Women Chefs & Restaurateurs announces 2011 scholarship and internship opportunities

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Women Chefs & Restaurateurs (WCR) is offering a slate of learning opportunities for students and professionals in its 2011 Scholarship and Internship Program. Deadline for applications is April 4, 2011.

“Our scholarships and internships allow WCR to fulfill its mission by offering women in the culinary industry invaluable educational opportunities,” says Jamie Leeds, president of WCR and chef/owner of Hank’s Oyster Bar and CommonWealth Gastropub in greater Washington, D.C.

Last year, WCR awarded more than 40 scholarships and internships in six nations. Recipients gained professional skills and inspiration from industry leaders who donated their time and resources to advance the professional development of women in foodservice. 

Opportunities for WCR’s 2011 program include:
• Internship with Bon Appétit Management Company, Silicon Valley
• Barbara Tropp Memorial Internship, Beijing
• Internship in New Orleans with Susan Spicer
• Organic internship with Nora Pouillon, Washington, D.C.

Returning opportunities include scholarships at leading professional culinary-arts programs nationwide and cooking, baking, cheese- and winemaking, management and marketing internships in the United States, China, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland.

Applicants must be active members of WCR in any category. Online application deadline is 5:00 p.m. CDT on April 4, 2011; mailed applications must be postmarked no later than April 4, 2011. Details of this year’s WCR Scholarship and Internship Program are described fully at www.womenchefs.org.
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James Beard winners of "Best Chefs in the Northeast" for 2010 to release new book, Maine Classics

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MAINE CLASSICS: More Than 150 Delicious Recipes from Down East by Chefs Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier, winners of the prestigious James Beard Foundation’s “Best Chefs in the Northeast” for 2010, will be released in late April 2011. 

Mark and Clark have been supporting their local Maine farmers, food artisans and food suppliers for decades. In fact, more than twenty years ago they pioneered sustainable dining with the opening of Arrows in Ogunquit, Maine, where their farm-to-table philosophy still governs the restaurant today. Their new book shares their passion for fresh, seasonal food and introduces readers to the artisan bakers, organic farmers, and sustainable fisherman that make it all possible. 

MAINE CLASSICS covers all of the areas that make Maine cuisine what it is known for today – the shore, the sea, the forest, the farm, the garden, the dairy, the bakery and the root cellar – and bring readers as close to the true Maine experience as possible with such classic Maine dishes as Oyster Fritters with Remoulade, Lobster Shortcake with Rum-Vanilla Sauce and Slow Braised Pork Roast with Roasted Root Vegetables, just to name a few. 

The hardcover book will retail for approximately $30.00 everywhere books are sold beginning in late April 2011.

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Sara Lee Foodservice introduces Dessert Menuvision online platform to help operators increase dessert profits

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Sara Lee Foodservice has released its proprietary Dessert Menuvision toolbox, an interactive online platform that provides operators with custom solutions to help enhance their dessert offerings for increased sales and patron satisfaction.


The development of Menuvision was a cross-functional effort across the areas of sales, marketing and consumer and operator insights. Through extensive research, focus groups and data analysis – including proprietary research studies developed with foodservice operators, full-service restaurant waitstaff and consumers – the team identified several areas of opportunity for operators to enhance dessert performance, including product assortment, dessert presentation and limited time offerings (LTOs).   

One key component of the Menuvision toolbox is the Dessert Menu Optimizer, an online guide to help operators determine the right dessert assortment for their restaurants. Developed in collaboration with trusted industry partner Datassential, the Dessert Menu Optimizer uses information provided by operators, such as their restaurant’s dessert sales and menu composition, to calculate a menu’s “Appeal Level” – a ranking determined by the percentage of patrons likely to find a dessert they will love on the menu. The metrics for Appeal Level ratings are based on a survey of more than 2,000 consumers nationwide. After calculating a dessert menu’s Appeal Level, the Dessert Menu Optimizer will then suggest options to raise the menu’s score by shifting the mix of dessert offerings.

Menuvision offers several other tools such as the Dessert Menu Layout/Design Guide which outlines the principles of page layout, descriptive language and lighting for dessert photos as well as the LTO Profit Guide, which helps operators update their menus with a rotation of seasonal favorites throughout the year to drive additional sales.

Other Menuvision features include:
  • Smaller Portions Guide 
  • Waitstaff Training Guide 
  • Dessert Merchandising Guide
  • Dessert Promotion Calendar Guide
  • Dessert Customizing Guide
 Visit www.saralee.com for more information.
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Sixth Annual Great Chefs Event will benefit Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer

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On June 14, 2011, acclaimed chef Marc Vetri will be joined in Philadelphia by Bravo’s Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio, Food Network's Iron Chef’s Michael Symon and Jose Garces, and more than 30 other renowned chefs to cook for childhood cancer cures as part of the Sixth Annual Great Chefs Event, hosted by the Vetri Foundation for Children, benefiting Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer.  
  

This event, which began as a small tasting at The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in Philadelphia, has become a nationally recognized fundraiser, receiving widespread notice as culinary greats unite to fight against childhood cancer annually. Chefs offer those in attendance a sampling of their best dishes created right in front of attendees’ eyes, paired with an evening full of mingling, exciting silent and live auctions.

For more information, please visit www.vetrifoundation.org.

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The Montague Company unveiled Suite Dreams Challenge winning design

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The Montague Suite Dreams Challenge gave teams of consultants and chef/operators the opportunity to design their fantasy kitchen suite. The grand prize for the winning team was the actual custom cooking suite, built to their exact specifications for the operation for which it was designed. 



 In an exciting ceremony at Montague's booth at the recent NAFEM show, president Tom Whalen revealed the champion design, created for the Bastille Café & Bar in Seattle, Washington. The winning team partnered executive chef Shannon Galusha of Bastille and designer Chris McKenty of the Smith & Greene Company located in Kent, Washington. Below is a photo of the suite that will  make its home at Bastille Cafe & Bar:

  
For more information, visit www.montaguecompany.com or call 1-800-345-1830.
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Wayne Rogers to give keynote address at 2011 International Boston Seafood Show

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image from brandchannel.com
Actor and Fox Business News commentator, Wayne Rogers, will give the keynote address, “It’s Time to Make Your Own Rules,” at the 2011 International Boston Seafood Show on Sunday, March 20th.

Rogers, famed for his 1970’s role as Trapper John in the hit TV series, M*A*S*H, is also a businessman and entrepreneur. He has owned many businesses over the years, including a restaurant, a vineyard, a chain of convenience stores (the Stop-N-Save), a film distribution company, a barge company, and Kleinfields, the famous bridal boutique from TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress.

In his “It is Time to Make Your Own Rules” presentation, Rogers will share the keys to his success over the past four decades. In the current economic climate, learning to be creative, challenge convention and seize unexpected opportunities is not only liberating—it can make all the difference to success, according to Rogers.

Rogers’ keynote address will be given during the 2011 International Boston Seafood Show (IBSS) which is taking place March 20-22 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston, MA, and is open to all attendees and exhibitors.

Details on the full conference program and registration are available online. For more information visit www.bostonseafood.com.
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Share Our Strength launches Shopping Matters program

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Building on its proven success teaching families how to cook and eat healthy on a budget, Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters™ has launched Shopping Matters, a guided grocery store tour that helps low-income adults make healthy and affordable choices at the supermarket. During a Shopping Matters tour, participants learn information and practical skills that help them understand how to purchase fruits and vegetables economically, save money by comparing unit prices, and make healthier choices by reading food labels and ingredient lists. Thanks to funding from the ConAgra Foods® Foundation and the Walmart Foundation, Share Our Strength is able to offer Shopping Matters free of charge to local tour facilitators and the low-income adults who participate in the tours. For more information, or to sign up as a local tour facilitator, click here.

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Alinea chef, Grant Achatz, and business partner Nick Kokonas release compelling memoir

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Grant Achatz was at the top of his profession by the age of 32 when his Chicago restaurant, Alinea, was named the #1 restaurant in America by Gourmet magazine. Within months, however, his bubble would burst when he learned he had Stage IV squamous cell carcinoma--tongue cancer. The diagnosis couldn't have been worse. At best, doctors told him, he would lose his tongue and the ability to talk and taste, but live for a couple more years. Instead, Achatz opted to do things differently, and better. 
 
Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat is Achatz's candid, compelling, sometimes thrilling account of his love affair with food, his drive to be the best, and his pursuit of a style all his own. Having discovered that style, and then shaped it from the most minute detail into a world-class restaurant, Achatz faces his epic battle with tongue cancer. Despite temporarily losing his ability to taste, Achatz manages to keep working, and with the support of his business partner, Nick Kokonas, and his top-notch staff, maintains the integrity of his business. Within a year of being given a hopeless diagnosis, he is cancer-free and wins the James Beard award for Best Chef in the United States. 
 
Achatz's passion for cooking began in his childhood and never wavered. Life, on the Line offers fascinating behind-the-scenes details of his rapid but purposeful journey from flipping eggs in the window of his grandmother's restaurant to the creation of one of the best restaurants in the world. Even more, however, Achatz lets readers in on the concept-to-reality thought process and will power that it takes not just to succeed and survive but to flourish against all the odds.

Before opening Alinea in 2005, Achatz was sous chef at the French Laundry in Napa Valley and the executive chef of Trio in Chicago. He was named one of the best new chefs in America by Food & Wine in 2002, received the James Beard “Rising Star Chef Award” in 2003, and the James Beard “Outstanding Chef Award” in 2008. In 2008, his cookbook, Alinea, was the #1 selling restaurant book in America and won the James Beard award for “Outstanding Cookbook from a Professional Point of View.”
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The Vidalia onion finally to get its due respect: museum to open April 29 in Georgia

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Soon Vidalia onion enthusiasts around the country will be able to explore the history of Georgia’s beloved state vegetable and the growing region that has made it so famous with the official opening of the Vidalia Onion Museum on Friday, April 29, 2011. The noon event is slated to include high-profile chefs and offers attendees a fascinating look into what makes the Vidalia onion so special.  


 “We have worked for five years to unearth each unique layer of the Vidalia onion story and then portray those layers creatively for visitors,” says Vidalia® Onion Committee executive director and museum chairperson Wendy Brannen.  “When we first hired a museum consultant, they asked, ‘Really, an onion museum?’ But they quickly realized we’re not just any onion, and this isn’t just any story!” Brannen adds.

The museum is housed in the same building as the Vidalia Onion Committee, Vidalia Area Convention & Visitors Bureau and Vidalia® Onion Business Council and gives guests a truly unforgettable interactive experience.  The 1,300-square-foot space is filled with an array of educational exhibits that highlight the sweet onion’s economic, cultural and culinary significance. 

In addition to the museum’s grand opening, the Vidalia Onion Festival takes place that same weekend. For more information about all of the festival events, visit www.vidaliaonionfestival.com. 

The Vidalia Onion Museum is located at 100 Vidalia Sweet Onion Drive and will open to the public on Friday, April 29 at 3 p.m.  The museum’s regular operating hours will be Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with Saturday hours available for tours.  For more information, visit www.vidaliaonion.org or call 912-537-1918.
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