Sabor a Cabo 2014 Showcases Local Talent, Tastes
Giammarco Vela, owner of Sunset da Mona Lisa, on left, at Sabor a Cabo main event.
The country setting of the Sculpture Garden at Puertos Los Cabos in San Jose del Cabo was the perfect venue on Saturday, December 6, for this year’s main and final event of the weeklong activities in celebration of Sabor a Cabo (“A Taste of Cabo”), an annual fundraiser that CANIRAC—the Los Cabos restaurant association—holds to benefit the Los Cabos fire departments, Red Cross, and, this year for the first time, the Los Cabos Children’s Foundation. The planning and implementation was under the direction of Giammarco Vela, owner of Sunset da Mona Lisa.
The weeklong festivities started with a Countryside Tasting on Sunday, November 30. Guests were bused to a ranch in Santiago, a small village north of Los Cabos, where they could sample local dishes. An artisanal beer fest was held Wednesday, December 3, at the Pabellon Cultural Center on the Cabo San Lucas Marina with pizza and taco food stands. Thursday’s activity was held in San Jose del Cabo for the town’s weekly Art Walk with wine and signature canapés from various local restaurants. Live bands played along the streets, which were blocked to traffic.
On Friday, December 5, it was a difficult decision to select one of several restaurants who hosted celebrity chefs from around the world for a Dine-Around Dinner. Guest chefs included Diego Hernandez who worked with host chef Edgar Roman of Mi Casa; Richard Sandoval was the invited guest of host chef Tadd Chapman of Don Sanchez; Eduardo Osuna teamed up with chef Emanuele Olivero of DOC Wine Bar; Vitor Matos worked alongside chef Paolo Della Corte of Sunset da Mona Lisa’s new Tattinger Terrace; Doeter Koschina was the guest chef with Nick-San’s owner and chef Angel Carbajal; and Najat Kaanache was the guest chef with chef Enrique Silva of Los Tamarindo’s.
Saturday night, December 6, 2014, at the Sculpture Garden, located at Puerta Los Cabos, San Jose del Cabo.
As the gourmands arrived at the Sculpture Garden for the culmination of the week’s activities, they were greeted by jugglers, acrobats, and stilt walkers along the red carpet. The reception area was manned by volunteer members of Building Baja’s Future, who took tickets and led the hungry patrons to their tables. Blessed with a full moon, clear skies, moderate temperature, live music, and the tantalizing whiff of what the 50 chefs had in store for the 2,000 attendees, it was a feast for all senses. As guests mixed and mingled, they enjoyed special music performed by female vocalist Denise Donatelli and jazz saxophonist Christine Jensen.
Wine stations represented the Guadalupe Valley and Tijuana in Northern Baja as well as Casa Madera from the mainland of Mexico and were strategically located around the circular grassy area. The white tented vignettes displayed mouthwatering arrays of such samplings as mushroom ceviche and bacon focaccia sandwiches of pastrami and salami from La Panga, tortilla soup and mini chiles en nogada at the Mi Casa tent, while at the VIP Gala show in center stage, a lamb shank confit was served with yellow star zucchini puré orchestrated by executive chef Edgar Roman. Pancho’s selected mini Oaxacan tamales served with mole, the sauce of many ingredients with three different chiles and seven types of nuts and fruits made days ahead. Executive chef Manuel De Luca served lamb chops with pureed potatoes and a yogurt mint sauce, plus garlic shrimp among other delicious tidbits. Chef Tadd Chapman of Don Sanchez had a spread of grilled short rib, a scallop shot and delectable house-made chocolates. From his other restaurant Habanero’s Gastro Grill came mini perogie burgers and his mom’s famous carrot cake. Brian Solomon of Solomon’s Landing prepared fresh yellow tail carpaccio, Thai soup with chicken and shrimp, pork tacos in adobo chili guajillo, and baked pork loin with Brian’s original bar-be-que sauce.
The team from Romeo y Julieta Ristorante
Romeo & Julieta’s chef, Matias Forte, personally sliced thin Parma ham accompanied with Grana Padano cheese that had matured for 24 months, along with different Italian breads, Caprese skewers of Mozzarella cheese and cherry tomatoes, and a finish of tiramisu. Denni’s Catering went all out: roasted turkey with mango stuffing, ham with a Chilean ancho and honey glaze, meat empanadas, green and red ceviches topped off with dark chocolate parfait. This was but a sampling of many signature dishes from the local chefs.
Large screens kept the audience enthralled with TV personality Mike “The Griz” Ritz interviewing and overseeing the various chefs’ masterpieces. The climax and special performance was a stage production by the world famous KISS hard rock and heavy metal music group led by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, the last two members of the original lineup who have been on the music scene since the early ’70s. Even though they have relinquished their over-the-top makeup and comic book characters, they are still well known for their elaborate performances that enchanted the Sabor a Cabo audience as a grand finale.