News & Events
City Tech Dazzles Salon of Culinary Arts Judges in November Competition
Hospitality Management students, alumni and faculty
once again brought honor to City Tech with a fine showing at the
135th Salon of Culinary Arts, winning a first prize in pastry and
in culinary, with a second place finish over all in the Marc Sarrazin
Competition for Complete Buffet (behind the Culinary Institute of
America).
The City Tech team was awarded the trophy of the Commanderie des
Cordons Bleus de France and $500 for outstanding effort, according
to Professor Francis Lorenzini, chairman of the salon.
Alumnus Anthony Pires, pastry chef at Roy's (New York, NY) won a gold medal of the Societe Culinaire Philanthropique-Prize of Honor of the Salon and a check for $500. Fellow alumnus Anthony Smith won a gold medal of the Salon of Culinary Art of the Societe Culinaire Philanthropique, as did current City Tech student Jude C. Nwabuoku.
Pires took best sugar prize in the show with a piece consisting of a series of black sugar triangles with silkscreens of angels. The top of his piece, which included many sugar techniques, had a lovely halo made of golden sugar.
Smith made a chocolate piece called "Nubia," which featured a strong dark chocolate female bust on a pedestal surrounded by other intricate chocolate work. Nwabuoku created a three-tier wedding cake, with beautiful bridge and string work.
Students who participated as part of the City Tech team at this year's salon included Tai-Yiu Au, Ebow Dadzie, Felix Guaman, Victoria Harding, Joanna Lewczuk, Chun H. Monica Ng, Shiho Sakakibara, Joseph Boljonis and Peter Pinkhasov.
Harding made an amazing wedding cake, which filled the center of the display table. Only her second cake, it featured extremely creative royal icing work. Ng and Guaman made a piece celebrating the dancer Josephine Baker, the African American expatriate who took Paris by storm in the 1920s. The piece featured a clever and unusual chocolate bon bon presentation. Sugar techniques used included pastillage, cast sugar and chocolate work,
Au created an image of Le Petit Prince, from the famous children's book by Ste. Exupery, and designed the piece to hold petits fours. Her work included cast, blown and pulled sugars. Dadzie and Lewczuk are the creators of the chocolate piece, "The Evolution of the Pastry Chef," stretching from Careme to Lenotre (both legends in the culinary world). They screened chocolate and marbled chocolate, and made nuts and bolts and gears from chocolate.
Sakakibara produced the "Basket of Hearts" with a wonderful approach to mosaic work, derived indirectly from her work as a City Tech work-abroad student last summer in France. During a visit to Spain, she was influenced by architect Antoni Gaudi's mosaic work and incorporated his ideas into her sugar piece.
According to Professor Louise Hoffman, the shower cake on the City Tech table was begun by a student who subsequently had to drop the class in which the cake was being designed. With the help of freshman evening student Vilna Ellis, Hoffman modified the original idea and finished the cake for the table. Hoffman also had three small paintings on Marzipan of pastries from the Financier Pastry Shop. She used pastillage frames and painted with food color.
In addition to Hoffman, faculty who participated in the show included Frank Betancourt, Jean F. Claude, Karen Goodlad, Francis Lorenzini, Joseph Pernick, Thomas Smyth and Kate Wayler, and lab technicians Lillian D'Orazi and Denis Couture.
The 135th Annual Salon of Culinary Art, organized by the Societe Culinaire Philanthropique de New York, Inc., was held at the beginning of November at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in conjunction with the 88th International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show. Selected works from the City Tech table are on view now outside of the Janet Lefler Dining Room.
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Photo 1 & Gallery 1by
Joe Pernick
Photos by Adrianne Wortzel
