La Chaine Des Rotisseurs

On Sunday, March 14, Johnson and Wales played host to the Rhode Island chapter of Les Chaine Des Rotisseurs for their Annual Induction Dinner, and around 60 culinary and pastry students, myself included, volunteered to serve and assist with the event.  For those who don't know, Les Chaine is "an international gastronomic society founded in 1950 in Paris to revive the traditions of the royal guild of goose roasters chartered in 1248. The Chaîne is dedicated to bringing together those who share a mutual interest in cuisine, wine, and fine dining in a spirit of camaraderie." 

No formality was spared throughout the evening.  White-gloved greeters waited patiently at each set of double doors throughout the building, opening them in synchronicity when guests arrived at the entrance as well as either of the two dining rooms utilized for the event.  Additionally, each of the 7 courses served after the passed hors d'oeuvres were served from silver trays by synchronized servers with white gloves. 

Around 60 of the "Who's Who" of food in Rhode Island were present for the event which began around 3:30 in the afternoon and concluded at 9:00 p.m.  Guests were greeted with curbside valet service at the atrium entrance to the newly opened Center for Culinary Excellence.  Students in white gloves and service uniforms swiftly swept through the crowds carrying trays with flutes of champagne, glasses of wine, and delicious hors d'oeuvres.  Sadly, it was somewhat  inappropriate to break out a camera during the event so I hardly have any pictures.  Some of my friends took a couple of the set-up, but that's all I've got.

To give you an idea of the caliber of the cuisine, the passed Hors d'oeuvres menu consisted of the following:

Vienna Sausage of Rabbit, cranberry, garlic confit

Piquillo Peppers, golden raisins, pine nuts, focaccia, "Humoldt Fog" aged balsamic

"Bagel and Lox" bagel chip, lemon chive cream cheese, shaved smoked salmon

"Potatoes and Caviar" Fingerling chips, traditional accompaniment

"Asparagus Salad" white anchovy, roasted cippolini onion

Crispy Ruben ball, spicy mustard

Guests were gathered around cocktail tables like the one picture above for around an hour sipping champagne and snacking on bite-size explosions of flavor at 3:30 in the afternoon.  After a quick tour of the building and the ceremony which inducted Johnson and Wales' own T.J. Delle Donne, the director of culinary events here on the Providence Campus, guests were escorted upstairs to the main dining room for a 7 course meal, excluding the Intermezzo Course. 

I was able to help Chef De Cuisine Matt Jaffe with some of his prep work over the course of the weekend, and the menu really was awesome. 

Amuse

Shaved fennel, blood orange, micro purple shiso

Crudo

Yellow tail, pineapple, lime, candied ginger, micro mint

(Each serving of this course was served on an individual ice brick.)

Appetizer

Foie gras brulee, vanilla poached grapes, macadamia nut tuile

(Each serving was baked and served in a carefully cut egg shell and the grapes were individually peeled. Ridiculous.)

Soup

Consumme of wild mushrooms, agnolotti of Narragansett Creamy ricotta

Fish

Pan roasted wild striped bass, cripsy chorizo, garlic potato puree, manilla clams, herbs

Intermezzo

Lemon grass-strawberry sorbet

(Some of my friends got to taste this and they said it was incredible!  By the time I heard that the chef was giving out samples, it was all gone.)

Meat

Boneless Colorado lamb saddle, sweet pea, baby carrots, mint, fennel

Dessert

Chocolate Mango Custard Cake with Mango Creme Chiboust

with Honey Braised Mango and Bitter Caramel Sauce

Petit Fours

(Wow is all I have to say.  And luckily for the students, most of the guests were full by this point so we were able to taste.  Since a lot of us hadn't eaten all day, we made dinner out of all of the dessert leftovers.

The picture above was taken before the plates were complete, but you can see the mango creme chiboust (sort of like a fluffy, mango mousse) resting on top of the flourless chocolate cake.  Chef Welling really did an incredible job with the desserts.

And in addition to what you see above, each guest also had the plate below to share with one other person.  The plate included two raspberry macaroons (the pinkish cookies on the right and left), several chocolate truffles (in the center) and two small pine nut tarts (not the correct French name for them, but that's what I called them.)  I must have eaten my weight in those pine nut tarts.  The nuts were coated in a caramelized sugar mixture that wasn't as soft as a pecan pie, but not as hard as candied sugar either.  They had just the right amount of crunch, and were so flavorful.  I had never seen pine nuts used as the focus of a dessert before, but wow does it work.