CAAMFeast Awards: Stories, Food & You is an annual cocktail gathering and culinary awards ceremony benefiting the Center for Asian American Media. Launched in 2013, CAAMFeast pays tribute to the stories behind today’s Asian American culinary luminaries and highlights their undeniable contributions to our ever-expanding culinary landscape. This one-of-a-kind evening features delectable tastings from award-winning restaurants and a moving, multi-media tribute to the year’s honorees. Attendees rub elbows with icons and game changers of the food world and participate in an exciting live auction, featuring exclusive tours, travel packages and coveted dining experiences at the Bay Area’s hottest restaurants.
This year, CAAM is pleased to honor the legendary Cecilia Chiang (The Mandarin), celebrated entrepreneur George Chen (China Live, Eight Tables by George Chen) and innovative, locavore chef Brandon Jew (Mister Jiu’s). Each honoree represents a distinct style and generation of Chinese cuisine, with approaches as diverse and complex as the culture itself. Our 2016 honorees find inspiration in the unsung narratives of Chinese cuisine, and their contributions transcend the porous border between nations, personal memory and popular culture. In concert with a new generation of Asian American food celebrities, fusion cookbooks, and a turn towards traditional Asian ingredients, they are revolutionizing our gastronomic preferences.
Join the Center for Asian American Media as we honor the culinary personalities who are rewriting the conversation around Asian American food.
Saturday, March 5, 2016
6-9 PM at One Kearny Club
23 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94108
Cocktail Attire
Tickets: $175 early-bird (available through Feb 10); $200 general. View exciting photos from last year’s event.
Introducing our 2016 Honorees…
Cecilia Sun Yun Chiang is a San Francisco culinary legend, credited for popularizing Chinese cuisine in the way that Julia Child did for French cooking. Chiang’s accidental foray into the restaurant business with her iconic restaurant, the Mandarin in 1960, turned American perceptions of Chinese cooking on its head. An extensive menu featuring then unknown dishes like Peking duck, sizzling rice soup and shredded abalone with bean sprouts brought the complex flavors of the Szechwan and Hunan provinces to a star-studded clientele, with regulars like Jackie Onassis, James Beard and Wolfgang Puck. No longer relegated to the takeout realm, Chiang’s vision ushered in a new way of thinking about and eating Chinese food that has forever altered America’s palate. Cecilia Chiang is 96 years old and currently resides in San Francisco, where she is an active philanthropist. Cecilia is the author of the cookbooks The Mandarin Way and The Seventh Daughter.
George Chen has been a serial entrepreneur for more than 35 years. Having worked in several of the top restaurants in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, Mr. Chen was always intrigued by the vision of bridging food and culture between the East and West. With extensive research and development, he opened his first restaurant Betelnut in 1995, introducing different Asian cuisines in the form of “Street Food”. The James Beard Awards nominated Betelnut in 1995 for the Best New Restaurant in America. After the success of Betelnut, George launched the multi-unit LongLife Noodle Company, which was named one of the “Five Hottest Concepts” in the U.S. by ChainLeader and Restaurant Hospitality magazine. In 1997, George saw the Second Coming of Shanghai as an international center for culture and the arts and developed Shanghai 1930 Restaurant. Shanghai 1930 was recognized as the best Chinese in the Bay Area and awarded full *** by the San Francisco Chronicle. Other restaurants Mr. Chen has created and owned include: Xanadu Restor~Asian Cuisine, Dragonfly Café & Restaurant and BeauCoup-Grand Bar Salon on top of Nob Hill in San Francisco. All his restaurants received top reviews and accolades from the press and media. George’s Shanghai-based restaurant projects include Shikumen Bistro, The Strip and Roosevelt Prime Steakhouse, which is rated as the best Steakhouse in Shanghai by several major publications. Aside from his restaurant developments/management, Mr. Chen has established China Eastwind – Fengyide Fine Wines & Spirits in Shanghai China. This is a full service importer/distributor/retailer of fine international wines doing business as Roosevelt Private Cellars & Wine Vault. His current project China Live and Eight Tables by George Chen in San Francisco will change the perception of Chinese cuisine in the West and is destined to be Chen’s legacy project. Prior to George’s hospitality career, he spent over ten years as a senior executive at Wall Street investment firms, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and Drexel Burnham Lambert. Concurrently Mr. Chen is also the Founder/CEO of e-Ha Company, Limited (e-Ha.cn, e-Ha.com). e-Ha (Electronic-Hospitality Arts) is a SaaS cloud-based mobile and e-Commerce company based in the Shanghai, China and Cupertino, California. Mr. Chen is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley with degrees in Neurobiology and Psychology.
Brandon Jew’s childhood was flavored by trips to San Francisco’s Chinatown markets and time spent in the kitchen with his Chinese grandmother. This formative introduction to food had a lasting influence on Jew. After graduating from college, Jew decided to fully immerse himself in the gastronomic world and spent the next ten months traveling in Northern Italy, where he cut his teeth at the Ristorante la Pernice e la Gallina in Bologna. Jew’s time in Italy exposed him to a cultural pride and culinary integrity that echoed his own upbringing.
Upon his return to San Francisco, Jew stepped into a number of celebrated kitchens, including Zuni Café, Quince and the Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai to name a few. In 2010, Jew signed on as opening chef of Bar Agricole, where he wowed diners with his fresh combinations of authentic, seasonal Californian flavors and his masterful technique. Since leaving Bar Agricole in 2013, he has been teaching a ‘Chinese Classics Reinvented’ class at the San Francisco Cooking School, traveling to experience some of the best restaurants in the world and planning the opening of Mister Jiu’s. He is also featured on season two of the PBS show Mind of a Chef, Vice Munchies and the BBC show Ching’s Chinese New Year.
SPONSORS
ABC 7 News
American Truffle Company
AT&T DIRECTV
Beat the Lock
Benu
Boba Guys
Bruce Cost Ginger Ale
Chez Panisse
China Live
David and Linda Lei
Distillery 209
Dipti Ghosh, Senior Vice President, at Wells Fargo Advisors
Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco
Hakkasan
Hodo Soy
Khai Tran
KTVU Fox 2
Lers Ros
Luckyrice
Michael Tate, Professional Auctioneer and Development Consultant
Mister Jiu’s
Modernist
NBC Bay Area
One Kearny Club
Philomena King
Public Bikes
Remy Martin
The Robert J. Louie Memorial Fund
Saison
Sapporo
Socola Chocolatier
Southwest Airlines
Stephanie Wei
Straight Up
CAAM thanks the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, who is offering a generous discount for all CAAMFeast attendees March 4-6, 2016. CAAMFeast guests can call (415) 772-5140 to book a Fairmont Queen room ($199, plus applicable taxes) or a Deluxe City View King room ($299, plus applicable taxes.)
2016 HOST COMMITTEE (list in formation)
Derrick Chang, One Kearny Club; Dr. Joseph and Maria Fang; CAAMFeast Host Committee Co-Chair Dipti Ghosh*, Senior Vice President at Wells Fargo Advisors, and Meggy Gotuaco, Google; Bill Imada*, IW Group; CAAMFeast Host Committee Co-Chair Philomena King*, King and Co. Works of Art; David Lei* and Linda Lei; Hanson Li*, Salt Partners Group; Wendy Lieu, Socola Chocolatier, and Sameer Hassan, Williams-Sonoma; Betty Louie, The Robert J. Louie Memorial Fund; Allen Lu, Jeremy Lin; Mas, Marcy, Nikiko and Korio Masumoto, The Masumoto Family Farm; Matt Mui*, AT&T; Stephanie Wei*; Martin Yan and Susan Yoshimura Yan, Yan Can Cook, Inc.
(*Denotes CAAM Board Member)
2016 HONORARY HOST COMMITTEE (list in formation)
The Honorable Congressman Mike Honda, CA-17
The Honorable David Chiu, California State Assembly, CA-17
The Honorable Edwin Lee, Mayor, City and County of San Francisco
The Honorable Supervisor Eric Mar, City and County of San Francisco, District 1
The Honorable Supervisor Jane Kim, City and County of San Francisco, District 6
2015 HONOREES
The Masumoto Family, Masumoto Family Farm, Visionary Award
Danielle Chang, Luckyrice, Tastemaker Award
Tim Luym, Attic Restaurant, Trailblazer Award
2014 HONOREES
Martin Yan, Yan Can Cook & M.Y. China, Pioneer Award
Wendy Lieu, Socola Chocolatier, Rising Star Award
All proceeds support CAAM’s legacy and future as the nation’s leading Asian American media arts organization committed to telling the stories of our communities. All donations are tax-deductible.