The James Beard House in New York City hosts about 200 dinners per year, but how many people make the time to go there? What if, instead, the chefs toured the country and brought the dinner to you?
On September 19, the James Beard Celebrity Chef Tour came to Allentown's Hamilton Kitchen and Bar. As Jeff Black, director of the chef tour, explains, James Beard was the first celebrity chef—he had a TV show in the 1950s—and loved to educate people. The concept for the chef tour launched in June 2004 in Philadelphia, and, now, stops in 20-odd restaurants per year.
The planning for the event started well over a year ago, when Drew Stark, the opening chef for Hamilton Kitchen, was still in the kitchen. He, along with executive sous chef Cristian Gonzalez, owner Donny Petridis and event manager Liza Stankowski came together with suggestions. Black and his colleagues permitted the restaurant to put together the list of participating chefs—keeping it local and connected was important—and the culinary team was assembled. All of the dishes received either a wine or cocktail pairing; the latter, culled by bar manager Peter Werrell. The mood in the enormous kitchen before dinner was focused and calm, a stark contrast to the dining room, with nearly 180 guests buzzing among 21 tables. But that's standard operating procedure for these pros, who count two James Beard Award nominees among them. A staff of nearly two dozen service professionals and managers kept things moving as seamlessly as possible.
Hors d'oeuvres
Passed hors d'oeuvres is one of the most challenging courses to pull off because people are typically distracted, looking for friends and drinks simultaneously. Chef Tony Page of Rooster Street Butcher in Lititz was set up outside during cocktail hour and continuously sliced off slivers of a two-year-aged Keystone cured ham at a carving station on the patio, which invited interaction. He's known for his charcuterie, so naturally, a trio of delectable bites made the rounds: crostini with house-cured ‘nduja (a spicy, spreadable pork salume), burrata and mint; grass-fed beef tartare with truffle and potato chip; and lamb merguez with cucumber and yogurt.
1st Course
Skuna Bay Salmon Crudo
Chef Robert Sisca, a classmate and friend of Drew Stark's from Johnson and Wales, is the corporate executive chef at G Hospitality, which operates restaurants in Rhode Island and Martha's Vineyard. His Skuna Bay Salmon Crudo was simultaneously delicate and substantive. Cured for five hours in salt and sugar, plus lemon, lime and orange zest, along with Earl Grey tea, the crudo took on subtle citrusy notes, complemented by contrasting textures and tastes from watermelon radish and Honeycrisp apples. Sisca says his time at Le Bernardin in New York City was akin to receiving “a master's degree in fish.”
2nd Course
Lamb Belly Panzanella
Chef Drew Stark and Greg Vernick put together an elegant take on a summer staple—panzanella. It included lamb belly sliced like a tart and seared to a pleasing crisp, so it both plated and tasted like no panzanella guests had likely ever encountered. Pickled pearl onions, shaved fennel and torn bread helped round it out. According to Stark, it all started with the lamb and he wanted to do a light, fresh dish. “We didn't say, ‘Let's do a panzanella.' We just started throwing ideas of what components we wanted to use and that's what fell into place,” he says.
3rd Course
Harpoon Swordfish
Chef-owner Shawn Doyle of Savory Grille in Macungie presented Harpoon Swordfish, a dish with depth. Mushrooms, for example, showed up roasted, foamed into a “cloud,” dusting the swordfish, and so forth. The flavors were carefully deployed but the signature move on the plate was the burst of summer's last gasp (and a bit of Doyle's sense of humor) in the form of a fried green tomato.
“I don't have the opportunity to work with that many people, so we created a dish with many hands (chefs) in mind. I was thinking complex flavors and textures,” he says. And that's precisely what he achieved: layers of soft, smoky and earthy flavors.
While waiting for the chicken, servers presented guests with a cocktail called Almost Versailles, with Woodford Reserve, peach shrub, ginger, honey and lemon, along with Angostura bitters. It felt like a celebratory break from the wine pairings that accompanied each course.
4th Course
Free-range Chicken
Ryan Lukow and Cristian Gonzalez, the host chefs, presented a straightforward and well-executed dish—a supremely moist, crowd-pleasing, local free-range chicken, accompanied by turnips and nutty sunchokes. A shaved black truffle chip and delightfully crispy garlic offered some decadence, dimension and slight textural variations.
5th Course
Korean BBQ PA Short Rib
Based on its description alone, one of the more eagerly awaited courses was the Korean BBQ Pennsylvania Short Rib—the ultimate mash-up of chef Lee Chizmar's restaurant Bolete and his latest venture, Mister Lee's Noodles at the Easton Public Market. The complexity of the dish—imagine octopus, carrots, potatoes, along with short rib and kimchi and, of course, the essential ramen (and Bolete) accompaniment, the 60-minute egg. “The dish is sort of a play on Korean barbecue (bulgogi), traditional beef short ribs served with rice. The twist was all of the farm veggies, which I was hoping would accent the kimchi,” says Chizmar. The octopus? Think of it as an offbeat surf and turf; that's what he was going for.
6th Course
Chocolate Olive Ribbon Cake
In general, dessert has to lure one in immediately. Otherwise, it's easy to skip after indulging. Here, it's impossible to pass up. The chocolate olive ribbon cake from Jeffrey Wagaman, pastry chef at Saucon Valley Country Club, deftly demonstrated the interplay of sweet and savory. Herbal notes helped, too; in this case, basil gel and microgreens cut through the chocolate's sweetness and played off the saltiness of the olive in the cake. But the dish's inspiration actually sprung from sour cream, after seeing a friend post something on Facebook who was preoccupied with “thinking of ways to eat sour cream,” says Wagaman. So he started with the sorbet, which, along with the raspberry caviar, provided some acid and fat to cut through the sweetness of the pinot noir his dish was paired with. There was a lot to consider on the plate, including a little sesame granola element, but it was impossible to pass up.
