March of Dimes Benefits From Gallic Banquet

New York wasn’t entirely stripped of cooking talent last weekend, although unconfirmed reports suggested that there was grumbling at the Rainbow Room over the absence of Chef Andre Rene, and that an unaccustomed air of melancholy settled over Le Perigord when diners discovered that Chef Antoine Bouterin had abandoned his stove in favor of the kitchens at San Diego’s Sheraton Harbor Island East Hotel.

Five of New York”s leading protagonists of Gallic gastronomy fled their sanctums on the Hudson last week to work in San Diego. In addition to Rene and Bouterin, chefs Jean-Georges Vongerichten of The Lafayette, Jean Michel Bergougnoux of Le Cygne and Jacques Torres of Le Cirque came together at the Sheraton to toil and trouble at the fourth annual “Fete X Five” sponsored by the March of Dimes.

The 330 or so guests who assembled Saturday in the Champagne Ballroom for this lavish French variation on a weenie roast came expecting the unusual and, by and large, were not disappointed. Cocktail hour teasers included chopped raw tuna wrapped in potato chip pouches and oysters rolled in what the program specified as “nice” spinach leaves. These items were relatively mundane compared to the dishes served at the five-course formal dinner.

Gourmet galas became quite the rage in the 1980s, with the perennial “Celebrities Cook for the UCSD Cancer Center” (the next will be given in April, also in the Champagne Ballroom) setting the stage for “Fete X Five,” which premiered in 1986. This convocation of out-of-town chefs has proven a steady draw for the local chapter of the March of Dimes, whose national parent successfully funded research for a polio vaccine more than 30 years ago and now seeks to prevent birth defects.

The talent has been assembled annually by television chef, New York Times columnist and cookbook author Pierre Franey, one of the men who revived haute cuisine in New York in the 1950s and who now teaches streamlined French cooking to a national audience. Since Saturday’s event coincided with Franey’s 69th birthday, the evening partly was devoted to a salute to him; he escorted fellow guest of honor Luba Johnston, who chaired the previous two “Fete X Five” galas.

“I’m very, very happy, because, when I came in this country many years ago, the chefs, they were not recognized. Now they are recognized very, very much, and I am very, very happy,” said Franey, who declared himself especially delighted by the multitiered birthday cake wheeled into the reception area. The cake, through such decorations as chocolate tasting spoons and frosted pastry cookbooks, outlined the story of his career. Later, the crowd serenaded Franey with the birthday song while the juvenile roller skating team from Aquarius Roll-a-Reena encircled him in a lighthearted, skate-borne variation on “Le Sacre du Printemps.”

For her part, Johnston said that, all things considered, she preferred the role of guest of honor. “It’s more fun to be a guest than to be chairman,” she said. “Now I can enjoy myself.” Johnston arrived at the party with her niece, Ognana Drandiika, a newly arrived emigrant from Bulgaria who hosted and starred in that country’s most popular televised variety show.

When the dinner bell sounded, guests retired to the ballroom, which was dressed in a sugary confection of hot pink carnations and a thousand balloons concocted by Judith Smith; Linda Hooberman and Melanie Cohrs took responsibility for the arrangements, which included the Bill Green Orchestra and a post-meal parade of chefs marching to “Food, Glorious Food,” the theme song from the musical “Oliver.” Restaurateur Bertrand Hug called time-out in the middle of the dinner to auction a quartet of banquets to be served in private homes, at Jeanne and Bill Larson’s Fallbrook tourmaline mine and on the private yacht of dinner chairmen Dan and Teresa Stanford. The auction added nearly $7,000 to the event’s net proceeds.

The five-course dinner began with Bouterin’s smoked salmon tart and continued with Vongerichten’s very clever shrimp in spiced carrot juice; Rene’s extraordinarily rare saddle of lamb (the recipe printed in the program directed that the lamb be placed “in a buffalo” for five minutes, but this was probably an example of French kitchen humor); a lively combination of hot cheeses and chilled greens designed by Bergougnoux, and a grand chorus of pastries whipped up by Torres.

Those guests who could stand after all this feasting accepted Bill Green’s invitation to step lively around the dance floor; those who could not remained at table to savor the chocolate truffles.

John and Martha Culbertson co-chaired the gala and brought a selection of their winery’s vintages for service through the evening; other guests included honorary chairs Jim and Dianne Bashor, John and Sally Thornton and Ken and Dixie Unruh; Frank and Lee Goldberg; Nobel Laureate Dr. Renato Dulbecco; Don and Darlene Shiley; Lawrence and Laurie Waddy; Jacque Powell; local March of Dimes board chairman Frank Laughton and his wife, Judy; Bent and Lynn Petersen; Mark and Carol Yorston; Jerry and Maggie Coleman; Glen and Jonnie Estell, and Ken and Fran Golden.

The 1990’s silver jubilee corps of Women of Dedication were introduced to fellow long-time community volunteers Thursday at a formal tea given at the Mission Hills mansion of Anne and Michael Ibs Gonzalez, and their wide-ranging resumes included everything from the chairmanship of the Girl Scouts cookie drive to working with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity at an orphanage in Haiti.

At a fashion luncheon to be given February 15 at the San Diego Marriott, the 15 women will be presented to an audience of seven or eight hundred that event chairman Betty Hubbard anticipates will include most of the 300 volunteers named Women of Dedication during the annual event’s quarter-century history. Sponsored by the Door of Hope Auxiliary, the Women of Dedication luncheon benefits local activities of the Salvation Army.

Salvation Army spokesman Russ Russell defined the group of honorees as representative of volunteerism in the community at large. “These ladies exemplify the mission and the hope of what the Salvation Army stands for, which is to serve all people in need,” he said.

“We all know how important volunteers are, and these women have demonstrated that they have served the community with complete dedication,” said auxiliary President Mary DeBrunner.

A leisurely collation of finger sandwiches and delicate petits fours smoothed the hour that prefaced the introduction of the honorees, most of whom were well known to the sizable committee. The group includes the first second-generation Woman of Dedication, Mary-Em Howard, whose mother, the late Teresa Hardie, was presented several years ago at the age of 99. Also to be presented at the February 15 event are Letha Brown, Betty Byrnes, Mary-Lynn Deddeh, Ruth Gonsalves, Euzelia Griffith, Betty McElfresh, Mary McGregor, Sister Virginia McMonagle, Helen Monroe, Sandra Pay, Mitch Pflugh, Yolanda Walther-Meade, Margie Thibodo and Peaches Wynn.