Black Culinary Alliance 12 th Annual Cultural Awareness Salute Dinner

Feb 25, 2005

Marriott Marquis, NYC

This wonderful event, packed with “LSD“ (luscious, scrumptious and delicious) foods with intoxicating aromas and mouthwatering flavorings and seasonings was truly the delight of any culinary connoisseur.

The purpose of the event was to promote the culinary arts to a diversity of people, many of color. And believe me, the Black Culinary Alliance has come along way in turning cooks into masters of creative culinary artistry. (By the way, that was some good chicken they had there.) The event started off with an invocation by Reverend Renee F. Washington, Executive Pastor of the Memorial Baptist Church in Harlem, and followed by a welcome by Lyn Brown, Fox 5 News Anchor, and Mistress of Ceremonies for the evening. Opening remarks were given by H. Joseph Machiote, the Dinner Chair, and Vice President of Relations Development for Compass Group. Then, there was dinner and dancing, after which four honorees received their awards. Chef Wilo Benet, whom I personally met with, received the Jefferson Evans Award for his culinary talent, extraordinary business savvy, and natural leadership. He has set standards throughout the restaurant industry and in contemporary cuisine on the island. His experience includes such upper crust Manhattan restaurants as The Water Club and La Bernadin, and the famed Chef De Cuisine at the Governors' Mansion in Puerto Rico—all of this paving the way for the opening of a world class restaurant with ravishing reviews, called Pikayo, which he established 15 years ago. Mr. Benet's knowledge has allowed him to expand into other areas, including Museum Catering Services, Museum Restaurant Group, and his most recent venture, Paya, a casual dining restaurant entrenched with his style and elegance—a delectable culinary experience. Amy S. Hilliard, the CEO of the ComfortCake company, who's pound cake now has the slogan “Pound cake so Good, it Feels Like a Hug.” won the Heritage Award, which was given to her by Mr. Robert Okura, Vice President of Culinary Development at the Cheesecake Factory. Her company has been selected a couple of years ago as the Emerging Minority Enterprise of the Year. She also spoke five times at the NASFT/Fancy Food Shows across the country, and is currently writing a book called “The Marketing Workout – Lose Fat & Build Muscle for Amazing Business Results.” (while still enjoying your pound cake. . .) She is the Founder of a strategic multi-cultural marketing consulting firm, who's clients include IBM, American Express, HBO, Hallmark, Texaco, Chase Manhattan Bank, PepsiCo, Ford, Northwest Airlines (I wonder what they serve for dessert on their flights…), the Gap, Kraft Foods and Fortune magazine, and numerous others. The next honoree, Michael Lemon is the Corporate Executive Chef at Flik International, Corp.. He has over twenty years of experience in the hospitality industry from various New York based hotels and restaurants, and has taken on every position from Executive Chef at PricewaterhouseCoopers to being the Opening Corporate Executive Chef for Bloomberg and the British Airway Lounges. Michael has played an active role in the training and inspiration of many of the Black Culinary Alliance's chefs. The final honoree for the evening, who's award was given to his wife in his memoriam, was Frank Lopez, Professor of Culinary Arts for the Culinary Institute of America. Mr. Lopez, who began his career as a dishwasher at the Trinidad Hilton, amidst a family of chefs, as a nineteen-year senior Professor at the Culinary Institute of America. Frank took on the challenge of the Culinary Institute to develop seminars for various hotel management groups and schools including intercity kids in Washington D.C. and aspiring chefs in Jamaica. Aruba and St. Thomas, hoping to be afforded better opportunities because of his mentoring. Through his involvement in the Culinary Institute's “Cooking Secrets of the CIA” television series, Frank demonstrated his passion for West Indian culinary heritage. (Not that's a “CIA” member with intellect . . .) Mr. Lopez is survived by his mother, wife, Carol (who accepted the award on his behalf), four daughters, a granddaughter and seventeen brothers and sisters as well as numerous nieces and nephews. The culinary schools that participated in this event were The Culinary Institute of America, The Brooklyn Job Corps Academy, The South Bronx Job Corps Academy, Monroe College, New York City Technical College, The Institute of Culinary Education, Baltimore International College, The Connecticut Culinary Institute and Hudson Community College. The dishes served, far to numerous to list all of them, included Goat Cheese Terrine with Sundried Tomatoes, Pesto and Roasted Pine Nuts, Smoked Salmon with Dill and Capers, Branzino cake on steamed leaks with buttered lump crab with Twin Beet coulis and pea shoots. Dessert was absolutely heavenly. It was served during a Viennese reception with a display that was packed with a wide assortment of mini pastries and petit fours with a Chocolate Sculpture—any calorie counter's worst nightmare. The Viennese reception was presented by Hudson Community College and Monroe College.

We would like to thank Ms. Addison, Director of Operations for the Black Culinary Alliance, for her kind invitation. It was one of the most enjoyable. For more information about this great organization, please feel free to log onto their website, at www.thebca.net.

The African American and Caribbean Section is headed by assistant editor Annette Johnson, and Liberty News Online Staff Writers contributing articles. It will cover articles about the African American and Caribbean communities throughout the U.S.A. For more information, feel free to email us at lncarib@hadofnyc.org. If you are interested in having us cover one of your events, feel free to notify us one week in advance, so we can add you to our master calendar, and have our Liberty News Staff come and write an article about your event. Feel free to email us at lnevents@hadofnyc.org, or telephone us at (718) 507-7616 between the hours of 8:00am and 8:00pm, and ask to speak to Annette or Steve