San Francisco Chefs 2013 - Celebrating Bay Area Cuisine

Dining Detectives
By Carol & Joe Davis

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It's been quite interesting to see the evolution of SF Chefs, since it first began five years ago. It has always been well produced and allowed the "Foodie" Public to have access to great Chefs, Cuisine, Wine and Cocktails, as well as allowing the Food industry to celebrate the San Francisco Culinary scene. Now, there are many more events and dinners throughout the year but the highlight is still The Grand Tasting Tent on Union Square. It all starts with the Spring Dinner Party Project Series with local dinners showcasing San Francisco's greatest Chefs.

Next, there is a preview tasting at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and Food Industry Day Seminars. The weekend with the Grand Tasting Tent Events also features Cocktail Parties, After Parties, Classes and Demos. Then, later this year there will be the Fall Dinner Party Project Series in New York and Los Angeles featuring chefs from San Francisco.
Featured Chefs this year included Boulevard's Nancy Oakes, El Paseo's Tyler Florence, M Y China's Martin Yan, Incanto's Chris Cosentino, Plumed Horse's Peter Armellino, Waterbar's Peter Ulrich, Copita's Joanne Weir, Scomas' Alan Fairhurst, La Mar Diego Oka , Fifth Floor's David Bazirgan's , Ozumo's Yo Matsuzaki , Epic Roasthouse's Jan Birnbaum , Dixie's Joseph Humphrey , Culinary Institute of America's Lars Kronmark, Nick's Cove Austin Perkins ,

Presidio Social Club's Jay Abrams , Ahwahnee's Robert Anderson and Park Tavern's Jennifer Puccio to name a few.

This year we went on Sunday for the "Brunch on the Bay" theme. We liked the fact that there were different themes for each of the Daily Tent Events, giving you a selection if you were going for just one day or the ability to enjoy more themes if you purchased the three day admission ticket.

As always, we were thrilled by the abundant cuisine, wine and spirits.....as well as the overall ambience and excitement within the Tent! Some of our favorite tastes included Park Tavern's Eggs Hollandaise, Nick's Cove's Bloody Mary Oyster Shooters and Crab & Melon Gazpacho, the Cuban Reuben, Brixton's French Toast, Pizza Antica's Porchetta and La Mar's Causa.

We particularly enjoyed the beverages including tastes of the 18 year old Highland Park Scotch http://www.highlandpark.co.uk/lda/ , the Suerte Tequila Blanco www.DrinkSuerte.com , Longevity Wines www.longevitywines.com Rhone Style Blend debru-vee and the Lavazza Espresso. We also loved the Cooking Demonstration by Martin Yan hosted by Eye on The Bay's Liam Mayclem. We polled quite a few attendees and the overwhelming sentiment was that they felt they truly got the chef access they expected , tasted fine cuisine and beverages and got their money's worth.

We really enjoyed SF CHEFS 2013 which truly celebrated the San Francisco Bay Area's love of food and plan to attend again next year.

Go to www.SFCHEFSFOODWINE.com to stay informed about the upcoming competitions, cooking demonstrations, educational seminars, special dinners and events.