Samuelsson is this year’s Saints Celebrity Chef
World-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson is the guest of honor of Saints Heart & Vascular Institute’s annual Celebrity Chef series this year.
Samuelsson will take the stage at the Chevy Bricktown Event Center, 429 E California Ave., for a cooking demonstration and discussion of hearthealthy, affordable cooking and dining practices at 7 p.m. Feb. 15.
Samuelsson is an award-winning chef and author of five successful cookbooks. He was born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden, but came to culinary prominence as executive chef of Aquavit, a Nordic restaurant in New York City.
Samuelsson soon became a fixture on television, winning Bravo’s “Top Chef Masters” in 2010, and currently as a judge on Food Network’s “Chopped.” He also has hosted BET’s “Urban Cuisine” and Discovery’s “Inner Chef.”
In 2009, Samuelsson acted as guest chef at the White House for President Barack Obama, preparing his first State Dinner.
Samuelsson also is coowner and executive chef at Red Rooster Harlem in New York City.
Samuelsson is the 17th guest chef in the series, following Bobby Flay, Tyler Florence, Rachael Ray, Sandra Lee, Giada De Laurentiis, Dave Lieberman, Curtis Stone, Ingrid Hoffmann, Matthew Kenney, Cat Cora, Robert Irvine, Rick Bayless, Anne Burrell, Rocco DiSpirito, and Oklahoma’s own Kurt Fleischfresser and Kamala Gamble.
Cost for the tasting event is $20. Doors open between 6 and 6:15. For more information, call 272-7383.
Find tickets at eventbrite.com, keyword: saints heart vascular.
No truth to the rumor
A few weeks ago, I received an email from a reader wondering if the rumors she’d been hearing about Johnnie’s Charcoal
Broiler closing its Britton Road location were true.
I hadn’t heard anything like that, so I reached out to co-owner Rick Haynes, who responded with an unequivocal “no.”
Apparently, that single email didn’t tamp down the rumor mill.
I got another email last week, this time from the aforementioned Mr. Haynes.
“Dave, still hearing about these Britton Road rumors,” he wrote. “Is there any chance of putting something in the paper to quiet these?”
Consider this my unequivocal “yes.”
According to the owner of Johnnie’s Charcoal Broiler, which was established in 1971 by Johnnie Haynes, the 40-year-old location at 2652 W Britton Road is NOT closing for the foreseeable future.
Rick Bayless will NOT have to find a new place to meet with family the day after Thanksgiving any time soon.
In fact, Rick Haynes points out, Johnnie’s will introduce two new locations in 2018, one in Moore and one in Midwest City. Look for those openings by summer’s end.
Titus in town for wine dinner
The Skirvin Hilton Hotel’s Park Avenue Grill,
1 Park Ave., will host a special wine dinner with guest winemaker Eric Titus, of Titus Vineyards, at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
The evening begins with cocktails before chef Aaron Miles presents a special five-course meal at 7.
Miles will start with brown butter diver scallop served with fennel pollen, pickled pear, satsuma, farro and white tea honey. The pairing is sauvignon blanc. Next comes cola brined duck breast with Kennebec potato latke, mizuna, blackberry and peppercorn glaze and a glass of Titus Zinfandel. The third course is pecan wood smoked oyster mushrooms with blue crab hash, charred asparagus, duck-fat hollandaise and Titus Cabernet Franc.
Main course is prime rib-eye cap with prime flatiron tartare served with cambozola fonduta, slow egg, buttered rye and Sicilian salsa verde. The pairing is Titus cabernet sauvignon. For dessert, black forest pave of chocolate spongecake, Luxardo cherry, dark chocolate mousse and cherry sabayon with Andonicus Red Blend.
Cost is $125 per person. For reservations, call 702-8444.
Norman Chocolate Festival returns
NORMAN — Last summer the Firehouse Art Center board of directors announced it would not present the 36th incarnation of the annual chocolate festival, but in December the Norman Parent Teacher Association Council would take the reins.
The Norman PTA Council, a consortium of 20 local PTA groups, will present the Chocolate Festival from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 10 at Norman North High School.
Restaurants contributing
chocolate samples
include: Nosh, Apple Tree Chocolate, Rusty’s Frozen Custard, The Diner, Eskimo Sno, EarthFruits Yogurt, Freddy’s Frozen Custard, Baked Bear, Sprouts, Abbey Road Catering, Fancy Cakes & Confections, Amy
Cakes and Legend’s Restaurant.
Tickets are available for one-hour blocks at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. Cost is $50 for premiere tickets (15 samples only available at 10 a.m.) and $30 for general admission (10 samples). For tickets, go online to normanptacouncil.org.
Comings and goings
Not only is Britton Road NOT losing Johnnie’s Charcoal Broiler, it’s also gaining more flavors from south of the border. El Chico had the chips-andsalsa racket at the intersection of N May Avenue and Britton Road for four decades. But now the space on the southwest corner of that intersection is filled by The Garage, so what’s a body looking for cheese enchiladas to do? Never fear, Mamaveca soon will be near on the northwest corner or the intersection. Taking over the space that never blossomed into The Red Beret Restaurant, Mamaveca will bring its distinctive Mexican and Peruvian cuisine to northwest Oklahoma City.
Founder William Chunga was one of the first to bring authentic Peruvian cuisine to local diners, showing the way to a smattering of ceviche-centric concepts across town. Mamaveca did open in Edmond for a short time but was unable to tame the space that claimed at least four other restaurants before and after.
The new Mamaveca takes over a turnkey space thanks to the work of chef Nordeen Bennai, who ran out of capital before he was able to open the doors on the Red Beret. I’ll have more information on the opening as it comes available.
Mamaveca fills one vacancy, but another has come available. Sophabella’s Wine Bar and Bistro closed as of Jan. 1. Owner Bill Brazil shut the doors after more than a decade and a half servingclassic Italian fare and Chicago-style pizza.
The Brazils still are offering catering services, using a commercial kitchen just up the street from the restaurant. To contact Bill about catering events, call 361-3642.