HOME/FOOD: CHEFS' HOLIDAYS AT THE AHWAHNEE IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK JANUARY 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011 at 2:28AM 
Just like the Vintner's Holidays at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite every fall, the chefs get their chance to shine during Chef's Holidays in the middle of the Sierra Nevada winter. Every January and February, executive chefs from famous restaurants (mostly from the Bay Area) converge on the park to cozy up at the Ahwahnee and dazzle hotel guests and park visitors with their culinary magic. Similar in structure to Vintner's Holidays, the Chef's Holidays consist of two days of chef demonstration sessions, a chef and cocktail reception and a culminating five course dinner in the Ahwahnee Dining Room with wine pairings. Though crashing the chef demonstrations may not be as ultimately rewarding as crashing the Vintner's wine tastings, it's a great opportunity to sample food trends and listen to successful chefs share their passion for cooking and cuisine - all just a short snowy walk from home. And thanks to my friend Joe, I even made it to dinner.
The chef demonstration sessions take place twice a day in the Ahwahnee great room where the seating arrangement and use of a special mirrored kitchen station allows a large audience to view the chef slaving over a hot stove. The session includes printed recipes and - the best part - samples at the end of the demonstration. Chefs Holidays Session 4 started with Traci Des Jardins, executive chef owner of three restaurants in San Francisco, who made a batch of Handmade Potato Gnocchi with Wild Mushroom Ragout and a cured salmon canape. Though she also trained in France and New York, Chef Traci hails from the Central Valley of California, so her recipes are often described as "French inspired California Cuisine". After the demonstrating chef walks you through the recipes and actual preparation of two dishes, you may meet and greet the chef and then step into the Ahwahnee's solarium to sample one of the dishes. We were treated to the tasty Cured Salmon with Fennel, Citrus and Herb Salad:
Cured Salmon Salad Recipe Page 1
Cured Salmon Salad Recipe Page 2
Handmade Gnocchi with Wild Mushroom Ragout
During Chefs Holidays Session 2, I attended the Gala Dinner with my friends Joe and Christy. We were seated in the dining room at a table with another lovely couple from Kentucky on thier first visit to Yosemite. The dinner was orchestrated by another San Francisco restaurant's executive chef owner, Michael Tusk. Chef Michael's restaurant, Quince, reflects his early training in France and Italy. An American from New Jersey, Chef Michael treated us to an Italian five course dinner, beginning with a pumpkin soup and ending with a panna cotta.
Chefs Holidays 2011 Session 2 Menu
Everything was delicious, but the star of the evening was the second course of Raviolo di Ricotta that was essentially a large raviolo (singular ravioli) with a cooked egg on top. I don't mean there was egg incorporated into the pasta, I mean a bright beautiful egg yolk visible on the raviloi that was delightful. My immediate thought after tasting was, "Why didn't I think of this?!". It was a reinvention of your favorite cheese omelet. Everyone at the table provided extensive commentary on this dish, and everyone gobbled it up. My personal second favorite of the meal was the panna cotta, which was quite the best I've ever had. I have a weakness for rice and tapioca puddings that doesn't necessarily translate to other cream-based desserts, but panna cotta is just my style.
Raviolo Di Ricotta
Agnolotti Dal Plin
Sonoma Liberty Duck
Strauss Farm Panna Cotta - yum!Dining in style on delicious dishes with exceptional ingredients and carefully considered wine pairings makes a great night out anywhere. What makes the Ahwahnee's Chefs Holidays Gala Dinner unique is access to information about the source of your food and the chef who created it. Each session's guest chef partners with the Ahwahnee's Certified Executive Chef Percy Whatley to create the menu for the gala dinner. Since 1989 Chef Percy has worked for the concession company that operates the hotels, stores and restaurants in Yosemite, DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite, gathering awards and accolades along the way. Other special touches include service VIP style (the dining room is staffed to the gills during the gala dinners and any number of wait staff is whisking away empty plates, pouring your wine or presenting your course at any given moment) and dining on the Ahwahnee china. Just like other national park lodges, the Ahwahnee has an historic china pattern exclusive to the hotel (also for sale in the gift shop and online) dating back to 1929, made by Buffalo Pottery Company in their Ye Olde Ivory line. The final special touch is live piano music accompaniment to your dining experience. On this evening we were treated to the musical stylings of Bill Carroll - piano player by night and Yosemite's Postmaster by day.
Chef Percy introduces Chef Michael
Piano Player and Postmaster Bill Carroll
Another special surprise for Joe that evening was the number of photographers at our table. Being seated at a dining table with a blogger can be trying at times and this aspect of dining or traveling with me and Ted is not Joe's favorite. Imagine his surprise when the other ladies at the table whipped out their cameras to record each course (and my gratitude at not being the only one!). The internet phenomenon of recording culinary adventures with your gadget of choice has bled into the countryside. After finishing this post on my travel and food blog, I could post photos on the Ahwahnee's facebook page or Flickr, review the dinner on Yelp or Chowhound, comment on another blogger's review, post the menu on Menu Pages, tweet about it, post about my professionally written blog post on LinkedIn, Digg it, StumbleUpon it, create a video for YouTube or Vimeo, and initially I could've checked in to let everybody know I was eating the gala dinner in real time at Foursquare. The possibilities for communicating your foodie love are endless.
After being feted at the Ahwahnee, we've done a little culinary magic of our own at home. First, a tribute to Ted, who even when serving the most mundane dishes makes the most out of presentation:
And next to homemade pizza with an excellent shortcut. I made my own pizza sauce for our Hawaiian (ham and pineapple) Pizza, but I used puff pastry from Trader Joe's to make my life easier. Just thaw and roll out to size and shape with a little flour and pizza crust appears almost instantaneously. We refer to our large butter-colored cat, Whitezilla, as our very own puff pastry.
Last but not least, we often subscribe to Thomas Jefferson's sentiment, 'meat as a condiment' in our cooking, but we also pursue full-on vegetarian meals. The dinner below consisted of rainbow swiss chard sauteed in olive oil, garlic and lemon juice, and canned cannelini beans cooked with olive oil, garlic, rosemary, chili pepper recipes from Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life
Junket Ratings:
Chefs' Holidays at the Ahwahnee: Junk in the Trunk!
AHWAHNEE, CALIFORNIA, FOOD, HOTELS, RECIPES, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK in FOOD, HOME
Reader Comments (2)
Uh, Ted, don't quit your day job just yet. Gerkins--really? Too funny! And yay for Whitey the Puff Pastry!
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