AMERICAN EXPRESS CELEBRITY CHEF TOUR:
TURNING THE TABLES ON TOP TOQUES

Sitting in repose around an elegantly dressed table is not usually how people think of chefs. But, hey, chefs eat too. In fact, they love to eat! And in the case of nine Associate Club and ClubResorts executive chefs — tapped to participate on the stove end of the American Express Celebrity Chef Tour benefiting the James Beard Foundation — it only seemed fitting to honor them with a night out on the town in New York, the most celebrated dining city in the world.

Having turned in their toques for ties, the chefs convened in the unassuming Greenwich Village brownstone where James Beard — considered the father of American cooking — once lived and entertained. The Beard House today is a living tribute to the jovial culinary pioneer, providing a Carnegie Hall-like showcase for top culinarians from around the nation to come and orchestrate a single night of epicurean exhibitionism. This is the ultimate plum for chefs — a chance to make fantasy dishes a five-course reality, for just one night.

On this spring evening, the James Beard stage belonged to the restaurant Canlis of Seattle, whose team of five chefs had been prepping since 8 a.m. The chefs and I funneled through the cramped, centrally located, working kitchen (as all guests do) to a glass-enclosed room where jewel-like hors d’oeuvres made it clear that this would be a night of extreme cooking: duck confit on romaine spears with Roquefort … foie gras and truffle pâté wrapped in prosciutto … Kumamoto oysters with white sturgeon caviar … complemented by a 1995 Henriot Champagne.

Naturally, much of the conversation among the nine ClubCorp chefs touched on the actual food of the evening — flavors, textures, presentation. The opportunity to dine together also afforded time to share thoughts on what it means to be a chef. And against the classy yet funky backdrop of the Beard House’s dining floor, painted dark orange and peppered with smiling portraits of "Jim," talk swung just as easily to food experiences that were worlds away from 167 West 12th Street.

INGREDIENTS, INGREDIENTS, INGREDIENTS
Chefs are fascinated by the interplay of ingredients, and the degree to which the star of a dish is enhanced by its supporting players. The first course — a scampi, mango, and avocado salad — succeeded on the balance of its superior ingredients, including baby greens, hearts of palm, and a scant drizzle of ruby grapefruit syrup. (Scampi is a freshwater prawn, also known as langoustine, though many people associate the term only with the preparation using garlic and oil). In the second course, the Dungeness crab cake seemed dominated by Valencia orange-butter, which didn’t ruin the dish but did seem to shift the focus away from the crab.

The third course — hazelnut poussin with pea vines, shallots, and Yukon Gold straw potatoes — raised the issue of ingredient provenance: Where was the young chicken from? Plus, do people know that poussin is chicken? Extreme specificity has become ingrained in modern American menus; but the proof is ultimately in the pudding, and this savory poultry course soared. Our table marveled at how hot and moist the dish arrived, despite the logistics of the Canlis team working in a tight, unfamiliar kitchen and the 60 plates needing to be marched upstairs. The meat course harbored little mystery, promising "Aged, Washington Black Angus beef, naturally raised and pasture-fed." The tenderloin lived up to its role as the cleanup hitter in the formidable menu, perfectly charred and served on a bed of greens with snap peas, onions, asparagus, and a sherry-morel cream.

When Chris Canlis (who owns the restaurant with his wife, Alice) spoke, we learned about the beef coming from a small cattle farm on Misty Isle, off the Seattle coast. There was nodding appreciation of the fact that we were enjoying one restaurant’s prime local source some 3,000 miles away. Indeed, the flip side of that irony is thanks to modern storage and transport, a chef’s reach for ingredients is unprecedented. Scott Schwartz talked about getting all sorts of game flown to him at the Buckhead Club in Atlanta. Kraig Thome of the University Club of Houston raved about the range of artisanal cheeses available in Houston. And the targeted procurement of foodstuffs is not limited to the haute end: Phil Bouza "imports" Sabrett hot dogs — sold famously from street carts all over Manhattan — for the halfway points on the four golf courses at Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas.

Billy Della Ventura of the Boston College Club summed it up: Good cooking has always been about ingredients first. He recalled how his family in Rhode Island would take trips to the Bronx to "load up" on sausages, olives, olive oil, fresh mozzarella, and bread. Fortunately, he added, the past decades have brought a real blossoming of the American food scene. "Twenty years ago," he said, "you couldn’t get fresh shiitake mushrooms, or mesclun mix. Even balsamic vinegar was hard to find." Chefs now have the ability to get the goods they need to fit their vision. And the dining public seems keener than ever to follow as chefs lead them to diverse ingredients, whether it’s scampi, poussin, pedigreed steak, or even hibiscus ice like the one served as an intermezzo on this particular night.

SALAD DAYS
Several of the chefs recalled being drawn to cooking at a tender age. Bill Videtto Jr. of the Pyramid Club in Philadelphia explained: "There were seven kids in our family so dinner was always a big production. I always had to help and that’s when I got started." Scott Schwartz remembered the first dish he cooked, at age 7, with his mother: coeur a la crème with raspberry coulis. Bruno Massuger of the Center Club in Costa Mesa, California, also started early in the kitchen, but in a very different way: "My mother died when I was very young, and I decided that if I wanted to eat good food, I would have to learn to cook it myself." Derek Healy of the City Club on Bunker Hill in Los Angeles referenced his years growing up in Ireland: "When most kids were falling a sleep with comic books on their chest, I was reading cookbooks." Brad Evers of Stonebriar Country Club near Dallas tapped into a different medium — television. "Back in the early ’70s, I would watch The Galloping Gourmet with Graham Kerr religiously," he said. "My brother and sister thought I was crazy. He was a hoot, though, drinking wine and setting things on fire on the set." Barton Creek’s Bouza started cooking as a teenager: "I was 14 years old when my brother got me a job as a dishwasher in a steak and seafood restaurant. Washing dishes was not for me so I began to show interest in cooking. An old French chef took me under his wing and began showing me a variety of techniques. Then I bought my first cookbook, the new Larousse Gastronomique. From that point on, I was hooked."

KEEPING UP WITH THE CAFÉ JONESES
After being in the business for a long time, it’s easy for chefs not to dine out. But going out is still the best way to keep up with what other restaurants are doing. Pyramid Club’s Videtto said one of the things he focuses on when going out is how the menu description fits the delivered dish. Schwartz pointed out that he favors local restaurants, especially when traveling, to get a better feel for the regional cuisine.

It’s not uncommon for Thome to visit 100 restaurants a year; he recently returned from a spin through Las Vegas. "I’m always looking for ideas, but it’s not so easy to find new ideas," he said. "I’m focused more on the whole experience of dining out. And it’s not always about money or food that makes the experience." Because dining out is important to many of his members in Houston, he writes about his dining-out experiences for the club newsletter.

GLARE OF SPOTLIGHT VS. HEAT OF KITCHEN
Once upon a time, chefs were practically faceless, toiling and boiling away in the kitchen — out of sight, out of mind. Today, Wolfgang Puck, Mario Batali, Emeril Lagasse, and the like are household names. Everyone at the ClubCorp table took celebrity chefdom with a healthy grain of salt. The chefs agreed that celebrity status is as much about publicity as anything else. Healy has cooked with stars (Joachim Splichal and Piero Selvaggio) and for stars (Judge Lance Ito, Donald Trump). His concern is that celebrity chefs get "spread too thin." Evers stated simply that not everyone wants to be a star. "Working at a country club is perfect for me," he said.

Unlike celebrities, club chefs are real kitchen dwellers; they are hard-core chefs and hands-on managers, usually overseeing multiple venues and special events. Bouza, for example, supervises 10 sous chefs, 55 cooks, and 38 other kitchen workers at Barton Creek. Club chefs also need to stay in sync with the rhythm of dining at their respective clubs — lunch crowd versus family dinners versus weekend brunchers.

As the club environment is built on constant interaction among staff and members, the chefs get plenty of feedback, and plenty of requests. Versatility is key, Center Club’s Massuger pointed out. He said his cooking at the club has ranged from French-Californian to Asian to Pan Pacific and South American. The job always comes back to pleasing people; diners are not merely customers, they’re members. At times, it’s like cooking for family, the chefs agreed. Massuger added that there are items on his menu he simply can never take off, such as a lobster salad with hearts of palm and papaya. Ken McNamee, at Columbia Tower Club in Seattle, keeps a detailed log of members’ favorite dishes, so he can always be ready to fulfill a special order.

Schwartz recalled the time a boy was overheard asking his parents for a Happy Meal. Schwartz had a member of his kitchen staff run out to McDonald’s and get a Happy Meal. The kitchen plated the McD’s burger, fries, and toy under a dome, revealing it with tableside fanfare. Everyone was suitably impressed, except for the young diner, who promptly told his parents, "See, I told you they have Happy Meals."

FROM MIND TO MENU
At the time of the New York dinner, none of the chefs had started designing their respective celebrity chef dinners. Too much depended on seasonal factors. But it was interesting to hear some of the strategies the chefs use when planning menus. Schwartz said, "I like to talk to the growers and find out what the best of the best is going to be during that time of the year. Menus are not written in stone until about two days before production because I never know what might come to market."

An elaborate one-time menu calls for a mix of spontaneity and careful planning. Healy said, "I usually go with my instinct to plan a menu. Most times I dream about a dish and try it out a day or two later." Evers explained his method: "Start with a clean sheet of paper. See what is seasonal, which wines will be served. Make notes. Usually start with the entrée then go up and down from there." McNamee’s approach: "I start with what the occasion is. Then I build the meal around the theme." In fact, McNamee has proven to be a master at culinary improvisation. He was selected by the American Culinary Federation to represent 13 West Coast states this summer at a national competition, where chefs were given a box of ingredients, then 30 minutes to write a menu, and three hours to cook a multicourse meal.

And, as Thome pointed out, concept matters: "I like to decide which courses are going to be the focal point and for what reason. Some items are playful and memorable, some are simple and product-focused, and some are educational. I think a well-executed menu has the potential to engage the diner on many levels and create a lasting conversation that will continue long after the meal is over."

BRAVO!
After the grand finale — rhubarb shortcake with white chocolate ganache and a Meyer lemon and rhubarb syrup — the Canlis crew came upstairs to take a bow in the main dining area. The ClubCorp nine were quickly on their feet, applauding. It had been an evening of sheer culinary creativity, fully appreciated by a cluster of chefs who are ready and eager to create their own James Beard-worthy feasts.

AMERICAN EXPRESS CELEBRITY CHEF TOUR
Sept. 17
Columbia Tower Club, Seattle
Host chef Ken McNamee
Celebrity chef David Pasternack (Esca, New York)

Oct. 1
Boston College Club, Boston
Host chef Billy Della Ventura
Celebrity chef Marc Murphy (Landmarc, New York)

Oct. 8
Stonebriar Country Club, Frisco, Texas
Host chef Brad Evers
Celebrity chef Jacques Leonardi (Jacques-Imo’s Cafe, New Orleans)

Oct. 16
Center Club, Costa Mesa, California
Host chef Bruno Massuger
Celebrity chef Tim Love (Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Fort Worth, Texas)

Oct. 23
University Club of Houston
Host chef Kraig Thome
Celebrity chef Bruce Auden (Biga on the Banks, San Antonio)

Nov. 13
Buckhead Club, Atlanta
Host chef Scott Schwartz
Celebrity chef Bernard Guillas (The Marine Room, San Diego, California)

Feb. 5
Barton Creek Resort & Spa, Austin, Texas
Host chef Phil Bouza
Celebrity chef Gary L. Mennie (Canoe, Atlanta)

TOUR PARTNERS
American Express, ClubCorp, Radisson Seven Seas Cruises, Robert Mondavi Winery, and Yahoo!

FOR MORE INFORMATION
www.clubcorp.com/celebchef

CHEFS’ FAVORITE FOOD VICES
Bill Videtto Jr.: "Steamed crabs, cheesesteaks, Italian hoagies."
Bruno Massuger: "In-N-Out Burgers. They are cheap, fresh, and consistent."
Kraig Thome: "Mexican Coke [made with cane sugar], Combo No. 8 at McDonald’s [Filet O-Fish], SpaghettiOs
with Sliced Franks."
Phil Bouza: "After long hours in the kitchen, the last thing I want to do at home is cook. So I am very happy with really
greasy New York pizza, or fantastic take-out Chinese."
Derek Healy: "Grilled ham and cheese sandwich."
Scott Schwartz: "Barbecue!"
Ken McNamee: "I love chocolate."
Brad Evers: "Gas station tacos. There is a Texaco station a few miles from my house. They serve real, traditional Mexican tacos and tortas on grilled soft white corn tortillas. Grilled diced meats, grilled onions, jalapeños, lime, and three hot salsas. A culinary smash hit at $1.25 each."
Billy Della Ventura: "I wouldn’t say I have a food vice. I like to taste all kinds of food."

W. R. Tish, a New York-based epicurean writer and speaker, can be reached at tish@wineforall.com.