November 16, 2009
Having planned this Chef's Table event for three months, all of our efforts appeared to be well worth the work, based on the evening's success at TGI Fridays! I'm not sure who had more fun, our attendees or the TGI Management Team. When we arrived we were seated in our own section, two tables of 12, side by side, with beautiful petite vellum menu's of tonite's offerings at each setting. As people began to arrive, the very friendly waitresses came over and introduced themselves to us and took drink orders.
As the tables slowly began to fill, the servers brought out some unexpected green bean fries, which were not on the menu but certainly appreciated as we waited for all to arrive. Our host for this evening was David Sweet, food & kitchen manager, who came out and introduced himself, and the servers, to our attendees. He briefly went over the menu, checking for any food allergies and then the first of our menu items arrived, boneless chicken wings, with six very interesting and tasty dipping sauces (my favorites were the thai sauce, parmesan and Jack Daniel's glaze).
Barry, the beverage manager, introduced the first of our three wines for the wine tasting, explaining how the different selected wines were matched with the course being served. He used several descriptive adjectives such as; bold, smooth texture, a fruity nose, rich and hearty but, if you ask me, the first two were red and the last one was white.
David then came out to introduce the general manager, John Holden, who thanked everyone for attending. He asked how everyone was doing so far and after a round of applause, the entree course was introduced. Everything was deeeelicious and Barry paired another one of their wines with the meal. I thanked David for being so accomodating for folks with food allergies or just certain taste preferences. TGI really made everyone feel welcome and special.
The evening ended with a dessert combo to die for (and I almost did, being a diabetic). On one side of the long, rectangular individual dessert plates was something they call brownie obsession and I can understand why, filled with Ghiardelli chocolate and some caramel drizzle, warmed just before serving. On the other side of the plate was a deconstructed Chips Ahoy ice cream sundae drizzled with hot fudge, caramel sauce and a dollup of whipped cream.
I can honestly and emphatically say, no one went home hungry and all had a great time. Thanks again to David Sweet for helping with all of the arrangements, doing a fantastic job and caring. Thanks to John Holden for having us at his restaurant and treating us all like customers (the way customers should be treated). Also a big thank you to Barry and our three servers who were there for whatever we needed, whenever we needed it. Great success to all!!
