20 Jun Telluride Wine Fest: Dinner & Movie Honors Guest Chef “King Georges”
A Telluride Wine Fest gourmet dinner prepared by world-famous chef Georges Perrier plus a movie about the man (“King Georges”) takes place Thursday, June 23, 6:30- 9 p.m., Telluride Conference Center, Mountain Village. For tickets. go here or call 800-656-0713.
“Nobody who is a chef is a normal person, because a chef doesn’t have a normal life,” Georges Perrier observes in “King Georges,” the wistful and wonderful documentary portrait of the famous Philadelphia cuisinier. Scroll down to the bottom of the story to watch the trailer.
Chef Georges Perrier
It was the French Laundry or El Bulli of its day.
To enter this sanctum sactorum of food, you had to follow the instructions on the brass plaque of the historic art deco building at 1523 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, and ring the bell. Inside was a world lost in the fog of halcyon yesterdays, all white and gold like a blushing bride, radiant under the light of chandeliers. Fleur-de-lis carpeting and wrought-iron bannisters completed the pretty package, ever detail safely housed, as if in a jewel box, inside woven silk wall panels.
Yet Le Bec-Fin, (means “fine palate” or “the good taste” in French) was not the reserve of old fogies with fat wallets and fingers to match. The joint was almost always jumping, young and old in festive moods, oohing and cooing over what was on their plates, waiters in tuxes delivering a floor show.
Most of its long and prosperous life, 1970 – 2012, Le Bec-Fin enjoyed a well-deserved 5-star rating for 23 years in a row from the Mobil Travel Guide. Its dessert cart, quenelle de brochet, and galette de crabe were the stuff of legend.
Crab cakes at the George Perrier’s Le Bec Fin.
During its 40 years in operation, Le Bec-Fin received the highest accolades in the hospitality industry, reigning food critics and locals singing in harmony about the best restaurant in town and one of the best in the country.
In 1994, readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine chose Le Bec-Fin as the #1 restaurant in the country. The restaurant also garnered top honors in prestigious publications such as Gourmet, Food & Wine, Esquire and Wine Spectator magazines. USA Today once rewarded the restaurant as one of the 10 best French restaurants in the country.
At the center of all the action, the head, heart, and soul of the place, was King Georges, aka, Georges Perrier, owner and chef who, among his many many laurels, in 2010, received the Academiciens de l’Annee, the high honor presented by the Academie Culinaire de France.
Demanding, driven, schooled in the French traditions, the Lyons native who began his culinary career at age 14, landed in Philadelphia way-back-when, opened his elegant eatery (first on Spruce Street, then on Walnut), tormented his kitchen staff and charmed his moneyed clientele – businessfolk, politicians, movie stars, gourmands.
Welcome the still debonair, legendary “King Georges” to town, where he is a guest chef at the 35th annual Telluride Wine Festival. Opening day, Thursday, June 23, Chef Georges Perrier is scheduled to prepare a six-course gourmet dinner.
“Prepare for one of the most unique culinary experiences in the history of the Telluride Wine Festival. Accompanied by the film, “King Georges,” in which fiery French chef Georges Perrier is on a crusade to keep his 40-year-old, internationally-renowned restaurant, Le Bec-Fin, relevant in a culinary world of new stars and shifting tastes,” Wine Fest explains.
Menu is as follows:
1st Course Terrine de Foie Gras au Poivre Szechuan (Angelee Aurillo)
2nd Course Gallette de Crabe “Le Bec-Fin” (James Reaux)
3rd Course Forest Mushroom Velouté (Bernard Guillas)
4th Course Tournedos de Boeufe, Sauce Medoc (Georges Perrier and Nicholas Elmi)
5th Course Cheese Course (Max McCalman)
6th Course/Dessert Souffle, Glace Grand Marnier
Chef Georges’ dinner is included in the Patron Pass and is a fundraiser for our non-profit partner of 2016, the Chef Ann Foundation.
“Come enjoy the marvels of French cuisine, and support good food in the Public Schools, thanks to the work of the ‘Renegade Lunch Lady,’” says Festival director Laurel Robinson.
For a preview of the film, go here:
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