Sneak peek at Emmys Governors Ball menu

The Los Angeles Convention Center's West Hall has been completely transformed for the Primetime Emmy Awards Governors Ball on Sunday. The theme is mod illusions -- the entire space decorated in black and white with a touch of gold to represent the Emmy, with large iridescent chandeliers mimickimg sea anenomes. 

And for dinner? Patina Catering of Patina Restaurant Group has been creating and cooking the menu for the Governors Ball for 13 consecutive years. With 3,800 guests, it might be the largest sit-down dinner in the United States. Chef and founder Joachim Splichal says his menu is inspired by the season. The first course is composed of Windrose Farm heirloom tomatoes, rosemary, cherry-wood-grilled asparagus and fried golden potatoes. 

For the second course, filet mignon with gratin of macaroni with white Vermont cheddar, rainbow baby carrots, cipollini onion, caramelized broccoli emulsion and oxtail bordalaise. 

For dessert: milk chocolate brownie, chocolate blackberry cream, blackberry macaron and chocolate rice crisp with honey sauce. 

 

In addition, Splichal and his team are offering fish, vegetarian and vegan menu options. If celebrities are on a special diet, Splichal has runners at local markets and the main office to bring the ingredients to the site in less than 15 minutes. Now that's service.

ALSO:

Food Day is Oct. 24

Fukuburger comes to Hollywood

Green tea workshops at Tortoise General Store

--Leah Rodrigues

twitter.com/LeahRodrigues24

Photo Credit: Leah Rodrigues

2011 AIA Restaurant Design Award winners

The American Institute of Architects announced the winners of its 2011 Restaurant Design Awards at a ceremony at the L.A. Convention Center on Friday. L.A. favorites claimed two of the three People's Choice Awards: the categories of lounge/nightclub (The Spare Room at the Hollywood Roosevelt) and cafe/bar (Mendocino Farms in Marina del Rey). Grace in Portland, Maine, took the prize for restaurant.

Jury winners were: Incenhaurers in Austin, Texas (lounge/nightclub); City Center's Aria pool deck in Las Vegas (cafe/bar); Earl's Gourmet Grub in Los Angeles (cafe/bar); Lukshon in Culver City (restaurant); Pitfire Pizza in Culver City (restaurant); and the Wright at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City (restaurant).

Judging from the photos of the winning designs, favor lies with a sleek, modernist feel with slightly rustic touches. For more information on the awards and to check out the different designers, click here.

ALSO:

Grilled fish and corn is the perfect backyard dinner

Nab the recipe for a Strawberry Siam parfait. Yum.

Ricardo Zarate's Picca is open for business

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Lukshon in Culver City. Credit: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times

Andres wins best chef; another SoCal shutout at the Beard awards

Jose Andres of minibar in Washington, D.C., was named the outstanding chef of the year at the James Beard Foundation's annual awards ceremony Monday night at Lincoln Center in New York. Danny Meyer's Eleven Madison Park in New York was named the outstanding restaurant in the country. The best chef in the Pacific region went to San Francisco's Michael Tusk of Quince and Cotogna, ahead of a crowd that included Los Angeles’ Michael Cimarusti of Providence.

Once again, no Los Angeles restaurants won a major award, continuing a string that dates back to 2004, though Andres also runs Bazaar at the SLS here.

Among other top awards, Jean-Georges Vongerichten's ABC Kitchen in New York was named best new restaurant; Richard Melman of Lettuce Entertain You in Chicago was named outstanding restaurateur; Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon in Portland, Ore., was name rising star chef; and Eleven Madison Park's Angela Pinkerton was named outstanding pastry chef.

In the beverage and service categories, Julian P. Van Winkle III of Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery in Louisville, Ky., won the outstanding professional award, and the Modern in New York won the outstanding wine service award. Per Se in New York won for outstanding service.

Rounding out the regional awards, Alex Young of Zingerman's Roadhouse in Ann Arbor, Mich., won for the Great Lakes; Michael Solomonov of Zahav in Philadelphia won Mid-Atlantic; Isaac Becker of 112 Eatery in Minneapolis won Midwest; Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune won New York City; Tony Maws of Craigie on Main in Cambridge, Mass., won Northeast; Andy Ricker of Pok Pok in Portland, Ore., won Northwest; Stephen Stryjewski of Cochon in New Orleans won South; Andrea Reusing of Lantern in Chapel Hill, N.C., won Southeast; and Saipin Chutima of Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas and Tyson Cole of Uchi in Austin, Texas, tied for Southwest.

-- Russ Parsons

Photo: Jose Andres; credit: Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

Diana Kennedy, "Top Chef" top James Beard awards

Diana Kennedy’s “Oaxaca al Gusto” was the best cookbook of the year according to the James Beard Foundation, at “Top Chef” was the best food television show. The awards were announced Friday night at Espace in New York. The restaurant awards will be announced Monday night. Harold McGee’s “On Food and Cooking” was placed in the Cookbook Hall of Fame.

In other cookbook awards, American Cooking was won by “Pig: King of the Southern Table” by James Villas; Baking and Dessert: “Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours,” by former Los Angeles pastry chef Kim Boyce and frequent Los Angeles Times contributor Amy Scattergood; Beverage: “Secrets of the Sommeliers: How to Think and Drink Like the World’s Top Wine Professionals” by Jordan Mackay and Rajat Parr; Cooking from a Professional Point of View: “Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine” by René Redzepi; General Cooking: “The Essential New York Times Cook Book: Classic Recipes for a New Century” by Amanda Hesser; Healthy Focus: “The Simple Art of EatingWell Cookbook” by Jessie Price & the EatingWell Test Kitchen; International: “Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Mastery, with Authentic Recipes and Stories”  by Grace Young; Photography: “Noma”; Reference and Scholarship: “Salted: A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes” by Mark Bitterman; Single Subject: “Meat: A Kitchen Education” by James Peterson ; and Writing and Literature: “Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food” by Paul Greenberg .

In the journalism awards, Patric Kuh of Los Angeles magazine won the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award and Jonathan Gold of LA Weekly won the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award. Publication of the Year was Edible Communities. Cooking, Recipes, or Instruction: Amy Thielen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune; Environment, Food Politics and Policy: Carl Safina of EatingWell; Food Culture and Travel: Rick Bragg, Francine Maroukian, and Robb Walsh in Garden & Gun; Food Column: Tim Carman of the Washington City Paper; Food-Related Feature: Dan Koeppel of Saveur; Food Section of a General Interest Publication: San Francisco Chronicle; Group Food Blog: Grub Street New York; Health and Nutrition: Rachael Moeller Gorman of Eating Well; Humor: Ruth Bourdain; Individual Food Blog: Barry Estabrook of Politicsoftheplate.com; Multimedia Food Feature: Michael Gebert and Julie Thiel of the Chicago Reader; Personal Essay: Tom Junod; Profile: Benjamin Wallace of New York magazine; and Wine and Spirits: Jon Fine of Food & Wine. The Los Angeles Times does not enter the James Beard awards.

In the broadcast and online division, Audio Webcast or Radio Show was “CBC Ideas: Pasta: The Long and Short of It” hosted by Megan Williams; TV Food Personality: Alton Brown; On-Location Television Program: “Avec Eric” by Eric Ripert; Television Segment: “60 Minute: Chef Jose Andres”; Television Special/Documentary: “Milk War” hosted by Colm Feore and produced by Declan O’Driscoll and Kevin O’Keefe; and Video Webcast: GrapeRadio hosted by Eric Anderson, Brian Clark, and Jay Selman and produced by Mark Ryan and Selman.

--Russ Parsons

 

 

Mo-Chica's Ricardo Zarate makes best new chef list

 
Ricardo Zarate of much-loved Mo-Chica, the 2-year-old star of the Mercado La Paloma food court near USC, has been named one of Food & Wine magazine's best new chefs of the year, joining such familiar past winners as Thomas Keller and Rick Bayless (both 1988) and Nobu Matsuhisa (1989).

Others named to this year's list include: Bowman Brown and Viet Pham from Salt Lake City's Forage, Jason Franey from Seattle's Canlis, Bryce Gilmore from Austin, Texas' Barley Swine and Odd Duck Farm to Trailer, Stephanie Izard from Chicago's Girl & the Goat, James Lewis of Birmingham, Ala.'s Bettola, George Mendes from New York's Aldea, Carlo Mirarchi from Brooklyn's Roberta’s, Joshua Skenes from San Francisco's Saison and Kevin Willmann from St. Louis' Farmhaus.

Zarate is in the process of opening Picca, a small-plate anticucho and ceviche restaurant, later this spring.

-- Russ Parsons

Photo: Ricardo Zarate and Mario Orellana in the Mo-Chica kitchen. Credit: Los Angeles Times.

James Beard Foundation announces award finalists: L.A. chefs on the short list

The James Beard Foundation has winnowed a long list of semi-finalists for its 2011 awards and Monday announced the finalists, including Los Angeles chefs Suzanne Goin of Lucques for outstanding chef and Dahlia Narvaez of Osteria Mozza for outstanding pastry chef. 

[Updated, March 22: An earlier version of this post misspelled Dahlia Narvaez's surname as Nervaez.]

Michael Cimarusti of Providence is a finalist for best chef in the Pacific region, along with Christopher Kostow of the Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena, Calif.; Daniel Patterson of COI in San Francisco; Richard Reddington of Redd in Yountville, Calif.; and Michael Tusk of Quince in San Francisco.

Here's the full list of nominees for outstanding chef, outstanding pastry chef and other chef and restaurant categories: 

OUTSTANDING CHEF: José Andrés, Minibar, Washington; Gary Danko, Restaurant Gary Danko, San Francisco; Suzanne Goin, Lucques, Los Angeles; Paul Kahan, Blackbird, Chicago; Charles Phan, the Slanted Door, San Francisco. 

OUTSTANDING PASTRY CHEF: Joanne Chang, Flour Bakery + Cafe, Boston; Patrick Fahy, Blackbird, Chicago; Dahlia Narvaez, Osteria Mozza, Los Angeles; Angela Pinkerton, Eleven Madison Park, New York; Mindy Segal, Mindy's HotChocolate, Chicago.

RISING STAR CHEF OF THE YEAR: Aaron London, Ubuntu, Napa, Calif.; Thomas McNaughton, flour + water, San Francisco; Gabriel Rucker, Le Pigeon, Portland, Ore.; Christina Tosi, Momofuku Milk Bar, New York; Sue Zemanick, Gautreau's, New Orleans. 

BEST NEW RESTAURANT: ABC Kitchen, New York; Benu, San Fransisco; Girl & the Goat, Chicago; Menton, Boston; Torrisi Italian Specialties, New York (beating out A-Frame and Waterloo & City in Los Angeles). 

OUTSTANDING RESTAURANT: Blue Hill, New York; Boulevard, San Francisco; Eleven Madison Park, New York; Highlands Bar & Grill, Birmingham, Ala.; Vetri, Philadelphia (beating out Mélisse).

OUTSTANDING RESTAURATEUR: Bruce and Eric Bromberg, Blue Ribbon restaurants, New York; Tom Douglas, Dahlia Bakery, Dahlia Lounge, Etta’s, Lola, Palace Kitchen, Seatown Seabar & Rotisserie, and Serious Pie, Seattle; Pat Kuleto, Boulevard, Epic Roasthouse, Farallon, Jardinière, Martini House, Nick's Cove and Waterbar, San Francisco; Richard Melman, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Chicago; Phil Suarez, ABC Kitchen, Co., Gigino Trattoria, Gigino Wagner Park, Jean Georges, JoJo, J&G Steakhouse, Market, the Mark Restaurant by Jean Georges, Mercer Kitchen, Perry St., Pipa, Prime Steakhouse, Spice Market, and wd~50, various cities.  

OUTSTANDING SERVICE: Canlis, Seattle; Emeril’s, New Orleans; La Grenouille, New York; Per Se, New York; Topolobampo, Chicago.

OUTSTANDING WINE & SPIRITS PROFESSIONAL: Sam Calagione, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, Del.; Merry Edwards, Merry Edwards Winery, Sebastopol, Calif.; Paul Grieco, Hearth, New York; Rajat Parr, Mina Group, San Francisco; Julian P. Van Winkle III, Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery, Louisville, Ky.

OUTSTANDING WINE SERVICE: A16, San Francisco, wine director Shelley Lindgren; Blackberry Farm, Walland, Tenn., wine director Andy Chabot; Frasca Food & Wine, Boulder, Colo., wine director Bobby Stuckey; Picasso at Bellagio, Las Vegas, wine director Robert Smith; The Modern, New York, wine director Belinda Chang.

Photo: Michael Cimarusti at Providence. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times. 

From French Laundry to French Legion of Honor

When French Laundry chef-owner Thomas Keller was working his way up the kitchen hierarchy, he never stopped to wonder whether he’d ever make the French Legion of Honor. “I didn’t even know what it was,” he says, laughing at the thought. “I probably would have thought it was like the French Foreign Legion.”

Then along came his friend chef Daniel Boulud, who nominated him for the distinction, and now on March 29, Keller will be made a chevalier of the Legion of Honor, only the third American food person to win the honor. Legendary French chef Paul Bocuse, a commodore of the Legion of Honor, will pin the rosette on his lapel at Per Se, Keller’s Manhattan restaurant.

“Daniel brought it up to me about a year ago and then it started getting serious about six months ago,” Keller says. Letters of support came from other honorees -– wine writer Robert Parker, Boulud, Jacques Pépin, André Soltner and Bocuse.

“It’s pretty spectacular,” Keller says. “I’m super-honored, but also very grateful to have friends like that that think that much of me.”

The only Americans from the cooking world to be previously honored are Julia Child and Chez Panisse chef Alice Waters.

“I’m proud to be the first man,” Keller says, laughing.

-- Russ Parsons

Photo:  Thomas Keller hands out salmon cornets. Credit: Eric Risberg / Associated Press.

 

IACP cookbook and journalism awards finalists announced

The award season is heating up. No, not those silly old Grammys and Oscars -- the ones that really mean something, the food awards.

The International Assn. of Culinary Professionals announced the finalists for its cookbook and journalism awards this week. Among those honored were local cookbook authors Barbara Fairchild and Amy Scattergood, and local journalists Patrick Comiskey and Jonathan Gold.

Scattergood is co-author with Kim Boyce of "Good to the Grain," and Fairchild, the former editor of Bon Appetit magazine, is the author of "Bon Appetit Desserts." Comiskey, a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times Food section, was nominated for a blog post on the Zester Daily website, and Gold was nominated for restaurant writing.

-- Russ Parsons

Photo: Barbara Fairchild. Credit: Ann Johansson / For The Times

Spotted on the red carpet: Wolfgang Puck and his menu for the Oscars

On Sunday afternoon I was in the press bleachers on the red carpet at the Oscars. The glut of celebrity was so overwhelming that I became numb to the whole thing. There's Nicole Kidman and Gwyneth Paltrow with their arms around each other; there's Justin Timberlake; there's Colin Firth; and so forth.

As my eyes glazed over and my feet turned to ice (it was cold out there!) I suddenly caught a glimpse of Wolfgang Puck and his son Byron, with a whole crew of white-clad chefs, carrying a sample of the dinner Puck planned to serve at the Governor's Ball after the show. The delicious-looking food shook me from my star-induced stupor.

Word on the carpet was that Puck's smoked salmon Oscars are amazing. Best of all, he liberally doled out Sherry Yard's signature gold-plated miniature Oscar chocolates to everyone he saw. Also on the menu: a sushi and shellfish station, black truffle pizza with ricotta and thyme, a trio of salads, pan-roasted Dover sole, vegetable risotto paella, and asparagus with Iberico ham and black truffle aioli.

Puck said he was cooking for 1,500 guests and that he had 12 chefs just working on the special requests of the stars.

The Governor's Ball was the last in a series of Academy Awards dinners helmed by celebrity chefs. Joachim Splichal regularly caters the Emmys; Suzanne Goin concluded her second year catering the SAG Awards last month; and, for the first time ever, Ludo Lefebvre catered Elton John's Oscar party. I'm told that food went really fast.

For more on Wolfgang Puck on the red carpet, check out this post on Ministry of Gossip.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Wolfgang Puck, left, and son Byron on the Oscars red carpet on Feb. 27, 2011. Credit: Jessica Gelt / Los Angeles Times

James Beard names semifinalists for 2011 awards

 

The semifinalists for the 2011 James Beard Foundation's restaurant and chef awards were announced Thursday. (Good luck getting on the James Beard website.) There are 19 categories, including best new restaurant, outstanding chef, rising star chef of the year and 10 regional best chefs. A-Frame and Waterloo & City are among the nominees for best new restaurant. Suzanne Goin is in the running for outstanding chef, and Mélisse is a contender for outstanding restaurant. Of the 20 semifinalists in the best chef Pacific category, eight are from Los Angeles. 

See the full list of local nominees after the jump.