Vanderbilt-Dall-Ayeiy Arrive For Edelyn Exhibition

-Punta Gorda, CA
-The William Vanderbilt-Jim Dall-Arthur Ayeiy threesome has arrived here in Punta Gorda to take a break from their week-and-a-half-long, whirlwind recruiting and contract negotiation tour to settle back, relax, and watch the final Feast Fest exhibition.

"I'm extremely pumped for this final exhibition, one that will set the stage for the performance the chefs ram down on Thanksgiving," Vanderbilt said.

The three could be seen mingling on the floor with chefs pre-exhibition Sunday, and seemed to receive a very warm reception. Some worried about the reception Dall would receive; the Head Scouter is sometimes on iffy terms with chefs, and, during the last exhibition he attended, at Notes in April, chef Patrick Kermell told him to "buzz off" when he "pestered" him on the floor mere minutes before the start of the exhibition.

"That was a mistake," Dall admits now. "You can't be on the floor too close to the start bell, it can shake the chefs up, and I was that time."

The exhibition starts at 4 p.m. Eastern/1 p.m. Pacific.





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Edelyn Seems A Big Friend to McAllister, Choi, Mettling

-Punta Gorda, Fla.
-As we approach the start bell for the final exhibition at Edelyn Cooking Arena here in Punta Gorda, it is intriguing to note the recent surges that three big name chefs have seen here.

Jim McAllister, Lisa Choi, and Daniel Settling never seem to flail here at Edelyn. McAllister's been in all but one exhibition here at Edelyn in the eleven years it's been used as an exhibitional site. Of 17 appearances here in this pyramidic cooking arena, he has placed in the top three in NCA points all but once and in the top two 14 times. He's been first in points 7 times at Edelyn and has won the Edelyn MVC five times. Choi has also benefited at Edelyn. Of 15 appearances, she's been in the top three 11 times and also has five MVCs from Punta Gorda. And Daniel Mettling, while a relatively new Feast Fest chef compared to McAllister and Choi, has had Edelyn been extremely kind to him in his five exhibitions here. He's been in the top three in points here thrice, and led in points and won the MVC here at Edelyn back in January.

Watch for these three Feast Fest chefs to have another big impact on the exhibition here today!




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Pasik, Avi, Stevenson, Aiber, Other FFers Board Up for Sandy

-Boston, MA
-Feast Fest's large concentration of chefs located up and down the Eastern Seaboard is boarding up and readying to close up shop for their restaurants as Hurricane Sandy threatens to pummel the region.

The powerful cyclone is projected to make landfall Tuesday along the Delaware and New Jersey coasts and then travel westward into Pennsylvania.  New York City would certainly get a big, if not direct, hit from Sandy, and Boston will most likely see adverse effects from the 800-mile-wide hurricane as well.

Alexei Aiber and Johnny Stevenson, both owners of eateries in Trenton, N.J. and Latrobe, Pa., respectively, were seen putting planks of wood across their establishments and closing Friday.  Lynn Avi's midtown Manhattan will close Sunday night, once the weekend rush is over.   The storm will begin coming into the area on Sunday and Monday, with the worst effects scheduled for Tuesday.

Here in Boston, Joe Pasik was wavering about what action to take when asked about his restaurant No.  He originally said that No would be closed and his annual Halloween Haul feast cancelled.  Now that Sandy is projected merely to graze Boston, instead of plowing headfirst into it as was expected yesterday, Pasik has some misgivings about cancelling the extremely popular annual event, especially since William Vanderbilt, Jim Dall, and Arthur Ayeiy are scheduled to be in attendance as part of their 11-day, 30-city world tour on which they are currently embarking.

But, that tour could be rerouted as well.  The threesome is supposed to stop in Washington, Philly, and Chicago on Monday and in Toronto, Montreal, and Boston on Tuesday, but that itinerary could be mangled if the storm interferes.

WiFF: The Week in Feast Fest: Saturday, October 27, 2012 - Friday, November 2, 2012

Important Feast Fest dates this week:

Saturday, 10/27  -  No unique activities scheduled.

Sunday, 10/28 - The final Feast Fest exhibition before the real thing will begin at 4 p.m. Eastern/1 p.m. Pacific at Edelyn Cooking Arena in Punta Gorda, Fla., with an expected DigIn time of 7:30 p.m. Eastern/4:30 p.m. Pacific.  The score of this last exhibition is usually a reliable predictor of the score the FF chefs drive home on Thanksgiving, so it'd better be a high one this year!

Monday, 10/29 - Jim McAllister, Ivan Peterman, and Jan Stephan are guest chefs at the Floridian Feast, Weston, Fla.  This event will be graced by Feast Fest chefs for the first time due to its proximity both on the map and the calendar to the final exhibition in Punta Gorda the day before.

Tuesday, 10/30 - Joe Pasik is scheduled to host his annual Halloween Haul cooking event at his Boston, Mass. restaurant with William Vanderbilt, Jim Dall, and Arthur Ayeiy in attendance, but with Hurricane Sandy scheduled to pummel the region on this day, these plans are likely to be cancelled or rescheduled.

Wednesday, 10/31 - *Happy Halloween!*  Vanderbilt, Dall, and Ayeiy will be in Paris to meet with Claudien Ainenl to sort out contractual disagreements.

Thursday, 11/1 - No unique activities scheduled.

Friday, 11/2 - No unique activities scheduled.

Birthdays!
10/30 - Alga Ross (scouter)
11/2 - Jarolde James (chef), Alue-Charlote Ste-Germaine Melling (chef)

Apologies - Error

Due to a technical error, entries intended to be posted Friday failed to be published.  Some of these entries will be posted Saturday.

Dreim Sets Offer Minimum, Obliterating Forward Pace of Talks

-Marina del Rey, Ca.
-Stephen Dreim has obliterated the progress of talks the haughty former FF chef was having with Feast Fest.

Dreim Thursday rejected a Wednesday offer of $631,221--$78,000 above what he would've made this Thanksgiving anyway if he hadn't resigned in a fit of rage and if Feast Fest hadn't tried to lure him back--and instead set a jawdropping offer minimum of $750,000.

That sum is not unheard of; Lynn Avi, Jim McAllister, and the Mason Duo make well over $900,000 each; however, it is a shocking minimum to set because it is $197,000 above what he was making before his resignation. Dreim's position is not lowly, but it is average, and scouters had thought that the $631K offer was "well above what we'd define as 'generous'," so said Scouter Stefanie McOneguew.

The average salary for an FF chef is $544,000, close to what Dreim used to make.

Dreim issued a statement along with the setting of the offer minimum, saying, in part, "I wish to reinstate my status as a part of the wonderful Feast Fest team, but I am setting this offer minimum because I feel I was cheated and violated by the scouters in the past. I feel the best way to remedy this strained relationship is to have me signed to Feast Fest with an ACCURATE amount of money that correlates to my talents."

"Mr. Dreim's comments are completely devoid of credence," said McOneguew of the statement. "His actions today constitute greed...pure greed...nothing other than."

Dreim, who already had a virulent response from his fellow chefs, had that reaction magnified upon his actions.

Before his setting of an offer minimum today, 44% of chefs held a negative view of Dreim, with 42% holding a positive view, 10% being neutral, and 4% refusing to say. But today, the "half love him, half hate him" trend for Dreim had shattered, with the percentage of chefs viewing him negatively swelling to 71%, with 27% viewing him positively, 1% being neutral, and 1% refusing to say.

"These are numbers which must be taken into account," McOneguew said. "We will continue negotiations, but the last thing we will agree to do is to give that chef all that money and then put him in a hostile environment where everyone will want him out anyway."

McOneguew was short and blunt to make her point: "I think these negotiations, now that Mr. Dreim has done this, will fizzle out quickly and severely, with little hope for realistic, collaborative revival."

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Correction

An article about the re-signing of Thenoø Law through 2013 and beyond incorrectly quoted Assistant Head Scouter Benjamin Leiften as Head Scouter Jim Dall.

In fact, Dall is in the middle of a worldwide contract negotiation and recruiting trip, and as such was unavailable for comment.




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