Earlier this week, COOK announced the launch of its COOK Masters Program, an intensive series that will provide intensive training to deserving culinary students and amateur chefs looking to launch a real-deal culinary career. We caught up with program mastermind Audrey Claire Taichman, who’s always a great interview, to get some more info on this new-to-Philly concept. To read more about the COOK Masters Program, click here!
I would like to start with congratulating Lacroix at the Rittenhouse for an amazing 10 years. To commemorate their tenth anniversary, Lacroix hosted an elaborate celebration dinner, benefiting the Lacroix scholarship through the James Beard Foundation and honoring Jean-Marie Lacroix for his contribution to Philadelphia’s (and the nation’s) culinary scene.
“If you were hoping for real authentic Polish, you’re screwed.” That was one of the first things out of the mouth of the always-outspoken Scott Schroeder (right), chef of South Philly Tap Room and American Sardine Bar, at the outset of his class centered on the famously hearty Eastern European cuisine. That’s not to say the Detroit native, who was joined in the Pole-position festivities by chef Mark Regan (left) of SPTR, has no experience whatsoever with borscht and bigos. Back home in The D, Schroeder grew up visiting the traditional Polish neighborhood of Hamtramck, frequenting its many butcher shops, grocery stores and restaurants and soaking in all those feel-good babcia-crafted vibes. Nowadays, Schroeder, whose surname is far too vowel-heavy to pass for Polish, deals in thoughtful bar food, but that hasn’t squelched his interest in this kind of cooking.
The COOK crew is still catching its collective breath a full 48 hours after the curtain dropped on this year’s Audi FEASTIVAL. The crown jewel of the city’s culinary event calendar, FEASTIVAL, now in its third year, raised a tremendous amount of support for the city’s Live Arts and Philly Fringe, a mission represented by the multiple arts patrons in the crowd of 950-plus and the talented performers who transformed Delaware Avenue’s Pier 9 into an absolute funhouse. Audrey Claire Taichman, who curates the event with Stephen Starr and Michael Solomonov, recently revealed that 2010’s inaugural FEASTIVAL was the inspiration for COOK itself. It’s not difficult to see why, considering the support, respect and camaraderie displayed by this year’s attendees.
Open Stove just keeps getting stranger. So far I’ve attended a total of three of COOK’s monthly chef-on-chef extravaganzas; July’s pitted Germany against France, while August’s pitted Spam against Spam. For September, things got very personal —brother vs. brother personal. Waldermar “Val” Stryjewski (left), sous chef at a.kitchen, did battle with his younger sibling of 10 years, Stephan “Steve” Stryjewski (right), sous chef at the Hotel Palomar’s Square 1682. I first got to know these two back in 2010, when we all accompanied COOK regular Peter Woolsey on a trip up to NYC’s James Beard House. Besides possessing a shared gift for indefatigable smack-talk, the Stryjewskis are both sure-handed as hell in the kitchen. But if Open Stove, built around a series of “secret ingredients” selected by the COOK staff, is good for anything, it’s ensuring any modicum of culinary comfort disappears faster than a dozen Federal Donuts at an over-attended brunch potluck.
I got to know COOK alum Chris Kearse over the past year through writing this profile of him for Philadelphia City Paper. The Levittown native and former chef of Pumpkin, who’s cooked in some of America’s best kitchens, will be the first to tell you he’s not fond of attention, but his latest accomplishment demands it. This weekend, he opens Will (1911 E. Passyunk Ave.), the 28-year-old’s long-awaited chance to be both chef and owner.
Lacroix at the Rittenhouse, COOK’s dear friend and very near neighbor, has always been a trend-setting force in Philadelphia dining, as well as a proving ground for some of our brightest chefs. That’s why we’re geeked to hear what one of our most evolutionary kitchens has planned for its 10-year anniversary.
On September 24 — big heads up for this one — Lacroix Executive Chef Jon Cichon (above, at his tuna butchering class) and Executive Pastry Chef Fred Ortega will fold eight former colleagues back into the fray for a one-night-only tasting. Here are the alums who will join the current brigade, plus chef Jean-Marie Lacroix himself, for this singular occasion (quite a few friends of COOK on this list, too):
First: Free corned beef to any commenter who can successfully identify the classic movie quoted in the headline.
Onto the non-literal meat: The fifth installment of COOK’s Open Stove series, which sets two Philly kitchen up-and-comers on a collision course beset with culinary booby traps, had a bit of theme. Yes, the unwelcome surprises, overall confusion and indecorous liquor consumption that have characterized previous installments were present, but OS Numero Cinco boasted something else entirely: cans. Each of the secret ingredients — competitors are allowed to pre-prepare an amuse bouche and a dessert, with apps and entrées up in the air — came vacuum-sealed, perhaps last thing a professional chef wants to be handed.
How did the personnel fare? Damn well.
It wasn’t too long ago that The COOKbook took you on a photographic tour of Le Bec Fin, reinvigorated under the watch of new owner Nicolas Fanucci (left) and chef Walter Abrams (right), French Laundry alums who have injected The House That Perrier Built with new energy and purpose. Now that they’ve had a few months to settle in, earning a rave review from Philly Mag in the process, the team has started organizing special events. This Wednesday, August 15, the restaurant will participate in Julia Child Restaurant Week, a nationwide celebration honoring the great American-born ambassador of French cuisine, with a special menu served offered in LBF’s more casual Chez Georges.
