Orange County chefs set the table for Illumination Foundation’s Chef’s Table Culinary Gala
The Illumination Foundation is setting the table for its annual Chef’s Table Culinary Gala at Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim on March 27.
For Illumination Foundation, a nonprofit that provides focused services for homeless adults and children with the goal of disrupting the cycle of homelessness, the Chef’s Table event is among its most anticipated.
“This is our ninth annual Chef’s Table,” said Jack Toan, chief operating officer of Illumination Foundation. “This event brings the community leaders and individuals who care about the issue together along with our culinary partners, the amazing chefs in Orange County.”
Celebrity chef Jet Tila, who is headlining the event, will prepare dishes tableside along with 33 others including Amar Santana of Vaca, Shachi Mehra of ADYA, Amy Lebrun, John Park of Toast Kitchen + Bakery, Richard Mead of Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens and Pedro Garcia of the Ranch.
“We are showcasing a unique experience for those who are coming,” said Toan, “but at the same time, everyone is coming together for a very specific cause.”
The 2021 Chef’s Table event raised more than $1.3 million, which the foundation used to open a new family emergency shelter for homeless families with children with disabilities and chronic health conditions.
This year, the proceeds will support a campus in Santa Ana that will provide housing for seniors and families.
Months after Orange County tallied the highest number of homeless deaths in a single year, the county has received more than $6 million in funding to convert another Stanton motel into permanent supportive housing.
“This year we are looking to raise money for our intergenerational campus, where we will have permanent housing for senior women ... one of the fastest growing homeless populations ”said Toan, “but also transitional housing for moms with kids.”
Toan worked to eradicate homelessness long before becoming COO at Illumination Foundation in 2021 through efforts such as co-founding Delivering with Dignity OC, a collaboration that engages volunteers and supports local restaurants while serving the most vulnerable affected by COVID-19.
“I was a refugee kid, so my parents escaped by night in 1978 by boat out of Vietnam, and we ended up living in a refugee camp for about a year, waiting for asylum,” said Toan. “My personal experience helped me understand what losing everything means and not having a place to call home.”
Toan said he knows some participating chefs and restaurant proprietors have similar personal ties to the cause.
“There was one table I sat at two years ago where the restaurant owner said he and his wife had struggled and had walked that thin line between homelessness and losing everything.”
For some chefs, defeating homelessness is a personal crusade.
“The Illumination Foundation is a fantastic charity,” said Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens chef Richard Mead. “To me, it is really important to support things like this. It is kind of a nonpolitical thing to me. You just have to help people.”
Mead works with many farmers and visits the farmers markets in Los Angeles on Wednesdays and Saturdays for fresh seasonal ingredients, which means diners can expect produce-forward dishes from him at the gala.
“My menu is going to be vegetable-centric with grass-fed beef from Autonomy Farms in Bakersfield,” said Mead.
Executive sous chef Pedro Garcia of Anaheim’s the Ranch is planning a menu that includes rabbit.
“We’re introducing a rabbit roulade,” said Garcia, “a dish that makes this protein approachable by incorporating familiar flavors like pancetta and Swiss chard.”
The Ranch has participated in Chef’s Table every year since the start of the event and is looking forward to returning this year.
“For us it is so great to be able to showcase what the Ranch is all about but also help with the charity event,” Garcia said.
Visit ifhomeless.org for more on the Illumination Foundation’s Chef’s Table Culinary Gala.
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