Chef Celebration Dinner 2009 (SD)

[honkman]

It's time again for the Chef Celebration Dinner in San Diego. Starting end of September there will be again five nights with great chefs. Based on the last years experiences I highly recommend to go to some of these dinners which always had very nice, creative food and for $65 (with $35 going towards the nonprofit scholarship fund) it is quite cheap for the quality of food.
I will post the menus I have so far in a different post later.

Pamplemousse - Tuesday, September* 29th
514 Via de la Valle, Solana Beach 92075
[phone]
www.pgrille.com

Featuring:
Jeff Strauss – Pamplemousse
Ryan Harris - Pamplemousse/ Pastry chef
Jason Knibb - 910 Restaurant
Jeff Thurston - The Prado
Jim Phillips - Barona

Terra Restaurant - Tuesday, October 6th
3900 Vermont Street, San Diego 92103
[phone]
www.terrasd.com

Featuring:
Jeff Rossman – Terra
Katie Grebow - Café Chloe
Norma Martinez - El Vitral
Danny Bannister – Red Marlin
Amy Dibiase - Roseville

Cowboy Star - Tuesday, October 13th
640 Tenth Ave. San Diego, CA 92101
[phone]
www.thecowboystar.com

Featuring:
Victor Jimenez - Cowboy Star
Bernard Guillas - Marine Room
Brian Malarkey - Oceanaire
Christian Graves-JSix
David McIntyre-Crescent Heights

Cucina Urbana -Tuesday, October 20th
505 Laurel St San Diego, CA 92101
[phone]
www.sdurbankitchen.com

Featuring:
Joe Magnanelli- Cucina Urbana
Ben Rollin – Cucina Urbana
Colin MacLaggan- Avenue 5
Nathan Coulon - Quarter Kitchen Ivy Hotel
Hanis Cavin - Kensington Grill

Kitchen 1540 - Tuesday, October 27th
1540 Camino Del Mar Del Mar, CA 92014
[phone]
www.laubergedelmar.com/kitchen1540

Featuring:
Paul McCabe – Kitchen 1540
Matt Gordon - Urban Solace
Jeff Jackson – The Lodge at Torrey Pines
Jim Phillips – Barona Casino

[foodiechick]

So glad you posted this, I learned of it last year after it was too late to attend. Looking forward to some wonderful food for a great cause.

http://www.chefcelebration.org/

[honkman]

The Terra Menu:

1) Lobster Tempura, Vanilla corn broth served on a plastic pipette (Jeff Rossman)

2) Seared Tuna with a tortilla/achiote crust, on huitlacoche patties with cilantro-avocado oil and zucchini blosoms crisps (Norma Martinez)

3) Seared Scallop and Sunburst Clams with Celery Root Puree and Nduja Broth (Danny Bannister)

4) Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Cognac Brown Butter, Oyster Mushrooms, Swiss Chard & Black Garlic (Katie Grebow)

5) Grilled Hangar Steak smoked tomato onion jam, oxtail raviolis (Jeff Rossman)

Or

Blood Orange glazed Berkshire Pork Cheeks with housemade, fines herbes salad and whole grain mustard crème fraiche (Amy Dibiase)

6) Goat Trio Dessert: Vanilla Goat Cheese Truffles (Danny Banister), Churro and Cajeta ice cream (Norma Martinez) , Chevre & Strawberry Bread pudding with balsamic caramel (Katie Grebow)

[honkman]

Brief summary of the second Chef Celebration dinner - Not as crowded as the first dinner at Pamplemousse but still a lot of people. Service was a little bit rushed in the middle of the dinner but not bad. Food was again very good and it is hard to pick some favorites but it was interesting to see that the chefs used some of the "ingredients of the moments", e.g black garlic, nduja. Wine pairing was surprisingly cheap with $18 for 6 wines. It was also very nice to have a chance to talk to some of the chefs during and after the dinner.

[honkman]

The Cowboy Star Menu:

1) Bone Marrow, Herbed Crostini, fleur de sel garnish (Gabriel Bonis, Scholarship recipient)

2) Petite Porchetta, Smoked Prunes, Preserved Lemons, Fennel and Mustard-Amanac Sauce (Christian Graves)

3) Sauteed Diver Scallops, Parmesan Risotto (David McIntyre)

4) Tasmanian Blue Nose, Whiskey glazed "Bulls Balls" and wild shrimp grits (Brian Malarkey)

5) American Wagyu Beef, Braised Cheeks, Seared Loin, Pomes Anna, Sauce Valoise (Victor Jimenez)

6) "Trifecta": Port Szechuan Scented Blackberry Glace Amarula Creme Brulee, Nut Fricassee, Ibarra Aztec Chocolate Tarte (Bernard Guillas)

[honkman]

Great Chef Celebration yesterday at Cowboy Star. Very popular and the restaurant has a nice layout so that you could watch all the chefs prepare the food. The quality of the food was again great with a nice wine pairing.

[honkman]

The Cucina Urbana Menu (Fall Squash Tasting)

1) Amuse

2) Soup & Salad duo - Cinderella Pumpkin Soup, Fall Forest salad, Grilled Sardine (Colin Maclaggan)

3) Acorn Squash Pizza, Duck Confit, Cilantro, Apple (Nathan Coulon)

4) Seared Dayboat Scallops, Red Kuri Squash Puree, Porchetta, Braised Escarole (Joe Magnanelli)

5) Braised Colorado Lamb Shank, Farro, Kabocha Squash, Charred Rapini (Hanis Cavin)

6) Pumpkin Panna Cotta, Cranberry Quince Reduction, Oat Walnut Brittle (Ben Rollins)

[honkman]

Last night we had the next round of Chef Celebration at Cucina Urbana.
First the bad thing – Service. We were completely ignored for about 20 minutes (but waiters looked constantly to our table and the restaurant wasn’t even as crowded like it was at Cowboy Star, Pamplemousse), we then had to ask a busboy if he could find out who is our server. He asked around every waiter didn’t know anything about our table. He went to the manager who asked around and again nobody knew anything and it was completely unorganized until finally somebody come to our table. Waiter was very nice throughout the night but quite a lot of mistakes were made at our and other tables (e.g. used plates were left on the table even if people had already the next course, the next course was brought to the table even though people weren’t finished with the previous one, waiters had to be reminded to bring the next wine from the wine pairing because the course was already served). The service was especially disappointing and amateurish because this was the first Chefs Celebration where they had an automatic 20% service charge for everybody. All other restaurants during the Chefs Celebration this year delivered much better service but none took an automatic 20% service.
The good thing: It was our first time at Cucina Urbana and we really liked the ambience and vibe of the restaurant. It is on our list for some time now and we will test it out in the near future.
The very good thing – Food. Again all the food was on a very high level and it is hard to pick a favorite but the pizza from Nathan Coulon was really one of the highlights of all Chefs Celebration dinner so far. But it is also a sad to see (and get the feedback from chefs and staff) that they only see such rare events as a possibility to do some more unusual stuff (and we are not talking about unusual ingredients but just flavor combination etc.) We heard now quite often the complaints that they would like to do similar things in their restaurants but it would be impossible to sell it. Just to illustrate this with two recent cases. Jacob (sous chef at Café Chloe) mentioned that end of last year they started to have every Monday one “unusual” appetizer (e.g. something with offal, or unusual meats etc.) but he mentioned that they already stopped it after two weeks because nobody was ordering even the “least” unusual appetizers and they decided not to try such experiments anymore. We also never had seen before so many negative reactions throughout a dinner like at the last Cooks Confab where so many people around us complained/didn’t touch their food/ made disgusted faces because it was “unusual” food, e.g. head cheese, pork cheek, hoof, lardon (Why do you go to a dinner when you know you don’t like the food. Because it is currently hip to be a foodie ?).
It is great to see such talent at events like Chefs Celebration but it is also a shame that we (the customers) don’t use it all. It would be great if Chefs Celebration would be at least once a month.

[honkman]

The Kitchen 1540 Menu:

1) Amuse: Smoked Duck Confit, Julian Pears and Apples, Thyme, Orange Blossom Honey (Chris Kurth)

2) Potted Jidori Chicken Liver Pate, Ginger-Spiced Poached Apple, Almond Cracker (Matt Gordon)

Or

Hiramasa Crudo, Abalone, Compressed Fennel, Sake Cured Steelhead Roe (Paul McCabe)

3) Roasted Scallops with Pork Trotters, Persimmon, Mizuna, Hazelnut Vinaigrette (Chris Kurth)

Or

Carta Fata Cookery Lobster, Scallop, Prawn, Heirloom Squash Chutney, Leek Fondue, Tarragon Infused Shellfish Sauce (Jim Philips)

4) Venison Strip Loin, Roasted Venison Marrow Sauce, Mustard Braised Lights Chard, Butternut Squash and Sweet Corn Spoonbread (Matt Gordon)

Or

Trio of Duck, Herb Smoked Breast, Confit Ravioli, Seared Foie Gras, Braised Artichoke (Jim Philips)

Or

Black Bass, Sweey Potato-Walnut Saute, Black Truffle, Whipped Cider (Paul McCabe)

5) Quince Tart Tatin and Fresh Cream (Jeff Jackson & Lori Huffman)

6) Mignardises: Salted Caramels, Pan Forte, Orange Truffles (Jeff Jackson & Lori Huffman)

[daantaat]

thanks for posting this! I hope we can go!

[Sampaguita]

Really appreciate this posting. Thank You!

[honkman]

And I just got the last missing tasting menu:

The Pamplemousse Menu:

Amuse: Candies Apple (Tommy DiMella)

1) Chopped Fall Vegetable Salad with Aged Parmesan, Fig Vinaigrette (Tommy DiMella)

or

Duck Confit & Fuyu Persimmons Salad, Watercress, Frisse, Ginger Huckleberry Vinaigrette (Jason Knibb)

2) Pan Seared Diver Scallop, Sweet Corn Succotash, Applewood Smoked Bacon Gastrique & Bacon Powder (Jeff Thurston)

Or

Crispy Pork Belly Hash, Oven Dried Tomatoes, Chanterelles, Grilled Radicchio and Fonesseca Port Wine Reduction (Tommy DiMella)

3) Northern Halibut, Chino Farms Corn, Sea Beans, Shisho, Soy Bean Puree, Coco Nut, Fermented Black Bean Sauce (Jason Knibb)

Or

Grilled Prime Pork Flat Iron, Wild Mushroom & New Potato Hash, Roasted Apple Demi Glace (Jeff Thurston)

Or

Duo of Brandt Beef NY & Cheeks, Parsley Root Tower (Jim Phillips)

4) A Trio of: Chocolate Caramel Tartlette, Roasted Apple Spice Cake & Huckleberry Turnover (Ryan Harris)

I hope many Chowhounders have the chance to go to these nights (so far we have reservations for the first three nights) (And Cooks Confab -"Pork" is also coming up beginning of October)

[honkman]

Just a brief summary of the first Chef's Celebration at Pamplemousse - very popular event. We were seated more than 40 minutes after our reservation and a little bit unhappy that they decided to seat some regulars before us ven though they came after us. In the end we were the last table to be seated without any real apology. Service was at the beginning very rushed, e.g. waiter brought already wine for the next course when we had just started eating the previous course etc. but it got better during the night and in the end ithe service was much more relaxed and slower. Food was very good, only the amuse bouche (Candies Apple on a stick) left us a little bit puzzled because it didn't fit in the flow of the whole tasting menu. (It was not bad but more a dessert or something you would expect at the fairground.) Every other course was excellent and we highly recommend any of the other Chef Celebration dinners. (next one is next Tuesday at Terra - and don't forget the Cooks Confab on Sunday ay Kitchen 1540 - hope to see other CH at both events).

[SDGourmand]

I'll be at the Oct 27th event. Curious to see how it turns out..