'The best event all year': Foodie extravaganza at Alpine CC raises money for the hungry
The Celebrity Chefs & Friends Golf and Tennis Tournament held Monday at the Alpine Country Club is — as best described by Herb Karlitz, a Demarest resident and the mastermind behind it — "a food and wine festival that happens to be on a golf course."
A food and wine festival that also happens to be a fundraiser for City Harvest, New York City’s largest food rescue organization.
And what a festival.
Some 65 chefs, many at the top of their game; world-renowned athletes; top-notch sommeliers; and, yes, food, lots and lots of delicious gourmet food, and wine. Last year the event raised enough money to provide 850,000 meals to the hungry in New York City.
"You won't find anything like this anywhere," said Geoffrey Zakarian, the TV personality, culinary consultant and cookbook author, who like many of the participants took a good chunk of the day to play a round of golf or a game of tennis. "This is the best event I do all year."
"It's incredible to see so many chefs gathered in the same place in New Jersey to raise money," said Dan Richer, chef and owner of Razza, the cherished award-winning pizzeria in Jersey City. "It's great."
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As pop music blared onto the country club's patio, which is surrounded by Zen-inducing rolling green hills, guests helped themselves to bites of nifty, often haute, fare prepared for the occasion.
Among the dishes: heady agnolotti stuffed with Buffalo milk ricotta in a broth dotted with morels and spring peas (courtesy of chef Alfred Portale of Portale Restaurant); coveted chili fried chicken from Brooklyn's Peking Chicken that once had a 10,000-person waitlist for it (courtesy chef Eric Huang); MingsBings dub-dub animal-style vegan cheeseburger with crisp fried onions, now available in 4,000 stores nationwide (chef Ming Tsai); lovely caldeirada — Portuguese fish stew — in a rich tomato broth (chef Anthony Goncalves of Kanopi in White Plains, New York); and tender smoked BBQ spareribs with coleslaw (chef Kenny Callaghan of newly opened Boots & Bones in Jersey City).
Lots of wine and other alcohols were poured too, including La Caravelle Champagne and Cardinal du Four Armagnac.
"All chefs do events all the time," said Tsai. "We are here to feed people. Everyone needs and deserves to have food."
Added Callaghan, "I've been involved with City Harvest since 1993. It's grown over the years. It's a worthy cause."
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A cause that Karlitz, CEO and president of Karlitz & Co., a 32-year-old culinary marketing and events business that has been involved in some 10,000 chef events, said is a no-brainer for chefs.
"Chefs are the most generous people," he said. "They love to feed people."
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Alpine Country Club Celebrity Chefs, golf fundraiser a success
