So Many Chefs, So Little Time
One and a half million dollars was raised Saturday at the 20th Annual Culinary Evening with the California Winemasters, which benefited the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The event took place at the “Midwest Street” set lot at Warner Brothers in Burbank. Forty-five celebrity chefs prepared an amuse-bouche which was paired with wine donated by over 65 wineries.
There were so many chefs and wineries that I didn’t have the chance to talk with everyone, even though I was there for over four hours. I started my tour with John Cuevas from Muse at Montage Beverly Hills, who prepared a salad of local watermelon, marinated green beans, feta and anchovy. I tasted Curtis Stone’s chicken liver parfait after waiting in line behind a crowd of fans getting his autograph (some even had Stone tattoo their arms!). Much later in the evening I ended my tour with chef Warren Schwartz of Westside Tavern (our current Los Angeles Review of the Week). Unfortunately I didn’t get to try his grilled hanger steak with brown butter béarnaise because it was too late in the evening.
You can click on each photo to enlarge.
- Chef Curtis Stone with Sophie Gayot
- Chef advisor Celestino Drago has been attending the event since the beginning
- Chef Craig Strong
- Chef Damon Baehrel
- Chefs Victor Scargle
- Chef Gabriel Kreuther
- Chef Guillaume Burlion
- Chef John Cuevas
- Honorary Chairman chef Josiah Citrin
- Chef Michael Cimarusti and his wife Crisi
- Chef Neal Fraser
- Chefs Rory Herrman & Bryan Podgorski of Bouchon Beverly Hills & Las Vegas
- The team of Craft Los Angeles
- The Warner Bros. Midwest Street backlot