Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Oh The Weekend

This past weekend has been quite eventful here at The Culinary Institute of America.

My school was hosting the 3rd Bocuse d'Or Competition. What is this? Well, it is an event at which the top chefs from all over the country train for in order to win one coveted spot as the American representative for the worldwide competition in Lyon, France.

The Rec Center was transformed from mere basketball courts to an impressive Culinary Areana with stoves, mixers, ovens and cameras. The judges sat right up front, so everyone could see them as they dissected the dishes placed in front of them.

The judging panel was full of high caliber chefs such as Grant Achatz, Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud and Daniel Humm. When they weren't judging the contest they were out signing books and taking pictures.

Justin and I with Daniel Boulud


After all the tasting and tallying, the winner who will be heading train extensively before heading off to Lyon is CMC Richard Rosendale from The Greenbrier. Congratulations! And also a huge congratulations to Rose Weiss, a culinary extern at Gramercy Tavern, who won the commis competition and a $10,000 scholarship to any Three Michelin Star Restaurant in Europe!


Now on to my food weekend.

Justin, his parents and I went to a cute little french restaurant in Rhinebeck, NY for lunch yesterday named Arielle. I don't usually like strictly French cuisine based restaurants but luckily for me they had a Lamb Slider with Tzatiki special. It was delicious! Justin's mom indulged in the brunch special: a Mimosa and Truffle, Bacon Mac & Cheese, while John and Justin had burgers. Justin indulged a bit too on this Sunday morning, enjoying seared foie on his Brioche burger.




I guess you could say I have become a true life culinary snob because I am now judging not only the food but the service as well, probably because I am taking serving classes but that is another story for another day. Needless to say the servers, front and back were on point.

What did you do this weekend? Did you eat anywhere good? Tell me in the comments below!

2 comments:

  1. Rose Weiss isn't going to the competition in Lyon. She won the chance to stage at any restaurant in Europe for 3 months all of which is worth $10,000. That includes rooming, transportation, etc. Also, this wasn't the 2nd Bocuse d'Or World Cuisine Contest it was the 3rd Bocuse d'Or USA competition. The competition that is now used to find out who will compete in the Bocuse d’Or World Cuisine Contest which was started in 1987.

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    1. Thanks for the info Rachel. I don't know why I wrote 2nd...typo perhaps, and as for the prizes, well I was legitimately confused, hah.
      Thanks for clearing that up!

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