Benchmark Chefs Invited by The James Beard Foundation
"Benchmark Holiday Dinner" Will Take Place on December 27, 2007
NEW YORK, NY, November 12, 2007. Benchmark Hospitality chefs from restaurants, hotels and resorts in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas have been invited by The James Beard Foundation to cook at the prestigious James Beard House in Manhattan. The dinner, entitled the "Benchmark Holiday Dinner," will take place on Thursday, December 27, 2007 beginning at 7:00 p.m. This is the third consecutive year that Benchmark Hospitality chefs have been invited by the James Beard Foundation to cook at the James Beard House. Each year the dinner has sold out weeks in advance.
The Benchmark chefs include Richard Varga, executive chef, and Tom Drake, chef at The Heldrich of New Brunswick, New Jersey; Konrad Meier, executive chef and Thomas Pratt, executive pastry chef, Bedford Springs Resort in Bedford, Pennsylvania; Rick Shell, executive chef for The Chattanoogan of Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Derek Fontenot, executive chef at Hotel Contessa, located in San Antonio, Texas. Mary Watson, sommelier at Benchmark's Lansdowne Resort of Leesburg, Virginia, has paired each course with wine.
The Benchmark Holiday Dinner commences with an hors d'oeuvres and wine reception. A five-course chefs' tasting menu will be served starting at 8:00 p.m. Reservations can be arranged by calling the James Beard House at 212-627-2308 and are $125 per person for members of the James Beard Foundation and $155 per person for the general public.
"It is a privilege to cook at the prestigious James Beard House," said Bob Zappatelli, vice president of food & beverage for Benchmark Hospitality International. "To be invited back three times is a honor. Our chefs and sommelier represent the very best of Benchmark Hospitality and have planned a superb menu with wonderful wine selections that we think will set a new standard for holiday dining and for culinary excellence. We look forward to a marvelous evening."
"The Benchmark chefs are becoming a holiday tradition here at the James Beard House," stated Izabela Wojcik, director of house programming for the James Beard Foundation. "For the past two years they have cooked the Benchmark Holiday Dinner - selling out each year. We look forward to their return in 2007 and to the establishment of a new benchmark in holiday dining."
The James Beard House was home to the Dean of American Cookery, James Beard, from 1976 until his passing at 81 in 1985. The multifaceted Beard, who established cooking schools and published over 20 important cookbooks, many of which are still in print, left a legacy of culinary excellence and integrity to generations of home cooks and professional chefs. His name remains synonymous with American cuisine.
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