St. Croix’s top chefs showed off their best work Thursday evening and thousands of philanthropic foodies dressed to the nines dined on the fruits of their labor, mingled and danced by the beach under the stars at the Taste of St. Croix.
This was the 14th annual Taste of St. Croix, an annual benefit for the St. Croix Foundation that brings more than 2,000 happy diners out to nibble the artistry of 55 competing restaurants, caterers, amateur and semi-pro cooks, and chefs of every description.
"This event celebrates the diversity of our cuisine and the amazing talent we have on St. Croix and I want to promote that," said Taste of St. Croix cofounder Katherine Pugliese during the opening of the Taste.
"Our theme is ‘Culinary Futures,’" Pugliese said, explaining that they tried to organize several of the events "to help build a pipeline for young people interested in the culinary arts."
To help create that pipeline, A Taste of St. Croix created the St. Croix Culinary Juniors, a team of junior high school students who would be taught by executive chefs, she said. And Bill DeSimone started a scholarship foundation in the name of his late brother Josef DeSimone, a chef at Facebook who came to the Taste in 2013 and enthusiastically committed to creating the scholarships before a tragic accident cut his life short.
St. Croix Foundation President Roger Dewey also pressed home the message of promoting culinary careers, saying much of the Food and Wine Experience, the two weeks of culinary events of which the Taste is the centerpiece, was focused on youth programs, competitions and internships.
Young people will flock to the industry "if we can demonstrate an actual career path" and a way to get from where they are now to where they want to be, Dewey said, adding that the "example being set" by the visiting and local chefs "is really beyond description."
Before the throng got to partake, each of the 44 competing cooks and chefs plated up samples to bring to the panel of judges. The 20 judges included St. Croix food blogger Tanisha "Crucian Contessa" Bailey-Roka, James Beard Award-winning Hawaiian Chef Sam Choy and Top Chef contestant Leah Cohen, among others.
There were pastries, cupcakes and candies of every hue and color, samples of fresh local fruits from local farms, cocktails, infusions and nonalcoholic local drinks, soups, salads, appetizers, hors d’oeuvre’s and desserts of every description.
Some chefs pulled out the tried and true crowd pleasers, like Chef Robert Bordenave and the crew from Chef Brian Mika’s Angry Nate’s Restaurant, with flaky fillets of mahi over a creamy, earthy wild mushroom risotto as an entree and a flourless chocolate cake with crème anglaise and raspberry coulis.
Others had a little fun playing around with elements from different culinary traditions, like Chef Teny at the Pink Spot, a new place on Strand Street in Frederiksted who served up some beautiful duck tamales with an ancho chili base, as well as a fresh wahoo ceviche. The Pink Spot also submitted sage infused Jameson’s Irish whiskey as a drink submission.
Many took fresh local ingredients and incorporated them into variations on traditional regional dishes, like John Scribner of Turtles After Dark, with a refreshing, tangy watermelon and conch ceviche and scrumptious "man soup," filled with conch, lobster, mahi, calamari, potatoes, carrots and dumplings in a curry thyme broth. Or Norma George of the famed Mt. Pellier Hut with breadfruit oil-down, a Caribbean classic with breadfruit and cassava dumplings steamed in coconut milk.
Galleon’s chef, St. Croix native Michael Matthews, went a step further, twice taking fresh local ingredients that are favorites in traditional local cuisine and transforming them into something completely new, incorporating the tools and concepts embodied in French haute cuisine.
In one dish, Matthews made a terrine of local conch, starting with conch and butter sauce, pureed with wild mushrooms, garlic, white pepper and gelatin and served in the style of a Provencale pate de champagne, an earthy, liver and mushroom dish. Somehow, the shellfish had the look, texture and even the smoky, earthy, liver flavor of the classic French dish, for a truly unusual, yet friendly and delicious take on a familiar ingredient.
"I want to use local produce in more of a fine dining setting," Matthews said, explaining his inspiration.
His other offering, braised oxtail ragout with creamy gorgonzola polenta finished with a few shavings of white chocolate, was, if anything, even better.
"It needed a little kick, a little something sweet and sour," Matthews said when asked why he put white chocolate on a savory dish. He was right. It worked.
Galleon owner Lesley Morrison said her restaurant is committed to embracing local ingredients whenever possible.
"Farm to Table is so important to us," Morrison said of the Agriculture Department program connecting restaurants with local farmers. We really want to use as much local, fresh ingredients as we can – like the local conch terrine has fresh local Sejah Farms avocado and tomato with it. Everything in the dish is local, except the crostini, which we baked locally ourselves," she said.
While the Taste of St. Croix is over until next year, the St. Croix Food and Wine Experience continues apace Friday, with a "Sunset BBQ" on Frederiksted Beach where celebrity chefs shared their grilling talents with our local culinary students.
On Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at Pearl B. Larsen Elementary School, there will be a "Kids Cooking" demonstration. This youth event ignites excitement about cooking with little chefs learning to make simple, fun recipes under the instruction of both celebrity and local chefs.
For the adults Saturday evening, "Wine in the Warehouse" is a wine tasting with winemakers, cocktail samplings, small bites and music in the Leeward Islands Warehouse. Check for ticket availability online. Park across the street and take a shuttle to the event. Bring a shawl for the refrigerator room. (See related links below)