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The Stew: A Roast To Toast

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By JEFF HOUCK

jhouck@tampatrib.com

Published: January 11, 2009

One of the major ways local charities raise money is by luring wealthy benefactors to posh events with the promise of gourmet food made and donated by the area's top chefs and restaurateurs.

In the Tampa Bay area, few organizations harness culinary power like the Abilities Foundation, which last year held 36 events to benefit programs that help the disabled find jobs and live independently.

And Island Way Grill chef Tom Pritchard was at most of those events. It's been that way since the mid-1990s, when Abilities held one of its first big events in a jet hangar at St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport. Back then, Pritchard was representing the Salt Rock Grill and there were only seven restaurants involved. Pritchard has donated to loads of other charities beyond Abilities as well.

"He's just an icon when it comes to the chef industry," Abilities president and CEO Frank DeLucia says. "He sets the gold standard for community support by physically being there."

Participation is one thing. Pritchard routinely puts his best food forward, DeLucia says.

"When he comes to an event, he comes with big guns," DeLucia says. "He always has some of the best food available. He likes it when other chefs are standing in front of his table. He likes to be last chef standing. He likes to blow them away."

To honor Pritchard, the organization will host "Chef Tom's 1200 Degree F Roast" at 6:30 p.m. Monday at The Coliseum in St. Petersburg.

The event will feature food by fellow chefs Chris Ponte, Robert Masson, Marty Blitz, Jeannie Pierola, Dan Tederous, Bryce Whittesy, Tyson Grant and dozens more, who will prepare a four-course wine dinner. The roast portion of the gig alone should be interesting as friends try to match Pritchard's sense of humor. And, as with all Abilities functions, there will be a live fundraising auction.

Cost is $100 per person or $1,250 for a corporate table.

For information, (727) 538-7370 or go online to abilitiesfoundation.com.

TASTY STAR POWER

Celebs and pseudo-celebs of all sorts will be invading the Tampa Bay area in the next few weeks for Super Bowl activities. One of the biggest bashes will be the Taste of the NFL event Jan. 31 at Tropicana Field.

The event is held annually at each Super Bowl to benefit hunger relief, with chefs representing each NFL city cooking for patrons. Marty Blitz of Tampa's Mise en Place is Tampa's chef representative each year.

The marquee celeb scheduled to be at this year's Taste is Tom Colicchio of Bravo's "Top Chef" reality series.

An under-the-radar chef whose food I'd suggest you not miss: Dustin Pritchett. I've had dinner at the Sunset Grill in Nashville, where he is executive chef. With any luck, he'll bring samples of his Niman Ranch Lamb Sausage.

Tickets are steep at $500 per guest or $600 for a VIP pass. To purchase, go online to tasteofthenfl.com.

END OF THE CROCK

When I last talked to Stephanie O'Dea, she was only a little past halfway in her quest to cook one meal each day in a Crock-Pot during 2008 and to post the results on her blog.

She still had enthusiasm in her voice - getting noticed enough to make it onto Rachael Ray's daytime talk show tends to invigorate - but with 150 days left to go, she had her work cut out.

"I think every three or four days I think, 'Gosh, what did you get yourself into?'" she told me at the time.

On Dec. 31, she cooked her last Crock-Pot meal for the year, a batch of black-eyed pea soup.

The next day, I called her at home to find out how she was filling the void. She was characteristically chipper. She has a book deal with Hyperion to write about gluten-free slow cooker recipes and the year ahead looks full of new challenges.

The big culinary success for the year: tamales. "They're very labor-intensive anyhow, but being able to get them on at noon and get the kitchen completely clean, and then go out for the day and come home to completely cooked tamales was amazing."

The biggest dud: A white bean and fennel soup made at the end of the year that was bland and boring.

"Just because you can put a bunch of stuff in a pot together doesn't mean it's going to taste good."

You can read the rest of the interview on my blog, The Stew, at www.tinyurl.com/thestew.

A LITTLE SPOONING

Last year, I interviewed author and chef Martha Hall Foose about her cookbook "Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook." During our chat, she mentioned how a few special-order "crooked" teaspoons were taken from her Mockingbird Bakery in Greenwood, Miss.

She bought the spoons, which hang on the side of the glass, as an accessory to her celebrated sweet tea she makes with orange pekoe tea, a simple syrup, and mint or lemon flavor.

"I had ordered all these really cool spoons," Foose told me. "On the long ice teaspoon, it has a little bend in the handle so you can balance it on the side of your glass. I just loved them. I ordered dozens and dozens of these spoons, but they kept disappearing. I even ordered a magnetized trash can cover, because I thought maybe they were getting thrown away. I couldn't imagine where they were all going.

"One day during lunch, a very well-respected older lady in the community, I saw her just sweep it off the table right into her purse! I was, like, 'Oh, my gosh! She is stealing all of our teaspoons!' Then one day, I saw her come in and she didn't steal any more. I guessed that she got enough for the bridge club. She got all she needed and didn't take any more."

I got lots of letters from readers asking where they could buy the cool spoons. Foose told me she didn't have a new source for them, but after much searching, they have been found.

The stainless steel RSVP Tall & Twisty Spoon is on sale at www.chefstools.com for $2.84 each.

For a direct link, go to my blog, The Stew, at www.tinyurl.com/thestew.

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