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PHOTO BY DANE GREGORY MEYER; PHOTO COURTESY OF TSO

TOP CHEFS. Four of Tacoma’s most accomplished culinary artists will be cooking up something special in honor of TSO Maestro Harvey Felder’s 15th year with the orchestra. Clockwise from top: Matt Brandsey, Aaron Valimont, Joel Mertens and Dan Hutchinson.

Celebrity Chefs Showcase to feature four top young Tacoma chefs

Event will celebrate 15th anniversary of TSO Music Director Harvey Felder

Guests will spend an elegant evening sampling Tacoma’s culinary delights this spring, complete with fine wine and entertainment by members of the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra (TSO).

Celebrity Chefs Showcase, a benefit for the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra, will feature four gifted chefs under the age of 30 from Tacoma’s finest restaurants. Gourmet entrees will be prepared by Joel Mertens of Asado/Masa, Dan Hutchinson of Brix 25º, Aaron Valimont of Pacific Grill and Matt Brandsey of Sea Grill. Each of them will be joined by a special guest celebrity who will assist them in preparing and presenting the entrée as well as fine wines specially selected to complement the entrees. 

Guest of honor at the event will be TSO Music Director and conductor Harvey Felder, who celebrates his 15th Anniversary in 2008. Mr. Felder, who joined the TSO in 1993, has led its growth beyond its proud roots as a volunteer community ensemble into its present status:  a full-service professional symphony orchestra, the second largest in the Pacific Northwest. Today’s TSO performs concerts and education programs for an audience of 15,000 annually. Its musicians teach and perform in other ensembles throughout the South Sound region.

“We are delighted to invite the community to celebrate this momentous occasion, and to enjoy fine cuisine prepared by the community’s finest chefs,” said TSO President Dr. Richard Bowe. “Maestro Felder’s accomplishments with the Tacoma Symphony are clear to everyone who has heard the orchestra recently. He has also spearheaded the rise of its excellent education programs, so his influence is impacting thousands of schoolchildren as well as adult concertgoers.”

Chef Mertens will prepare dungeness crab cakes with roasted jalapeno and dried cherries, and micro salad dressed with cherry vinaigrette. Chef Hutchinson’s entrée will feature roasted quail with veal demi-glace, asparagus ravioli, applewood smoked bacon, chervil puree and parmesan crisp.

No Pacific Northwest dinner event would be complete without cuisine de la mer, and so Chef Valimont’s menu will feature grilled king salmon with spring vegetable succotash, kurobuta ham, and snap pea vinaigrette. Chef Brandsey will present grilled lamb loin with duck prosciutto and mint salad, black olive and orange gastrique.

The chair is Nurhan Karakas of the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors.  The evening begins at 5:30 p.m. with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. At 6:30 guests will enjoy music by the TSO Brass Quintet. As the brass quintet performs, the guests will watch on closed-circuit video screens as the first chef and his celebrity aide prepare their entrees. When the first entrée is ready, the chef and the celebrity will bring it out to the guests, to be served with the assistance of students from Clover Park’s culinary program.

Guests will then be able to bid on a special live auction item offered by each chef. Following conclusion of the bidding, as guests enjoy the entrée, the brass ensemble will resume its performance, and the next chef will begin preparing his entrée. In this fashion, each chef will have his moment in the spotlight, about every 20 minutes or so, until all four entrees have been served.

The event will be held from 5:30-9 p.m. May 29 at the Sharon McGavick Conference Center, Clover Park Technical College. Tickets are $150 per person or $1,500 for a table of ten. Corporate Tables are available for $2,000. For more information, call (253) 272-7264.

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