“The Frenchman takes his greatest pleasure from a well-known dish impeccably served.”
So wrote Julia Child and her co-authors in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1,” the 1961 book that launched a legend.
Presumably they meant Frenchwomen as well, as this statement could well be the theme of a benefit dinner Aug. 14 being staged by Les Dames d’Escoffier Hawaii Chapter, an organization of women in the culinary industry.
LES DAMES DINNER A tribute to Julia Child
When: 4 to 8 p.m. Aug. 14
Place: Graystones, 1302 Nehoa St., Makiki
Cost: $150, valet parking included
Tickets: ldeijuliachild.eventbrite.com Info: Go to
ldei.org for more about Les Dames d’Escoffier International.
The group will present 10 well-known dishes from Child’s authoritative cookbook and endeavor to serve them impeccably.
The dinner’s aim is to raise funds for the dames’ efforts to provide scholarships for young women in the industry.
“Julia Child used to be a dame, and we thought this was a great way to do it,” said Kathi Saks, co-president of the local Les Dames chapter and head of fundraising.
Such efforts combining great food with good causes is key to the Les Dames global organization.
Sharing food of many cultures is a way to ease tensions, Saks said. “You break bread with someone else and it’s hard to get mad at them.”
The Aug. 14 dinner will offer six entrees and three desserts in a “grazing” format, which means for one price ($150) diners can sample what they like and get more of what they like best.
Beverages — French Champagne, a Le Chic Smash vodka cocktail and a French Polynesian 75 rum cocktail — will be poured by dames from Young’s Market, Kai Spirits and Koloa Rum.
“We want to showcase who we are and what we do best,” Saks said.
The venue is the historic Alfred Hocking House, known as Graystones, in Makiki.
It’s a beautiful mansion, she said, with a sweeping backyard pool area. “It adds a bit of tradition and elegance to the evening as well.”
The dishes will be prepared by chef-dames. In a few cases, dames who hold other positions in restaurants will be assisted by their chefs.
Ivy Nagayama, co-owner of Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar, for instance, will work with her executive chef, Axel Colobong, to present Coquille St. Jacques a la Provencale.
When it came to the menu, “we just said, ‘Look in the book and decide what you want to make,’” Saks said.
Lee Anne Wong of Koko Head Cafe chose boeuf bourguignon, or beef stew. Child had this to say about that: “Carefully done and perfectly flavored, it is certainly one of the most delicious beef dishes concocted by man.”
Or dame.
