Women Chefs & Restaurateurs' 2011 conference dates and theme, "An Educated Palate"

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Women Chefs & Restaurateurs' (WCR) 2011 national conference will take place at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge in Boston November 5-7.
 
This year’s conference theme—“An Educated Palate: Teaching, Tasting, Trading Stories”—will take full advantage of the rich tapestry of food and hospitality history unique to the Boston area and surrounding New England, says Jamie Leeds, president of WCR and chef/owner of two Hank’s Oyster Bars in greater Washington, D.C. “We invite all culinarians and hospitality professionals—representing every industry segment and role—to join us as we share the experiences and knowledge that have the power to enrich and edify us all.”


Among popular annual events, the conference will host The 2011 Women Who Inspire Awards and Gala, emceed by Carla Hall, chef/owner of Alchemy by Carla Hall in Washington, D.C., and a finalist in the fifth season of Bravo TV’s “Top Chef.”

For more information, visit womenchefs.org/displayconvention.cfm.
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Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares looking for chef- and BOH-nominated restaurants

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Kitchen Nightmares is putting a call out specifically to all chefs and other back of house staff who know better than anyone the difficulties of dealing with management and owners who can often hamper a restaurant’s growth. If you know of a restaurant that could benefit from the show, please send the name and location of the restaurant and a brief explanation of why you think it deserves to be considered for Kitchen Nightmares to kitchennightmares@theconlincompany.com or call and leave a message at 1-866-226-2226. Deadline is Friday, April 1, 2011.


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Menu idea gallery launched for chef-developed potato dishes

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Every year, chefs from leading foodservice and retail chains meet at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley to engage in some friendly competition and creativity with potatoes. This year, the U.S. Potato Board has collected those ideas in a photo-gallery to help chefs in all foodservice channels spark their own creativity. 

The ideas photographed for the Idea Gallery were generated by 14 of the top minds in the industry who represent over 8,800 units and $3 billion in annual sales. The ideas demonstrate some of today’s hottest trends and are available to help any chef capitalize on the versatility and profitability of potatoes.

For more information and to see the idea gallery, visit http://www.potatogoodness.com/foodService/ideaGallery.php.  

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Ferran Adrià announces post-elBulli plans: the elBulli Foundation

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"Freedom to Create" is the motto and goal of Ferran Adrià's new elBulli Foundation. The organization will take the place of the legendary chef's famous restaurant elBulli, near Barcelona, Spain after it closes its doors on July 31, 2011. Chef Adrià spoke of his innovative plans for the first time in the United States during a visit to The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, NY on March 21.

The Barcelona native says he will turn the restaurant's property into a park and "reserve" for culinary brainstorming, opening in 2014. Each year, 20 collaborators from around the world will be selected to work with the base team. Through the Internet, chefs across the globe will then be able to access the thousands of ideas the team creates, and use the ones that fit their restaurants.
Ferran Adrià speaking at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, where he announced future plans for the elBulli Foundation.
Chef Adrià was at the CIA for a panel discussion with Lisa Abend, author of The Sorcerer's Apprentices, a new book about Adrià and elBulli; and two former apprentices at the restaurant, including CIA graduate George Mendes '92. About 1,200 CIA students attended the event.

Visit www.ciachef.edu for more information.
 
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The March/April Issue of Chef Digital is Now Available

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Dear Chef Reader,

Welcome to Chef Magazine's March/April Digital Edition. Chef's March Cover
 
Check out the online-exclusive articles in this issue: 
Chef Gurpareet Bains, author of Indian Superfood, shares his top five personal tips for seamless special occasion catering.
  
From po' boys to parfaits, Chef 
offers a diverse array of shellfish menu ideas that are guaranteed to have your diners hooked. With wine pairings by Marlene Rossman.

The Chef digital magazine includes all the same great content as the print edition, but also offers online exclusives and enhanced capabilities that allow you to:

• Easily share articles via e-mail
• Click on hyperlinks in both articles and advertisements to obtain further resources
• Zoom in and out of articles and advertisements
• Instantly search by keyword for the content in the current issue or the archives
• Print articles and/or download for offline viewing
The best part is the Chef digital edition requires no special downloads or applications to view the magazine online in its entirety.

Click HERE to begin reading now!

We hope you enjoy this issue.
Feel free to contact us with your thoughts and feedback at chef@talcott.com.

Sincerely,
The Chef Team 
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Riedel launches website for restaurant & hospitality industries

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Riedel Crystal has launched www.Restaurant.Riedel.com, a website designed to connect the hospitality industry with Riedel’s sales force worldwide. Expectations for a memorable hospitality experience at restaurants, bars and hotels are on the rise, and advancements in Riedel’s manufacturing have made it possible to offer attractive prices for restaurant-grade glasses. With this development, Riedel offers the hospitality trade access to a network of distributors in all 50 States including the District of Columbia and competitive industry-specific pricing on Riedel’s premium varietal-specific glassware collections starting at $3 per glass.

 The site also offers Riedel’s famous mouth-blown decanters in addition to an expansive selection of barware. For more information, visit www.restaurant.riedel.com.
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Chef Peter Dewar wins Mussel Match Up Chef Competition at International Restaurant & Food Service Show of NY

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The winner of the first annual Mussel Match Up Chef Competition, sponsored by the Mussel Industry Council (MIC) and held at the International Restaurant and Food Service Show of New York, is Chef Peter Dewar from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The competition represents the mussel producers in PEI, NS and Newfoundland, Canada. Dewar has won many competitions in his career, including Competing Chef of the Year in Canada and is a member of the Canadian culinary team competing at the Culinary Olympics in 2012. 

Chef Peter Dewar
Eleven contestants amazed the judges and the crowds with creative mussel dishes and Dewar's winning dish, which was called "Mussel Sheet," consisted of four components: a tarragon flavored mussel sheet, covered with a tempura mussel with two side dishes of saffron mayo and pickled red onion. 

The contestants were judged on five categories: menu presentation and adherence, taste, flavors and combinations, presentation, and appropriate use of mussel product and creativity. Two judges from Canada, chefs Gordon Bailey and Roger Andrews, were joined by Hell's Kitchen's runner-up, Chef Kevin Cottle and senior food editor of the Nation's Restaurant News, Bret Thorn. 

The winner will receive a trip for two to Atlantic Canada valued at $10,000 in September 2011. The MIC also presented a winning trophy to Chef Greg McCarthy of Beach Street Hospitality in New York for the most creative use of mussels with his dish of PEI mussels with morels and miso.  

For more information, visit www.discovermussels.com.
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BelGioioso Sharp Provolone and Romano win Best of Class Gold Medals at U.S. championship cheese contest

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Wisconsin cheese company BelGioioso Cheese earned six distinguished awards at the United States Championship Cheese Contest held in Green Bay, Wisconsin March 8 - 10, 2011. 
 
Both the BelGioioso Sharp Provolone Mandarino and the BelGioioso Romano each took home first place, Best of Class gold medals. BelGioso also took home second place, silver medals for the BelGioioso Fresh Mozzarella and the BelGioioso Ricotta Salata and third place, bronze medals for the BelGioioso Crema di Mascarpone™and the BelGioioso Mild Provolone.
 
 
The United States Championship Cheese Contest is the largest cheese and butter competition in the country and is rooted in more than 120 years of history, beginning in 1891 with the very first contest. This year, more than 30,000 pounds of cheese were entered into the contest. 
 
Visit www.belgioioso.com for more information.
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Sandra Lee & Tyson Foods donating 300,000 pounds of chicken to feed the hungry in New York

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Partnering with Sandra Lee, editor-in-chief, Semi-Homemade Magazine, New York Times bestselling author and Food Network celebrity, Tyson Foods, Inc., is giving 300,000 pounds of raw, frozen chicken to programs feeding the hungry in New York State. City Harvest, the world’s first food rescue organization dedicated to feeding hungry men, women, and children in New York City, received its first share on March 11th at West Side Campaign Against Hunger, a supermarket-style food pantry in Manhattan that receives food from City Harvest. 

Ken Orr, Sandra Lee, Doreen Wohl, Jilly Stephens and Julio Santiago 
Sandra Lee was on hand with representatives of Tyson Foods to make an initial donation of 32,000 pounds of chicken to Jilly Stephens, executive director of City Harvest, and Doreen Wohl, executive director of West Side Campaign Against Hunger. City Harvest will distribute the donation to its network of soup kitchens and food pantries in the five boroughs of New York City. The remainder of the 300,000-pound protein donation will be provided to nine additional food banks throughout New York State over the next six months. 

Sandra Lee unloading the truck
The gift comes not long after Sandra Lee visited nine Feeding America member food banks across New York State to hear directly from these programs about challenges they face in this economy. Sandra Lee contacted Tyson Foods when she learned that donations of protein-rich foods like chicken are in demand, but especially difficult for food banks to obtain. Tyson Foods has made a commitment to donate one million pounds of protein to 37 food banks during the month of March as part of their “KNOW Hunger” campaign focused on helping more people understand and join the effort to eliminate hunger in America. 
Visit the City Harvest Web site for more information.



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