Feast Days in the Hamptons
August 2000

By K.E Miner

Michael & Ariane Batterberry, of Food Arts, Guest of Honor

Michael Lomonaco and Staff of Wild Blue Restaurant, Ceviche of Scallop & Shrimp with avocado, chili oil, & red & yellow pepper vinaigrette

Before the Council of Trent and the re-ordering of the Christian calendar during the 1500's, every day of the year was represented by a patron saint worthy of a celebration. Christian worshippers had a viable reason to prepare a feast every day of the year. Pope Pius V recognized that having a feast day after day impeded the process of repenting, confessing and general self-flagellation, and so, he wisely cut back the number of legitimate feast days to a mere 158, to make room for the loftier pursuits of abstinence and fasting. Pius just didn't get it.

Taittinger's Champagne

Left, Chef Marc Vetri of Vetri Restaurant, Grilled Diver Scallops with heirloom tomato salad & balsamic Reduction

There are countless culinary feasts in the New York City area during the course of the calendar year, and the James Beard Foundation is responsible for taking up at least 158 days with tributes, honors and grand celebrations of food and food people. That's why we love them. James Beard is the Anti-Pius.

Thalia Restaurant, Ceviche of Merluza & Maine crab in cucumber cups, Executive Chef Michael Otsuka

This time, the James Beard Annual East End Bash at the Wolffer Estates honored our friends and colleagues Michael and Ariane Batterberry for their commitment to food writing, food photography and their unwavering promotion of the food business in the media. We at Food & Beverage International congratulate them on their honor.

Rick Laakkone, ILO Restaurant, Cold poached skate with mint-jicama relish & jellied verjus

Gotham Bar & Grill, Poached Atlantic Salmon Salad with summer vegetable vinaigrette

Some thirty chefs, food suppliers and beverage purveyors, including Taittinger's and Chambord set up tentative headquarters on the sprawling grounds of the vineyards, surrounded by rows of sun-laced grape vines and lush country meadows. Each restaurant brought its own individual aesthetic to the feast, making the canopied grounds seem like a high-brow carnival, sans jugglers and bearded ladies. Each table was adrift in flowers, food sculptures and evoked the special personality of each chef. Around every turn, a new adventure, a new personality, a new experience, a new feast.

Close your eyes, click your heels three times and whisper Michael Lomonaco and let the genie out of the bottle. He and his staff from Wild Blue presented an animated and colorful Ceviche of Scallop and Shrimp with Avocado, Chili Oil, and Red and Yellow Pepper Vinaigrette. In another life Michael must have been a carnival barker because like his character, his food is whimsical, bold, theatrical and unpretentious. The Ceviche was arousing, fun and a perfect presentation for an eat-with-a-plastic-fork-while-wearing-white-linen-pants atmosphere. Equally important, the boys in the Wild Blue kitchen have great personality, know how to work a crowd and they can serve up a dish and tell a bawdy joke all at the same time.

One of my favorites on the James Beard food circuit is Marc Vetri from Vetri of Philadelphia. He can be counted on for an innovative surprise every time he shows up for an event. Marc prepared Grilled Diver Scallops, light and sensual to the taste, with an Heirloom Tomato Salad and Balsamic Reduction and did it all without benefit of a kitchen entourage. Marc's food is always remarkable for its distinct compilation of ingredients and simplicity of character, much like the man himself.