JOSEPH DECUIS in NYC
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Our James Beard dinner was a homerun!
Monday, August 23rd, staff from Joseph Decuis had the unbelievable honor of cooking at the James Beard House in New York City. We wowed them.
We had comments from New Yorkers dining there, who said we served one of the best dinners ever. This event took our staff and our restaurant to the next level; it put us on a national playing field from which we can deliver our message about farm to fork dining and promote our fabulous Joseph Decuis restaurant and products.
The dinner started with a great introduction by Izabella Wojcik, the Director of House Programming at the James Beard House who had obviously done her homework and represented us well (Thank you Izabella!) and then Pete, who brought applause with, "Almost 33 years ago I met Alice here in New York City and now we are back - bringing Hoosier hospitality to the Big Apple." Then dinner began as Joseph Decuis Executive Chef Aaron Butts and his crew sent us their magic!
The menu is listed on our website along with the wines that Carmen McGee, our Manager and Sommelier matched to the foods and were so graciously donated for our dinner. The dining guests loved it all but I think they were blown away by our main course of grilled Wagyu short rib. It was the talk of the dinner as these foodies hadn't had short rib grilled before - only braised. It was fabulously delicious! There were lots of questions too about raising Wagyu as well as preparing it and serving it. Also, one diner wanted to know if I'd really picked the heirloom tomatoes in the first course from our garden...
The dinner and the comments re-enforced our belief that there's a hunger in America for knowing where your food comes from, how it is raised and what it is fed, all particularly important right now in light of the current egg recall.
To conclude our night, I must say that our talented staff performed magnificently; our all natural drug free Wagyu was a hit; our heirloom, organic produce had great taste and that the Indiana honorees we brought with us - Bell Farms Yellow Perch, Purple Rock Farm Trout, Collins Caviar, Gunthorp Farms Pork, Strauss Farms Veal and more! - were definite hits - and that our Hoosier hospitality was well received in New York City, the culinary capital of the world.
Thank you for your support as we ventured taking our small town restaurant into the big city. With this support and confidence, we exceeded their expectations and lived up to ours.
As I write this, we are now home. The restaurant staff is back to work in Roanoke, I'm busy picking the garden and canning tomatoes for the winter, and Pete is out shoveling manure. It's back to reality and it's great to be home.
Alice
P.S. To find out more about the James Beard House and the James Beard Foundation (celebrating, preserving and nurturing America's culinary history and diversity) you can to to their website at www.jamesbeard.org.
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