Celebrity Chefs Help Eat Away at Hunger

Eight of Orange County’s greatest culinary talents assembled in one kitchen Friday to whip up a gourmet feast and raise money to feed the hungry.

The chefs made appetizers and a four-course dinner for 260 guests at the Robert Mondavi Wine and Food Center in Costa Mesa. The $150-per-person dinner and auction netted about $70,000--twice the expected amount--for the Share Our Selves Orange Aid Kitchen Project.

Be Our Guest

Michael Kang, owner of Five Feet and Five Feet Too restaurants and co-chairman of the dinner, said the joining together of celebrity chefs to help feed the hungry was “a natural marriage.”

“This is a great cause, and it’s easy to get these guys to jump on the bandwagon,” he said, putting slices of smoked carpaccio on a Southwestern-style salad. “Of course, I don’t know about these French guys . . . .”

Kang had no trouble enlisting the other chefs.

“It’s just an honor to be a part of this and a thrill to work with these other guys,” said Hans Prager, owner of the Ritz in Newport Beach. “The hunger situation is a real concern. It’s not getting better; it’s getting worse.”

Cabaret

Each chef contributed a signature appetizer, then split up into groups of two to prepare the dinner.

Kang devised a calamari pancake with tobiko and avocado for his hors d’oeuvre, while Prager made profiteroles of foie gras and truffles.

Ted Gray, in-house chef at the Newport Meat Co. in Newport Beach, and Christian Rassinoux of the Ritz-Carlton in Dana Point joined forces for the first course: sun-dried apple mille feuille of smoked salmon and ahi tatare.

Kang and David Wilhelm of Irvine’s West Coast Productions (Barbacoa, Kachina, Bistro 201 and Zuni Grill restaurants) prepared a Southwestern chinoise carpaccio salad with sweet pepper sun corn vinaigrette. Jean-Pierre Lemanissier of Antoine at Le Meridien in Newport Beach and John McLaughlin of JW’s at the Anaheim Marriott weighed in with the main course, a braised baby lamb shank with sweet and sour three pepper relish.

Alan Greeley of the Golden Truffle in Costa Mesa and Prager dubbed their dessert “menage a trois, “ an original creation consisting of three “mini-desserts”: a chocolate box filled with hazelnut mousse, raspberry-mango Napoleon and a creme Chantilly.

“When we finish this, we can take out the trash,” Wilhelm joked.

Feed the Hungry

This is the third year Kang has raised money for Share Our Selves in Costa Mesa under the umbrella of a national benefit called “Taste of the Nation” presented annually by Share Our Strength of Washington, D.C. The organization fights hunger in 100 different cities by holding similar dinners throughout the country during the week.

Seventy percent of the funds raised will go to the new Orange Aid Kitchen, which will recycle perishable food from restaurants, hotels and caterers that would otherwise be discarded. Thirty percent of the proceeds will go to the Share Our Strength project.

“This project touches the hearts of a great cross-section of the community,” said Hal Rosoff, co-chairman of the event.

Guests included Ken and Marla Bird, Barbara Considine, Anne and Howard Cusic, Frank and Jean Forbath, Pat Freemon, Tony and Karen French, Jack and Mary Ellen Glaser, Torben and Katherine Helshoj, Bill and Ann Lusk, John Martin, John and Karen McGlinn, Mike and Lauri Mendenhall, Bernie Schneider and Kathy Townsend.