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Chef Salad
If you're Jerz this evening, run through Collingswood's Scottish Rite Ballroom (315 White Horse Pike) between 5 and 9 to grub out at the Food Bank of South Jersey's third annual Mac-Off, a mac 'n' cheese competition that supports a good cause on this day of service. Price of admission ($5 for kids under 12; $10 for adults) gets you access to mac renditions from South Jersey restaurants like Tortilla Press, Blackbird, Pop Shop, IndeBlue, Aunt Bertha's, blueplate and more; each chef will create his or her signature comfort-food dish using pasta donated by Severino's. Chef Aaron McCargo, Food Network personality and Camden native, will select the ultimate victor at the fam-friendly cook-off. One hundred percent of proceeds will benefit the FBSJ.
Not everyone is able to take a holiday in northeast France this winter, but chefs Peter Woolsey of Bistrot La Minette and Jeremy Nolen of Brauhaus Schmitz are giving you the chance to fake it at the end of this month. On January 25 and 26, the two are teaming up to bring you Dinner in Alsace at Woolsey's restaurant (623 S. Sixth St.). Well-known for its wine, Alsace is also famous for its distinctive cuisine, which has plenty of German influence due to its border with Deutschland, hence Nolen's presence. "[The cuisine] features a lot of German flavors executed with French techniques," says Woolsey. "It's hearty food, great for eating in the winter."
The chefs have snagged Winebow's Bob Barrett, an expert in Alsatian wines, to match two German and two French wines with the meal. He'll be on-hand at the dinner to talk about his choices, as well. The four-course dinner is $35 a head, or $50 with the pairings. Check out the full menu after the jump.
Jennifer Zavala, the former El Camino Real chef and Top Chef contestant who's working on launching the Cherry Bomb Bus, will start hosting monthly female-driven industry nights, cleverly titled Hen's Revenge. This is not to say bros aren't allowed to attend; it's just that the bar and kitchen of whatever venue hosts the event will be staffed exclusively by female talent. "There's a lot of dudeness in the restaurant industry," says Zavala. "I want to get the girls out from hiding behind the line so they can get the culinary credit they deserve."
Slated for the third Monday of each month, each Hen's Revenge will highlight different female chefs and bartenders. Jen Choplin of Watkins Drinkery (1712 S. 10th St.), Lisa Howell of Resurrection Ale House (2425 Grays Ferry Ave.) and RAH bartender Molly O'Neill will kick off the series on the 23rd; they'll serve dishes like lamb shawarma nachos, andouille pigs in a blanket and lentil/mushroom vegan meatloaf at Teri's (1126 S. Ninth St.). It'll run from 10 p.m. to last call or until the food runs out. Standard industry-night rules apply — show a bar/restaurant paystub at the door to get in; free food, pay as you go for drinks (there will be specials). For updates, follow the Cherry Bomb Bus on Facebook and Twitter.
Since the beginning of 2011, the team at Cuba Libre (10 S. Second St.) has rolled out more than a few surprises. While executive chef/co-owner Guillermo Pernot was busy prepping new piqueos (tangy ceviches, delightful baby octopus) and re-done Cubano classics (arroz con pollo with Manzanilla olives and asparagus salad), owners Larry Cohen and Barry Gutin were plotting their takeover of Marathon's 10th-and-Walnut location with chef Matt Levin. Just last week, though, Pernot, after travelling to his wife Lucia's hometown of Havana for culinary research (Pernot is Argentine), accomplished a longtime goal: bringing native Cuban chefs to Philadelphia for "Pop-up Paladares" dinners starting in January.
"This visit is a big deal, as it took a year to get approval from both governments and it's the first time a chef from Cuba has come to the U.S. to cook since the embargo was in put in place over 40 years ago," says Gutin of the pop-ups, named after the restaurants that are often set inside a chef's own home. The first chef in the series (Jan. 11-13) is Luis Alberto Alfonso Perez of Cuba's El Gijonés, Bar Oviedo, La Terraza and Asturias. I recently spoke to Pernot in more detail about the historic series.
Longtime pals Lee Styer, Jessie Prawlucki and Tory Keomanivong of Fond (1617 E. Passyunk Ave.) and Jon Cichon and Adam Lazarick of Lacroix (Rittenhouse Hotel, 210 W. Rittenhouse Square) will team up on Jan. 23 for a truffle dinner at the South Philly BYOB. We've already got our calendars marked. The $125 dinner will comprise five courses (plus a coconut sorbet intermezzo) and feature the king of the mushroom realm as an accent for squab, sweetbreads, gnocchi and kampachi. Check out the full menu after the jump, and call Fond for reservations.
This morning, Dan Gross’ gossip on the bitchiness between two famous Philly families, the Spains and the Borishes, culminated in the fact that the 10th-and-Walnut Street address that holds Marathon Grill now, as part of a settlement, belongs to the Spains. And Bernie Spain's wish was to let Barry Gutin and Larry Cohen of Cuba Libre (10 S. Second St.) and their company, Guest Counts, run the new restaurant. "We knew what was going on and have been involved in the new concept in recent months," says Gutin, who refused to get into the minutiae of what went down between the Borish and Spain camps. “It's not our fray to be in the middle of."
Caffé Storico, the new NYC venture from Stephen Starr and Jim Burke that we reported on in July, will open its doors in the New York Historical Society this Saturday, Dec. 10. The Venetian-inspired ciccheti, or small-plate, menu will feature several items straight from Philly's James, which Burke and wife Kristina closed in May — think signatures like pappardelle with duck ragu, chocolate and orange and risotto alla Kristina. Other dishes will include a dry-aged T-bone with patata al forno and broccolini; roasted sea bass with cannelloni beans and herb salad; and various Italian desserts. Cicchetti will run between $6 to $20, with larger plates in the $16-to-$42 range. They'll do lunch and dinner seven days a week.
Frédéric Morin of Montreal’s Joe Beef will be joining pal Marc Vetri for a cookbook dinner next Wednesday, Dec. 7 at Osteria (640 N. Broad St.). Morin will be conjuring up plates from his new "cookbook of sorts," The Art of Living According to Joe Beef, which was recently reviewed by Adam Erace in our Nov. 17 food issue. The five-course dinner — $150, a price that includes, tax, tip, alcohol and a signed copy of the book — will feature staples from the restaurant, including Hot Oysters on the Radio, lobster-stuffed squid and duck steak au poivre. Full menu after the jump; make your reservations here.
Photo: Neal Santos
Chef-brothers Terence and Patrick Feury (L-R) have gotten into cheesemaking, and on Monday, Nov. 14, you'll have a chance to eat their curds during a special four-course dinner on Terence's turf at Fork (306 Market St.). The Feurys have tapped Victory for pairings (included in the $55 price) and brewery cofounder Bill Covaleski will be on hand to talk beer — in 2009, the three collab'ed on Victory’s Fists of Feury — amid bites of fresh chevre with heirloom root vegetables and ricotta gnudi with pancetta, butternut squash and brown butter. Peep the full menu after jump and call Fork at 215-625-9425 for reservations.
“What the fuck is Top Chef’s Jennifer Carroll doing cooking at the South Philadelphia Tap Room?"
If Scott Schroeder wasn’t the chef at SPTR (1509 Mifflin St.), he’d have a career in developing press-release intros like the attention-grabbing gem above. Today, he dropped word of his upcoming two-part Allagash dinner with former 10 Arts chef Jennifer Carroll and Collegeville's Longview Center for Agriculture, the first part of which takes place at SPTR on Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. Schroeder and Carroll will be taking diners on a culinary drive up 95 with seven courses inspired by New England. Think scallop carpaccio, clam chowder with milk-braised bacon (a la Southwark's Nick Macri), short rib pot roast and more, all paired with Allagash beers. (Full menu after the jump.) The dinner is $80-plus-plus, and reservations can be made starting tomorrow at noon by calling SPTR at 215-271-7787. The second part of this dinner series will be held at the Longview Center; stay tuned for more details.
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