ALL THINGS FOOD: James Beard Foundation Annual Gala and Auction

www.jamesbeard.org
(James Beard awards are the US food version of the Oscar awards for tv/movies)

Visit date: November 10

My second trip back to New York so soon was based on this event. Here’s what I said on Facebook the morning after:
It’s always been a fantasy of mine to have five Frenchmen feed me an amazing culinary feast of seasonal truffles with lots of butter and a familiar but mysterious array of spices while a master Chinese sommeliar got me drunk on grand cru vintages. Slightly intimidating meeting them, left me feeling like a little schoolgirl, very blissful and happy.

Looking back, it was phenomenal to meet five legendary French chefs (and take pictures with them):
Joel Robuchon
Guy Savoy
Alain Ducasse
Jean-Georges Vongerichten
Fracois Payard

And we must not forget the fantastic sommelier:
Bernard Sun

These men have been cooking for years with numerous accolades and restaurants worldwide. One of great acclaim is Joel Robuchon who has been dubbed "Chef of the century" for his work at L’Atelier in Paris. Impressive, no? Absolutely.

But the recurring thought now – it’s hard for even chefs of this caliber to prepare 10+ hors d’oeuvres and a 5-course meal for 300 diners at once. Can you imagine the kitchen activity that night? The food was good but also a little inconsistent, and not so much of the wow factor I was hoping to get. It was also an odd feeling that half the diners had already eaten their course and had their plates cleared while we were just getting ours. Clearly, I could not afford a VIP table for 10 closer to the front at $10,000 per table. To that point, many of the guests were, sorry to say, old rich folk. It was, and still is, hard not to think they were there because they had nothing better to do, or no other place to spend their money. Let's just say there were pricey silent auction items during the reception, and live auction items in between courses that bid between $10,000-30,000!

But even with these observations/feelings of unjust, the event was a great experience and I had fun soaking/drinking in the moment. Short of being able to visit each chef’s restaurant in their various flagship locations, US or abroad, it was a good experience, if not just for bragging rights alone.