The 25th Dinner at Hearst Castle was held last week and featured the culinary artistry of renowned chefs from throughout California, Carmel (Cal Stamenov of Marinus at Bernardus & Wendy Brodie, Television Chef), Monterey (Kurt Grasing of Grasing’s), Napa (Ken Frank of La Toque), Buellton (Frank Ostini of The Hitching Post), Carpinteria (James Sly of Sly’s), Santa Barbara (Michael Hutchings of Michael’s Catering and Christine Dahl of Christine Dahl Pastries). Gourmet appetizers and champagne on the terrace was followed by six courses with matching wines from vintner dignitaries.
The tariff was $1250.00 per person. While this may seem to be a king's ransom, consider that the event had to bring in all dining area rentals, a field kitchen (including four convection ovens, four stoves, four hot boxes, several rolling racks), walk-in coolers, ice trailers, executive restrooms, self-contained dish washing facilities, electrical generator, lighting and heating, a truckload of cooking equipment, $20,000 in stemware, some 120 of crew (chefs, cooks, volunteers, sommeliers, servers, musician, photographers, rental equipment crew, dish washers, security) AND start at 8:00 AM and be gone by midnight. Bob Dickey who use to photograph the event called it a "Brigadoon moment."
Organizing all this minutia is accomplished by coordinating chef James Sly. The magic is controlled by lists. He once said that "there are two kinds of people in the world, those that make lists and those that should." With that said, it was a very successful event.
Tastefully
Chef Michael Hutchings
