I had the wonderful opportunity of attending Eat, Drink, & Be Fair, a “Top Chef Masters”-style cook-off between four of Boston's prominent chefs last night. The chefs were Richard Garcia from Tastings Wine Bar and Bistro, Will Gilson from Garden At the Cellar, (one of my favs), Peter McCarthy from EVOO, and Jay Silva from Bambara. I love Garden At the Cellar, so when I found out Will Gilson was going to be one of the chefs, I was totally there.
Green Mountain Coffee organized this event in celebration of Fair Trade Month (October). At the event, we sampled various dishes all made with fair trade ingredients. As an interesting twist, all the chefs had to incorporate coffee as one of the ingredients.
Local, Sustainable, and Fair Trade
While the chefs were preparing their cook-off entrees, we sampled food from local caterers and vendors. We tried some fair trade Moroccan tea mojitos, sustainable Mahi Mahi, local butternut squash arancini, and Rotini Basilica made with fair trade olives. Additionally, local vendors, such as Cabot Cheese and Ben & Jerry's from Vermont, also provided food. All very good.
Meeting the Chefs
I had a chance to talk to some of the chefs and learn a little about fair trade and sustainable foods. While chatting with Richard Garcia from Tastings Wine Bar and Bistro, I learned that Maine sea urchins are almost extinct, yet Massachusetts sea urchins are quite sustainable. Chef Garcia incorporated local sea urchin into a parsnip cappuccino soup that he served at the event.
We all got to sample a tiny cup's worth of the sea urchin cappuccino. I think people were a bit scared of the sea urchin, because there were many cups left on the table. I actually liked it so much I drank three cups of it! The soup was mild, sweet, and creamy. I loved the combination of parsnips, sea urchin, and coffee. The coffee added a smoky richness to the soup, while the sea urchin added a briny depth.
I also had a chance to talk to Will Gilson from Garden At the Cellar. Will Gilson tries really hard to focus on local ingredients, and you can really tell by looking at his menu, which is constantly changing. Out of curiosity, I asked Will where he liked to dine when he was not working. He said he liked to eat at his friends' restaurants, which include Craigie on Main, Toro, and Sel de la Terre in Boston.
We asked him about the tasting menus that they used to have (2 summers ago). He admitted that it's harder to offer tasting menus when the place is so packed all the time. However, they are considering offering some sort of tasting menu, maybe on Monday evenings. He also said they were going to start offering brunch soon, which is exciting.
The Cook Off!
As the evening continued, the chefs worked busily on their entrees. Each chef, together with his sous-chef, worked feverishly, doling out tiny, beautifully presented portions of their contest dishes so that everyone attending the event could sample a few bites.
I was quite impressed with the food. Remember, they all had to incorporate coffee into their dishes! We received menus at the event, but silly me, I forgot to take a copy home with me!!!! Boo hoo, so I'll just try my best to capture these dishes from memory and photographs. If I do get a hold of a menu, I'll update the blog.
Upper Left: Sea urchin cappuccino made with parsnips, Massachusetts sea urchin, and coffee topped with a vanilla froth by Richard Garcia from Tastings Wine Bar and Bistro.
Upper Right: Dark Roasted Coffee Marinated Hudson Valley Mouillard Duck Breast with Verrill Farm's Parsnip Purre, Pete's Picked Pumpkin, Gala Apple, and Espresso-Vanilla Chimichurri by Peter McCarthy from EVOO.
Lower Left: Bacon wrapped coffee rubbed Pork tenderloin over mashed sweet potatoes with a coffee demi-glace sauce by Jay Silva from Bambara.
Lower Right: Grilled Steak with coffee nibs (from Taza) and banana and sunchoke puree by Will Gilson from Garden At the Cellar.
The chefs also prepared special versions of the dishes for the official judges. For example, the sea urchin cappuccino was served in a spiky sea urchin shell.
And who shall be crowned the Fair Trade Master Chef??
Peter McCarthy from EVOO! Green Mountain Coffee donated $1000 to The Food Project, which was the charity of Peter's choice. Another exciting fact, for me at least, is that EVOO will be moving to Cambridge soon! Kendall Square to be exact. Can't wait!
But Peter McCarthy was not the only winner last night. They had a raffle for lots of different great prizes, and Bryan won one of the best prizes of the evening!
Can't wait!!!! That sea urchin cappuccino was so good!
Other interesting facts . . .
We found out that Boston is on track to becoming a Fair Trade city, maybe even as early as next year. In order to obtain Fair Trade certification, a city's local schools, workplaces and businesses (1 organization per 10,000 people), must use fair trade products. Furthermore, the city must pass a resolution supporting Fair Trade.
Over all, I had a great time at the event. Not only did I get to sample some truly excellent cooking, I was also able to meet some great people and learn more about fair trade and sustainable foods. Thanks so much to Green Mountain Coffee and all the other sponsors of this event.
What an awesome event to attend! I had no idea what the sea urchin statuses were in the east coast. I'll make sure to ask where the sea urchin is from next time.
ReplyDeleteSea urchin has the most amazing flavor so I'm kinda surprised to hear so many were left over. Oh well more for you!
Grats to Bryan on that amazing prize!
I'd caution against jumping to the conclusion that people didn't like the soup. They put the soup out all at once, whereas the other chefs were plating their dishes as they disappeared, so once people stopped eating them, they stopped putting them out. Chef Garcia didn't afford himself the benefits of tracking demand. Plus, it was the first dish out, so it served as sort of an appetizer (in practice and in spirit).
ReplyDeleteIt was also a bit cumbersome to have a "lot" of -- there was about 1oz of soup in each cup, so a person who wanted even an appetizer-sized portion of it would've had to take 6 or 7 of them. People tend to feel funny just nabbing handfuls of free samples. I think it was pretty well-received
fmc - yeah, you're probably right about the soup. I was also thinking that the soup is just much easier to "plate." It's much less labor intensive than the other dishes, so it makes sense why he had so much early on.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the FFF!
ReplyDeleteVery nice blog!
Enjoy!
Was this at the Artists for Humanity? The whole setup looked amazing!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - Yes! This was at Artists for Humanity
ReplyDeleteHi - great blog! I recently moved to Cambridge and have been looking for other food bloggers in the area, and stumbled onto your site. I look forward to more insightful posts about the local scene. And I completely agree with a comment you made previously, that there's a serious dearth of Chinese restaurants in Cambridge, which completely stumps me.
ReplyDelete- Hannah
oh wow what an experience and I love your blog so pleased to find it Rebecca
ReplyDeleteGreat event and what a treat to be able to sample so many different things! I hope this line of thinking over sustainability continues to gain momentum and public support. Thanks for posting a delicious and inspiring reminder to think about what we eat!
ReplyDeleteAnother way you can promote Fair Trade is by visiting Fair Trade Sports at www.fairtradesports.com.
ReplyDeleteFair Trade Sports sells sports jerseys, soccer balls, rugby balls, frisbees and other sports items that adhere to Fair Trade regulations, with all after-tax profits go to charity.
Fair Trade Sports joined the battle against Child Labor by only selling products made by adult stitchers who are paid a third-party certified living wage, certified by the Fair Trade Labeling Organization International, for their work.
To Learn More, Visit www.fairtradesports.com!
Monica Turley
Email: monica@fairtradesports.com
Fair Trade Sports
~ Eco-Certified, Fair Trade, Union-Made
~ Balls for soccer, football, and more...
~ All after-tax profits to children's charities
I love sea urchin! I've only ever had it on sushi, so the very fact that it's so versatiley explored here positively wets my appetite.
ReplyDeleteKudos on entire cities recognising Fair Trade more and more! There's lesser activity and awareness of this in Asia, though. We have Fair trade products in our supermarkets but they're hardly promoted for its cause.
OH MY! I wish I could've been there!
ReplyDelete