JAMES BEARD HOUSE
Part 2:
The dinner turns out to be just as I had imagined- casual and sophisticated and fun.
“I Cook Michigan”, from Chef Steven Grostick of the Toasted Oak Grill and Market in (where else but) Novi, Michigan, at the James Beard House, is off to a great start. Upon arrival, guests are offered a Michigan cheddar cheese with the option of adding a bacon-caramel sauce. Yes, sauce for the cheese. Michigan cherry-infused bourbon Manhattans are served outside on the patio where Foundation members, food journalists and the like, mingle. Passed appetizers include the famed venison Coney dogs complete with just a sprinkle of chopped raw onion and a perfect squiggle of yellow mustard. The paper wrappers holding the dogs are reminiscent of a carnival. People are raving. A delicious and dainty bite of root-beer braised short ribs with whipped potatoes is luscious and disappears much too soon. Guests are enjoying North Peak Brewing Co. Majestic Wheat Ale (from Michigan, of course) and chatting.
Part 1:
I arrive a bit late. I hurry into Keste in the West Village and look around; I expect to see maybe two people waiting for me quietly. Instead there is a man that I recognize to be Steven Grostick at a table with about ten others. The table is crowded with bodies and littered with pizza, iced tea, napkins, cutlery, and plates. This lunch is already in full swing.
I am introduced to everyone. Chef Grostick shakes my hand and smiles. He is a chef-sized man with a friendly demeanor. At first I am confused because I don’t know who all these people are, or why they are eating with us. I am told that this is the “team”- cooks and sous chefs from the Toasted Oak Grill and Market in Novi, Michigan, where Grostick is Executive Chef. In addition there are also a handful of helpful individuals from The Sage Restaurant Group of which Toasted Oak is a part. Most of them drove here together in a bus-van hybrid packed with ice and refrigerating agents- they brought all the food from Michigan. All of it, a 12 hour drive with a ton of local produce and meat and wine in a big truck.
Tuesday, some of the most celebrated chefs from the East Village gathered at the James Beard House for East Village Social. The walk around tasting featured cuisine from Edi & the Wolf, Jimmy’s No. 43, Cienfuego, Death & Co., Mayahuel, Jack’s Luxury Oyster Bar, PDT, Grafitti, Metaphor, and Goat Town.
You can take the boy out of Michigan but you can't take the Michigan out of the boy.
Executive Chef Steven Grostick of the Toasted Oak Grill and Market in Novi, Michigan is throwing an exclusive dinner party on Wednesday night. This elegant soiree will not be at his restaurant, it will take place at the James Beard House in New York City, also know as the epicenter of the American culinary community.
Fish out of water?
Something tells me this Michigander will have no problem impressing food-centric New Yorkers in the Big Apple.
You don’t have to be a vegetarian to appreciate the cuisine at Horizons. Located on South 7th Street, this vegan eatery does things with tofu one never thought possible. Even the most committed meat-eaters will be blown away. What better way to celebrate Earth Day than by sitting down to a meal solely consisting of ingredients that have sprung from the soil?
Horizons is the brainchild of Chef Richard Landau; when it started in 1994, it was just a small counter at a health food store in the suburbs. Over time, as Chef Landau acquired a following, he opened a free-standing restaurant nearby. In 2006, Horizons closed up shop in the burbs and headed for the bustling streets of Center City. Rich, who was invited in 2009 to cook at the James Beard House in New York City, continues to oversee the kitchen while his wife, Kate Jacoby, manages the restaurant and makes the desserts.
The day starts early for Chef Dirk Flanigan and his team. It’s not every day one gets invited to cook at the prestigious James Bead House in New York City. Flawless organization and impeccable execution are requirements for this event and Chef Dirk has everything under control, moving seamlessly from one task to the next with a quiet confidence. Saturday night's dinner was already gearing up to be spectacular.
Chef Dirk is executive chef at Chicago’s wildly successful The Gage and Henri restaurants, but his path into the culinary world began in Naples, Florida. “I was 13 years old and wanted to buy a surfboard,” he says. He knew a friend that worked in a restaurant and Chef Dirk began helping out in the kitchen, slowly saving up his money. Not long after, he started working in the kitchen at the Ritz-Carlton and he eventually made his way to Chicago where he’s been cooking since the late ‘80s.
The day starts early for Chef Dirk Flanigan and his team. It’s not every day one gets invited to cook at the prestigious James Bead House in New York City. Flawless organization and impeccable execution are requirements for this event and Chef Dirk has everything under control, moving seamlessly from one task to the next with a quiet confidence. Saturday night's dinner was already gearing up to be spectacular.
Chef Dirk is executive chef at Chicago’s wildly successful The Gage and Henri restaurants, but his path into the culinary world began in Naples, Florida. “I was 13 years old and wanted to buy a surfboard,” he says. He knew a friend that worked in a restaurant and Chef Dirk began helping out in the kitchen, slowly saving up his money. Not long after, he started working in the kitchen at the Ritz-Carlton and he eventually made his way to Chicago where he’s been cooking since the late ‘80s.
Chicago Chef Dirk Flanigan has been invited by the prestigious James Beard House to cook a special dinner next month. He has received critical acclaim for his French-influenced contemporary menu at Chicago's Henri restaurant (3 stars Chicago Tribune, 3 stars Chicago Sun-Times) and his gastro-pub fare at The Gage continues to make the list of best restaurants in Chicago.
Chef Flanigan has created a menu for his James Beard dinner that features both sea-sourced ingredients and regional game. Think lobster Wellington, elk tartare and dover sole with oysters. "Cooking at James Beard House is an honor of a lifetime. This event provides an opportunity for our team to showcase our cuisine and our approach," said Chef Flanigan.
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