FOODSERVICE MONTHLY'S Sauce on the Side

DC Chefs Pose at Policy for 'Save the Seals Soiree'

DC’s top chefs including Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve and Todd Gray of Equinox have signed a pledge not to buy seafood from the Canadian Sealing provinces.  Together with the Humane Society of the United States, the chefs, restaurateurs, congressmen and invited guests gathered at Policy on 14th Street, NW to show their support and party to protect the seals. 

 

Celebrity photographer Nigel Barker photographed the participating chefs. Afterwards the chefs and restaurateurs created an artistic expression as they dipped their hands in red paint and marked a canvas with their handprint and signature; the canvas will be sent around the country to garner support for the seals. 

Important to Note: (Excluded from the ban are products from Inuit and Native American communities in Greenland, Canada, Russia and the United States. Items not banned are those used for cultural, educational or ceremonial purposes.) (There are three separate levels of the boycott. Restaurants have pledged at different levels-All Canadian Seafood, Seafood from Sealing Provinces; (Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Quebec), Snow Crabs (from Canada.) Since the ProtectSeals seafood boycott was launched, more than 600,000 individuals and more than 5,000 grocery stores and restaurants and notable chefs from around the country have pledged to avoid some or all Canadian seafood until the commercial seal hunt is ended for good.

Seibel's Celebrates 70 Years of Dipping Homemade Ice Cream

After a week of attending futuristic food theatre and preparing food for the gourmet future from Stouffers that appeared via FedEx on my door step (more on both of those in my next post), I was hungry for good news and a satisfying food experience. Thanks to Lynn Martins, who with her sister Karen Leach run Seibel's in Burtonsville on Route 198, for sending me an e-mail about a 70th anniversary special for July and August: 70-cent ice cream cones on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday from 4 to 8 p.m.

After a Friday afternoon meeting at the Willard in DC, I headed up I-95 for a pre-dinner treat.

Sure enough when I arrived someone was getting a cone to go … you see it’s a carryout offer. I asked the young man dipping and shaping my cone how long he had worked at the restaurant … when he said 10 years, I looked surprised. He quickly said, “I’m part of the family.” Chad Leach is a fine representative of the family that has watched over the restaurant since 1971.

From the Web site I learned Buck Seibel started Seibel's Dairy Bar at its present location in 1939. The original dairy was the Seibel farm two miles west on Route 198 in Spencerville, Md. The new location in Burtonsville bottled milk to deliver to homes in nearby communities. Seibel’s soon began making Super Premium ice cream and became a popular destination for a ride in the country and to enjoy an ice cream cone or milk shake.

In 1971 Harry and Joyce Ground purchased the restaurant, then serving breakfast, homemade soups and hamburgers. After two additions and four remodels the Ground family has helped Seibel’s grow from ten tables to a 182-seat restaurant. The daughters of Harry and Joyce, Karen Leach and Lynn Martins have been running Seibel’s since 1998 with Mom and Dad watching every move from afar.

I can tell you it’s worth the drive for one of their ice cream cones … and you might as well have dinner first since you made the trip.

Karen Cathey: We Lost a Special Person Today

Karen Cathey died today from complications from a battle with colon cancer that she had bravely fought since January 2008. Karen was the president of Bon Vivant, LLC, a food marketing consulting firm in Arlington, Va., and past chairman of The American Institute of Wine & Food that was co-founded by Julia Child and Robert Mondavi, Richard Graff and Robert Huttenback in 1981. She was founding chairman of The AIWF National Capital Area Chapter and remained active as its chairman emerita. Karen wrote her noted column “Marketing Mix” for Foodservice Monthly since our start up in 2002.

More than that Karen Cathey was a dear friend – someone with whom I could share openly my passion for fine food and wine and great hospitality. I first met Karen in the mid-nineties when she was doing public relations and marketing work for Greggory Hill at his old Gabriel restaurant where Urbana is today. I can still remember our first lunch together as we got to know each other over a two-hour plus lunch while sharing stories of past and present while looking forward with vision and purpose. Greggory’s great food emboldened our spirit and conversation. It was that kind of immediate connection where we both knew we would be friends forever. People like Karen share their goodness – their love of life. I will always remember Karen’s strength – her good will – her passion.

Karen Cathey began Bon Vivant in 1991. She started her business by doing special events for the food and wine industry, mostly restaurants and products sold in restaurants, like specialty foods and wine. Karen expanded into all areas of marketing except advertising, and always limited her clientele to the food and beverage industries.

For 18 years she had refined her expertise working on food marketing projects ranging from market research, analysis, strategy and planning for restaurants and food companies to being a marketing coach. She wrote and lectured extensively about food marketing, and she wrote a weekly cookbook review column called “Devouring Cookbooks” that was syndicated nationally.

Karen Cathey was one of 50 founding members of the Southern Foodways Alliance, an affiliated institute of the University of Mississippi.

She was a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), the James Beard Foundation, Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, Culinary Historians of Washington (CHoW), and the National Press Club. She was a graduate of L’Academie de Cuisine and holds a bachelor’s degree in European Studies from George Mason University.

Immediate arrangements are being handled by her family in North Carolina. There will be a memorial service in the upcoming weeks here in the Washington area so her friends can come together to remember and celebrate this wonderful woman. I will announce that information as soon as the details are confirmed.