Saratoga resident and Momentum for Health Board Chair Kathryn Williams graciously opened her home and redwood-ringed yard to welcome guests for the eighth annual Star Chefs Fundraiser on a perfect end-of-September afternoon.
“Mental health is a critically important cause, and Momentum (for Health) has been providing vital supportive services in Silicon Valley for more than 40 years,” said Williams, before turning the podium over to the auctioneer for the evening, Monica Kibbe, who helped the event raise over $210K.
Chair of the Star Chefs event, Brenda Hammond, who opened Restaurant James Randall in Los Gatos in 2006, later selling it to son Ross and his wife Briana, who transformed it into Oak & Rye, knew she and Williams needed to pick a worthy cause.
“This event started in 2009, but it’s the first one we’ve had since the pandemic,” Hammond said. “When Kathy and I talked about a beneficiary, it seemed obvious that mental health was the timely choice.”
Star Chefs pits food and beverage pairings against one another for three awards: People’s Choice, Judge’s Choice and Chef’s Choice.
This year’s judges included Chef Jarad Gallagher (BROMA), Moe Rubenzahl (philanthropist and food blogger), Erica Lockheimer (a vice president at LinkedIn and founder of @humanizeher), Linda Zavoral (food writer for the Mercury News), and myself. We had the not-as-easy-as-it-sounds task of tasting all ten food and beverage combinations and rating them on a scale from 0 to 15.
Judge’s Choice was awarded to Chef Patrick Capurro of Be.Steak.A for his corn-studded agnolotti and scallop dish, dusted with huitlacoche and accented by corn pavlova. Grgich Chardonnay proved a fine, and refined, pairing.
Second place on the Judge’s hit parade was the Plumed Horse pairing of Chef Peter Armellino’s stracciatella tart with English peas and Burgundy truffles, with an exquisite gin gimlet, created by Sommelier and Beverage Director Chris Ward, who topped it off with drops of exotic lime oil. Men’s cologne should smell this good.
Voted third place by the judges was the Orchard City Kitchen pork rillette dish by Executive Chef Mike Maybeck and Sous Chef JR Salvador, served with fennel slaw, candy-striped fig and a tangy cherry compote made with 2021 Joyce Pinot Noir, with which the dish was paired. This garnered my top vote for creativity and complexity.
But who cares what the judges think? It’s the People’s Choice that counts in these matters, and I don’t dispute the electorate, whether we are using beans or paper ballots. (We tried using coffee beans in cups to tally votes, but in the end, simple math won out.) The winner was Jackie’s Place in San Jose, for Chef Jackie Jackson’s sumptuous fried grits topped with plump cajun shrimp, andouille sausage and bacon, paired with a Peach 76, a summery spin on a French 75 made with Zen Ona lemon vodka and peach schnapps, topped with brut Champagne. Judging by the number of people who hung out there for a good part of the afternoon, this dish was a crowd-pleaser.
Chef’s Choice was the Bywater’s watermelon and corn poke with sesame tahini sauce by Chef Ricky Nguyen, refreshingly paired with a Sante Adairius session beer made in Santa Cruz.
Some of the simplest dishes rocked it, including Chef Jacob Farleigh’s scallop ceviche with Andy’s Orchard pluots and nectarines, topped with toasted quinoa, and paired with a Remy cognac and Cointreau Sidecar. Definitely must visit Silos in Morgan Hill.
Chef Marcelino Hernandez of Asa Los Gatos served up soft house-made white corn tortillas topped with indulgent braised pork belly, a nice match for the 2021 Testarossa Fogstone Pinot Noir that Irena Gumbert was pouring.
Oak & Rye went straight to the heart of all those attendees missing the Sunday football game with a margarita pizza served hot from Chef Ross Hanson’s mobile oven paired with Mic Czech, a Czech style pilsner from Narrative Fermentations. Seriously, how could that miss?
Chef Jonathan Toste of Flowers Saratoga presented a flower-topped duck salad with rice cracker, candied bacon and a fabulous peanut sauce that would make a killer lettuce wrap. Hero Ranch Kitchen’s Chef Jose Mendoza served a tasty crispy sushi bite topped with sriracha aioli, paired with a Brassfield Sauv Blanc. A thinner fried rice cake would have allowed the ahi to really shine.
Every dish was creative and delicious, and the cocktails and wine created contagious conviviality, leading to meaningful conversation about a topic that impacts us all.
