Hotel deLuxe Celebrates a Legend with the Elizabeth Taylor Champagne Cocktail

Many of us woke today to the sad news that a great star has passed away.  Elizabeth Taylor, a true member of Hollywood’s golden-era royalty, died peacefully of congestive heart failure at the Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, surrounded by her four children. She was 79 years old.  

When one speaks of the amazing life of Elizabeth Taylor, only the word “lengendary” will do.  And it is this great legacy that the Hotel deLuxe in Portland, Oregon honors every day with a very special cocktail.

But first let’s meet Elizabeth Taylor. She came to Hollywood from war-torn Britain during the early days of World War II and rose to sudden fame as the courageous heroine in the heart-touching film National Velvet.

Her stunning beauty caught the eye of many men, starting with Nicky Hilton of Hilton Hotel fame. Seven other husbands followed and many more great movies including Cleopatra, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, BUtterfield 8, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Giant, Place in the Sun, Taming of the Shrew and A Little Night Music to name only a few.  

Lesser acknowledged is her skill as a business woman and her active support of HIV/AIDS research. She launched the first and most successful celebrity perfume, entitled “Passion”, named after her Love for life.

By 1991 her fragrant “Passion” had soared to sales of over $100 million dollars. A later perfume, “White Diamonds” would go on to rack up over one billion dollars in sales globally, making it the most famous star perfume ever marketed.

Elizabeth then gathered her star power (and dollars) and helped found the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) after the shattering death of her former costar and longtime friend, Rock Hudson. At a time when many wanted to ignore the growing health crisis or worse use the event to isolate and judge a valuable segment of society, she demand that the issue and loss caused by AIDS be faced squarely and publicly.

Showing the strength behind her beauty, she went further and founded the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation (ETAF), enlisting the aid of the rich and famous to raise funds and fight fear. Indeed, it is to this organization that she asked her many fans and friends to support if they wished to remember her after death. 

From charm to beauty to meaning – what a life she lived, what a legacy she has left us. Michael Robertson, lead bartender extra ordinaire of the Driftwood Lounge at the cinema–themed Hotel deLuxe, has created a fantastic champagne cocktail that captures the beauty (inside and out) of this amazing superstar.

An almost perfect color match to Elizabeth Taylor’s stunning violet eyes, this is a cocktail as unforgettable as the star’s beauty and personal courage.

Equally unforgettable is the Hotel deLuxe with each floor’s décor honoring the Hollywood made famous by the movies. Images of Grace Kelly, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow grace the walls in elegant art deco style.  It’s just the right place to enjoy elegance and a world class cocktail honoring a world famous star – Elizabeth Taylor.

But, just in case you can’t make it to the Hotel deLuxe in the near future, bar master Michael Robertson has graciously offered to help you honor Elizabeth Taylor by sharing the recipe for his original cocktail – Enjoy and remember: 

The Elizabeth Taylor Cocktail

Stir gently together:

4 ounces of chilled Champagne

¾ ounce of Rothman & Winter’s Crème De Viollete.

Mix slowly and pour into the most elegant glass available.

Gently top with an Amarena Cherry.

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

How Culinary Trends Are Created at Digital Light Speed

It seems that, whether it’s bacon or cupcakes, there’s a new culinary trend every other day, passing by in a whirling and seemingly never ending parade of the “hip and the hot”. But often overlooked is the backstory of how, exactly, are these trends created.

To answer that question one has to understand the history of culinary marketing both pre and post digital revolution. Prior to Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame and an ever advancing army of reviewing bloggers, the popular food trends were identified by a select group of knowledgeable culinary and lifestyle magazines at the tables of the world’s leading restaurants.  

The creative chefs at these remarkable restaurants were (and still are) masters of their medium.  Their kingdom is the kitchen and their dining rooms the arena of their expression.  Only rarely did the general dining population known their names.

Then came the Internet and television food channels and suddenly, it seemed in the twinkling of an eye, everything changed. As millions of viewers tuned in, show topics became trends. Host chefs became media celebrities, often promoting a variety of supportive products.

The dedicated viewers of these new cooking programs turned their new found interests into Internet search words, all to be tracked internally on the Web by background analytical software.

The accumulated marketing data further focused attention on single products, single dishes, strengthened by the effect of “value added placement” (or v.a.p.) in movies and television shows such as Sex in the City and Mad Men.

Then there were the upscale food trucks that appeared and their location and fame spread via twitters and bloggers as their young chefs in innovative “incubator cities” such as Seattle, Portland, Austin and Oakland tried the new, the daring, that unique untried combination.  

Today’s insightful chef can and does take the best from each of these worlds and maintain equally both tradition and innovation.  Valid professional skills, learned from a trained master, are a must as is a knowledge of and presence on the Web. Today’s successful chef needs to know the resources of the Internet as well as he knows the talents of his staff and tastes of his or her diners.

One can only hope that this balanced blend of past and present will be the best and most lasting of all the ‘trends’ to emerge into the future legacy of the 21st century.

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

Chef Ferran Adria’s Film El Bulli Cooking in Progress Is Off and Running at SxSW

It may seem unfair, but it’s the film buffs at a primiere at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and then at the South by Southwest Film and Multimedia Conference (or SxSW) in Austin, Texas, who got the first in-depth look at an inspiring new film about Ferran Adria and his amazing culinary creations. Entitled El Bulli: Cooking in Progress, the movie delighted viewers so much it was the first film to be snatched up for American distribution at the Festival.  Fantastic!

Purchased by Kino Lorber for his new company Alive Mind Cinema, this captivating movie about culinary creativity will be the first film shown by the new firm at New York’s Film Forum on July 27, 2011.  The rest of us will be able to see the film during a later 2011 fall distribution.

Filmed by the noted German documentary film visionary Gereon Wetzel, the movie follows the creativity of famed Spanish chef Ferran Adria as he and his staff design through intent and discovery a unique and daring menu for the next seasonal offerings at El Bulli.

Working at his Barcelona “laboratory”, Ferran and his staff are shown creating many of the 30 plus dishes they will later share with the famed restaurant’s long-waiting guests. Every “experiment” involves structure, sound, color, texture and, of course, taste. Ferran is shown always as on hand – tasting, adjusting, directing, true to the tradition of a master chef.

Yet discovery is always part of the creative experience. When one young chef drops an ice cube into a nearby plate of gravy, the thought occurs to everyone why not create a new entrée from ice cubes?

Suddenly, the thought is moving creatively among this talented gathering of chefs. Why not go further? Why not mix oil with water and create a cocktail that leaves an elegant smooth coating on the lips?

Every discovery (both positive AND negative) is carefully written in notebooks that line the walls or on a wall board for further research and expansion. Photographed in high definition and without the burden of a non-culinary narrative to clutter the viewing experience for the insightful professional, this is an amazing film that explores, not merely food, but the entire creative experience, free and far reaching.  

Truly a “must-see” film.

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

Culture Magazine Offer Great New Cheese Trend and Service Ideas

Whether you’re planning to celebrate Mardi Gras or the upcoming Royal English Wedding, there’s no better way to mark the day then to add some cheese to your festivities. Just do it in a new way.

And if you’re looking for the hottest new trends in all things cheese, there is no better publication to read than Culture Magazine: The Word on Cheese.  The current Spring 2011 issue contains a wealth of innovative ideas to share with readers.  Here’s an overview of just a few:

Page 24 - How a flight of fabulous aged goat cheeses is a culinary must this season.

Page 46 – Cheese expert and book author Janet Fletcher describes the trend to move Italian fruit mostarda condiment from meats to cheese sampler plates.

Page 9 – Discover how the inventive genius Thomas Edison helped to create quality French cheese wrapping papers while developing the motion picture camera.

Page 26 – With the royal William and Kate wedding coming up, Andy Jenkins explores the history of Britain’s legendary Indian Pale Ale or IPA and which cheeses are the best culinary love match.

Page 11 – Need cheese information while you’re on the move? Try the great new cheese app created by Chronicle Books and Janet Fletcher featuring over 75 tasty cheeses and 25 themed cheese plate combinations.

Page 38 – If you think that sherry is the only wine to match with cheese, then let Tara Q. Thomas of New York City show you how to select and match fruit wines with cheeses both domestic and international.

Page 56 – What chef doesn’t enjoying working with spices and flavorings. Matthew Rubiner invites anyone interested in matters culinary to enter the world of flavor additives such as porter, Irish whiskey, seaweed, candied lemon peel, hops and pistachio nuts to cheese to name just a few.  

Page 104 - Karen Edwards explains the growing art of cheese carving.  It's stunning on a buffet or side board. It doesn't melt and the left over cheese can be saved. 

Page 101 - Tired of the same-old, same-old when it comes to pale colored service plates for cheese? Well, consider abandoning those traditional off-white china plates and heavy wooden boards and discover with Eilis Maynard the fabulous new colored cheese plates being created now by top tableware designers.

Interested? Hope so – Just don’t wait a long time to purchase your copy of Culture Magazine as every issue sells out fast. The magazine is brimming with informative article after informative article, all with beautiful photos (just like all the culinary magazines used to have, but sadly few do today). 

But why not just subscribe? It’s easier and that way you’re sure to always have a copy of this very valuable and very useful culinary magazine. It's a great investment in style and innovation for all things that "say cheese." You're sure to be the next culinary star - Count on it!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

Michael S. Smith Designs for Michelle Obama, the Oscar Green Room and Some Very Special Hotels

Did you watch the 2011 Oscar Award Ceremony? If you did, you were sure to see Krista Smith, Senior West Coast Editor of Vanity Fair Magazine in the stunning Architectural Digest Green Room created by Michael S. Smith, designer to the White House and some of the world’s most beautiful hotels.

Whether Michael is designing an interior in a beach house, town house, high rise or grand hotel, his clients include such greats as Michele Obama, Steven Spielberg, Lady Linda Rothschild, The Lowell of New York City and Shutters on the Beach in California. 

So it’s a natural that the insightful editors of Architectural Digest chose Michael as their designer extraordinaire for their Oscar sponsored Green Room.  One has only to look at the hotel interiors he has designed to see why. 

At the great Lowell in Manhattan, Michael took the Penthouse and created a calming world of elegant style that balanced the modern with the classic as only he can in signature style that has become his hallmark.  No one has a more perfect background to achieve that blend of unique and diverse elements than Michael, now a star designer.

Born in California, Michael studied first at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles before continuing his studies at London’s famed Victoria and Albert Museum. After leaving England he worked for the legendary American antique dealer Gep Durenberger and the noted designer John Saladino.

Step by step, Michael studied and learned, like a great chef, how to bring many different elements together into a complete experience that was simply stunning and totally unforgettable. In his acclaimed book Elements of Style he detailed how the magic is done.

Michael begins each project by gathering resource material from a variety of inspiring sources ranging from old magazine pictures to a single seashell. After discarding the excessive items through a focused editing process, he pairs the simple with the grand in a manner that both delights and endears.

One has only to visit Shutters on the Beach to see the final result. Once with only a rustic (and somewhat dated) lodge-y brown interior, Michael brought the breeziness of relaxing sea air indoors while maintaining an elegance that guests such as Hollywood’s A-listers treasure.

Today the property offers its guest simply the best in design without pretension or push – like a great dinner from a master chef, who understands the true nature of style - clarity without artificiality, trustfulness with wonder.

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011