Hats Off to Harlan
Last week at Shore, the Ultimate Steak Challenge between celebrity chefs Harlan Goldstein and Jason Black came to a very climactic finish when our marketing manager-slash-rockin’ MC James Gannaban announced the results of the night: Harlan Goldstein had beaten the home team, making him the inaugural winner of this very friendly—but very intense—cook-off that involved not one, but TWO five-course dinners back-to-back.
It was a dinner to remember, to say the least. For those who don’t already know the back-story: essentially, Jason Black (Shore’s head chef) publicly challenged Harlan to a steak-making competition after seeing Harlan’s ads for his new restaurant, Strip House, in HK Magazine. The two agreed to battle it out at Shore on July 16, staging a grand dinner for 80 ticketholders and donating all proceeds from the night to charity.
Harlan and Jason and their teams each created five courses while cooperatively sharing the space at Shore’s kitchen. From the appetizer to dessert (including a steak dish, of course), diners had to taste them all—not knowing who cooked what—before deciding on their preferences. Ed and I were at a table with very diverse opinions—each of us had a different combination of likes, and it was very interesting to see the different factors that influenced people’s decisions. Jason’s refined carpaccio with parmesan and arugula and a drizzle of truffle oil was a tight match against Harlan’s tartare topped with egg (I’m guessing possibly onsen, possibly 65-degree-slow-cooked)—the table was split between the carpaccio’s simplicity and the tartare’s rich flavors. The crab and avocado salad versus the chopped salad with beetroot, Provolone cheese and salami was another tough one—at our table at least, the men seemed to prefer the all-green avocado dish while the ladies preferred the multi-textured little-bit-of-everything adventure. Then, Jason’s rich and surprisingly beefy rib-eye and Harlan’s bold chargrilled striploin both blew everyone away, and trying to choose one over the other proved an extremely difficult task.
Rivalry and jovial ego-kicking aside, the dinner was one helluva party, complete with heated auctions for HK Mag memorabilia and a lot of alcohol. A big congrats again to Harlan, and also props to Jason for having had the balls to challenge the celeb chef in the first place. Next up? Harlan’s dying to have a head-to-head with none other than Mario Batali himself. And we’re with him! Watch this space for further developments.
On a side note, who would YOU like to see take on Harlan in the next battle? Send me your suggestions!