Last night at Snyder Diamond in Santa Monica, three of LA’s top chefs gathered for a cooking demo to help raise awareness for Share Our Strength and Taste the Nation on June 6th in Culver City. We also spotted host, Brad A. Johnson of Angeleno, just off his recent win (and trip) down to Australia to pick up his Le Cordon Bleu Award for ‘best critic.’
Laurent Quenioux of Bistro LQ made a sweet-savory wild mushroom tapioca pudding; Walter Manzke used a pizza oven for an Alsatian Tart flambé and Quinn Hatfield stood by his signature croque madame with hamachi, prosciutto and quail egg.
When ever you put three talents of this ilk together there are always laughs and surprises. After Laurent was finished with his demo he helped prep and plate for Quinn, who also shared stories about his inspiration for the dish being from his early days in New York working for a now famous television chef. “I worked for a guy you might know, he does dancing shows – Rocco DiSpirito.” All joking aside, “in the late 90’s, there was no better kitchen to be at than Union Pacific.” I served Rocco the first one (croque) that I made and he wanted it to go out right away that night. They took so long to construct, that he never asked again.”
Try as we might, Walter Manzke (formerly of Church & State), is still remaining tight lipped about his new venture but definitely ‘has something in the works.’ “I came back to LA for a reason,” was about all he would divulge, but we’ll keep trying.
Other talents in the house included Barrie Lynn, The Cheese Impresario who served a Hook’s 10 year-old- cheddar and a rare Roelli from Wisconsinfor the crowd to try. Essential Chocolate Desserts of Culver City, who just opened their second retail shop in the Westside Pavillion, passed trays of chocolate raspberry brownies and assorted cake truffles, including red velvet, carrot and strawberry. Intelligensia provided the coffee and a top barrista to brew. [FEAST LA]
