Archived Article By Tom Fitzmorris
Originally published March 4, 2009
Why Are We Importing Chefs To NOWFE?
Feastival: One Question, Please
I was going to keep my mouth shut about this, thinking it was another one of my overprotective reactions to a perceived threat to the local cuisine. But then a few other people mentioned it to me, and they were thinking the same thing I did.
It's about a new event at the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience. It's called Feastival. It will be on Thursday, May 21, at 7:30 p.m., right after the Royal Street Stroll. (And Vinola, a major wine event that precedes the Stroll.) '
That doesn't seem like the best timing in the world, but that's not what sent my antennae up. The program at Feastival will include alleged celebrity chefs from around the country. The lead act is Hosea Rosenberg, the winner in Season Five of the Top Chefs television show.
I don't watch television, so that name wouldn't register with me. Neither do Leah Cohen, Jamie Lauren and Jeff McInnis, who were also on the show. Nor does Chef Reggie Southerland, the runner-up in the show Next Food Network Star, Season Two. Maybe those who watch a lot of food television know these names well.
Also there, though, will be these chefs from actual restaurants around the country: Paul Kahan, Michel Richard, Marc Vetri, Neal Fraser and Rick Browne. I'd tell you who they are, but you'd have to tell me who they are first.
Now, I have no doubt that all of these people are excellent chefs and that their food, presented not only at Feastival but also at the Grand Tastings on Friday and Saturday, will be delicious.
But.
We have always prided ourselves here in having enough superb home-grown cooks that we've never had to bring in any outside chefs for even out biggest events. In this we differ from even some of the most celebrated food events around the country. Big deals like the Napa Wine Auction and the Food and Wine event at Aspen routinely bring in chefs from all over the country. Why? Because they don't have enough of their own.
We do.
A couple of years ago, Todd English--the Emeril of Boston--opened a restaurant with his brand here. He was the first name chef from somewhere else who ever opened a branch restaurant here. It was a disastrous failure from day one, and richly deserved to be. (It's Ruth's Chris Steak House now.)
This is the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience, guys. Okay, we don't make much wine here. But we sure do have the food. I think the idea of bringing chefs here for an event like that is wrong, for a number of reasons. The same event with local chefs would have better food and be better attended--believe it.
Haven't we had enough of our local chefs, one might argue? Let's assume that's true. But NOWFE tries hard to bring in gourmets and oenophiles to attend their events. What visitor from Pittsburgh would come here to eat the food of somewhere else? It doesn't make sense!
I'm not saying we should shut out chefs from elsewhere. It's nice having them visiting to put on a wine dinner or something, if only so they can eat around our town. But I ask you: have you ever been to a special dinner featuring an out-of-town chef that was as good as the ones the local chefs mount for us?
I hope I'm wrong, and that Feastival is a great success. Limbaugh-like rooting for failure doesn't do anyybody any good. But I can't say I like this idea.
© 2009 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com