Savor 2010
The second annual Savor dining fundraiser for Hospital Hospitality House sold out this weekend. Guests enjoyed three stations: appetizers and cocktails downstairs with a silent auction, a five-course dinner overlooking the city on SunTrust’s 24th floor, and the after-party with live band, visiting and local celebrity chefs, and a cake and presentation by Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes.
The second annual Savor dining fundraiser for Hospital Hospitality House sold out this weekend. Guests enjoyed three stations: appetizers and cocktails downstairs with a silent auction, a five-course dinner overlooking the city on SunTrust’s 24th floor, and the after-party with live band, visiting and local celebrity chefs, and a cake and presentation by Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes.
There was a lot to take in, with varied food, fashion, and beverages. My favorite appetizer was the Spanish Almond Soup with Crostini from Positive Vibe Café with the J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College Culinary School. The warm grits-like consistency was perfect for the first chilly night of fall. Others didn’t fare so well, like the Bull & Bear Club’s Truffled Risotto with Seafood, which tried too hard to be seafood and ended up tasting like neither.
Upstairs, the L-shaped dining space made communicating to the room extremely difficult. Tables on one side couldn’t see or hear the other, and the stage was at the cross section of the two. With over 250 dinner guests, talking, and dishware clinking, even with microphones, the chefs giving presentations could hardly be heard over the din. Despite the chefs and auctioneers urging, it was a tough crowd for the live auction as well. Trips abroad were going for less than dinners at restaurants in Mechanicsville strip malls.
Over the course of several hours, chefs from all over the country wowed us with presentation and pairing. Some were less than appetizing, such as the hot and sour squash soup with shrimp wontons that smelled and tasted like feet. My favorite was the dessert by Chef En-Ming Hsu. Using three different kinds of chocolate in her Black Forest cake, she managed to make it all taste light and fluffy. I ate two helpings. The best wine pairing went to the Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon from Columbia Valley, WA, a perfect complement to Chef Michelle Bernstein’s short ribs that melted in your mouth. Bernstein shared the story of the challenge of hauling 300 pounds of short ribs on Jet Blue from Miami earlier that day.
The best part of the night was sitting just a table away from Chef Duff Goldman, owner of Charm City Cakes and star of the television show Ace of Cakes. He was joined by former Midlothian resident and now Art Director of the company, Anna Ellison. Goldman had made a custom cake for the event. The angel food cake was appropriately soft and spongy, and the orange fondant layer was heavenly, though the chocolate fondant layer was not as notable. His remarks at the after party noted how hard it is to be a chef, and that one’s reward comes from sharing something you love, especially if it’s for a good cause, like the night’s benefit. Goldman had shown this commitment by bidding on and winning one of the live auction items earlier in the evening.
Next year’s event features former White House chef Roland Mesnier on Saturday, October 1, 2011 at the Country Club of Virginia.
(Photos by Stephen Robertson)
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Holly Gordon
Holly Gordon spends her days working with Richmond’s hearty nonprofit community and her nights singing in a community chorus. She loves her feminist book club, and is always distracted by shiny things.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
duff!
This event gets the “interesting” stamp from my catalog of monikers. That is the stamp I give to things I can’t fully wrap an opinion or a classification around, but still maintain my interest, as it were. This can be either a good or a bad thing, sometimes even both; here I’m going to go with both. In principle, this event was wonderful—high-end chefs, famous guests, benefit auctions, food education, after parties and lets not forget cake, shiny things and lots and lots of forks—but I agree with Holly’s points about the awkward set up with the space. I think, actually, the whole thing came off as awkward. The dinner/auction portion just seemed disorganized and chaotic with the exception of the excellent staff of servers (and obviously the kitchen staff providing the food). The after party portion of the event, however, was superbly designed and executed. The space lent well to a large party with many “rooms” or divided sections each with something different and fascinating going on. It seemed, overall, like a huge amount of work went into this event and perhaps just a better overall design for the auction/dinner portion would have made people more comfortable, attentive and ultimately open to bidding on items to generate money for the charity. I will say, in my humble foodie opinion, the most impressive dish on the menu was the smoked trout course simply because the smoked trout was executed PERFECTLY which is terribly difficult to do. The meat was delicate, tender, moist and stunningly beautiful on the plate.
Really? The squash soup was one of my favorites! LOVED the ceviche and the soup was second runner up for everyone at my table. HHH is such a fabulous resource for so many in need and I thought the event was well attended and well received overall.