Great Chef Cooks For You, For a Great Cause

How's this for a foodie fantasy? At the head of your table, an eminent chef—such as Anthony Bucco (Ryland Inn), John Benjamin (Restaurant Latour), James Laird (Serenade), Ariane Duarte (CulinAriane) and Corey Heyer (Bernards Inn), among others—cooks just for you and your guests. And proceeds benefit the Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

That fantasy will come true for 10 tables of 10 guests each at the New Jersey Chefs Tableside Dinner in the ballroom of the Westin Governor Morris Hotel in Morristown, on Thursday September 26th.

At each of the 10 T-shaped tables, a top chef will create a different five-course meal with wine pairings just for that table.

This first-of-its-kind New Jersey event was conceived by chef Thomas Ciszak of Chakra in Paramus after he was invited to participate in a similar affair in Manhattan—and came back totally pumped.

“At other benefits we have to cook for three or four hundred people," he says. "You make these little portions and hope the guests can see what the product could be in your restaurant.”

In this more intimate setting, “You really can showcase your food.”

Ciszak is chef/director of the TLC Restaurant Group, which includes Blue Morel at the Westin Governor Morris Hotel. Ciszak teamed with Blue Morel’s executive chef, Kevin Takafuji, to recruit top-notch local talent for the evening, including Ciszak and Takafuji, Marty Kester (Ninety Acres) and Paul Kapner (Community FoodBank of New Jersey).

When guests arrive, each group will be put in a lottery to determine which chef will be theirs for the night.

“Each chef will cook right at the table,” says Ciszak. Each guest will have the opportunity to interact with their chef throughout the evening.

“From the chefs’ perspective, it’s really fun," Ciszak says. "Chefs are so spread out in New Jersey, not like in New York, where you are just a cab ride away. These events really get the chefs together.”

Of course, the real winner is the Community Food Bank and its 285,000 square-foot facility in Hillside, which generates a million meals a year for people in need through 1100 agencies in the state.

“It’s so exciting to see this idea evolve into this really cool dinner,” says Richard Uniacke of Clark, the non-profit’s director of marketing.

Not only a fundraiser, the evening, he says, “is a great opportunity as a ‘friendraiser’."

What’s more, it breaks out of what Uniacke calls “the gala addiction, where we spend tons of money in order to raise money.”

At the Tableside Dinner, the chefs donate their time, talent and food, the Westin Governor Morris donates the venue and Allied Beverage Group of Carlstadt donates the wines. Live and silent auctions during the evening will enable guests to bid on many items, including the services of a chef for a super-private dinner.

“You’re going to have an amazing meal, prepared by an amazing chef, no matter which chef is preparing it,” says Uniacke. “It’s a really great thing, for a really great cause.”

Tickets are $200 ($110 tax deductible) and include, food, wine and service. As of today’s Soup to Nuts posting, all tickets have been sold, which is good news for the FoodBank, not so good for would-be guests on the outside looking in.

New Jersey Chefs Tableside Dinner

Community Food Bank of New Jersey

 

SUZANNE ZIMMER LOWERY is a food writer, pastry chef and culinary instructor at a number of New Jersey cooking schools. Find out more about her at suzannelowery.com.

 

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