My co-worker, Nona Nelson, attended the fifth annual fundraiser for the St. Francis Service Dog foundation at the Taubman Museum of Art last night. Again this year, it featured the cuisine of several talented local chefs. Here is Nona's review of the event.
My husband and I attended our second Puttin' on the Dog fundraiser for St. Francis Service Dogs last night at the Taubman Museum of Art. The event features food prepared by seven chefs and this year included a course prepared by students from Virginia Western's culinary program. Proceeds from the event go to the training and placement of service dogs with adults and children with emotional and physical disabilities.
The evening started with a tour of the museum followed by a cocktail hour with wine and hor d'oeurves. Jeff Bland and Bruce Coffey of U.S. Foodservice and Paul Gautier of Surf N Turf in Grandin Village prepared the appetizers. We really enjoyed the beef carpaccio and the carprese salad on a skewer, but my favorites choices were the perch ceviche and the ahi tuna wrapped in pepper bacon. There was also a maki roll appetizer that I didn't sample; the size of it seemed a little big for finger food and I was pretty sure I would spill it on my dress.
Chad Scott of 202 Market prepared the excellent salad, which was a bed of wild arugla topped with goat cheese shavings and a swirl of a strawberry-caramel dressing. Scott usually has a playful plate presentation, so this salad also included a mound of smoked beets with a tiny ice cream cone perched on top like a clown's hat.
Perhaps my favorite course of the night was the soup made by Taubman Museum chef Kasey Thexton. It was a roasted tomato basil soup with garlic and shredded cheddar cheese. It was like a grilled cheese sandwich in a bowl. Complete comfort food. I could have eaten a whole tureen of it. If they add it to the Norah's Cafe menu I will stop in more often.
Next up was a lump crab meat appetizer by Todd Baxter of the Martha Washington Inn in Abingdon. The tasty crab was mixed with red pepper and corn and served with a vinaigrette over a toast point. Very tasty but could have used maybe a little more acid. Baxter didn't get to stick around for accolades on the dish; he had to dash back to Abingdon after the course was served to attend the birth of his child.
The VWCC students made a wonderful sorbet of pureed raspberries with Lambrusco and mint served in a glass with a frosted spoon.
Then we had the main course from Scott Lockhart of Horizon Bar and Grill. It was a lavender-crusted duck breast with pork belly confit served over orzo risotto with fiddlehead ferns. I have to say it was my least favorite course. Duck is a risky choice for an entree; a friend of ours at our table is not a fan of rare meat and didn't touch it. While I enjoyed it - you could really taste the lavender but it was not overpowering- the portion size was sparse and the orzo risotto was cool. And the ferns were just OK; not a lot of flavor.
We ended with dessert, an ultra-rich, gooey pot de crème of dark chocolate topped with a raspberry glaze done by Scott Switzer of Metro. I loved it, but a few other diners thought it was a little too rich. My hubby would like to have had a little more of the raspberry to balance the dark chocolate.
Good eats for a good cause. We will definitely go back for round three next year.
