HotmailChefs dream up fantasy inaugural dinners for Obama
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Eric Ripert
Ripert, whose restaurants include Le Bernandin in New York and West End Bistro in Washington, says he'd be inspired to create a menu that brings people together as much as Obama has.
He would highlight different regions of the country by offering prawns from Santa Barbara, Calif.; scallop chowder from Nantucket Bay and stuffed quail with Wisconsin cheddar grits.
And for a comforting finish Ripert, who is a regular on Bravo's “Top Chef,” would end with an American favorite: peanut butter. Or rather, a peanut butter souffle.
Charlie Trotter
Trotter, a health-conscious Chicago chef, is excited that the new president's penchant for healthy eating could generate interest in healthy foods.
Trotter's inaugural dinner would pay tribute to some of Obama's favorite foods, but also honor some healthy Midwestern dishes, such as white fish and salmon from Lake Superior; as well as root vegetables, kale, collard greens and potato dishes.
“It would be food that's good eatin',” Trotter says, “But food that's very, very healthful at the same time.”
Alan Wong
Wong, a chef and restaurateur in Honolulu, where Obama was born and grew up, would draw his menu from Hawaii's culinary offerings, including seafood salad "pupus" (Hawaiian for appetizers).
The main course would be Maui beef filet with mushroom sauce and mashed potatoes mixed with goat cheese. For dessert, he'd fill shells of Hawaiian chocolate with coconut sorbet.
“What I would bring to the White House is a taste of Hawaii,” he says.
Daniel Young
Young, who cooked at the Democratic National Convention and is the former personal chef for Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony, says he'd try to keep the meal easy to eat to avoid spills on ball gowns.
He'd start with a seafood consomme paired with a pinot grigio, followed by pastry-wrapped organic vegetables laced with black truffles and Bon Champignon Brie served on sweet pepper coulis and paired with crisp sauvignon blanc.
That would be followed by chilled Washington state greens with seared hearts of palm, broiled with honey-glazed apples and topped with a tangy balsamic wild berry dressing and a Camembert crostini.
His main course would be an herb-crusted grass-fed tenderloin on a bed of hay-stacked potatoes, mini Maryland blue crab cakes and carrot-broccoli mousseline paired with a Napa Valley merlot.
He'd end with a dessert he's heard the Obamas' daughters enjoy: peach cobbler and vanilla-almond ice cream.
Andrew Zimmern
Zimmern, a chef and host of the Travel Channel's "Bizarre Foods," says the mistake most cooks make when preparing for some big event is over-thinking. So he'd try to keep things simple — if unusual — with his inaugural menu.
His main course would be roasted baby goat with tortillas and salsa, and sides of braised greens and roasted vegetables. And he would source his ingredients from around the country, a way of raising awareness about native and sustainable foods.
“It's really lean, it's really healthy and it's the global meat of choice,” he says. “The most important thing you can do for an event like this is be representative of the whole country.”
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