Harvest Festival Part II
Sunday Supper was the culmination of events for CUESA's Harvest Festival weekend. This $150 sit down dinner at the Ferry Building attracted 350 people for an evening of gourmet appetizers, first courses, entrees and desserts provided by Bay Area chefs. While I did toy with the idea of paying the money to attend the dinner as a guest, I decided instead to work for my dinner and help out behind the scenes in the hours leading up to the dinner.
About 25 chefs were on-site to cook and prepare for dinner. My duties included waiting for the 8 entree chefs to arrive and to help them unload into a makeshift kitchen set up with hot boxes, grills and ovens. Being a foodie in San Francisco, I couldn't help but get excited about meeting some of the top chefs in the city. OK, so "meeting" is not necessarily the right word - it's not like they said "Oh, nice to meet you Karen. Why don't you come by the restaurant and we can chat over coffee one day." But they were all very nice, and thanked me for helping them unload their cars. And it was great to put some faces to names and catch a glimpse of their personality. There was Annie Sommerville from Greens, who was a little frantic and running a little late, Johnny Alamilla from Alma, a laidback and scruffy kid, Arnold Wong from EOS and Bacar, pulling up in his Mercedes G-Class SUV, Traci des Jardins of Jardiniere who cooked in her kitchen at Mijita in the Ferry Building, Stuart Brioza from Rubicon, Joseph Manzare from Globe and Armando Paniagua from Rose Pistola. I also had the chance to "meet" Craig Stoll from Delfina and boy, did I want to tell him how much I love his food!
The highlight of the evening was joining the sit down dinner after our volunteer work was completed. Each chef cooked for 50 people so depending on where you were seated, you were served a first course from 1 chef and an entree from another chef, different that what others were served at different tables. I missed the first course due to volunteer duties but was lucky to be served Stuart Brioza's Fragrant Spiced Lamb Shoulder with Autumn Squash Dumplings and even got to taste some of Joseph Manzare's Wild Salmon with Nicoise Olives, Oven-dried Tomatoes and Rubycress Potatoes Braised with Garlic and Thyme. Everything was outstanding. I couldn't get over how tender the lamb was, and did not have the strong lamb taste, and the dumplings were perfection - doughy outsides with pureed squash sweetness inside. The entree was followed by a cheese course, and then dessert - big plates filled with little bite size pastries like Brown Sugar Pecan Bars from Farallon, Housemade Fig Newtons from Postrio, Chocolate Friands from Tartine, and Fruit Pastries from Frog Hollow Farm. I ate as many little bites as I could but I was stuffed!
All in all, the event was great - a wonderfully delicious way to raise money for CUESA's educational and market programs. I was glad to be a part of it.
About 25 chefs were on-site to cook and prepare for dinner. My duties included waiting for the 8 entree chefs to arrive and to help them unload into a makeshift kitchen set up with hot boxes, grills and ovens. Being a foodie in San Francisco, I couldn't help but get excited about meeting some of the top chefs in the city. OK, so "meeting" is not necessarily the right word - it's not like they said "Oh, nice to meet you Karen. Why don't you come by the restaurant and we can chat over coffee one day." But they were all very nice, and thanked me for helping them unload their cars. And it was great to put some faces to names and catch a glimpse of their personality. There was Annie Sommerville from Greens, who was a little frantic and running a little late, Johnny Alamilla from Alma, a laidback and scruffy kid, Arnold Wong from EOS and Bacar, pulling up in his Mercedes G-Class SUV, Traci des Jardins of Jardiniere who cooked in her kitchen at Mijita in the Ferry Building, Stuart Brioza from Rubicon, Joseph Manzare from Globe and Armando Paniagua from Rose Pistola. I also had the chance to "meet" Craig Stoll from Delfina and boy, did I want to tell him how much I love his food!
The highlight of the evening was joining the sit down dinner after our volunteer work was completed. Each chef cooked for 50 people so depending on where you were seated, you were served a first course from 1 chef and an entree from another chef, different that what others were served at different tables. I missed the first course due to volunteer duties but was lucky to be served Stuart Brioza's Fragrant Spiced Lamb Shoulder with Autumn Squash Dumplings and even got to taste some of Joseph Manzare's Wild Salmon with Nicoise Olives, Oven-dried Tomatoes and Rubycress Potatoes Braised with Garlic and Thyme. Everything was outstanding. I couldn't get over how tender the lamb was, and did not have the strong lamb taste, and the dumplings were perfection - doughy outsides with pureed squash sweetness inside. The entree was followed by a cheese course, and then dessert - big plates filled with little bite size pastries like Brown Sugar Pecan Bars from Farallon, Housemade Fig Newtons from Postrio, Chocolate Friands from Tartine, and Fruit Pastries from Frog Hollow Farm. I ate as many little bites as I could but I was stuffed!
All in all, the event was great - a wonderfully delicious way to raise money for CUESA's educational and market programs. I was glad to be a part of it.
posted by Karen at 1:46 PM
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