Six Courses at the Fifth Floor, Plus an “Iron Chef” Champ
Monday night’s James Beard Foundation dinner at the swank Fifth Floor Restaurant in San Francisco featured a who’s who of chefs behind the burners: Laurent Manrique of the Aqua Development Corp. of San Francisco; Ariane Daguin of D’Artagnan Foods; Jean Pierre Moulle of Chez Panisse in Berkeley; Gerald Hirigoyen of Piperade and Bocadillos, both in San Francisco; and Jennie Lorenzo and Lionel Walter of the Fifth Floor.
But it was another chef who was merely a guest that night who received another big round of applause: David Kinch of Manresa in Los Gatos, whom everyone in attendance that night put their hands together to honor his triumphant victory the night before on the Food Network’s “Iron Chef America” show.
For those who missed the televised battle that was filmed months ago, Kinch trounced Iron Chef Bobby Flay by a whopping 10 points, mesmerizing the judges with his creative, elegant dishes spotlighting the secret ingredient of cabbage.