids. It was a lovely evening, wonderful food, some great music and a good cause…that made for one tasty gumbo

Anybody know who we can contact at Second Harvest to ask them to put this together next year?

HI,

I suggest if anyone visits any of the restaurants who participated, make a point of thanking them. If you came because you enjoyed their food at the party and never visited before, then provide them feedback. Events like these are much easier to put on if everyone felt they got publicity and goodwill out of it.

Sounds like a great event, sorry I had other plans on my schedule.

Regards,

This event gave me a greater appreciation of being a cook in this town. It really demonstrated the compassion chicago chefs have for people in general. To see so many chefs coordinate an effort of that size was very inspiring. Hats off to all of you that attended as well.

Just remember - tonight we can go home with our friends and family. That is a luxury to many in the gulf.

Thank you for posting from a chef’s perspective. I did get the feeling, at least from the chefs and staff that I talked with, that the event was a labor of love, rather than just seeking publicity or garnering goodwill. The mood was palpable. I believe most of the folks to who I had mentioned it was nice to see them in person, they all had a similar theme to their replies, “its such a great cause, for such a great city.” Perhaps, that is why the few schmoozing incidents stuck out like sore thumbs.

As for an event like this happening again, I wouldn’t count on it. Second Harvest is a great cause at any point in history, but I think this evening was special. I hope I am wrong…better yet, I hope 70 or 80 chefs get together to prove me wrong.

Yes, we are lucky to be on the side that gives rather than in need.

pd