[blindcooks] Re: Higher Help--Washington Post Article About Chefs Who Cook At Your Home
- From: Vicki <j.ireland@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: blindcooks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 12:53:42 -0700
Interesting.
Hey, I haven't forgotten. We need a long visit. I've just been so out-of-pocket
with this kitchen stuff. When dealing with older home, ugh!!!!!!!!!!
But this too will get done. May have a kitchen but may have to live at your
house. Lol!
----- Original Message -----
From: Carolyn Ranker <carolynranker@xxxxxxxxx>
To: blindcooks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wednesday, January 21, 2015 3:33 pm
Subject: [blindcooks] Higher Help--Washington Post Article About Chefs Who Cook
At Your Home
>
>
> Article below about in-home chefs.
> Washington Post Jan. 21, 2015
> Higher help .
> Bonnie S. Benwick. Mike Isabella is fast building a posse of
> restaurants, but none
> of them may rival what the fame-kissed chef says is the ultimate
> dining experience:
> serving his food at your house.
> "It's what the client wants, where we can go and cook for two to eight
> people. A
> raw bar, a spit-roasted pig. Maybe a cooking class," he says, in his New
> Jersey,
> anything's-possible manner. "That's the new style.
> Amy Brandwein, the popular Washington chef who's opening Centrolina in
> the spring,
> has done plenty of dinners and cocktail parties in private homes over
> the past few
> years. "It's a more personal connection," she says. "They hire me to
> get that, plus
> a knockout meal in their homes. And it's fun going outside my normal element.
> They could be onto something. Does the new Going All Out mean staying
> in, inviting
> a handful of friends, interacting in your own kitchen with a chef you
> admire, and
> doing no more at evening's end than wish everyone a fond farewell?
> Personal cheffing has long offered convenience for consumers; its most
> promising
> incarnation might be Kitchensurfing, a service offered in six cities
> across the country
> to date, including the District of Columbia. Its online roster of
> talent features
> profiles that detail the chefs' work experience and cuisine strengths.
> Chief executive
> Jon Tien says that in New York, his company is piloting a weeknight
> program in which
> customers can book as late in the day as 3 p.m. and have a chef shop,
> cook and clean
> that evening for $25 per person.
> Kitchensurfing doesn't deal in big names, though you can choose
> someone who might
> have worked at, say, the French Laundry.
> But now that chefs and their Michelin stars have become firmly affixed
> in pop culture,
> the public is hungry for dinner and a show, an intimate brush with
> celebrity.
> Food Network "Chopped" host Ted Allen sees that appetite growing.
> ("Top Chef" cruise,
> anyone?) He has been at enough private dinners cooked by celebrity
> chefs to understand
> who can afford them outright: the 1-percenters and corporations clued
> into the lure
> of high-profile cuisine on home turf. A chef who has earned
> name-recognition status
> might charge an appearance fee of several thousand bucks - on top of the cost
> of
> a private meal, a sous-chef or two, servers and any tableware rentals.
> "If you hire Mario Batali, of course you want to taste his food. But what
> you're
> really after is his sparkling repartee, a few photos and being able to
> introduce
> him to your friends," Allen says.
> Not all chefs want to be like Mike.
> "Dinners in private houses are not something I want to do," says Le
> Bernardin's Eric
> Ripert. "It distracts me from my restaurants, and I want to keep that
> very high value
> for our guests. Still, the super-luminary chef admits he was caught a
> few years ago
> when a very persistent woman asked him to do a private birthday dinner for 12
> in
> Las Vegas.
> "It went on for three weeks," he says. "I said no 20 times, and then I gave
> this
> crazy price, one that was absolutely irrational. And she agreed! Now,
> I won't even
> give a crazy number.
> Ripert makes one exception. For the past 20 years, he has cooked a
> "re-creation of
> the Le Bernardin experience at home" for the bidder who wins his
> services via the
> annual fundraising auction for City Harvest, a group dedicated to
> ending hunger in
> New York.
> The cause is dear to Ripert, who is a vice chairman for the
> organization's Food Council.
> In 2013, his dinner for 20 plus an appearance by his friend Richard Gere set
> off
> a bidding frenzy that escalated to $220,000; Gere immediately got the
> chef to agree
> to do a second dinner for a separate bidder, for the same amount.
> The mind reels at how such a menu might read; Ripert ticks off a
> vaguely remembered
> list of lobster, caviar, truffles. But he says those private dinners
> are hardly about
> the food. "I'm easygoing. If people want to come into the kitchen or
> invite me to
> sit at the table, that's fine. Ultimately . . . it's about how many
> people we can
> feed through City Harvest.
> Bryan Voltaggio, of Volt, Range and Family Meal restaurants, says he
> also turns down
> compensated dinner opportunities, focusing his extracurricular efforts
> instead on
> charity auction dinners for No Kid Hungry, a Share Our Strength campaign.
> "For a
> business person, I have a hard time taking people's money," says
> Voltaggio. For the
> charity dinners, he brings an entire kitchen crew and every plate and
> glass needed
> for a 21-course production, a la his Table 21 at Volt. "It's a mission that
> made
> sense to me. Since 2009, we have raised almost $1 million.
> Demands on her time and constant travel cause Carla Hall of "The Chew" to
> refuse
> at least four requests a month to cook at private events. "I guess I'm
> at the age
> where I really value my free time. I'd rather spend it with my
> family," she says.
> Her high-roller price? "It would have to be $25,000.
> The former caterer is on the verge of opening her own restaurant,
> which would make
> it easier for her to prep for and staff a small charity dinner. But she says
> she
> might stick with how she's learned to redirect those requests. "I go
> out to eat with
> someone rather than cook a meal," Hall says. "It's two hours of my
> time versus 10
> hours and less stress. More of my attention is directed at the guests.
> The 32 dinners that chefs cooked and served in private homes for
> Washington's own
> Sips & Suppers last year raised more than $500,000 to benefit D.C.
> Central Kitchen
> and Martha's Table. Hosting a dinner is another way to get a culinary
> wizard like
> David Chang in your front door, but not just any kitchen will do. It has to
> pass
> muster beforehand in a visit from event co-host Joan Nathan. Working
> appliances and
> enough space to accommodate a sizable team are a must.
> The Sips & Suppers chefs don't have to donate ingredients - local and
> national food
> suppliers have stepped up - but "they are so generous with their
> time," Nathan says.
> "They really love doing this fundraiser.
> Chang will work his magic at the Alexandria home of Evan and Tracy
> Morris for this
> year's event on Jan. 25. "I'm dying for that to happen," Tracy says.
> Ever since the
> couple hired Roberto Donna to cook for a private birthday party some
> five years ago,
> they've been hooked on the experience. Since then, chefs Isabella, Kaz Okochi
> of
> Kaz Sushi Bistro, Scott Drewno of the Source, Jordan Lloyd of the
> Bartlett Pear Inn
> in Easton, Md., and Nick Stefanelli of Bibiana have cooked for the
> Morrises' parties,
> mostly through charitable causes.
> "I love to cook, and we do love eating out," Tracy says. She still has
> a visual memory
> of "exactly" how chef Donna showed her to make ravioli. "For me, it's
> like having
> a new friend in the house. Each time is a different adventure. Nick
> Stefanelli showed
> my 8-year-old daughter how to roll out dough. I had to take pictures of that!
> Brandwein knows that sharing her expertise is part of deal. Thirty
> minutes before
> the first canape is delivered, though, she asks for no company in the
> kitchen: "I'm
> in concentrated mode," she says. The chef has devised a detailed
> system to ensure
> that things go smoothly, including a spreadsheet checklist for prep and
> pack-up,
> and reserving a little of the food for late or unexpected guests.
> Still, she knows things can go wrong, like the water-main break that delayed
> her
> arrival and forced her and crew to unload and roll all their materials
> some six blocks
> to the home. Tracy Morris says her oven stopped working the day of the
> Scott Drewno
> dinner. Unflappable, he cooked on the outdoor grill instead - souffle
> included. It
> made her love him all the more.
> For a recent celebration at the home of Del Ray resident Mary Jane
> Volk, Brandwein
> and host agreed on a small-plates-and- pasta theme, due in part to
> Volk's small entertaining
> space. The menu: shots of cauliflower soup; roasted sweet potato with
> eggplant and
> Greek yogurt; little meatballs; charcuterie and cheese; egg raviolo
> with Swiss chard;
> pappardelle Bolognese; and seared scallops with celery root.
> A friend of the chef's, Volk hadn't thought to hire her before and was
> thrilled with
> the results. "My guests were really excited to meet her. Her takeaway:
> "You don't
> have to spend a lot or have to have space for a sit-down for 12. You
> can still do
> something fabulous.
> Price points for Brandwein's and Isabella's services seem reasonable,
> considering
> the chefs' experience and stature. Brandwein quoted a range of $85 to
> $125 per person,
> and Isabella $75 to $125 per person, based on a party of 8 to 10,
> excluding wine,
> service and rentals. Isabella can't guarantee he'll always be the one to run
> the
> show; maybe George Pagonis of Kapnos (this season's "Top Chef"
> comeback kid) might
> be there instead.
> Isabella wants to cater to everyone, he says. To that end, he is
> soft-launching Catering
> by Mike at the end of the month, promising to cook in any kitchen situation:
> "We
> don't want you spending a lot of money. I definitely think it's the new way.
> His
> own appearance fee? "Negotiable.
> bonnie.benwick@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>
As Always, Vicki
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