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Oakes, who’s corralled her brethren to the effort for the
last 12 years. “Our chefs really like each other.”
And the 950 deep-pocketed patrons really like them,
too: Four VIP tables of 10 paid $30K each so that they
might order whatever item they liked from any of the
event’s three menus created by three chefs.
The food-themed live auction, led by Greg Quiroga, set
a record when 10 fans each bid $31K for a French wine
dinner cooked by Oakes, Florence, chef Gary Danko and
pastry chef Yigit Pura.
The proceeds will assist Meals on Wheels in providing
nutritional meals to 520,000 home-bound seniors, who
also benefit from the organization’s home-safety and
social network services.
“Even in this economy, the need for our services grew
10 percent last year. And our wait list for seniors needing
assistance tripled,” said the group’s Executive Director
Ashley McCumber. “With support from these talented chefs and vintners, more seniors will be able to stay in their homes safely and with good nutrition.”
Grade A: We think the Rev. Charles Gagan, an educator, pastor and former St. Ignatius student, told a little white lie at the Four Seasons Hotel when he said he never dines out during the recent Chef’s Lunch fundraiser for Mission Dolores Academy.
Piperade chef Gerald Hirigoyen, spooning creme fraiche over his lemon cake, said he had participated for the first time because Father Gagan often dines at his restaurant.
“He raised his hands in prayer, asking if I’d cook lunch at this event created by chef Charles Phan,” Hirigoyen said. “I’m a former altar boy and my sons attended Jesuit universities, so how could I tell him no?”
Breaking into a smile, Gagan claimed a higher power fuels his gourmet proclivities.
“I go out all the time,” he admitted, “saving souls in the best restaurants in San Francisco.”
The good father is also instrumental in saving students since he co-founded Mission Dolores Academy, the result of a merger in 2011 with Megan Furth Academy.
In June, the Mission Dolores Academy celebrates its first crop of graduating eighth-graders, 85 percent of whom will attend top private and independent high schools.
The Mission Dolores Academy’s new eighth-grade choir also entertained guests at this sold-out soiree, which featured three menus created by chefs Phan, Hirigoyen,
Craig Stoll (Delfina), Alexander La Motte (Four Seasons), Anne Walker and Kris Hoogerhyde (Bi-Rite Creamery), and Salvatore Cracco (Trou Normand).
A gourmet live auction — featuring a bidding war over a Phan-cooked meal at Joseph Phelps Winery, which was sold twice for $10.5K each — raised a record $700K for the school, which provides financial aid to most of its low-income students who live in the Mission District.
“This concept was created by Charles Phan, who, like many of our students, was raised in the Mission,” Gagan toasted. “We are so grateful for his support. Especially as he knows our children and truly cares about their educational foundation.”
Makin’ change: The annual North Beach Citiziens’ dinner was founded on a mission of meatballs. Even though NBC founder and film director Francis
Ford Coppola no longer slaves over his mother’s meatball recipe in the basement of SS. Peter and Paul Church, he always attends this warm-hearted family-style festa.
This year, È Tutto Qua chef-owner Enzo Pellico created the feast (antipasti, prosciutto pasta with Fra Mani sausages) that fed 430 supporters, including Pam and George Hamel; filmmaker George Lucas; Tosca Cafe chef Josh Even and his wife, Jane; a campaign-mode Aaron Peskin; filmmaker Roman Coppola and his wife,
Jennifer Furches; honorary co-host Jeannette Etheredge; dinner co-chairs and North Beach Citizens trustees Jeanne Milligan and Dick Grosboll; board president Ruth Yankoupe; committee members Peggy Knicker
bocker, Gussie Stewart and Laurie Thomas and Executive Director Kristie Fairchild.
A very generous board member recently purchased a nearby building for the organization. And Fairchild is more than grateful as she’s observed a demographic shift among North Beach homeless.
“There’s a new clientele coming through our doors,” she said. “More veterans and many people who used to hold full-time jobs.”
One of those citizens is Richard Santini, who arrived in San Francisco with 17 years of hospitality management experience but ended up scrounging for cans to recycle while living on $5 a day. The organization found him housing, and today he is gainfully employed.
“But no one at NBC asked me, ‘What happened?’ ” he said, his voice breaking with emotion. “Instead, Kristie and her staff asked, ‘How can we help?’ ”