Elements - a Groundbreaking Dining Experience

Caramel corn served as a cocktail.  Peanut butter transformed into powder.  Food concoctions so unexpected and interesting, that ingesting them could hardly be described as “eating” but rather “experiencing.”  The evening began with a cinnamon colored beverage served in a test tube.  It seemed to proclaim, “Drink Me,” and so I did.   I have fallen down the rabbit hole and into Elements.

Partnering with Liberty Science Center in an effort to spread awareness of their upcoming exhibition, Cooking, we created a groundbreaking evening that explored the ways in which science and cooking converge. Our guest chefs were some of the most creative in the culinary world.  Their brilliance in pairing flavors is based not only on fearless ingenuity but also on a keen understanding of science.

Pastry Chef Vincent Pantoliano of Miami’s Meat Market skillfully created a chemical compound for his interpretive “egg yolk” comprised of mango and passion fruit.   For his dessert, he placed each “yolk” inside a hollowed egg shell to create a dish equally whimsical and delicious. “Food is the art that we eat,” he explained, offering me a taste.  Of course, the event was created to celebrate food as science, not art, and yet it strikes me as noncoincidental that the chefs who respect the inextricable link between science and food are frequently the same chefs who are known to elevate cuisine to an artform.

At another station, Jamison Blankenship, Chef de Cuisine of Morimoto, constructed an ice chamber in which he smoked yellowtail using fire and ice at once.  Funny how a return to basic – even primitive – cooking can seem so strikingly modern.

Other presenters included Ben Hehir, Drinks Director of Bamboo London; Simone Bonelli, Executive Chef of Perbacco Restaurant; Certified Master Chef Jack Shoop, Executive Chef of the Cancer Treatment Centers of America; Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronovo, Chefs and Co-Owners of Frankies Spuntino, Prime Meats, and Café Pedlar; Shane C. Welch, Owner and Brewmaster of Six Point Craft Ales; Duane Sorenson, Owner and Founder of Stumptown Coffee; David Lecomte, Winemaker at City Winery, and our very own Marc Spooner whose innovation has made its mark on so many of GP’s menus.

Elements was a great evening of discovery.  It created a portal into the creative minds of our guest chefs who transformed familiar ingredients into something unexpected.  It gave food lovers a new insight into Liberty Science Center and anticipation for their upcoming exhibition.  And it provided a scientific foundation for the elemental forces at work behind flavors that we can only describe as “ethereal.”