It was cold, rainy & quite nasty for mid June here in the San Francisco Bay Area. And the bald tires on my old pickup weren’t doing me any favors either. What’s a perfect thing to do on such an afternoon? That’s right, attend some fancy cooking demonstration in The Cellar at Macy’s in San Francisco.

Whole Foods is continuing on a calendar of such events and last night, June 16th was fantastic. The theme for the evening was Grilling & Beer (so now you know why we went) and was hosted by Justin Jackson and Chef Mat Schuster of Whole Foods.
We arrived no worse for the wear and since Mama worked there 9 million years ago, she knew exactly where to go. This hillbilly was utterly lost. The demonstration kitchen was over and around the corner, nicely set up little place. For the evening they had large round tables, about 10 people per. Real table clothes, real cloth napkins tucked in to fancy beer glasses and fresh ice water. Real swanky there guys! It started up pretty much on time, and the beers flowed. One of the ideas for the evening was to promote the use of Ale as a marinade, der. I say marinade it all in beer, no problem there. Justin started with some fancy Organic Lager, it was okay I suppose. The crowd was asked whether they should start cooking the veggies or beef first, they opted for the dumb veggies. Ain’t they pretty? I spied red, yellow & green bell peppers, mushrooms and Bocconcini (fresh mozzarella balls). The recipe was, Balsamic-glazed Antipasto Skewers with Bocconcini. Neat.
The veggies were really good, I noticed they were brushing the marinade on after the grilling too. Sure did brighten up the little darlings. At this point I was pretty darned hungry and a snoofter full of beer wasn’t helping, or was it?

All the while Mat is forging his own trail. The man can cook and keep steady on his feet while keeping the audience entertained. Justin & Mat make a good team, good balance.
Then came the shrimpses with the Cajun Remoulade. Not a bad faire for a department store, eh? Oh … uh, I uh, ate them before I could get a picture. Sorry about that.

At some point came the Organic Ale, much better. Tell us about the difference between Ale’s and Lager beer Justin.

By this time the crowd has had at least 2 beers, grilled veggies & schrimp. The tongues are getting looser and good times start to roll. Our table housed an older gentleman who was nothing but fun to be around. He went on about a friend who went to cooking school and was still a “horrible” cook. Then asked Mat if the grass fed New York Strip beef steak was “stew meat”. Everyone was talking amongst themselves, watching & listening.

Something was bound to go wrong or be a little off. I noticed early on the ventilation system wasn’t on. It wasn’t so bad when grilling the veggies & shrimp, but when the skewered beef hit the grill? People took notice. Here we find the plucky crew discussing what to do about it. All the while Mat is cooking without a care in the world, you go. Anyone know how to turn on a commercial ventilation system? No? That’s right, nobody did. But it didn’t matter, the sprinklers didn’t come on and we all went on our merry way.
The Grilled Marinated Steak was of the grass fed variety and absolutely delightful. It was partnered with a mushroom & imported gorgonzola sauce that was not over-powering. Rich, creamy and didn’t linger all night. Thankfully Mat cooked the meat rare, this meat deserved nothing less. And I have to hand it to him, he was asked by more than a few people to cook the meat well-done. He did it with a smile on his face and aimed to please. I would have thrown the meat at those people and asked them to leave. But that’s just me.

It was at this point I saw why Whole Foods hired Justin. Sure he knows a few things about beer and surely more about wine. But you should have seen the man’s eyes light up when the issue of cheese showed up. The man lives & breathes cheese. There wasn’t one hesitation when talking about the process and differences in cheese. That’s passion right there, pally boy. You’re HIRED.
To sum it all up, the evening went very smoothly and tasted even better. Thank you to the two Serving Ninjas dressed from head to toe in black, they moved in and out of the tables serving and removing. Thank you to Mat & Justin, job well done. Thank you to my wife who got me over there in one piece and thanks to Kim for the invitation and tickets!
Apparently Whole Foods has an entire calendar filled with classes and tastings. But I couldn’t find it off their main site, so if you’re interested in obtaining information, please call Customer Service at 650-358-6900.

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