561258 Tue Sep 30 05:23:03 -0700 2008 1 10 Florida 0 4071674 We were fortunate enough to be able to attend the Grand Gala Dinner for the Bocuse d'Or USA competition, held at Epcot. For those of you interested in a full recap, with photos of the food and event, I'll direct you to our food blog: http://hpandaw.wordpress.com/ We attended the competition on Saturday, and that was amazing. We got to meet so many fabulous chefs; we've never been to an event before that assembled the likes of Thomas Keller, Paul Bocuse, Jean Georges Vongerichten, Patrick O'Connell, and on, and on, and on! The dinner itself was completely decadent. The chefs were each over the creation of one dish, be it an amuse bouche, an appetizer, a fish dish, a beef dish, or a dessert. I'll attach a brief summary here: There were eight different amuses bouches in the cocktail reception area, created by fantastic chefs like Daniel Boulud, Scott Hunnel, Alain Sailhac, etc. Once we were seated in the main dining room, though, we were served our first course. It was incredibly lush and decadent, rightfully called the “Tin of Sin.” Each place setting had a toque on the plate, and beneath the toque was a caviar tin. This was the first course from Chef Patrick O’Connell of the Inn at Little Washington. It was a Peekytoe crab salad with Petrossian caviar. This dish was absolutely marvelous, and it turned out to be the best thing we ate that night. The crab salad was very light, and it was complemented beautifully by the caviar. This caviar was not too salty or fishy, as some caviars can be, and the portion was extremely generous. The next course was the fish course, a Steamed Pierless Cod with Hojimenji mushrooms and a ginger-soy-hijiki sauce by Chef Charlie Trotter from Charlie Trotter’s. We appreciated that each chef stood up on the stage and said a few words about his dish. The cod was perfectly cooked, so light, tender, and smooth. The flavor was very mild, though the sweet and sour mushrooms added a bit of zing to the dish. I felt like this offering was more about the texture of the fish, rather than actual taste, since it was so mild. The third course was where my husband and I parted ways. This was a duo of Brandt beef: red wine braised short ribs and seared rib eye, glazed beet, root vegetable gratin, horseradish, by Chef Daniel Boulud of Daniel. I had asked for the vegetarian option for this course, and I was disappointed to see that I got the exact same thing that my husband did, simply minus the beef. The root vegetable gratin was pretty good, but it was a bit dry. It would have been better if it had been creamier in texture. The glazed beet was surprisingly enjoyable, and it had a lot of flavor. The horseradish cream was very light, almost foamy. On my husband’s plate, it was served on top of the beef, but on mine, it was just served by itself, which was one of the reasons for my disappointment in this option. Who wants to eat plain horseradish cream? The braised short ribs were fatty, but not uncomfortably so. They were extremely tender, with a nice flavor, but my husband preferred Chef Aimee’s short ribs at Victoria & Albert’s. These were served on top of a parsnip puree, which was very creamy and flavorful. The seared rib eye was also flavorful, with a clean taste. The final course of the sit-down portion of the dinner was a cheese plate with four cheeses: Comte Fort Russe, Grayson, Manchester, and Gorgonzola Piccante. The Comte Fort Russe was a nice, creamy goat’s milk cheese, while the Grayson was referred to by Max McCalman as “the stinky cheese like an Epoisse.” It was made in Virginia, though we’d never heard of the farm at which it was made. The Manchester was very enjoyable, with a bit of a bite to it, while the Gorgonzola Piccante was also very good: creamy and not too ammonia-y. The wine with this course was a Dom Perignon Champagne, Brut, 2000, according to the menu, but the bottle they poured ours from was a 1999. We don’t often get the chance to enjoy a vintage Dom Perignon, so we were excited about this wine. After dinner was over and the awards had been presented, we returned to the cocktail area, which had now been transformed into a dessert area with eight different dessert stations. It was a truly amazing experience, and we are so glad that we decided to splurge and attend this event. Cheers! Heather W Tue Sep 30 05:23:03 -0700 2008 49279 hmp2z 1 4085553 I just wanted to add that, though we put up many food photos on our blog, we have many more that aren't posted. The photos seem to be very popular, so if anyone is interested in a photo of a particular dish or chef but don't see it listed, feel free to let us know what you're looking for and I'll upload it if we have it. Cheers! Heather W Mon Oct 06 11:25:30 -0700 2008 4071674 49279 hmp2z