President's Message September 2005

Well, it's great to be back! I hope you all had an enjoyable and relaxing summer. The ECB will hold its first meeting of the fall at Polcari's Restaurant in Saugus, on Monday September 19th. In years past, our Host Chef, ECB member Executive Chef Louis Hubbell has hosted some wonderful meetings for us, so I look forward to seeing many of you at this one. Please note that our next three meetings are very important, as we will be nominating ECB members for our upcoming election. I especially urge all that are interested in running for office to attend one of these meetings.

Before I go on with updating you on the ECB, I would like to ask that everyone please make a donation to one of the many funds set up to help the unfortunate victims of Hurricane Katrina. The ACF has set up a disaster relief fund that will help ACF members affected by this horrific tragedy. If you would like to make a donation to this ACF fund, please call 1-800-624-9458 or visit www.acfchefs.org. I thank you in advance for any help that you can provide.

Though the ECB did not meet during the summer, some of our members were still busy planning events for the fall, including our 111th President's Ball. Co-Chairs Amanda Smith and Nick Schiarizzi have been putting together a great event for this year. I'm very pleased to announce that our President's Ball will be held on Monday, November 7th at the beautiful Café Escadrille in Burlington. As in past years, we will celebrate the anniversary, this year the 111th, of the ECB. In addition, as always, we will proudly recognize our peers, feast upon an incredible dinner and dance to the music of the Mirror Image Band. So, on that "note", mark your calendars!

Speaking of the ECB President's Ball, I have also enclosed in this newsletter an application for the ECB President's Medallion, which is presented at the ECB President's Ball each year. The Medallion is awarded to those who have risen above and beyond to donate their time to the betterment of the ECB and to the culinary community. Also enclosed in this newsletter is an application for our member grants. These grants will also be awarded at our upcoming President's Ball. So please get your applications in soon, as the deadline are October 1.

Also during the summer, the ACF National Convention was held in San Antonio, Texas. Anthony Graffeo, CEC, AAC, Despina Makredes, CCE, AAC, Doug Patten, CEC, Charles Jacobs, CEC, Luc Roberts and I represented the ECB. The convention's main focus was on cooking, with many outstanding demos and seminars. The business portion of the convention was the discussion and voting on the many changes to the ACF and Chef and Child By-Laws. After many meeting and many hours of discussions about the proposed by-laws changes, all changes were passed (Please see the Culinary Review and the Center of the Plate for more information on the all the by-laws changes). A local highlight of the convention was the induction of Despina Makredes, CCE, AAC into the American Academy of Chefs. With Despina's induction, the ECB now has 16 fellows of the AAC. Despina, on behalf of all the ECB members, we sincerely congratulate you on this outstanding achievement. Some of the winners of the top ACF awards were: Richard Rosendale, ACF Chef of the Year; Thomas Macrina, CEC, AAC-ACF Chef Professionalism Award; Darrin Aoyama, ACF Pastry Chef of the Year; Phil Learned, CEC, AAC-ACF Hermann Rush Chef's Achievement Award; Timothy Michitsch, ACF Educator of the Year Award; and Christopher Gould, ACF Student Culinarian of the Year. Congratulations to all for their amazing accomplishments!

On June 27th the ECB held it's 6th annual Children's Charity Golf Classic Tournament at Sandy Burr Country Club in Wayland. As in previous years, the tournament used a shotgun scramble format, to the delight of all the players. We send special thanks to the ECB Golf Committee members: Co-chairs Jim DiMarzio, CEC and Steve LaCount, CEC, AAC, and the Committee of Jeffrey Barr, Despina Makredes, CCE, AAC, Jon Roberts, Amanda Smith, Jay Vello and Luc Robert. Their hard work raised over $8,800, which will be distributed to the Rodman Ride for Kids and The Paul Pantano Scholarship Trust Fund. Also, we'd like to express our heartfelt appreciation to the volunteers, Nick Schiarizzi and the staff at Catering by Domenic & Anthony, the Sandy Burr Country Club, all of the hole sponsors, the students of Everett High School, the players, and of course, everyone who donated prizes and purchased raffle tickets. Thanks again to all who participated in this great and worthwhile event.

At the end of June, three ECB members decided to answer the US Navy's call for chefs to work with the culinary crew on the USS Bataan. The ship sailed from Norfolk, VA into Boston harbor, arriving on June 29 and departing on July 5th. The US Navy's Chef Michael Harants, CEC, CCE, Commander Captain Nora Tyson of the USS Bataan and her crew have sent their thanks to the Epicurean Club and our members for supporting and training the culinary crew while they were in Boston. ECB members Brendan Ryan, Al McPhee and I spent a combined eight days on board, and enjoyed it immensely. I expressed our appreciation to Commander Tyson for giving the ECB members the opportunity to work with her culinary crew and also presented her with one of our 110-year commemorative plates to remind her and the crew of their time in Boston.

The June meeting of the ECB was held at the Café Escadrille in Burlington on Tuesday, June 14th. This meeting was the third annual ACF New England Summit. This year it was again co-hosted by the Pioneer Valley Culinary Association (PVCA) and the Epicurean Club. Chefs from both organizations, as well as chefs from all over New England, attended this great event. All in attendance were greeted by PVCA president Lonny Ricketts and as well as myself. During the business portion of our meeting, the ECB awarded some additional scholarships to students who were unable to attend our May meeting. After the business portion of the meeting concluded, guests were treated to our very informative speaker, Mr. Joshua Goldman, President of Australis Aquaculture, LLC of Turner Falls, MA. Mr. Goldman spoke about farm raising Australian Barramundi fish in Turner Falls. Those in attendance took advantage of this rewarding networking opportunity, as well as the chance to catch up with old friends and make a few new ones. As an added bonus, attendees received one hour of continuing education. Thanks go to Chef Brian Theurer and his staff who, as always, did an outstanding job with the meal and presentation. I would also like to thank the Café Escadrille owner Robert Murray, our speaker Joshua Goldman, the Pioneer Valley Culinary Association and their president, Lonny Ricketts, for co-hosting this meeting. I'd also like to thank all who attended, which as usual certainly contributed to making this meeting a great success.

I would like to congratulate ECB member Tim Foley on being named as one of Unilever Food Solutions' top industry representatives in 2005. Also congratulations are sent to George Norton, CEC, AAC on the opening of his new restaurant. In addition, speaking of new restaurants, Steve LaCount, CEC, AAC and Joe Rocco have a new restaurant scheduled to open next month. Please look for contact information on these restaurants in next month's newsletter. We'd like to send our congratulations to Norman Myerow, CEPC, CCE, AAC, as he has again this year coached one of his students to a Gold Medal in the Skills USA National Competition held in Kansas City. Since 1989, Norman's students have won a total of 103 medals in competitions held at the district, state and national levels!

In closing, I look forward to seeing you at a meeting in the near future, and I wish you all a wonderful fall season.

Warmest regards,

Rico DiFronzo, CEC, AAC

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