Image courtesy of Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay

Chefs Jet Tila and Fabio Viviani Face Off in Virginia Beach!

October 19, 2016

Something exciting is happening next week, especially for those who like to following cooking shows on TV. Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay will be hosting an “An Evening in Culinary Excellence”. This charity dinner will have not one, but two famous chefs that have previously visited the community through the Celebrity Chef Series - Chef Fabio Viviani and Chef Jet Tila. The two chefs will each perform a cooking demonstration for the audience in addition to orchestrating meals for dinner. Chef Tila will be performing a cooking demonstration of Black Cod Misoyaki, Forbidden Rice and Chef Viviani will cook Fresh Egg Pasta. The charity event benefits the Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Guests will be enjoying some of Fabio's wines from his collections, an open bar, and a four course meal directed by the chefs. The meals will be made up of both the chef's recipes and prepared by the Westminster-Canterbury Culinary team under the leadership of Executive Chef Sandra Suria. The team at the retirement community is top-notch and knows how to execute a big meal like this so it's done right. I was very impressed when I had my meal there and am very excited about this one.

After the meal guests will get the opportunity to vote for their favorite entree! Here’s what’s cooking:

Amuse

Arancini with Pancetta (Fabio Viviani recipe)

Petite Salads

Butter Lettuce Salad with pomegranate seeds, apples and shaved celery (Fabio Viviani recipe)

Yuzu Crab and Avocado Salad (Jet Tila recipe)

Duo Entrée (plated separately)

Burrata, blistered tomatoes, pine nuts and marinated beef filet (Fabio Viviani)

Black Cod Misoyaki, Forbidden Rice (Jet Tila)

Dessert

Buttermilk Panna Cotta with tropical fruit (Jet Tila)

Shared Table Dessert Signature Chocolate Lavender Truffle (Westminster-Canterbury Culinary Team)

Though I didn’t get to attend Chef Viviani’s dinner at Westminster a few years ago, I was able to catch Chef Tila when he was here and it was a ton of fun. There was a lot of banter, moving around with tables and of course the food! Auction was held at the end of the demonstration that got a little out-of-hand, but in a good way. The proceeds for that also went to Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Also, if I recall correctly, Chef Tila said something along the lines of taking down Chef Viviani if the the two of them ever met at Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay in the future. Looks like that day has come! This should be a lot of fun to watch and I really appreciate being invited to attend.

Here's a little bit about the chefs.

The Le Cordon Bleu trained Chef Tila has been in working in the industry for over 20 years and is famous for Thai and Chinese cooking. Being part Thai and Cantonese he grew up with the two distinct cooking styles and spent a lot of time in his family’s well-known, Los Angeles based restaurant Royal Thai. After committing himself to his work he’s been involved in countless projects around the country and has appeared on several television shows such Cutthroat Kitchen and Chopped. He was a contender on Iron Chef going head-to-head with Chef Morimoto – Tila didn’t win but he only lost by two points!

Florence born Chef Fabio Viviani is best known for his run on Bravo's hit reality series Top Chef earning the title of "Fan Favorite". By the time he was 27 he operated 7 restaurants in his hometown and was involved in several other ventures. He moved to California in 2007 opening Café Firenze, and later, Siena Tavern in Chicago, IL. Afterwards he put a few more openings under his belt and even launching his own wine line - Fabio Viviani Wine Collection. Viviani is now a regular on the food entertainment circuits including television appearances, festivals, global food events, and signature cookware.

General admission tickets ($125) include the demonstration and dinner, while the VIP tickets ($250) allow you to attend an early Cocktail Reception an hour before the dinner. Sponser Tables at two different levels Table Sponsor ($2,000) and Silver Sponsor ($1,000) can be purchased too, head over to the site to see the details for each level of benefit associated with the purchase.

The event will be held at 6:30 P.M., October 25, 2016 at Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay, 3100 Shore Drive, Virginia Beach.

To purchase your tickets and reserve a seat, follow this LINK or call 877-320-2066.

Sorry Chef Viviani, I have lots of photo of Jet from his visit last year ;)

Virginia Beach Restaurant Week 2015 - Mannino's

January 13, 2015

Virginia Beach Restaurant Week 2015 has kicked off for the new year! Just thinking about all the possibilities for lunches and dinners has me worrying about my cholesterol and blood pressure. If you're not familiar with Restaurant Week, participating area establishments offer lunch and/or dinner specials at reduced prices to entice diners to visit their restaurants to try something new. On average lunches are $10 and dinners run from $20-$30.

Virginia Beach Restaurant Week is celebrating its 10 year anniversary with over 90 restaurants taking part. We were able to hit a few last year: Braise, Croakers, and Chic's to name a few. Our first Restaurant Week outing this year was to Mannino's for lunch! If you didn't know it yet, Mannino's has the best She-Crab soup in Virginia Beach—hands-down. I don't say those words lightly either! Starting with a good soup sounded perfect since we're in cold weather now. Shelby made reservations for us at the new Oceanfront location, this will be our first time at that shop.

They have an extensive Restaurant Week lunch menu made especially for Restaurant Week. I didn't realize how much they were offering until I actually checked out the menu. For $10 you get two courses: The first could be Prosciutto & Fresh Mozzarella, Calamari Friti or a cup of the Award Winning She-Crab soup! (I know what I was ordering.)

The second course ran one and a half pages, anywhere from salads, sandwiches (including an Oyster Po' Boy), and a wide range of pastas and sauces. We had 5 in our lunch group Shelby, myself, Nana and Marleigh who brought along a friend for us to meet. Once we were seated our server brought out a hot, fresh loaf of bread for the table and small plates to mix olive oil and balsamic. We used the delicious, crusty bread to dip into the mixture and finished off the small loaf quickly. I asked for another immediately afterward. The table pretty much stuck with the first course She-Crab soup except for Nana who has an aversion to shellfish. Our meals came with salads too, a nice house salad and a Caesar. As for entrées we ordered the following: Two plates of Four Cheese Ravioli (one spicy), Vitello Parmigiana, Smoked Turkey & Provolone Panini and a Fried Oyster Po' Boy.

When the first course was brought out I was surprised at how large the calamari plate was, it was the regular serving size. The soup came in cups, as described on the menu. Nana ordered the calamari and passed it around the table to share, even after doling out some to everyone she had a healthy portion left to herself. The She-Crab soup was spectacular as expected. The large chunks of sweet crab meat were hiding just below the creamy soup and I made sure to divvy out equal amounts of each with every bite. I can be a little anal about how I eat my food. The Caesar was very nice and I loved the croutons that came with it, I like mine a little airy. I didn't try the house salad but it was pretty with a variety of lettuce and long slivers of carrots and beets.

After the bread, salads, soups and calamari we were getting full. I had to finish Marleigh's soup because it would have been a sin to let that go back to the kitchen to be dumped! When the entrées were brought out we saw they really did stay with the regular menu portion sizes (or close enough!) I had the Vitello Parmigiana, veal Parmesan, that I really enjoyed. I don't get out for Italian much so this was a nice change of pace. The veal was lightly breaded and cook well, the cutlet was sitting on top of a mound of penne and sauce. I ended up giving the rest to Shelby in a take-out. She had the spicy ravioli and was gushing over the sauce. Nana had the panini and seemed pretty happy with what she ordered, it looked good and she ended up taking home some too. Marleigh's friend Patrick had the oyster po' boy that was huge. It had at least 6 plump, fried oysters in it with all fixings to the side with two sauces to choose from.

Overall everyone was impressed with the meals being offered on Mannino's special menu for Restaurant Week and can't say enough how great of a deal it was for $10 a plate! I hope we're as lucky with the next place we pick. Make sure to get out and see what's being offered, the chefs and kitchens usually put something special together to let people get a taste of what they have to offer. Take a tour of Virginia Beach's restaurants, see if you find a new favorite out there.

Virginia Beach Restaurant Week runs from 10-19 January 2015.