It’s not often that the world’s most creative art is teamed with the most creative culinary minds in the city. On February 4th, these two worlds will combine at the legendary art auction house of Sotheby’s under the name Art of Food.
Our Town’s Art of Food is the brainchild of Our Town NY, the Upper East Side’s community-oriented publication. We had the pleasure of chatting with Jeanne Straus of Our Town to learn more about what was going on in Our Town’s Art of Food.
Over twenty celebrated chefs of the Upper East Side will create delicious small bites each inspired by a prominent work of art specially selected for Sotheby’s. “We define a chef as an artist, so in many ways it’s two natural things coming together. We like to look at it like the creative process on steroids,” said Jeanne Straus.
Hosting this inspiring and enchanting evening is hospitality power couple Geoffrey and Margaret Zakarian. Geoffrey Zakarian is a star of Food Network’s Chopped, The Kitchen, Cooks vs. Cons, author of “My Perfect Pantry,” restaurateur behind The Lambs Club, The National in NYC, The National in Greenwich, The Water Club at Borgata in Atlantic City, Georgie and The Garden Bar at Montage Beverly Hills and, coming soon, Point Royal at The Diplomat Beach Resort and co-creator of Pro For Home food storage container system. Margaret Zakarian is President of Zakarian Hospitality, co-author of “My Perfect Pantry” and co-creator of Pro For Home food storage container system.
“There are so many iconic culinary images that stem from great masterpieces,” says co-host Geoffrey Zakarian. “From pop art soup cans to impressionist and renaissance fruit still lifes, food can never seem to evade the visual reality of artists. It is impossibly intertwined and in reverse as well.”
Amongst the notable chefs participating are Joyce River of Atlantic Grill, Angel Ramos of Candle 79, Nick Testa of The Penrose, Michael White of Vaucluse, Andrea Bucciarelli of Sant Ambroeus and Paola Bottero of Paola’s. These assortments of chefs are a who’s-who of NYC’s most iconic chefs from NYC’s great local destinations.
“Our guest chefs embrace the chance to display their talents and showcase their restaurants. Also, the chefs are incredibly excited by the challenge and are excited about the opportunity to be interpreting art with their food,” added Straus.
Art of Food will have a large handful of repeats from last year. “Conceptually these chefs are having such a good experience that signed up to come back,” said Straus. Sotheby’s was also extremely eager to host for the second year. “Sotheby’s wants to be better known on the Upper East Side, within the community, as an accessible place, and place that people are welcome to come in,” Straus continued.
Our Town’s Art of Food event is presented by New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the ultimate event for food and art connoisseurs. Its media sponsors include Our Town, WQXR, and New York’s Classical Music Radio Station.
