Ainenl is in Good with Scouters, Sources Say

-Marina del Rey, CA
-Feast Fest Meeting & Conference Week from Monday through Friday allowed Claudien Magnifique Ainenl to work up a potential deal with Feast Fest scouters for the 2012 event.

The Paris-based Ainenl, recognized as a top French chef, has been courted by Feast Fest as far back as 1997, but the logistics never worked out to include the 40-year-old master of cookery in the event. In turn, Ainenl was always fascinated with the holiday of Thanksgiving and with Feast Fest, but was seen as a perpetually picky chef who made several demands that could not be met. For one, he would demand that he be able to show up in California on the very eve of the event and that he be able to fly back to Paris immediately following the Official Score Announcement.

"He was very involved and dedicated to his Parisian restaurant and never wanted to leave it for more than 24 hours," says Managerial Assistant Arthur Ayeiy. "He was frequently told that the logistics would be too difficult to work out and that such a rigorous, jetlaggish schedule would wreak havoc on his internal systems, diminishing his performance. At the same time, he never wanted to be present for any exhibitions. And he cooked French so often we feared that if he didn't come to an exhibition once in a while to break those habits with the Americana styles used at Thanksgiving, he would have a sort of gastronomical all-systems-failure out on the floor."

In 2009, Ainenl hired an assistant head chef for his restaurant, General & Classical, and purchased a villa in Southern California in the hopes that these moves would take care of some of the "logistical" problems.

FF scouters were always interested in Ainenl, and agreed that from a logistical standpoint his chances looked much healthier, but over the past two offseasons contractual and monetary disagreements popped up.

But over the course of last week, Ainenl met repeatedly with Jim Dall, head of the FF Scouting Department, who devised a personalized plan that would fit the needs of both sides. Now all that is needed for the plan to be set in motion is for the next offseason to begin and for a price tag to be set down.

"He's much easier to work with now," comments Ayeiy. "We feel very optimistic about adding him to the Feast Fest Team in 2012.

Ainenl announced Friday that he would be able to attend "probably at least four exhibtitions per year," and received a "yes" reply when he asked if that amount would be enough.

Ainenl "could be signed as early as December," Ayeiy forecasted. "Look for Ainenl to become the chef that's heavily pursued and discussed in the early months of the offseason, over the winter," Ayeiy told Feast Fest buffs. "He could pop up in talks as early as the Feast Fest Post-Feast Meeting on the very Monday after Thanksgiving."