When I expressed interest in covering the Fabulous Food Show in Cleveland, the very nice people at the airport Marriott (thanks Andi!) invited me to stay with them for their Hell's Kitchen weekend and grand opening of their new restaurant, Amp 150, created by Chef Dean James Max (as is Latitude 41, here in Columbus).
It was a super cool evening; there was a sellout crowd in the dining room and I got to sit in the VIP room! How exciting! This was especially nice because I was there solo and, although I am not adverse to dining alone, it was great to sit at a table with such interesting people (a PR professional, a dentist, a chef, a hotel manager's wife, a few Real Housewives of Cleveland and even a Dane). I loved sitting across from Marriott marketing manager Andi and her husband, a chef, because they were also lifelong hospitality folks and we had a lot in common.
I heard a lot of stories, including the inspiring beginnings of a business told to me by Michael's Meats founder Michael Bloch's former fraternity brother and roommate. As a student, Bloch began supplying the frat house cook with great steaks from Chicago and soon found himself supplying meat to numerous frat houses. It's a neat story on how one person's refusal to eat industrial-grade meat started him on a path to an enormously successful business which supplies many restaurants in Central Ohio and beyond.
The PR woman I sat with handled Michael Symon in his early days (she obviously did a good job); she had been a fashion writer for years and, when the print market began floundering, began her own PR company.
But on with dinner...
The dinner was prepared by 5 of the contestants from Season 5 of Hell's Kitchen. Overall the dishes were very good, and demonstrated the the cooks on Hell's Kitchen have a little more talent than Mr. Ramsey might show. When I asked one of the chefs if Chef Ramsey was really as horrible while they were filming the show as the finished product, she told me he was worse. He was absolutely horrible and mean all the time.
The first course, from Paula da Silva, was actually my favorite of the evening. Delicate shrimp ravioli were served with a lightly curried squash puree and very delicate micro fine herbs:
Next up was the salad course by cooking school owner Colleen Cleek made a frisee salad with duck pastrami, pomegranate seeds, and persimmon. I loved the use of super seasonal fruits; the duck was also very nicely cooked and cured:
The seafood course came from Ben Walanka and featured perfectly cooked porcini-dusted scallops with yummy Chinese long beans:
Giovanni Fillipone brought the entree; a decadent and very nicely-cooked filet with lobster and mushroom sauce:
And for dessert, Ji Cha created a melting chocolate cake with pumpkin 5 spice ice cream. A nice seasonal twist to a dessert that has now entered "classic" status:
