French Connection- Jacques Pepin and me!

Coming soon, delicious details from Chef Thomas Keller's absolutely fantastic demonstration and food photos. Also, my best, coolest, most soulful chef connection of the whole Pebble Beach Experience coming up. But first, my Jacques moment.

International culinary legend Jacques Pepin himself, what a guy, was scheduled to present on the demonstration stage on Saturday at 3:30 at the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Experience . I suppose it was fortunate that Todd English punked out because the cook top in the first demo tent cracked, badly. The KILLER production team was on it, they called a local appliance provider who, some how, got a new cook top on site fast. They dismantled the broken one and installed a new one in record time. No one noticed, but I bet they were really stressing. They were ready in plenty of time for Jacques and Claudine.

We cleaned up and re-set the stages after Keller's fabulous demonstration. How fun to turn around and come face to face with Jacques sipping a glass of champagne in our prep tent! "Oh, hello chef, it is an honor!" I stammered. He and his daughter Claudine Pepin arrived to inspect the set up and gather the remaining ingredients for the "mis en place". Despite excellent preparation and coordination by the PB staff, we ran back and forth getting item after item. As much as I tried to gather the list all at once, new things kept coming up. Platters, plates, no smaller plates, more olives, more water. It was really funny. The main kitchen was, incidentally, far away! Brenn Gambon from the PB staff was a rock star, you name it, he got it, FAST. By the second day I was joking "Brenn, can you get me a box of happy kittens, a bag of pine needles and an eggplant?" I had to tell him I was kidding, because he would gave found those items.

Meanwhile, Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto was setting up in the other tent. He had a HUGE monkfish, the most remarkably ugly fish in the world, and he was hoisting it up on a couple of hooks! Yikes, meanwhile I was running back and forth to see what Jacques needed. Finally, I committed to Jacques, he had a large amount of prep, most of it done. He and Claudine did six total dishes! He featured tomato dishes, which was weird, since it is not even close to tomato season. Hey, he is rich, famous and a great chef, he can do what he wants. The tomatoes actually looked pretty nice. I was working with a VERY young culinary student of the California persuasion: in other words not used to a forceful, bossy chef. Poor kid, Jacques has that crazy thick accent, he mumbles and he is a bit impatient. He had the kid pitting olives with the side of a sharp knife, his hands and board were all greasy. I was envisioning a bloody mess. I came in to assist, kid's gotta toughen up. I love California more than anything, but most kitchens are soft. I wonder how many CA culinary students intern back east and get a shock when they are introduced to an east-coast-chef run kitchen! Or, worse a FRENCH chef!

Yet, Chef was very gracious and super professional, come on he and Julia invented this stuff! The first dish was Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato and Anchovy Sauce, simple and lovely. He and Claudine joked and bickered back and forth to the delight of the huge audience. They then busted out a Tall Greek Tomato Salad (second plate from front), essentially a horizontally cut tomato with Greek Salad ingredients stacked inside. Great presentation. He peeled and stuffed a tomato with a rice mixture ( 5th plate) and then showed a Caprese salad done in a tomato cut horizontally, not all the way through, fitted with wedges of buffalo mozzarella and basil (4th plate). Claudine made a great tartare dish with a disk of a new product of theirs by California Caviar, Pressed Caviar. It is a paste of caviar that can be flattened and sliced, frozen and shaved or molded into rounds or discs. She topped her dish with a flat disc of caviar, paper thin, shiny and jet black ( 3rd plate). Excellent idea.

The crowd adored them, but Jacques was really pissed for a bit because his cook books did not arrive for the post demo book signing. During his demo, one of the young co-founders of this event, David Alan Bernahl II, announced that they would buy and ship Jacques' cook book for each attendee! It was an Oprah moment, for sure. Now that is CUSTOMER SERVICE! Jacques was very pleased. I was really impressed at the gorgeous food and all the time he spent with the guests : photos, fawning, answering the same questions over and over. He is a treasure. After the demo, he headed off to get ready for the Cristal Champagne Dinner featuring chefs Eric Ripert of Le Bernadin, Sylvain Portay of Groupe Alain Ducasse, Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park and many other greats. Me, I was figuring out how to dispose of the hulking corpse and innards of the eviscerated monkfish and accompanying nasty fish water that the fish was iced in from Chef Morimoto's Monkfish Hot Pot demonstration. Oh, the glamour...
Degrees of separation, 5. Great man, legend, French, off to sip more well deserved champagne.

Keep posted for the upcoming details about Chef Keller's presentation and great, heartwarming true stories from a new favorite chef and friend, Chicago's Rick Tramonto.

Chef - travaganza! Pebble Beach rocked!

4 days, 60 chefs, 250 wineries: I left Thursday night for my latest chef quest, the Second Annual Pebble Beach Food and Wine Experience in Monterey, CA. My beloved colleague Elizabeth Bourget from Gourmet to Go Personal Chef Service put me up at her home in Scotts Valley and we were out the door by 6:15 am on Friday to seek out the Inn at Spanish Bay. We missed the entrance and drove over 10 miles of the world's most gorgeous coastline. Wow. The homes, the quality of the light, colors and sounds filled our eyes and ears. But the sights I really wanted were some of the worlds top chefs, so we turned around once we figured out our mistake. We arrived at our location, finding our gracious leader, Helene Crees and the games began.

This 4 day event took place in several locations all over the property and beyond and included private $2000 a person dinners, a Crystal Champagne dinner by Chef Eric Ripert and events ranging from $100 a la carte events to a $12, 400 VIP Package. Me, I worked side by side with my heroes, the best seat in the house!

After delicious coffee and snacks in the swanky volunteer lounge we headed to the Jenn- Air Demonstration tent. The reception area had Illy Cafe Coffee and a beautiful book store and sales area. An automated wine koisk was set up with two huge heated tents back to back with two full demonstration kitchens outfitted by Jenn- Air and Kitchen Aid. Our prep tent was in between and it was there that I met the fun and super cool team of Chef Ted Consoli , Brenn Gambon, Cruz Esparza and Nancy Lauk. I have never met a better team, truly. Every single staff person from PB was excellent. Even the Food and Beverage Manager, Pascal Rifflart , who must have had a ridiculously huge job that weekend was gracious, present and fun. Think of it, this is a four day extravaganza with huge chef dinners, galas, fully booked rooms, chef demonstrations and so on. Huge. He took the team photo of all of us! Quite a wonderful person.

First up was Chef Thomas Keller of the already legendary French Laundry in Yountville, CA. He was the holy grail of the weekend as far as I was concerned. All I hoped was to see him cook and wash even a dish he had dirtied. I got to experience so much more than that!

But first, the dirt, Chef Todd English was a no show! Can you imagine, thousands of dollars of press, PR , printed book size programs, 10 foot tall posters, guests expecting you etc. , etc. NO SHOW! We had to move his guests seats in to Keller's tent. Maybe he heard who he was up against and chickened out. The chefs demos were scheduled back to back, English and Keller at 10am. It was a win for all , who would not want to see Keller? Really, now.

My king arrived in his famous, prepared, calm, cool style. He is tall and so incredibly present. He is considered easily one of the top five chefs in the world, even by the French, and yet he is gentle and fun. He had prepared all of his "Miz"( chef talk for cut and organized food ingredients for cooking) and brought all of his own tools, All Clad cookware by the box full. He had several assistants, my favorite was Mark Bodinet. They helped, but chef took care of his full set up. Such a pro. I had a blast getting him water, towels, chopping parsley for him. I am serious, it was an honor. Chef was more than happy to pose for pictures and he willingly came over, sat down and gently set his hand on my knee in such a kind way. He has that thing that I heard Bill Clinton has where he can look you in the eye and you feel like you are the only person in the world. Wow. Do not get me wrong, I do not covet Laura's man, I truly am enamored by the food, the process, the impact he has made forever on the food industry. But, I do swoon when he is near.
Degrees of separation 3 out if 6, his legendary status was tempered by his decidedly un-snobby demeanor.

Guests swarmed in, late of course, California time. Chef had no where else in the world he had to be. Neither did I , neither did I... And then he began.

Next up, chef Keller's demo and photos, Jacques Pepin, Rick Tramonto and much, much more!