Kitchen tour features Gables chefs dishing it up for a good cause

By Priscilla Greear

In the expansive kitchen of a Granada Boulevard home, chef LeRoy Bautista dished up a tasty sample of lobster shrimp ravioli from the menu at Miracle Mile’s new Angelique Euro Café for participants in the inaugural “Dishing It Up! Tour of Kitchens” fundraiser on Saturday, Jan. 23.

Elsewhere in dream kitchens of North Gables homes, chefs from Morton’s, Fleming’s, Giardino’s Gourmet Salads, Peterbrooke Chocolatier, Randazzo’s, Avant Garde, Novecento, Pardo’s Chicken and Da Vittorio dished up samples for several hundred participants in the new fundraiser for the Coral Gables Community Foundation’s CoralGables@HOME program, which helps residents over 50 maintain independent living in their own home.

Kicking off the fundraiser was a cocktail reception and silent auction Friday night, Jan. 22, at the Lowe Art Museum on the University of Miami campus. Sponsored by Bacardi USA, the auction featured fine jewelry, a “power lunch” with Mayor Don Slesnick, sports memorabilia, gift certificates and more.

The next morning, the kitchen tour got under way at the model townhouse at Old Spanish Village, 180 Palermo Ave. From there, participants dispersed to homes on Granada, Ponce de Leon Boulevard, Castile Avenue, Alhambra Court and Monserrate Street.

Granada homeowner Maty Aldrich, who enjoys entertaining, gladly opened her home and its open-design, European-style kitchen to Chef Bautista and the entourage that followed.

Ms. Aldrich said CoralGables@HOME is "a great program" for the community's seniors. "The things they do for them are absolutely wonderful. This (event) is such a great idea because people have fun doing it and actually are doing it for a good cause,” she said, standing in her Italian kitchen with a quartz counter and Turkish marble floor.

Out by the pool, Linda Flores of The Villagers historic preservation society sold their Cook It Like a Native cookbook, a collection of favorite recipes, to benefit their work. And Sue Kaye-Martin, a member of the Dade Historic Trust, expressed appreciation for the eclectic mix of homes, including the 1926 Mediterranean Revival home on Monserrate, with its white-tiled kitchen opening to a dining room with French doors and a wall filled with books.

Greeting visitors at the Aldrich home was volunteer Anna Louise Fulks, who has been in her home for 40 years and lives with her son – and thus greatly appreciates the services provided by CoralGables@HOME. Her widowed neighbor, who needed support after breaking her wrist, recently joined. “It’s a great program and much needed.”

Numerous tour participants also enjoyed an elaborate luncheon in a related fundraiser for CoralGables@HOME. Its 100 seats sold out well in advance. The day’s events also featured a workshop led by Julia Johnston, a certified kitchen designer, and herb sale by the Coral Gables Garden Club. A key sponsor for enlisting restaurants to participate and coordinating them was coralgablesrestaurants.com. In addition to Bacardi, major sponsors were snaidero Kitchens + Design and Northern Trust.

Back at the rooftop terrace of the four-bedroom, classic Spanish townhouse at Old Spanish Village, chefs from Morton’s served filet mignon steak sandwiches with a horseradish-mustard mayonnaise sauce. In the living room syndicated food columnist Beverly Mills served Moroccan meatballs and black bean soup from her Desperation Diners! cookbook, which she sold along with Desperation Entertaining! and Cheap. Fast. Good! to benefit CoralGables@HOME.

Her books feature quick, easy recipes that incorporate simple shortcuts that streamline cooking, such as using a Pillsbury piecrust. “Everything in our books is really geared to healthy living. This is not fast food — it’s family friendly meals,” she said in response to a tour participant’s question.

Lauranne Quinn purchased Desperation Entertaining! “It would be nice to have some new recipes that are fast and easy,” she said. “When you’re by yourself you kind of get out of the habit of cooking. Maybe I can get some tips from here.”

A portion of the proceeds from the Dishing It Up! Tour of Kitchens will be used to subsidize the home-delivered meal program offered to CoralGables@HOME members.

“We were asked as a new resident representing the changes coming on Miracle Mile to participate in this event. We were really honored,” said Angelique EuroCafe owner Yolanda Jordana-Rossi. “It gives us an opportunity to really be a part of the community.”

For more Kitchen Tour event photos, visit our People Page.

Serving residents 50 and older in the Gables since February 2009, CoralGables@HOME provides residents an array of services, such as prescription delivery, transportation, pre-screened service providers and social and cultural events. For more information, see www. gablesfoundation.org. You can also call 305-443-4011 or e-mail Executive Director Marli Lutz at mlutz@gablesfoundation.org.