Akon and the Chefdance

There are many dances that have latched on to the festival, but Chefdance was one I had not heard of.

Not being a foodie, it wasn't something that I would've cared to follow -- but it was free!  At least to a select few.  Both our hostess, Bethenny Frankel, and the Playbill-like program pointed out that the event drew Eddie Murphy, celebrating his Oscar nod, and Jessica Biel, who sneaked away from the cameras to be there, in the recent past.

The intrepid Sheigh and I sat through 3 of the 4 courses of cheftastic creations by Laguna Beach's own -- well he cooks there at Studio -- James Boyce. Green lentil and winter black truffle soup, smoked Taku River Coho salmon with an Osetra caviar-quail egg crouton thing, and braised Summerfield Farm veal shank.  We skipped the warm figs and sour cherries in phyllo and the braised mascarpone.  I'm nowhere close to being a food critic, but all in all, the presentation and the food were (especially the soup and -- surprisingly -- veal shank) first-rate.

Why did we miss out on the warm figs?  To check out gyrating women, of course!  Grammy-nominated rapper Akon was scheduled to perform upstairs at the world-famous Harry-O's.  After 10 minutes of squeezing through throngs of people in puffy coats, we settled by the bar to watch a guy run in place with his peppermint-candy-striped-pants-wearing girlfriend.  We delighted in watching this, along with bikini-clad women dancing high above the crowd, for over an hour.  But finally, the continual press of people (which got worse later), the horde of Britney wannabes, and Sheigh being almost hit in the face by swinging blond locks continually took its toll.  We left after midnight, before Akon even took the stage.  And, sorry, even with flashes, it was too dark for any good photos.

Photo: Associated Press

-- Jevon Phillips