Fundraising Food

   

Last month, Lucky's Cafe owner Heather Haviland threw a small party to honor her mother, Mary Lou Ferguson, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. (My father also suffers from Alzheimer's, and I can attest it's a terrible disease that shreds the hearts of those who watch it slowly erase the person they know.)

The party raised money for the local Alzheimer's Foundation. Thanks to the efforts of friends — most notably Chef Ky-Wai Wong, a member of Cuyahoga Community College's Culinary Arts faculty — the party also generated funds to provide for Ferguson, a bright and endearing spirit called "mom" by all who know and love her.

Every seat was filled, and more people wanted to attend. So Wong — who was the beneficiary of a similar sort of fundraiser put together by Haviland years ago when one of his children was very ill — has organized another, larger benefit event on March 3. This Dinner in the Dark special edition will be hosted jointly by the Tri-C Hospitality Program and its executive director and chef Brandt Evans, who also owns Pura Vida. Proceeds will go to the Cleveland chapter of The Alzheimer's Foundation. Proceeds from a Chinese Auction will benefit the Haviland family.

Participating restaurants include Fahrenheit, Lola and Lolita, Fire, Amp 150, Cork and Cleaver, Pura Vida, Crust, Lucky's Cafe, Momocho, Spice Kitchen and Bar, Trentina (not yet open), Flying Fig and Nightwood (Chicago). Also participating are Premier Produce, Ahuja Hospital, Tri-C, SOW Food, The Cheese Shop (West Side Market) and Lilly Handmade Chocolates.

Food stations will be set-up throughout Tri-C's Management Center and Pura Vida. Grazing begins at 6:30 p.m.. Tickets are $75.05 each (valet parking included) and must be purchased in advance.

First Look: Pura Vida

I attended an invitation only kick-off party last night for Pura Vida, Chef Brandt Evans’ new restaurant downtown on Public Square. The last time I was there, at the end of September, it was all sawdust and hanging wires. Wearing hard hats, Evans and I sidestepped workmen and piles of 2 X 4s as he outlined his vision for a hip happening place that could go from early morning breakfast to happy hour, changing character and ambience with the time of day.

He planned to cure and smoke his own bacon, make butter, age cheese and serve what he described as “fun, sexy, push-the-envelope, but not too far, food.” Now, at last, he’s ready to go and it’s an exciting time for him and for all the rest of us.

The name Pura Vida has multiple meanings — Live Today, Not Tomorrow, To Life, a kind of salutation equivalent to Cheers or Salut, and Pure Living, as in good and wholesome. A reggae musician friend, he told the crowd, used it as a message sign off and Brandt felt like it captured the essence of what he wants this spot to be.

The restaurant is in the same building as Tri-C’s new Hospitality Management Center in the former May Company. The dining room is dramatic, all white with black and gray accents. There’s a bar, open kitchen, a long communal table, a section of seating that can be “privatized by a metal mesh curtain and big doors opening onto a Euclid Avenue patio. 26,000 LED lights create shifting moods with color splashed on white fabric panels suspended from the ceiling -- picture sails or clouds illuminated by sunrise and sunset palettes.

The place opens to the public June 6, serving breakfast, lunch, and early evening snacks. Dinner service will be added down the road. High quality, high concept take out food is an important part of what Evans is doing here and there are two coolers for his grab and go items. If the dishes we sampled are representative of the menu to come, diners are in for some very very good eating.

This venture, the first under the operating umbrella BKM Culinary Concepts, is the chef and entrepreneur’s fifth restaurant opening in six years and a step in another direction. He began with Blue Canyon in Twinsburg, and turned that concept into a multi-unit, multi-state restaurant group.

Surrounded by the latest expression of his creative thinking and boundless energy yesterday I remembered that Brandt once told me that in high school he was the underachiever nobody thought would amount to much. He’s been proving them wrong ever since. I suspect that with Pura Vida he’s going to do it again in a big way.

Beef in a Box

There’s something wonderful about driving up to your house and finding steaks waiting for you at the front door. It’s an experience I recently had for the first time and it came courtesy of the folks at Certified Angus Beef Brand. The Wooster based company, dedicated to promoting this select line of premium beef, invited me try their new online ordering and delivery service and tell them what I think. It couldn’t have been easier and I have to say I liked buying meat in my pajamas.

And not just any meat. This is the stuff served at high-end restaurants around the country.
I chose four 12 oz. strip steaks, typed and clicked my way through the purchasing process, and quickly received an email confirming my order, and then another with a tracking number. They arrived frozen three days later, each one vacuum sealed, in a cooler packed with dry ice. There was even a handy little grilling guide. Getting packages in the mail is always fun- like having an extra birthday. Getting a box of something so good to eat makes me ridiculously happy.

I was in charge of sides for dinner on Sunday. There was corn on the cob, bought the day before at the North Union Farmers Market, a salad with tomatoes from the garden, and baked beans that we had slow smoked last week. But the strip was the centerpiece of our meal. We dry rubbed with Chef Brandt Evans’ Killer Steak Crust spice blend and cooked over an open fire.

Photographer, resident flame master and husband Barney Taxel was in charge of achieving a rare interior for the beautifully marbled meat and a picture perfect sear. He did both very well.

There's plenty of grilling days left in the season . Next time, I'm going to gift myself with a rib-eye. Home shopping has never seemed quite so appealing.

Chefs on Exhibit

There’s nothing new about our local chefs showing up to help other organizations. They are the backbone of benefits, generous contributors to every kind of charity gig, and the reason that many are willing to purchase tickets and attend these events. But it’s the food rather than the inspired, conceptual thinking behind it that usually gets all the attention. But it was quite a different story last Saturday night in the galleries at the Palate/Palette fundraiser for MOCA Cleveland.

The artistry of five chefs was the centerpiece of the evening rather than the backdrop. Each had chosen one of the five senses to express and fashioned a unique presentation environment for their dishes. Instead of just grazing mindlessly, we encountered intentionally designed sensory worlds that awakened and heightened perceptions, challenged assumptions, and engaged the mind in the act of eating. All the chefs seemed thrilled with the opportunity and clearly had fun with it. “Creating experiences and stimulating the senses is what we do,” Brandt Evans told me. “It’s wonderful to see that being celebrated.”

I was totally taken with the idea and wowed by the execution. Here’s a brief chef by chef recap of their food-meets-art offerings.

Brandt Evans, Blue Canyon, Sight:
Knowing that we eat with our eyes first, Evans hung big food photos behind his table, cuing up anticipation by adding a word to each image: luminosity; lush: stimulating. Big glass vessels willed with asparagus, limes, and basil decorated he staging area. So we were primed and ready for his scallop ceviche with lime and ginger. There was a kind of visual trick to it- the burst of flavor, full of exciting unexpected elements, was so much more than the sum of what could be seen.

Karen Small, The Flying Fig, Smell:
We entered a small windowless dimly lit room with seating for 20, 25 people at tables arranged in a squared-off u-shape. Each place was set with two small cups: in one a ricotta dumpling with onions, chives, and scallions; in the other slivers of grass fed beef short ribs and mushrooms. As we watched, steaming broth was poured on top- smoked pork for the meat, something gingery for the dumpling. Small urges us to inhale deeply before we open our mouth or pick up a spoon. It is a revelation- so much information coming in through the nose.

Jonathon Sawyer, The Greenhouse Tavern, Touch:
We filed in eight at a time, sat down, removed our shoes, and stepped up to the bar, as instructed, positioning ourselves on a marble square. Heat flowed up through the soles of our feet as Sawyer passed us a bowl of warm miso based broth. We cupped it in our hands and drank. Then we moved to the other side and stood on icy cold stones to sip chilled ramp vichyssoise. For both, Sawyer told us to close our eyes. It was like kissing- blocking out visual impressions intensified what the body felt.

Sergio Abramof, Sergio’s and Sarava, Sound:
He’s got a passion for percussion, so Abramof brought some drumming pals in to create beats to back up his Brazilian shrimp and rice. But instead of their usual selection of instruments, these pros pounded out rhythms using kitchen equipment: whisks, spoons, pots, strainers, skillets. It was impossible to hold still. Sergio was swaying and sautéing, people waiting to snag a plate looked like an impromptu conga line. The dish had a mouth music of its own- together they made a dance party.

Doug Katz, fire food and drink, Taste:
His chocolate truffles were the good bye gift. Four were packed in a clear box divided into sections with a paper insert featuring a different photo to accompany the list of primary ingredients and character descriptions for each bite. It was fun, clever, inventive. Like what the best chefs do. The candies were equally original- bittersweet chocolate peppercorn; white chocolate tarragon; milk chocolate rhubarb; and my personal favorite unsweetened chocolate laced with sea salt.

The event looked like a financial success. There was a nice sized crowd that paid $250 per ticket and big bucks were bid for original artwork during the live auction. But staying true to its mission of exploring contemporary culture, looking beyond the conventional and acceptable, and showcasing originality, MOCA is to be commended for also using their fundraiser as a vehicle for raising awareness of the exceptional talent in our culinary community.