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Support Healthy LiversThomas Fogarty Winery of Woodside hosts an unusual alfresco wine-and-dine benefitby Stett Holbrook on May 27, 2009WOODSIDE’S Thomas Fogarty Winery will host an unusual food and wine event on June 23. As part of the American Liver Foundation’s annual Flavors Culinary Gala, 10 local chefs will each prepare unique, five-course meals for a table of 10 diners. What makes the event special is that the chefs will prepare their meals tableside and alfresco at the winery without the benefit of kitchens or even refrigerators. All the food will be paired with Fogarty wines. Event proceeds will benefit the American Liver Foundation’s Northern California and Nevada divisions. The culinary talent for the event is top-notch. The participating chefs are John Bentley, John Bentley’s; Emmanuel Billaud, Hotel Sofitel; Edwin Caba, Creola; Salvatore Calisi, Dio Deka; Bruno Chemel, Chez TJ; Maurice Dissels, Birk’s; Cosimo Luca d’Oria, Bella Saratoga; Tony Flier, Kingfish; Alicia Petrakis, Astaria; and Miriam Russell-Wadleigh, Piacere. The evening begins at 6pm with an alfresco reception featuring appetizers presented by all of the participating chefs, a silent auction and wine reception set high above Silicon Valley at Fogarty’s Skyline Boulevard winery and vineyards. During the reception, guests and chefs will be paired through a random selection process just prior to being seated. The lineup of chefs is impressive. I’d be especially interested to see what chef Chemel can do in the outdoor setting. His style of Asian-inspired French cooking is technical, and the premise and the outdoor venue should provide diners at his table with a real show. If I were going, I’d be willing to slip the host $20 for a seat at Calisi’s table. His big and bold Greek cooking should be a perfect match for the great outdoors. Isn’t it a little odd that a winery is hosting a fundraiser for an organization that fights liver disease? Not at all, says Linden Young, the American Liver Foundation’s division vice president. NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, a form of fatty-liver disease), not cirrhosis, is the No. 1 liver disease, she says. “Moderate drinking isn’t going to cause liver disease,” she says. The mission of the American Liver Foundation (ALF) is liver-health promotion and liver-disease prevention. Thirty million Americans are affected by liver disease. In fact, liver disease is now estimated to affect more people than those living with diabetes (type 1 and type 2) and all cancers combined. FLAVORS CULINARY GALA happens June 23 at 6pm at Thomas Fogarty Winery, 19501 Skyline Blvd., Woodside. Individual tickets are $300/tables of 10 are $5,000. Contact Michelle Flatley, [email protected] 415.248.1060 or visit www.liverfoundation.org/flavors. by Stett Holbrook on May 27, 2009 |
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