by contributor Donna Shor
Photo Slider Credit: TPTWGuide
Good food and good will–lots of both–were featured at the late-hour Celebrity Chef’s Ball last night when six chefs served their specialties to raise funds for six charities. Of the five hundred ticket-buyers, most were young and hip, all were late-night hungry.
They came to the right place: Art Smith’s Art and Soul Restaurant.
Photo credit: thewashingtonlobbyist.com
Delectable food and a flowing bar (probably as much as charitable intentions) drew the crowd to Capitol Hill’s Liaison Hotel, which houses Art and Soul, the restaurant of celebrity chef-author-philosopher and philanthropist Art Smith, who organized the event.
First sight inside the door was a tableful of Art’s signature homemade charcuterie, the glorified pork products. It was a popular stop on the room’s food-station circuit that was re-stocked constantly by a fast-moving waiter.
On to his next table, a strange-bedfellows sort of dish that bespeaks Art’s Southern roots: southern fried chicken and syrup-touched waffles that somehow made a perfect marriage.
Photo credit: Toki Underground
A cool 28-year-old chef in cool threads and a jaunty hat presided over the could-be-habit-forming Coconut Fish Curry steamed in Banana Leaves. It was Eriik Bruner-Yang, whose tiny (18 seat) and wildly successful H Street corridor Toki Underground has patron’s waiting out the sometimes two hour table-wait at a nearby bar. A Horatio Alger success tale, and he did it all with ramen, glorified ramen and nothing like the slippery packaged sort you get at convenience stores.
Chef Mike Isabella decked the party tables with pots of herbs from his Grafiatto kitchen, while his Kapnos restaurant served delicious lamb gyros wrapped in pitas, presided over by willowy blonde Stephanie, the restaurant’s general manager.
Photo Credit: Capitol Cooking Show – Mike Isabella and Lauren de Santis
Chef Scott Drewno from the Source offered little cups with Chinese dumplings in a wonderful broth lightly redolent of star anise spice and fresh ginger.
Two chefs from unexpected home bases were Rock Harper, Director of Kitchen Operations at the DC Central Kitchen who feed a thousand needy people a day, and Christopher James, Deputy Chef and Event Manager at the State Department.
Nicole Bagley, Art Smith and Wendy Diamond
At the bar, you could have gone classic or checked out one of their specialty cocktails. Try this: If you are a bourbon fan and opt for “Stickin’ Around,” you’ll not only enjoy the Bullier Bourbon, orange juice and orange bitters concoction, you’d have the fun of watching Heejin, Art and Soul’s pretty mixologist, as she does her theatrical thing in mixing it.
The hot band, which kept people dancing until evening’s end at 2 a.m., was headed by Ben Taylor, the actor-musician son of music icons James Taylor and Carly Simon.
When the chefs assembled on stage so Art Smith could thank them and the guests who attended, he also introduced red-haired Jesse Tyler Ferguson of the “Modern Family” sitcom, announcing Ferguson had just flown in from Hawaii early to attend the event. Ferguson, who has been working to further marriage equality through his organization Tie the Knot, furnished white bow ties for the evening’s wait staff to sport.
Genial Art, who first won fame as Oprah Winfrey’s private chef and through his televised appearances, has cooked for three Florida governors, the present King of Sweden, and even Barack Obama, whom he knows from Chicago, where Smith has a restaurant.
Photo credit: Affinia.com
He was especially happy to do this Inaugural Weekend ball because of the contribution the Obama’s have made to the cause of good nutrition. He lauds their emphasis on food and fitness, and their patronage of Washington restaurants, and above all, the inspiration to the nation of Michelle Obama’s kitchen garden at the White House, where they grow the wholesome food they eat at their table.
Art’s cookbooks contain almost as much philosophy as recipes. His Back to the Table and Kitchen Life recognize the importance of the family, and the challenge of providing health-giving meals in today’s fast-paced lives. He offers workable methods as well as recipes to make it happen for you.
Each chef chose a favorite charity to which the evening’s proceeds would be allotted. Art’s was Common Threads, a cause he founded to, among other goals, “help bring children to healthy nutrition and an appreciation of all our world holds in learning of other cultures by trying different flavors and ingredients.” These are common threads, he says, that help bring us together, and his children’s cooking classes contribute to that end.
He concluded his remarks by saying, “After all, the children are the future, and we must insure that future by working to make it a healthy one.”
