First of all, I’d like to thank Kaye Tinga for giving me the heads-up on this event. I’m a huge The Next Iron Chef fan!
The Next Iron Chef is the absolute mother of all cooking competitions, to win it is the Holy Grail of the global culinary world. Unlike other competitions in which the contestants are home cooks looking for a career change or up and coming chefs looking to make it big, The Next Iron Chef’s contestants are the alphas of the global culinary scene. They are all already successful restaurateurs, celebrity chefs, successful culinary book authors; or a combination of two or three. These chefs are willing to risk their reputations, often more than once, because to be the Next Iron Chef is the culinary world’s ultimate prize. Those who do win are no less than culinary gods walking among mere mortals. Chef Geoffrey Zakarian winner of season 4 of The Next Iron Chef is one of those Gods, and on March 20, 2014 for one night only, Chef Geoffrey Zakarian will give Filipinos a taste of heaven.
Zakarian’s win was particularly impressive because Season 4 of The Next Iron Chef’s theme was “Superchefs”. Every chef contestant was an executive chef at a famous, multi-awarded restaurant, most were hosts of their own cooking shows. Among those who fell by the wayside were Chef Anne Burrell, host of Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, Chef Marcus Samuelsson, a judge on three Food Network cooking shows, and Chef Alex Guarnaschelli who went on to compete again and win in Season 5 of the Next Iron Chef. So small is the elite circle of chefs that can be tapped to compete on this show, that contestants who don’t win are welcome to try again another year. Chef Geoffrey Zakarian joined only in Season 4 and won on his first try.
Like all The Next Iron Chef contestants, Chef Geoffrey Zakarian’s journey prior to joining and winning was a storied one. He first appeared on the culinary scene at Le Cirque where in just a few years, he worked his way up from Pastry Sous Chef to Chef de Cuisine. He then went on to become Executive Chef at the legendary 21Club. A year later, he became the Executive Chef of 44 at the Royalton Hotel. Finally, in 1995, he opened the Blue Door at the Delano Hotel in Miami which became a dining hot spot in a transitioning landscape.
It was in 2001 when Zakarian opened his first restaurant, Town, where his culinary and decorative visions came to life. So celebrated was his restaurant that Town was awarded Three Stars by The New York Times.
Following the success of Town was a second restaurant, Country, that paired the Chef’s passion for quality food and wine. Country was awarded a Michelin Star in its first year along with Three Stars from The New York Times.
In the fall of 2010, Zakarian opened both The Lambs Club, featuring his signature Modern American cuisine; and The National, an American bistro open day and night.
Three years ago, Zakarian also opened a neighborhood Gastro-Café, House, rated as 2012’s Best Hotel Restaurant in Miami.
Zakarian is also an accomplished writer with his 2006 book Geoffrey Zakarian’s Town / Country, noted as one of the best cookbooks of the year. His second book will be published sometime this year.
Filipinos are lovers of food and of cooking shows, both local and foreign. The biggest frustration of Filipino fans of these shows especially the foreign ones, is that for the most part, they can only imagine what the apparently succulent and rich looking dishes the chefs concoct must actually taste like. This will certainly not be the case on March 20, when Next Iron Chef Season 4 winner Chef Geoffrey Zakarian puts forth a spectacular, out of this world gastronomical experience with Manila’s most discriminating food lovers as guests. Not only will those in attendance find out just how good the food they see on cooking shows is, they will actually get to sample the very best of that food.
Making this night even more extraordinary, Chef Geoffrey Zakarian will be serving up well loved Filipino food, but with his own unmistakable and inimitable touch. The menu will include pork adobo, crab cakes as well as maja blanca. This will be the first time the food we know and love will ever be elevated to such global gustatory greatness.
As befits this once in a lifetime event, the night’s entertainment will be first rate as well; diners will be treated to a selection of Broadway songs sung by no less than Robert Sena and Isay Alvarez, accompanied by no less than the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. The proceeds will be for the benefit of the Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation.
Feast of Colours dinner gala tickets are now available online. Buy your tickets now at www.ticketnet.com.ph or at any Ticketnet outlet. For inquiries, please call 911-5555.
Shoppingero/shoppingera, don’t miss this! See you all!