James Beard House

[bloviatrix]

If you're in the industry you might able to take a deduction on your taxes for the membership. But check with your accountant about what it is exactly.

[eliotmorgan]

How easy/difficult is it to get to the better events?  Is it a good source for discovering new chefs?  How does it compare to going out to a top tier restaurant in NYC?

The Beard Foundation is certainly worth $125 if you're in NYC. If you're in the industry you'll wonder why they don't schedule more events on Sunday, but besides that you'll love it. When I was at Peter Kump's I went as often as possible. As for discovering "new" Chefs, the Beard Foundation is probably not the place--Kinda like going to the Academy Awards to discover a new actor.

Eating Trotter's, Adria's, Tramonto's food at Beard House is not like eating at their respective restaurants, but if you can make it to Chicago, or Roses it's better than missing out entirely. That said, Beard is a great place to meet folks--like an eGullet.com offline

[tan319]

Did anyone attend???

would love to hear about it.

Talk to me !!!

[Bond Girl]

It's tomorrow. I'm going, will tell you guys all about it. Is anyone going? BTW, I put in a thread as NY News a while back to much lackluster results, had I known you are into it, I would have given you the other ticket I had.

see this:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...=24712&hl=adria

Edited November 16, 2003 by Bond Girl (log)

[guajolote]

I think Bruce Schneier is going.

he just went in washington.

if you google him you'll probably find a picture.

[Bond Girl]

Just googled, but will probably miss him anyway. Scheiner, if you are reading this, come by and say hello.

[tan319]

It's tomorrow. I'm going, will tell you guys all about it. Is anyone going? BTW, I put in a thread as NY News a while back to much lackluster results, had I known you are into it, I would have given you the other ticket I had.

see this:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...=24712&hl=adria

Looking forward to your report.

Wish I still lived in NYC sometimes...

[Pan]

You don't have to live here to come by and visit!

[tan319]

You don't have to live here to come by and visit!

This is true, I just like to combine my visits back with business if possible.

I was last there last year for around 2 and 1/2 months. In fact, missed the chocolate show.

[Bond Girl]

Here's the low down. The event in and of itself was way too long and rather boring, with auctions that went on forever. Both Ferran Adria and Juan Mari Arzak was there but neither was cooking. However, those cooking in the kitchen reads like who's who in Spanish cuisine and includes: Jose Ramon Andres from Washington DC and Julian Serrano from Las Vegas with help from David Bouley and Ken Oringer. I got seated at Rick Laakonen's (Chef of Ilo) table, who was a wonderful host.

Here in what was served:

-Caramelized Hudson Valley Foie Gras wrapped in Honey Dew Melon from Bruno Oteza (Restaurant Tezka in Mexico City) It's a sweet cold foie gras that was thick on the palate. The foie gras was too sweet and the melon too delicate. The whole dish fell short of being great as it lacked balance.

-Lobster with its own essence, Sliced Avocado and Tomato Sorbet from Jose Ramon Andres (Jaleo, Cafe Atlantico and Zaytinya) The lobster was wonderfully cooked while the tomato provided a refreshing contrast to the lobster and avocado. This one got mixed reviews from the table. While I thought it was a well executed but uninventive dish, John Villa (chef of Patroon and Playgirl centerfold) thought the combination was interesting but didn't accomplish much.

-Roasted Leg of Lamb with Almond Crust, Scalloped Potatoes and Cumin Sauce from Julian Serrano (Piicasson at the Bellagio in Las Vegas). As I can't eat meat, I only ate the potatoes. However, this one seemed to win approval from everyone at the table including chef Laakonen.

-Cheese Plate from Terence Brennan's Artisanal Cheese center. Terence Brennan can change your mind about icky smelly blue cheese, and that's all there is to say about this.

-Yogurt Cake with Rhubarb Sorbet floating in a Tangerine Sauce from Jordi Butron Melero of Espai Sucre. This was a great dessert that provided a refreshing end to the meal. The citrusy flavor was what the palate craved for after a meal like this, but the yogurt cakes were weird and tasted like cheese.

Chef Adria gave a very gracious speech about being in New York via the translation of Jose Ramon Andres. I got to hobnob with Drew Nieporent and Marcus Samuelsson. Rick Laakonen invited all of us to Ilo, and I went home with a bottle of olive oil from Spain.

[Pan]

I guess there are benefits to hanging out with a chef.

[tan319]

Thanks, Bondgirl!

Are you or did you go to any other dinners for Adria?

I believe Douglas Rodriguez was going to be one of the chefs at another one, I guess there were a couple of other dinners going on while Adria was in town.

[Bond Girl]

The beard house one was the only one I heard about, but let me know if you hear of others.

[tan319]

The beard house one was the only one I heard about, but let me know if you hear of others.

Maybe I misunderstood and Douglas was just attending that one.

[bpearis]

there's a lengthy post (with lengthy follow-ups) about this event on a certain other food website with the initials CH. Some may even recognize the exhaustive, almost clinical writing style of the poster.

Edited November 17, 2003 by bpearis (log)

[Schneier]

Not four days after the big Beard dinner in Washington (you can read my write-up here), DC, Karen and I flew to New York for the Beard dinner there. This one had a Spanish theme, and honored Ferran Adria of El Bulli and Juan Mari Arzak of Restaurant Arzak, both from Spain.

This was very much a fund-raiser. It opened at 4:30 PM with a silent auction and reception, and continued with a sit-down dinner and live auction at 6:00. The silent auction had about 150 items, ranging from gifts and cookware to dinners and trips. I bid on a few things here and there, mostly meals and trips. One of my rules for these charity auctions is that you should bid only on things you can't buy. There were several interesting one-of-a-kind experiences in the auction, but it all went out of my price range.

At 6:00 they opened the doors to the dining room. I don't know how many people were there. My guess is around 400 people--35 tables times 12 people. Each table was hosted and decorated by a particular organization, generally a restaurant. Some of the tables were just beautiful. But the tables were packed so tightly it was hard to move around.

I should pause here and say that the evening is going to go pretty far downhill at this point. We didn't have a real good time at this meal. Had this NY event happened before the DC event, I would have cancelled the second one and not bothered flying in. As it was, I got to see how a Beard multi-chef event can be run well, and then how one can be run poorly.

About a week before the event someone called me from the Beard Foundation and asked what table I wanted to sit at. When I bought my tickets I didn't know that there were hosted tables, and no one bothered to tell me. So someone from the Beard Foundation faxed me the list of tables, and I called back and gave my preferences. All the top tables were taken--no room at the Daniel table, for example--and I honestly don't remember what I eventually agreed to.

But it wasn't the Second Avenue Deli. I’m sure of that.

That's not too terrible. The problem was that the Second Avenue Deli table was a birthday party. In fact, there were three tables total that were a birthday party. We were the only people at those three tables who weren’t with the birthday party. The person who bought all the seats was told that he would only have ten at the third table, and he didn't really want us there. We really didn't want to be there, intruding on their party.

So I went to straighten it out.

What followed was an hour-long process involving us standing around waiting, us missing the first course of the meal, the two seats at the party table disappearing somehow, and us finally being seated at two different tables--both sponsored by Bon Appetit magazine.

At least we could see each other.

We considered bailing on the whole event and eating at Alain Ducasse instead, but the restaurant is closed on Sunday.

And we weren't the only people with seating problems. There were others, and I'm not sure how theirs were resolved. Hopefully better than our problem was.

Course 1 (the one we missed):

Bruno Oteiza, Restaurante Tezka, Mexico City

Carmelized Hudson Valley Foie Gras Triangles in Honeydew Melon

Before we could get another course, there was the live auction. I've been to many charity auction dinners, and I know the drill. This is where the high-ticket items are, so people can publicly outdo each other in generosity. I've even won some amazingly good things in the past. As auctions go, this was a good one. The auctioneer was excellent, and powered through the thirty or so items in about an hour. David Rosengarten was the emcee, and he did a fine job. (I am learning that I like everything about Rosengarten except his newsletter.) A lot of stuff sold for a lot of money, and the James Beard Foundation did very well.

Course 2:

Jose Ramon Andres, Cafe Atlantico and Zaytinya, Washington DC

Lobster with its Own Essence, Avocado, and Tomato Sorbet

This was basically the same dish Andres served at the DC Beard dinner. I guess it scales well for large groups. Nice piece of lobster next to deconstructed guacamole: avocado, tomato and tomato sorbet, hot oil, seasonings. Like last time it came with roe wrapped in pastry. Unlike last time there were no cilantro sprouts. And like last time the dish worked okay, but not great.

Course 3:

Julian Serrano, Picasso, Las Vegas

Roast Loin of Lamb with Crust of Almonds, Scalloped Cabrales Potatoes, and Cumin Sauce

For the record, Picasso is my favorite restaurant in Las Vegas. I loved Serrano's cooking when he was at Masa's in San Francisco, and I love it now. And he does way better than this. Nothing was actively bad, but it was basically meat and potatoes. There was some eggplant and red pepper on the plate. It was okay.

Course 4:

Terrance Brennan's Artisanal Cheese Center, New York

Three cheeses: Zamorano, Monte Enebro, and Veldeon

Yummy.

Course 5:

Jordi Butron Melero, Espai Sucre, Barcelona

Yogurt Cake with Tangerine and Rhubarb

This was very good. The sweet and tart flavors, the different temperatures and textures...it all worked.

But honestly, I wasn't having all that good a time. We left and went back to our hotel soon after dessert was served. (We weren't alone. Lots of people left early, presumably for other reasons. By the time dessert was served, I think about a third of the diners had gone home.)

I think the event was too large to be a real foodie event. This is the big New York fund-raiser, so they want it as large as they can make it. I understand that. But an event that large is just different. The food coming out of the kitchen is different. The feel is different. It wasn't what we flew to New York for.

And I think our personal problem was a manifestation of the “too large” problem. Because the event was filled to capacity, there was no wiggle room to deal with problems. There were people who sat at tables where they weren't assigned. There were people who crashed the event. Once that happened, there was really no way to fix it. They had no contingencies.

I'm unlikely to go to the Annual Beard Dinner again, but I am very likely to go to a dinner at the James Beard House. And I am very likely to go back to DC if they have another dinner. I'd much rather go for the food than for the charity auction.

Bruce

[Schneier]

I got seated at Rick Laakonen's (Chef of Ilo) table, who was a wonderful host.

That was one of the tables I requested.

Bruce

[Schneier]

Just googled, but will probably miss him anyway. Scheiner, if you are reading this, come by and say hello.

I'm sorry we didn't meet up.

Bruce

[Bond Girl]

The beard house one was the only one I heard about, but let me know if you hear of others.

Maybe I misunderstood and Douglas was just attending that one.

I diidn't see Douglas there at the event, but he recently did a Beard House dinner on the 14th with a pretty good menu if I remember correctly.

[Bond Girl]

Course 1 (the one we missed):

Bruno Oteiza, Restaurante Tezka, Mexico City

Carmelized Hudson Valley Foie Gras Triangles in Honeydew Melon

Bruce, you really didn't missed very much with the first course. The event was 300 guests, and it would have been nice if you were at my table because the conversation was initially so dead that you see vultures circling. The three septo-generians was not going to talk. Next to me was a professoor of forensic science (very gruesome), and on the other side were a few hoteliers. The conversation finally got lively after many drinks, but hell, that was the hardest I had to work to get some conversation going.

Edited November 18, 2003 by Bond Girl (log)

[Bond Girl]

I think between Bruce and me, we've got it pretty covered. I can tell you what everyone is wearing... but that would be boring.

[Bond Girl]

Next year, I'm, going to organize this event as an egullet outing.

Edited November 18, 2003 by Bond Girl (log)

[docsconz]

I received an invitation to a dinner this past saturday night in NYC honoring Adria and Arzac. It was at The Four seasons with cooking done by Daniel Boulud, Rocco DiSpirito and others. The price was only $250pp. Alas I arrived home from Italy that night and couldn't go.

[Schneier]

Next year, I'm, going to organize this event as an egullet outing.

That's a great idea. Let's get our own table.

[Truffle]

Who had the good fortune to attend the James Beard Foundation salute to

“The Culinary Stars of Spain” at the 17th ANNUAL HOLIDAY AUCTION & DINNER this past Sunday?

I'd love to hear about it!