Category Archives: Enticing Events

Duckathlon Leftovers

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Following the trail of the ducks.....

For those who couldn’t get enough of the wild and woolly Duckathlon held last Sunday in New York, here are a few more pics to entertain your peepers.

As you recall from my original post on the crazy event, this was the fifth annual Duckathlon, hosted once again by D’Artagnan. Teams of chefs from some of New York’s most celebrated restaurants competed in the most off-the-wall events ever conceived to garner the title of Top Duck.

The Pluckemin Inn’s sardonic T-shirts:

The BLT Steak team attempts to “Put the Piggie Together Again.”

Team DB Bistro Moderne competes in “What the Fork?” — in which chefs have to make mayonnaise by whipping oil and egg yolks with a barbecue fork. Yeah, you try that at home.

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Scenes From New York’s James Beard Gala

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Women chefs in the opening parade of chefs.

Monday night, the country’s most celebrated chefs traded their whites for black-tie (though Mario Batali still wore his trademark orange clogs) for the Oscars of the food world, the James Beard Foundation Awards.

Renowned chefs and big-name cookbook authors walked the red carpet leading up to Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. As the lights dimmed, a bevy of the country’s most talented women chefs took their bows in a salute to this year’s theme, “Women in Food.”  As they retreated back to the lobby to finish prepping the show-stopping food they would be serving after the ceremony, co-hosts, actor Stanley Tucci, restaurateur Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, and a very pregnant Cat Cora  of “Iron Chef America” took the stage. Cora, who is expecting a baby boy any day now, joked she had been craving chocolate big-time lately.

Celeb Chef Mario Batali.

As a judge for the cookbook awards this year, I was invited to be a guest at this year’s festivities.

The Bay Area contingent applauded ecstatically when the first big award of the evening was announced: “Rising Star Chef Award” for the most promising chef of the year under age 30. It went to Nate Appleman of A16 in San Francisco.

An elated Nate Appleman of San Francisco's A16.

Chef Douglas Keane of Cyrus in Healdsburg took home the “Best Chef Pacific” award.

A victorious Douglas Keane and his wife, Leal.

San Francisco’s Yank Sing restaurant was honored with “An American Classic” award. Dan Barber of Blue Hill in New York pocketed the “Outstanding Chef” award. Jean Georges won the “Outsanding Restaurant” honors.”

Jeans-Georges Vongerichten accepts his award.

Best New Restaurant” went to the impossible-to-get-into, 12-seat Momofuku Ko in New York.

David Chang of Momofuku Ko. (center)

Daniel Boulud’s chic Daniel restaurant won for “Outstanding Service.”

Daniel Boulud (center).

Gina DePalma, pastry chef of Babbo in New York, had been nominated six times before and come away empty-handed.

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Duck, Duck, Chefs

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The Fifth Annual Duckathlon

Over the years as a food writer, I’ve had the pleasure of judging many a food competition.

I’ve critiqued a gingerbread house contest, untold cookie exchanges, an apple pie baking battle (twice), a nursing home food cook-off, the short-lived TV series “Food Fight,” and even the $1 million Pillsbury Bake-Off.

But nothing quite prepared me for the Duckathlon.

Say what??!

My thoughts exactly.

Like me, you probably haven’t heard of it because it’s super secret. Indeed, this only-in-New York rencounter is by invitation-only. As a food writer in town for the James Beard awards gala, I was invited to be a part of it. I was told I couldn’t tell anyone ahead of time that I was involved with it. I was just supposed to report to HQ (“headquarters” to you non-James Bond-ians) at mid-day May 3. It was all so hush-hush.

HQ turned out to be Chelsea Market. And if you haven’t guessed by now, the Duckathlon is a culinary competition — if Monty Python or Ben Stiller came up with it.

Team Le Cercle Rouge, last year's grand champions get into the spirit.

This rather bawdy, zany, tongue-in-cheek event was created by Ariane Daguine of D’Artagnan, the foie gras and specialty meat purveyor. Teams of chefs from some of New York’s most celebrated restaurants don wacky costumes to pit their culinary skills against one another in all manner of crazy contests staged throughout the Meatpacking District. Trust me, you’ve never seen the likes of this.

Le Cirque team member participating in "flock around the clock'' obstacle course while balancing plastic duck on a spoon.

This was the fifth year of the Duckathlon. The first one was held on a lark in 2005 as a way to celebrate the company’s 20th anniversary, and to foster relationships with restaurants. It proved such a hit with chefs that it’s been held ever since. Because after all, chefs are the ultimate competitors. They are warriors in whites. They are a force to be reckoned with. And if beer is at all involved, you can count on them being there.

So did these teams prepare for hours and hours in the kitchen beforehand?

Not exactly.

“I didn’t train at all,” says Chris “The Wedge” Lim, chef de cuisine of BLT Steak. “We’re all still drunk from the night before.”

“I did push-ups and sit-ups,” says Lauren Hirschberg, chef de cuisine of Craft Bar. “And 30 minutes of cardio.”

“I was speaking to ducks a lot,” quipped (or quacked) Thea Williamson, head of work in education for Team Gracie.

Don't try this at home.

One of the most memorable challenges was “So Long, Saucisson.” Above, Celso Moreira, operations manager, of China Grill, wears a bra and hoop skirt, while trying to dunk a sausage suspended from a string into a metal can below that he can’t see. He was a natural at it.

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Round-Up of Restaurant News

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Beef short rib sliders. (Photo courtesy of E&O Trading Company)

Dig into beef short rib sliders with pickled root veggies, sriracha aioli and taro strip fries ($15); albacore tuna crudo with seaweed and white soy ($15); and butternut squash dumplings with red curry lemongrass sauce ($9).

You can at E&O Trading Company. The restaurant, which has locations in San Francisco, San Jose and Larkspur, has an exciting, revamped menu, courtesy of new executive chef, the highly regarded Arnold Eric Wong.

Wong made a name for himself at his restaurants, Bacar and Eos, both in San Francisco.

The new menu boasts everything from hoisin and coffee-glazed Duroc pork spare ribs ($15) to crispy fried black striped bass with citrus segments and calamansi glaze $20). Long-time E&O fans can rest easy, too; the signature Indonesian corn fritters ($12) that have been served since Day One remain on the menu. Whew.

Butternut squash dumplings. (Photo courtesy of E&O Trading Company)

April 29 might be a perfect time to try E&O’s new eats because you can help a good cause, too. That night, the restaurant will host a fund-raiser for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Guests can enjoy hors d’oeuvres by Wong, and dance the night away to Chef Joey Altman’s Backburner Blues Band. There also will be a raffle.

All proceeds from the event will be donated to the non-profit. Tickets are $40 per person.

Additionally, through May 28, E&O will donate a portion of proceeds from the sale of its new coconut trifle dessert.

Menlo Park’s Marche will host a four-course “2006 Burgundy Dinner” on April 23 in the private dining room, and again as a chef’s tasting menu option in the main dining room on April 24-25.

Each course will be paired with a different 2006 Burgundy. Price is $195 per person.

Three Degrees Restaurant at the Toll House Hotel in Los Gatos will offer a wine dinner, too, on April 23. This four-course dinner spotlights Burrell School Winemakers. Price is $65 per person.

For the budget-minded — and who isn’t these days? — San Francisco’s Zinnia offers a “Halfsy Hour”  each week, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

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Classes with A Class Act

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Bruce Weinstein (Photo courtestyof Lucy Schaeffer)Mark Scarbrough (Photo courtesy of Lucy Schaeffer)

See those two grinning guys above? Don’t they look like they have just way too much fun?

Well, you can have the time of your life in the kitchen, too, when you join that good-natured duo for two Bay Area cooking classes at Draeger’s.

You might know Mark Scarbrough (left) and Bruce Weinstein (right) for the bevy of cookbooks they’ve written, including, “The Ultimate Ice Cream Book” (William Morrow), “The Ultimate Cook Book” (William Morrow), and their newest one, “Cooking Know-How” (Wiley). You might also know them from their witty and wonderful blog, Real Food Has Curves. And you might recognize Mark from the many hilarious and insightful comments he’s left on my blog.

Come meet them at the San Mateo store, 6:30 p.m. May 19 when they’ll show you how to prepare four dishes, including “No-Fail Sausage, Clam and Fennel Paella,”  and “Chilled Spiced Plum Soup.” Click here to sign up. Price is $55.

They’ll also be at the Blackhawk store the next day, 6:30 p.m. May 20, to prepare the same menu. Price is again $55. Click here to sign up for that class.

Since I’m talking about Mark and Bruce, I also wanted to take this chance to — drum roll, please — present my winners of the Sisterhood Award. What’s that you ask? Both Passionate Eater and Oyster Culture were kind enough to single out my Food Gal blog a few weeks ago for one of these honors, which recognizes sisterhood — and brotherhood — in the world of blogging. It gives a much deserved shout-out to those bloggers who have supported other bloggers in what can often be a lonely endeavor — typing day after day at the computer; pouring blood, sweat, and tears into posts; and wondering if anyone out there is even reading any of it at all.

Each award recipient picks another 10 bloggers to bestow the honor upon. With Passionate Eater and Oyster Culture both bequeathing a Sisterhood Award to me, it’s now my turn to pay it forward. Of course, I wasn’t sure if that meant since I’d gotten two awards that I should now pick 20 winners. Would that be piggish of me? Where’s Price Waterhouse with the official rules when you need them?

So, I decided to stick to the traditional 10 winners. Below are my picks for Sisterhood Awards, in no particular order.

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