I was at Plate by Plate, Project by Project‘s annual tasting benefit, last night. I was privileged enough to get early access, to watch as the chefs plated their dishes. This is my favorite part, the calm before the storm, when I can watch as chefs are busy, but still have the time to have little interactions with one another. Having been behind the tables before, I loved seeing a member of Blue Smoke hand a plate over to the guys working at Geisha. The chef of Geisha happily shared his dishes with the crew of Blue Smoke. The smiles and quick exchange are short, as they all rush back to work, but these moments are priceless. It warms my heart because food is about sharing.
When it was time to begin, Sandra Endo (reporter, CNN) introduced Connie Chung. Pictures were snapped… but I didn’t see most of the other celebrities that were supposed to be there.
More importantly, 25 restaurants of notable recognition (Morimoto, One if By Land Two if By Sea, En Japanese Brasserie, etc.) were serving up plates of food, often more than one dish. The winner of the night for me, and most of the people I spoke to, was the Black Truffle Tuna Sandwich by Chef Don Pham of Geisha Restaurant 33 East 61st Street, New York, NY 10021. The “bread” of the sandwich is made with rice and sesame coated seaweed, cut into triangles. The filling is diced blue fin tuna, avocado, and micro greens. None of us tasted any truffle but loved it as is. They serve this at the restaurant so you can go have it too!
Second place was the Lobster Bisque served with a warm Gougere, by Chef Florian Hugo of Brasserie Cognac 1740 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. It was served nice and hot, rich but not heavy.
Third place goes to the nice slice of rare duck served by L’ecole at The French Culinary Institute 462 Broadway, New York, NY 10013.
My favorite dessert was the Black Sesame Soy Custard by Chef Michelle Park of Kyotofu 705 Ninth Avenue, New York, NY 10019. It’s similar to do fu hwa, but flavored with black sesame and so lightly sweetened, perfectly smooth and light enough to eat a whole tub of.
Let’s just say, you may see some of these chefs again on FoodMayhem. A few have agreed to give us some lessons!
It’s hard not to compare this to Le Fooding D’Amour, another charity event I went to recently. This one costs $150 for general admission ($125 if you buy it early enough or buy in groups of 6 or more) so it’s clearly way more expensive. On the flip side, no one ever had to wait for any food at any of the tables. You could eat as many pieces as you wanted and really stuff yourself silly. There was also tons of alcohol at this event so if you’re a drinker, you could have had drank your money’s worth easily. Le Fooding was $30 but that didn’t include drinks (which I think were $12 each) and the line after line after line just isn’t fun. I’m never going to that one again. For $125-$150, I’d really rather sit down in a restaurant and not walk around as I ate, but the point is, this is a charity event, and if you want to go to some, this is one of the better ones.
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What a lovely benefit this is,..a culinary one!
The food looks fab! That is great that you had a lot of fun!
I totally agree with your top 3. I was at the event too, but volunteering.
Don’t forget the onsen tomago from 81. That was an experience all in itself!! Glad you guys liked it =).
This looks like a fabulous event, and I like hearing that you didn’t have to wait in line for these incredible bites!
Sabrina, volunteering is a great way to do something great for your community and get great food! Win Win!
Chi, I must have missed that table. I thought I ate just about everything but I wonder how I missed one.
Fresh Local and Best, they have one in NY annually, and do it in LA, and SF soon as well. No lines is a big plus!!
We are honored that you chose dishes from Geisha and Brasserie Cognac as your top two! We hope that everyone will come visit us and try the remarkable cuisine that we serve at our restaurants.
http://www.geisharestaurant.com
http://www.cognacrestaurant.com
Great seeing you Jess! My same top three! Going to Geisha next Wed with 3 friends!
I came across your site, i think your blog is awsome, keep us posting.
For profiles on the restaurants and chefs participating at PLATE BY PLATE 2010 please visit: http://pbpla.privy.net/
For example, for an interview of Nobu’s Executive Chef click here: http://bit.ly/nobuchef