You'd expect expert wine and food pairings at any event planned by the National Association of Catering Executives (NACE). But at the Greater Orlando NACE chapter's Decades of Rock & Roll Cigar awards dinner at the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort, Ed DiAntonio, NACE membership co-chairman and the Swan and Dolphin's director of catering, joined Hello Florida, the resort's in-house destination management company, to create a musical pairing. Every course from Dolphins executive chef Wolfgang Ebenbichler was matched with a song.
The good times started to roll before dinner, when more than 100 guests lit cigars, downed oyster shooters, and sipped martinis infused with mulled fruit and berries served at what the Dolphin calls its "fusion bar," an 8-foot portable structure made of 8- by 8-inch glass blocks enhanced from within with colorful vases.
Vintage album covers served as chargers on rectangular tables set up on three sides of a small stage. The tables were dressed with simple black and white linens, and topped with three-foot wire mesh centerpieces covered with CDs and sound system components. Beside each centerpiece, a tabletop LCD unit from AVS Entertainment displayed old music videos. Even Ice Magic's guitar-shaped acrylic menus twinkled with color-changing LEDs.
As "Purple Haze" played and Jimi Hendrix appeared on the tabletop monitors, a waiter presented each guest with a plastic syringe, an oversize spoon, and a coffee cup filled with Peruvian potato, chorizo, and andouille soup on foil-wrapped wooden blocks. Diners injected the soup with pepper juice and red curry from the syringe, and then topped it off with Pop Rock-like green apple crackles. The B-52s' "Rock Lobster" followed with an appetizer course of—you guessed it—rock lobster served with mussels, clams, squid tapioca, and sea urchin-yuzu butter. Guns 'N Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" ushered in a daring trio of buffalo, frog legs, and wild boar. For dessert, a cream cheese lemon sponge cake with violet ice cream, black currant compote, and nougat was served with a sugar guitar.
Between courses, DiAntonio won Caterer of the Year, Joe Mahoney of Hospitality Staff won the Spirit of NACE George Zell Award, and Julie Ford of Panache won Affiliate of the Year.
—Shari Lynn Rothstein
The good times started to roll before dinner, when more than 100 guests lit cigars, downed oyster shooters, and sipped martinis infused with mulled fruit and berries served at what the Dolphin calls its "fusion bar," an 8-foot portable structure made of 8- by 8-inch glass blocks enhanced from within with colorful vases.
Vintage album covers served as chargers on rectangular tables set up on three sides of a small stage. The tables were dressed with simple black and white linens, and topped with three-foot wire mesh centerpieces covered with CDs and sound system components. Beside each centerpiece, a tabletop LCD unit from AVS Entertainment displayed old music videos. Even Ice Magic's guitar-shaped acrylic menus twinkled with color-changing LEDs.
As "Purple Haze" played and Jimi Hendrix appeared on the tabletop monitors, a waiter presented each guest with a plastic syringe, an oversize spoon, and a coffee cup filled with Peruvian potato, chorizo, and andouille soup on foil-wrapped wooden blocks. Diners injected the soup with pepper juice and red curry from the syringe, and then topped it off with Pop Rock-like green apple crackles. The B-52s' "Rock Lobster" followed with an appetizer course of—you guessed it—rock lobster served with mussels, clams, squid tapioca, and sea urchin-yuzu butter. Guns 'N Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" ushered in a daring trio of buffalo, frog legs, and wild boar. For dessert, a cream cheese lemon sponge cake with violet ice cream, black currant compote, and nougat was served with a sugar guitar.
Between courses, DiAntonio won Caterer of the Year, Joe Mahoney of Hospitality Staff won the Spirit of NACE George Zell Award, and Julie Ford of Panache won Affiliate of the Year.
—Shari Lynn Rothstein
Vintage album covers served as charger plates at the Orlando NACE Decades of Rock & Roll Cigar Dinner.
Chairs were covered in black fabric and then draped with small pieces in white to resemble piano keys.
Entertainers dressed as cigar girls passed out cigars to NACE members and guests.
The second course—rock lobster with mussels, clams, squid tapioca, and sea urchin-yuzu butter—was a treat for both the mouth and eyes.
