Long before Taste of the Nation, Sounds Delicious, Soup for the Soul, Women Cook and Mountain Mardi Gras hopped on the walkabout supper bandwagon, there was Great Chefs of the West.
It began 25 years ago when a group of National Kidney Foundation volunteers who appreciated the Rocky Mountain region’s unique culinary style decided to honor the passel of talented chefs deserving of wider recognition.
The event was a smash from the start, with restaurants doing whatever it took to catch the attention of the Kidney Foundation foodies responsible for issuing the coveted invitations to participate and tickets literally flying out the door the minute they went on sale.
And it wasn’t long before other charitable organizations began hosting similar events of their own.
The Silver Anniversary edition of Great Chefs was held Feb. 20 at the Grand Hyatt Denver, and while the numbers were about half of what they’d been in the benefit’s heyday, they were impressive nonetheless. Six hundred tickets were sold and $50,000 was raised.
For co-chairs Bernie Iapalucci and Hank Fanelli, organizing Great Chefs 2007 was a labor of love. Iapalucci took on the responsibility in gratitude for the support her family received after she donated a kidney to her daughter in 2004. Now 24, her daughter is majoring in audiology at Northwestern and “doing great,” Iapalucci reports. Fanelli’s involvement is in tribute to his wife, the late Barbara Fanelli, a past chair of Great Chefs who succumbed to kidney disease in 2004.
Martini on the Rockies 101.5 was the presenting sponsor, and on-air personalities Tamara Banks and Jackie Selby joined Mike Bell of the Denver Broncos to determine which restaurants would receive the Critic’s Choice awards. Best Appetizer honors went to California Café for its fennel, chili and coriander-infused gravlax; La Loma won Best Entrée for its yummy mix of refritos, crispy tortillas and green chile; and Café Bistro at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center took Best Dessert for a daring combination of pumpkin sopapillas with scoops of mango-red chile ice cream and squirts of chocolate sauce.
Bell also auctioned off his autograph, putting Sharpie to the bald head of CH2M Hill senior vice president Bob Allen. CH2M Hill had a major presence at Great Chefs, since Iapalucci’s husband, Sam, who was in Dubai and thus unable to attend, is one of its senior executives.
Familiar faces in the crowd included Emmett and Marsha Duemke, whose first stop of the night was the Westin Tabor Center, where the Saturday Night Alive patron party was being held; Faye Tate; Elenora Crichlow; and such 25th anniversary committee members as Jan Bundy, Jennifer Quam, Samantha Bullock and Mary Hayden.
Coming right up
The 2007 Denver Debutante Ball honorees wil be announced at a tea held Thursday afternoon at Sharon Martin’s home; that evening, plans for the April 28 Mutts & Models fashion show, benefiting the nonprofit Harrison Memorial Animal Hospital, will be kicked off at a reception chaired by Sharon Whiton Gelt and held at the Sutra Room nightclub. Brandis Pelletier is the Mutts & Models chair.
Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com. She also contributes at denverpostbloghouse.com/Davidson.
