I should be packing to leave for Los Angeles, but instead I’m running around making hors d’oeuvres for one thousand people for the New York Magazine’s 11th annual “NY Taste” in Tribeca. Do you want to know what I’m preparing for a thousand hungry guests?
Peking onion pancake with hot smoked salmon, topped with a crème fraiche of lemon, horseradish, chive and salmon caviar. It’s a dish I made for the Susur Lee-Daniel Nestor fundraising event in Toronto in September, and it got a great reception.
On Nov. 19, to celebrate Shang’s one-year anniversary, I’ll be hosting a pre-holiday press dinner for food critics in New York.
I’m putting together some elaborate dishes in Chinese banquet style that will knock them out of their booths! Ruth Reichl, who used to edit Gourmet magazine and now hosts her own television show, will be there and I always look forward to seeing her. I also want to introduce the media to the new Asian cuisine that we’re serving at Shang, and remind New Yorkers that they haven’t tasted everything.
Chef Susur Lee maintains two successful restaurants in downtown Toronto – LEE and MADELINE’S — and now has restaurants in New York (Shang) and Washington (Zentan).