Cuisine of the Sun: An All-Star Salute To Culinary Icon Roger Vergé

Photo of Chef Roger Vergé.

On Monday, September 12, at a gala event in New York City, more than a dozen of the world’s great chefs will pay tribute to one of their icons, the late, great Roger Vergé. “Chef Chair” Daniel Boulud will be joined by Philippe Bertineau, David Bouley, Terrance Brennan, Cat Cora, Georgette Farkas, Dean Fearing, Remy Funfrock, Wilfrid Hocquet, Emeril Lagasse, Francis Mallmann, George Mendes, Richard Reddington, Mark Tarbell and Michael White. Dishes throughout will be inspired by Vergé’s style of cooking: Cuisine of the Sun.

The evening will start with a cocktail reception and walk-around tasting with ten chef stations alongside an open bar. This will be followed by a four-course seated dinner featuring dishes from chefs whose careers were influenced by Chef Vergé, who was described as “the very incarnation of the great French chef for foreigners” by the Gault et Millau. The cost for the event is $995 and, of course, also includes a celebratory champagne toast and fine wines. Net proceeds from the chef tribute dinner will fund a Roger Vergé Scholarship at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. The evening, organized by veteran event producer Herb Karlitz, begins at 6:30 PM at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, Pier 61.

“It’s an incredible line-up of chefs,” said Daniel Boulud, “who all jumped at the chance to celebrate a man who had such a positive influence on all of us.”