Last night, the sixth annual Great Chefs event took place in Philadelphia, PA. The biggest and brightest stars of the culinary world were on hand to help raise money for Alex's Lemonade Stand in the fight against childhood cancer.
Marc Vetri of Vetri and Jeff Benjamin have organized this event since its inception, and this year there were more than 1,100 people in attendance. The goal was to raise $2 million for the organization through ticket sales and a live auction, all in one night. The marquee item up for bid—dinner for six people at Vetri with Iron Chefs Michael Symon and Bobby Flay—went for $25,000.
The focus of the evening was the fight against cancer, but the draw was the chef star power. While every toque in attendance has risen to the top of their profession and have become household names, they all had to start somewhere.
We asked a few of them what dish they learned to make first, and there were some truly hilarious answers. Jonathan Benno of NYC's Lincoln (and formerly gastro-temple Per Se), deadpanned "Cheerios." Chris Bianco, often touted as the world's best pizzaiolo at Pizzeria Bianco, said it was grilled cheese made from Wonder bread and cooked with an iron. Our favorite answer, though, didn't come from a chef. Michael Schwartz's mother told us that he started out cutting white bread for the Thanksgiving stuffing. The rest, as they say, is history.
Check out the rest of the answers in the video above. [The Feast]
