One large ballroom right on the ocean.
Over a dozen well-respected local chefs personally handing you dishes they have designed and cooked for the event.
Mixologists from Boston's best bars stirring up cool drinks for you to sample.
Wines from New England wineries and incredible desserts from the area's well-known bakeries and chocolatiers.
Oh, how could I forget? Absolutely amazing coffee from what has become one of my new favorite coffee shops.
All this to benefit East End House, a Cambridge organization dedicated to serving under-resourced families in Cambridge by providing services such as an emergency food program, a child care program, after school programs, and training workshops for adults.
It takes a lot for all of these chefs to take so many hours out of their busy days to support such a fantastic event. Kudos to all who participated in this event!
Here's my recap!
Jason Santo from Blue Inc served a creative Pastrami Reuben dumpling!
William Kovel from Catalyst in Cambridge served an Aleppo pepper crusted tuna over a coconut rice cake and topped with a mango compote.
Andy Husbands of Tremont 647 (co-judged with me at the S. Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Regionals Competition) made a lovely pulled pork sandwich.
Tony Maws from Craigie on Main (yes, he brought his son!!) served a delicious homemade beet pasta with boudin noir ragout (read: pig's blood). It was actually fantastic and turned out to be one of my favorite dishes of the night. I was so distracted by how good it was (or was I distracted by trying to photograph the child?) that I totally forgot to take a picture of the pasta!
I did manage to photograph mixologist Ted Gallagher's lovely cocktail made with pisco and rose jam, a lemon thyme cordial, and orange liqueur.
Chef Dante from Dante made Pork meatballs in a pig head sauce.
East Coast Grill made a Cuban style smoked pulled pork shoulder with cilantro, crispy slaw, mango mojo, and tomato salsa.
Grill 23 made a delicious lamb kibbee with tzatziki sauce.
Chef Chris Coombs from Deuxave made a beautiful duck liver mousse with rhubarb mustarda, tarragon, and pickled red onion. This was quite good as well and I came back for seconds!
Post 360 served a delicious Mexican-flavored seafood tortilla soup chock full of shrimp, mussels, squid, and lots of flavor!
Jody Adams from Trade and Rialto served a delicious char crudo topped with ginger pickled rhubarb, parsnip chips, and pea shoots. Jody told me that this crudo dish just started appearing on the menu at Rialto!
Green Street Grill made a beautiful endive cup filled with Rhode Island fluke, splashes of lemon and lime, grape chopped tomatoes, jalapeño, and scallions.
Mary Dumont from Harvest made a lovely, light and refreshing Jonah crab salad with spring garlic and English peas.
Island Creek Oyster Bar served yet another refreshing asparagus salad with toasted orzo and lobster roe (but no oysters!).
Bistro du Midi served a crostini topped with marinated octopus, sundried tomatoes, eggplant caviar, and pine nuts.
Chef Paul O'Connell from Chez Henri Smoked made a creamy cod and lobster chowder topped with lots of parsley!
Drinks
There were several great mixologists serving up some pretty cool drinks!
Tamo Bar made a rosemary infused Stoli blueberry vodka with lemonade.
The Hawthorne made a twist on a traditional French 75 by using Earl grey tea syrup, fresh lemon, Berkshire Mountain Distillers gin, and sparkling wine. I loved this one and came back for seconds! (I think I have a weakness for any drink made with sparkling wine!)
Eastern Standard made an interesting drink from Kevin Martin Rum, Becherovka (a Czech liqueur), lemon juice, and velvet falernum (anise/clove-like flavored syrup)
Green Street Grill made a Margarita "Bermejo" made with Lunazul blanco, Cointreau, lemon & lime juice, and salt.
Local Massachusetts winery Westport Rivers Vineyard and Winery served some lovely sparkling wine.
The Masciarelli Wine Company served several of their Italian wines.
One of my favorites of the evening! Voltage Coffee made absolutely incredible little cups of cappuccino. I absolutely loved my Burnt Sugar Vanilla cappuccino. Their coffee is from Barismo Coffee Roasters.
Sweets
The Dancing Deer Company provided brownies.
Area Four made super cute Caramel corn cupcakes. When those ran out, they just passed out their homemade caramel corn.
Taza Chocolate gave out little samples of their stone-ground Mexican chocolate.
Kickass Cupcakes had a lot of cupcakes as well, though they were all gone by the time I came back!
It was a great evening, and the auctions raised a ton of money! Here's the auctioneer auctioning off a package that included a 4-person dinner with Tony Maws, 6-person dinner with Andy Husbands, and another 4-person dinner with Jason Santos. This crazy set of three meals sold for $5000!!!
I had a ton of fun. Best of all, I got to take home this humongous loaf of bread from Iggy's! Thanks Craigie on Main!
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