Le Cirque Chef Alumni Dinner At Nectar

The chefs we have working in this city come to their gigs with some pretty amazing resumes. There are cooks who’ve worked with Thomas Keller and Mario Batali, at places like Blue Hill and Gilt in Manhattan. Our best guys (and girls) have done tours through many of the finest kitchens in America and, on Thursday, May 14, the crew who once worked together at NYC’s legendary Le Cirque are coming to Philly–more specifically, to Patrick Feury’s Nectar in Berwyn–for a one-night-only reunion dinner as part of the Mid-Atlantic Wine + Food Festival.

Yes, tickets will run you $250 per person. But there are a couple reasons why this might be worth it for those of you who can drop that kind of coin on a single dinner.

First, this is likely the only chance you’ll ever have to experience this team working together. All of them were on-staff together at Le Cirque in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, and this is the first time they’ve been together again since then. In addition to Feury, the dinner will be prepared by Kyle Bernstein, caviar expert of Petrossian in New York City, Mike Wurster, regional executive chef at Google in New York City; Douglas Hernandez, pastry chef of Bouley Restaurant in New York City and another local guy, Laurent Leveque, owner of Fleur de Lys Catering in Ardmore. Each chef will be in charge of “[one] tribute course that reflects their time spent at Le Cirque, all while illustrating modern techniques seen in their present careers.”

Second reason? The menu. I mean, you’ve got a guy from Petrossian in the house for starters, but none of these chefs are going to be bringing anything less than their A game to an event like this. Competitive creatures that they are, no one is going to want to be shown up by one of their former comrades.

There’s no full menu available yet, but we do know that, among other things, they’re going to be doing deviled quail eggs with white sturgeon caviar and black truffles; a surf-and-turf of seared New York strip and octopus carpaccio; diver scallop with pickled and puréed ramps; tea-smoked squab with garlic and parsley sausage and red beet dumplings; and tiramisu made with espresso-soaked biscuits and caramelized white chocolate.

Oh, and there’ll be drinks, too. I’ll let the organizers explain the wine program. “To enhance the ceremonial affair, guest winemakers from across the globe will be on hand to assist with pairings, including Duncan Savage of South Africa’s Cape Point Vineyard and Savage Wines and Warren Randall of Australia’s Seppeltsfield Estate. Additional featured wineries to include Australia’s Adelaide Winemakers’ Old Faithful wine project, Argentina’s Lagarde Winery, France’s Chateau Lagrezette, Germany’s Weingut Reichsrat von Buhl, Greece’s Domaine Kikones, Spain’s Rioja Vega, and California’s Hook & Ladder Vineyards and Winery.”

So yeah. There’s that, too.

Interested? Tickets are on sale now, available through the link below.

A Night In Shangri-La Le Cirque Reunion Dinner [Official]