Dinner will cost you.

With the recent news that a bidder offered $200,000 for a twenty-person charity dinner cooked by Eric Ripert (not to mention Edvard Munch’s The Scream fetching an astronomical $120 million at auction last week), we had the subject on our mind at this weekend’s Lucky Rice Grand Feast, held at the Mandarin Oriental. So, when we bumped into some of the chefs in attendance — Susur Lee, Gramercy Tavern’s Michael Anthony, and Ming Tsai — we asked them, flat-out, what’s the most money somebody’s ever paid to eat one of your dinners?

Lee told us that his biggest ticket didn’t come from an auction, but instead a regular diner at his Toronto restaurant: “Two or three years ago, a man came in, brought a party of five, and spent $14,000,” he told us. “I was watching from the kitchen and he sat like an emperor at the head of the table.” But, we asked, did he feel the need to do anything special for a diner dropping that much cash? “I sent over some extra desserts.”

Anthony, taking a page from the playbook of his ever-diplomatic boss Danny Meyer, told us that Gramercy Tavern’s staff “doesn’t really measure [the success of our meals] in dollars,” but did reveal that a bidder once offered $35,000 at a City Harvest event in exchange for a private dinner for twenty people.

The winner of the night, though, was Ming Tsai, who told us that he once auctioned off a small meal for eight people for $100,000 — that’s $12,500 per person, if you’re doing the math — to none other than Tiger Woods, who “bought it for his foundation,” Tsai says. “It was a gift to his best friend, who was getting married … We served a lot, a lot, of food.”

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Filed Under: big spenders, charity auctions, ming tsai, tiger woods

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Relais & Chateaux hosted a culinary blowout last night that was not without its star factor (Greta Gerwig!) and its hype. Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Mark Ladner, Michael White, and Daniel Boulud were among those who cooked for a $1,500-a-plate benefit for Citymeals on Wheels. At one point, 45 star chefs from Relais & Châteaux properties worldwide gathered on stage to lift glasses of Pommery and toast New York in the spring.

The chefs were assigned something of a puzzle. All had the same ingredients: asparagus, morels, Maine scallops, lobster, Montauk sea bass, and rack of lamb or veal. Assigned to teams of three, they each cooked for a couple of tables apiece. So Del Posto’s Ladner served his lobster fra diavolo, while Patrick O’Connell, of the Inn at Little Washington, served his with chilled pea soup and mint, and Michael White went with the crowd-pleasing lobster burrata dish from Marea’s menu.

Not that — despite the occasional stresses of cooking on jerry-rigged kitchens on the floor of Gotham Hall — this was much of a challenge. “Twenty people, not difficult,” said Daniel Boulud, who served “sea scallop rosace with hatcho miso on crispy rice and Brussels sprouts fondue,” and delivered it himself to his tables before posting for pictures with Elizabeth Olsen. He spent time chatting up the tourist chefs (“Some new flavors here,” he noted approvingly).

In fact, the visiting chefs were more interested in talking about other people’s food than their own — mainly, where they were going to eat while in New York. “My cooks went to eat at the Dutch,” said O’Connell, breaking away from Virginia groupies to boast that the peas and mint in his dish were from his own garden.

Other chefs had gone to NoMad Monday night, and “the San Francisco contingent went to Monkey Bar,” Gary Danko told us, adding, “I was good; I left early, 1 a.m.” The toque also confessed, hoping that it didn’t get out to his West Coast colleagues, that he “miss[ed] East Coast fish.” Ogle the seafood and the rest of the good times, straight ahead in our slideshow.

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Filed Under: foodievents, citymeals on wheels, grand chefs, party lines, relais & chateaux, slideshow

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Not the real deal?

Since long before it launched, the El Bulli menu that Grant Achatz’s team is serving at Next, was hailed as a completely authentic recreation of Ferran Adrià’s fabled cuisine. But maybe, just maybe, Adrià thinks it could be more authentic. “There’s lots of people talking about El Bulli, but it closed last July,” the chef told the crowd at the inaugural Cancun-Riviera Maya food festival, which opened yesterday. “Now, at present, no one except the people who worked there know what was done there … We had 500 different dishes,” and it’s not easy to replicate the experience, he stressed. (Adrià also noted, modestly, that El Bulli’s closing “was a national tragedy” in Spain.) Adrià didn’t name names, but he did have one piece of advice for all of the attendees: “Do not imitate Ferran Adrià.”

Related: In the Kitchen on Opening Night, Next El Bulli Menu

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Filed Under: beef, el bulli, ferran adria, grant achatz, next

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Snap, crackle, and pop.

Surprise! It’s not restaurant-related. Over at the Traditional vs. Modernist Cuisine panel at the French Culinary Institute last night, Grub Street had a quick chat with the newly liberated pastry chef about an upcoming project that isn’t going quite as planned: a children’s book based on his life. “I was a kid who grew up in the Catskills, a latchkey kid,” he explained to Grub, with some details about the book’s stars, “John-boy and Sugar.” Unfortunately, Johnny says publishers keep passing because he insists it be a pop-up book and “you have to be Harry Potter for that.”

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Filed Under: author, johnny iuzzini, literary news

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It’s not like he’s going to drink Gatorade.

Over at the Assouline book party for Cocktails & Amuse-Bouches, Grub Street spoke with the author and preeminent life of the party himself, chef Boulud, about the aftermath of one too many cocktails. After a late night of fun, Boulud likes to “exercise” to avoid the hangover. And then he likes to “exercise” again in the morning. And that “exercise”? He says it “can happen in bed.” Ahhh, we get it.

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Filed Under: naughty, daniel boulud

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The new location, back in May.

Jim Lahey tells Grub Street that he’s pushed back the opening of Sullivan Street Bakery’s already-delayed Chelsea outpost. Lahey says that after some routine setbacks, the likely opening date would have ended up being between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, so the bread boss opted to push the opening into 2012. “In fashion parlance, we had missed the fall season deadline,” he explains. When it does open, expect his famous pizzas, of course, along with some “very nice sandwiches.” Lahey’s keeping everything else under wraps at the moment: “I’m trying to run my business without the hype in this food-saturated world.”

Earlier: Signage Up for Sullivan St. Bakery on Ninth Avenue

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Filed Under: openings, chelsea, jim lahey, sullivan street bakery

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Conant.

Late last summer, rumors started to circulate that Scarpetta’s Scott Conant would be bringing his Las Vegas–based D.O.C.G. concept to the abandoned Paris Commue space at 99 Bank Street in the West Village. But when we caught up with the chef at last night’s City Harvest benefit, Conant said the rumors were completamente falso. “I looked at it,” he said. “But I look at a lot of places.” Conant revealed that, if anything, his next concept will actually move away from D.O.C.G.’s casual vibe, and admitted that he misses a “white tablecloth” kind of formal setting. It’s probably worth mentioning that, thanks to a collision with a server earlier in the night, he plucked some errant caviar off his coat as he told us this.

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Filed Under: expansion plans, docg, scarpetta, scott conant, west village

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Oui, chef!

Legendary French chef Joë Robuchon comes to New York twice a year, and his current visit just so happened to coincide with this week’s Michelin announcement. (The Guide upped his NYC outpost of L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon from one star to two.) Yesterday afternoon, Grub Street sat down with the chef to talk (through a translator) about what the Guide’s reviewers are looking for, his thoughts on the future of food, his recent discovery of the Union Square Greenmarket, and critics who skip out on their bills.

You just got your second Michelin star here. You have 27 in total. Delight? Ho-hum?
Ten years ago, Michelin wouldn’t have given this restaurant two stars. They used to judge on the table setting [and formality]. Now they judge the food more. But I appreciate very much that we never know when they come. They are anonymous. [Other critics] sometimes tell you they are there — and then don’t pay for their food.

How has the food changed at L’Atelier since you opened it five years ago?
I’m using more aromatic spices and ingredients that have proven good for your health: rosemary, white tea. I don’t pretend to be a doctor, and I don’t talk about “wellness” at all to the clientele, but I believe that is the future of food.

Is it different cooking for Americans than Europeans?
When a European goes to a restaurant, they show up with their minds already made up. Americans come in almost naive and give their own judgement on the experience. I like that very much.

We heard you were just spotted at the Greenmarket.
I was very surprised to find a countryside-style market in New York City! You hear that in America all the food is processed, in plastic. But I found herbs I didn’t know! I was very impressed. The spinach was wonderful, the tomatoes; the Cheddar was very good. I was really surprised by the quality of American cheeses — and we are using more American cheeses.

And you found an ostrich egg there. It was your first?
We cracked it open and cooked it on the teppanyaki, scrambled. The taste was a little strong. It reminded me of a goose egg.

How much did it cost?
I don’t know. I was not the one paying.

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Filed Under: icons, joel robuchon, l’atelier de joel robuchon, michelin, michelin stars

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Pépin, looking dapper.

Jacques Pépin — food icon, cookbook author, dean at the French Culinary Institute, and one of the people who helped invent the very concept of “TV chef” — sat down at this past weekend’s New York Wine & Food Festival to speak with Times reporter Jeff Gordinier. Through the talk, the smiling legend threw cold water on one of molecular gastronomy’s primary techniques, told tales of his friend and sometimes co-host Julia Child, and horrified oenophiles with his system for using up leftover wine.

1. He combines red and white wine. Like, in the same glass: “If it’s leftover, we put it together … I have a friend who’s a sommelier; he goes berserk. But I’m very miserly in the kitchen. I lived during the war. It’s only wine.”

2. He thinks molecular gastronomy has its place: “Molecular gastronomy is like Jean-Paul Gaultier [clothes] coming down the runway … you ask yourself ‘who would wear that?’ But eventually it trickles down to [become] prêt-a-porter.”

3. But sous-vide cooking doesn’t Impress him: From his time at working at Howard Johnson’s in the sixties: “I was already doing sous-vide cooking. We called it cryogenically frozen. It’s nothing new.”

4. Pépin’s “most pivotal” kitchen experience was at the very constrictive Plaza Athénée in Paris: “The goal [of the kitchen staff] was to conform to the style of the house,” to make the famous dishes there. “We were 45 chefs in the kitchen … and the idea was to do the lobster soufflé so that no one would have known which one of us had done it. Nowadays, young chefs want to sign their dishes. It is a totally different approach to food.”

5. He gets treated like royalty at restaurants: He says he eats at Jean Georges and Le Cirque because “they don’t make me pay and give me the best.”

6. Even he admits the old kitchen-apprentice model had advantages over culinary school: “If you asked the chef why, it was ‘because I just told you to’ … You were called ‘you,’ no name. You learned through a type of osmosis, repeating … Now we cater to the people, we show, we explain, over and over again, and what they can do in six months, I am amazed. But, even at age 13, my hands were much faster [than culinary students'] because of that repetition.”

7. Julia Child was fun on set: According to Pépin, Child often changed the menu the day of filming, ran way overtime while taping, and hid beer on the set. “When I see the show I’m amazed how smooth it is.”

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Filed Under: iconography, jacques pepin, new york city wine and food festival

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This year’s ‘Next Iron Chef’ contestants.

It’s hardly a secret that the words “Top Chef” have been dirty around the offices of Food Network. But now, the food-only channel plans to challenge its rival head-on when it debuts the newest season of Next Iron Chef, which premieres October 30 at 9 p.m. In fact, you may have even noticed the pointed tagline that Food Network is using in its Next Iron Chef promotional campaign: “The only title that matters.”

As a promotional event for the show, host Alton Brown told us that Top Chef Masters is “a good show,” but adds that there’s less at stake than on Next Iron Chef: “Talk to chefs around the country and they’ll tell you which [title] they’d rather have.”

It’s interesting, then, that among the new contestants vying for the title of Next Iron Chef is Top Chef Masters Season 2 winner Marcus Samuelsson. He’s joined by a handful of Food TV hosts and well-known “super chefs” like Geoffrey Zakarian, Alex Guarnaschelli, Anne Burrell, Beau MacMillan, Top Chef–er Spike Mendelsohn, and yet another Masters competitor, Michael Chiarello.

So what is it about the show that makes otherwise accomplished, already-famous chefs risk humiliation at the hands of the Chairman? Beyond the title, “the payoff is huge,” noted Guarnaschelli: “Lifetime job security” (through regular appearances on Iron Chef America). Zakarian added that he agreed to sign up “because I was asked,” but ended up finding the experience “very difficult — they really try to trick you.”

The season, of course, has already been taped, but good luck trying to figure out who actually won. Should we read into the fact that the first photo op featured Brown, last season’s winner Mark Forgione, Zakarian, and Guarnaschelli, all clustered together in a faux–Kitchen Stadium erected on Ninth Avenue as part of the New York Wine and Food Festival? “No,” Brown insisted. “The winner may not even be here today.”

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Filed Under: food tv, alton brown, food network, next iron chef, top chef, top chef masters

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Feed him the rock.

At a press preview yesterday for Madison Square Garden’s recently overhauled concession operations, we asked some of the bold-face names that will be operating stands this fall what they thought of the looming NBA lockout. Drew Nieporent, who will be slinging bacon-jam-topped patties at Daily Burger, said only that he hopes there will be a season. Jean-Georges Vongerichten (opening Simply Chicken) agreed, adding that the “fast-paced game” appealed to him, since he’s a “fast-paced guy.” And what about Sausage Boss operator Andrew Carmellini? “The lockout’s bad for sports, but I try not to pay attention,” he told us. “It’s the strategy of the game, not the politics, [that] I like.”

Earlier: Madison Square Garden Gets Delicious; Madison Square Park Stays Delicious

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Filed Under: they got game, andrew carmellini, drew nieporent, farm-to-garden cuisine, jean-georges vongerichten

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Making Stupak proud, one drunk at a time.

Last night, Grub spoke to Empellón’s head bartender Kyle Ford, who won the Barenjager’s Bartending Competition, about the difference between East Coast and West Coast drinkers, as he’s now studied booze carefully in both. “San Franciscans pay more attention to pairing their drinks with their food,” Ford said, “but New Yorkers have a far better grasp of what’s behind the bar.” He also said that in the Bay Area, the cocktails depend more on fresh produce, which can mean unlikely ingredients in drinks, while New Yorkers stick to the classics. Lastly, Californians know their tequilas, but New Yorkers not so much — which is why he’s expanding Empellón’s tequila menu in the weeks to come. Bring it.

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Filed Under: tequila, alex stupake, empellon, kyle ford

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