Three days ago, Red The Steakhouse sales and marketing director Rosemary Staltare got a call from one of her large corporate clients, Pepsi Worldwide. Executives from Pepsi Argentina were in Miami and the group wanted to book the restaurant's penthouse dining area for a dinner.
Nothing unusual about that call, thought Staltare. After all, Red is one of the area's best known restaurants for wining and dining corporate clients. Until she was told that there would be a special guest at the dinner -- with a special dining request of the chef, Peter Vauthy.
Seems as though el Bulli's Ferran Adria would be at the dinner and wanted to experience a specific type of American food.
So
how did Vauthy feel about having one of the world's greatest chefs in
his restaurant? And just what did he serve to the king of molecular gastronomy? We asked him a few questions about the evening:
New Times: We hear chef Adria requested a special meal. What menu did you prepare?
Peter Vauthy: Chef Adria requested a BBQ style menu so we went all out. I started him with a house made charcuterie plate, house made duck prosciutto, house made bresola, pastrami and some iberico pata negra. Dry aged Certified Angus Beef Prime Ribeye and filets, cider glazed Berkshire baby back ribs, Blackened Wild Chinook salmon, collard green with guanciale, corn spoon bread and wild foraged mushrooms.
Did you try to make something
unusual (molecular gastronomy-wise) like olive pearls or something?
No just straight forward food prepared with impeccable technique and lots of passion and love for food.
How did you feel about cooking for him?
What can I say? He's widely regarded as one of the top chefs in the world. It was a great challenge and thrill for me. I'm still smiling about it.
Have you met before?
Never, he has almost mythical status in the chef realm.
Did you talk food?
Actually, he was very humble and personable. A consummate professional. We discussed where I was from, and what was my culinary background and how I came to find Miami as my culinary home.
Overall, how was the experience?
You can tell he still lives the life of a chef. At the end of the meal he tracked me down to give me his kudos on the food and congratulate me for a spectacular job. This more than anything shows that he still "gets it' when it comes to the real life of a working chef and the demands and challenges that we have to overcome every day.
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