Christina Grdovic, Andrew Zimmern, and Dana Cowin
Photo Credit: Rob Rich / Society Allure
If you ask any of the 225 guests in attendance, the Dinner for a Better New York was not a case of “too many chefs spoil the broth.” Instead, it was a case of the more, the better, for the city of New York and for thousands of its residents who need assistance.
The dinner, held May 18, benefited Services for the UnderServed (SUS) and was hosted by three time James Beard-winning chef Andrew Zimmern, who called upon a number of his esteemed colleagues to each create a course in the tasting menu served at Riverpark restaurant, complete with specially selected wine pairings for each.
Before the seated dinner, the chefs mingled with guests during a cocktail hour that featured tasting stations with dishes including stuffed wild mushrooms with savory lobster rolls, spiced bruleed mackerel with carrot wakame and a sashimi bar from Nobu New York’s Ryo Hasegawa.
The participating chefs constitute a who’s who of contemporary culinary masters, including Scott Conant (Impero Caffe), Andrew Smith (Riverpark), Daniel Holzman (The Meatball Shop), Marc Forgione (Restaurant Marc Forgione and American Cut), Eric Korsh (North End Grill), Alex Guarnaschelli (Butter), George Mendes (Aldea and Lupulo), Mark Welker (The NoMad and Eleven Madison Park), Michael White (Altamarea Group) and Nobu’s eponymous Nobu Matsuhisa.
Their courses included hamachi crudo with citrus and pistachio, tortellini with prosciutto and spring peas and Elysian Fields lamb with vichyssoise.
Yet no matter how glitzy the surroundings or how haute the cuisine, those served by SUS, which was founded in 1978, were never far from the spotlight. The organization’s staff of nearly 2,000 people works with more than 25,000 individuals and their families to create pathways to better, productive lives by offering housing, employment, skills-building, treatment and rehabilitation. The urban agriculture movement, with its rooftop and community gardens, has been a boon.
During the dinner, SUS honored culinary trailblazers Dana Cowin, Creative Director of Chefs Club and former Editor-in-Chief of Food & Wine and Christina Grdovic, SVP/Publisher of Food & Wine.
They were presented with awards from Chef Zimmern and SUS’s board chair Gareth Old and the organization’s CEO, Donna Colonna. Both women spoke movingly of their experiences with SUS urban farms and its work providing housing and support services to thousands of people in need and bringing healthy food to their neighborhoods, which in turn lowers the rates of obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes.
One of the people assisted by SUS, Nelson Seda, had a special gift for Grdovic and Cowin: a home-baked pie made from scratch utilizing ingredients grown in urban farms.
The Dinner for a Better New York raised $450,000 for SUS. The event was cochaired by Josh Bider and Deborah Wolfe and the night’s sponsors were Alexandria Real Estate Equities; Chefs Club; Joyce Cowin; Food & Wine; Erin and Peter Friedland; KPMG; Nancy and Fred Poses; Riverpark; Sandra Stark and Jim Mersfelder; and Southern Wines & Spirits.
