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Jessica Leung hit up Taste of the Nation at the Loews Hotel yesterday evening, camera in hand, to take in the scene. Here's her report from the event, a fundraiser for the national non-profit Share Our Strength.
Everyone was all smiles at Taste of the Nation last night. Whether it was due to the many small-bite samplings from local restaurants or the unlimited amount of booze, all the guests, chefs and mixologists in attendance seemed to buy into the spectacle.
When I arrived, I was a little nervous about being in a room full of established chefs, but there were no larger-than-the-sun egos yesterday. Every participant I interacted with took their time to genuinely show how happy they were to be there and support a good cause. The SOS chefs also demonstrated that it's not all about using the most expensive, flashy ingredients or capturing the largest profit margins; food is often taken for granted, so it was nice to see that this event highlighted the bigger picture of helping those who can't easily get three meals a day. The food prepared by the chefs was just a kind gesture to thank everyone for showing their support. Since 1988, the Share Our Strength organization has raised more than $75 million to combat hunger in America; all of the proceeds earned yesterday will go to support No Kid Hungry, SOS' campaign to eliminate childhood hunger in America by 2015.
Some of my highlights of the evening:
- Jennifer Carroll was presented with an award for serving as this year's "Chef Chair." The bites the 10 Arts chef put out — a foie mousse, and a goat cheese mousse with blackberries, streusel and tomato gelee — were among the best I tasted.
- The team from McCrossen's Tavern carved up a whole pig for the event.
- Preston Eckman, a bartender at Opa and representative for the acai liquor Veev, made a "Red Mule," a ginger beer cocktail. He showed that it's not just about mixing drinks when dealing with a big crowd — it's also putting on a show to capture the attention of guests.
- Another bartender about town, Christian Gaal (Noble), worked on hand-chipping smooth spheres of ice throughout the event.
- Bar Ferdinand produced a giant pan of paella downstairs in the kitchen and brought it up the gala.
- Capogiro talked about their philosophy of using fresh, in-season ingredients to produce their gelati. Mango-Champagne was a definite highlight.
- The ladies of A Cupcake Wonderland graced us with dark chocolate cupcakes, Swiss buttercream and raspberries. They'll actually appear on an episode of Food Network's Cupcake Wars tonight at 8 p.m.
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- Gifted
- Happy Hour Hopper
- How-To
- In Print
- Interview
- Meal Ticket
- Menu Time
- Not So Quickfire
- Notes from the Weekend
- On Wheels
- Openings
- Patio Drinking
- Philly Beer Week 2010
- Photos
- Private Chef POV
- Product Placement
- Recipes
- Snack Time
- Stiff Drank
- SUPPER
- Tea
- Testing
- Ticket Stubs
- Top Chef
- Vegan
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- Video
- Weekly Candy
- Weird Regional Foods
- We're Here to Help
- Where'd We Eat?
- Drew Lazor's Ill-Advised Rant Factory
- Pregame
- Ill-Advised Ranting
- The Week Without Meat
- Philly Beer Week 2009
- Real Big
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- Next Iron Chef
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