American Masters Dinner at Los Angeles All Star Chef Classic

This weekend will probably be the highlight of my first quarter this year I think. Was invited to attend the American Masters Dinner presented by Mercedes Benz as part of the All Star Chef Classic in L.A. The All Star Chefs that I got to see in action were Wylie Dufresne of WD-50 in New York, Naomi Pomeroy of Portland's Beast, Jamie Bissonnette of Boston's Toro, Sean Brock of Charleston's Husk, Paul Kahan of Chicago's Blackbird and Johnny Iuzzini of Sugar Fueled Inc. in New York. Could not wait to check out the live action and see what the chefs had in store!

The event was held at the Restaurant Stadium at L.A. Live and this is the third year the event is back. The four day culinary experience included a French Masters Dinner, Noche de Masters Dinner and East West Masters Dinner each night as part of the schedule. All of these were seated events so the seating was organized stadium style with attendees on tiered levels all around and the cooking demonstration in the center on Fisher&Paykel equipment where the chefs cooked and then had their assistants help plate and serve. The whole thing was live cast on huge overhead jumbo screens so you could follow the action on the ground even though the seats were further out. Never experienced anything like this before!

The evening began with a casual welcome drink at the lounge area before being seated for the big dinner. The amount of glassware on the table gave me a good idea of how many courses to expect but they also had a menu laying out the evening's agenda. Once the emcee got started, the rest of the evening flowed like a well-oiled machine. The chef introductions were made and then each chef got started on their individual offerings. We had this appetizer plate to munch on with a little something from each chef as a teaser of sorts on what to expect as the entree. The fun part was watching some of the previously shot videos of some of the chefs from the event as well as other culinary greats talk about each of the chefs that were presenting. Such amazing talent and so much respect for all of these fabulous chefs. Amazing to watch them all in their element and the camaraderie that followed. 

This slideshow should give you an idea of the evening's spoils! If you ever get a chance to attend, I highly recommend this unique experience. We also got a recipe booklet featuring recipes from some of the chefs that I am excited to try out AND got to take home our commemorative Mercedes Benz wine glasses, woohoo!