Executive Chef Marc Kusche of the award-winning Hamilton’s Kitchen at The Alfond Inn was invited to cook at the legendary James Beard House in New York City with the theme Florida Farmhouse Flavor this past Friday, October 23, 2015.
Chef Kusche offered a fresh take on Southern comfort food and has a strong commitment to locally sourced ingredients from the lush and fertile farms of Central Florida. It is an honor to present a dinner at The James Beard House. Beard, a cookbook author and teacher, was a champion of American cuisine. The mission of the James Beard Foundation is to celebrate, nurture, and preserve America’s culinary heritage and future.
Chef Kusche recently talked to us about the experience and how everything went down at The James Beard House dinner.
“The James Beard event was huge hit, I think we really present Orlando and Florida very well. Our event was sold out, form what I heard normally they do around 65 covers and did almost 80 covers.”
“The kitchen is very small but if you good organized you are ok, so we did well. We shipped a lot local ingredients via UPS overnight , we used gulf snapper and key west shrimps, local greens, olive oil from ” The Ancient Olive ” in Winter Park, root vegetable from the farmers market in Winter Park,” Chef Marc told us via e-mail.
“We prepped as much we could here in Orlando, I spoke to Kevin Fonzo from K Restaurant and gave me few good tips. A day before the event we spend few hours in the kitchen form “International Culinary Center ” in NY to just to do a little more prep. The whole event starts with a little reception for 45 min after that we start to serve the menu, we did a 5 course dinner ( see menu below )”
“We had a few little special request from vegan or shell fish allergies. After the dinner I went to the guest and told him that most of the ingredients from Florida and how we prepare them, like mention before I think we did a good job…I hope :):)”
New York was great, it’s such a great city with so many different restaurant and chef’s, it is really hard to pick the right place if you want to go for a meal. I ate at Momofuku Ssäm Bar, Babbo Ristorante, Eataly and Gramercy Tavern, all of them are amazing. If I have pick one I would go for Gramercy Tavern, now I even understand more why Danny Meyer is such big guy in the hospitality industry in the US – the food, service, ambiance – everything is perfect. I read all his books and when you eat in his restaurant it is even better.”
Local Florida Farms :
Lake Meadows Farm
TheGreenHouse
Frog Song Farm ( we bought it direct from the market )
We use also few different farmers from Winter Park Farmers market
Reception
Truffle Baked Brie Cheese, Heaven to Besty Pear Jam
Short Rib Praline, Basil Crust, Balsamic Onion Confit
Caviar Stuffed Potatoes, Crème Fraiche, Chives
Hamilton’s Kitchen Shrimps Grits
White Gazpacho, Crispy Prosciutto, Almonds
Menu
Roasted Beets Duo, Grapefruit, Whipped Goat Cheese, Micro Greens,
Caramelized Walnuts
Iberico Ham Wrapped Diver Scallop, Creamy Polenta, Pickled Artichokes, Red
Wine Reduction
Slow Braised Lamb Neck, Pumpkin Risotto, Honey – Rosemary Glazed Parsnip,
Mustard Seed Sauce
Olive Oil Poached Red Snapper, Caramelized Cauliflower, Caper Berries,
Tomatoes, Shaved Fennel
Hamilton’s Kitchen Chocolate Pudding, Sweet Brioche Croutons
