Herb Karlitz is in his version of heaven, and it is messy. We are well into the evening of his 25th anniversary party celebrating Karlitz & Company. In the basement nightclub Ginny’s, downstairs from Harlem’s swinging Red Rooster restaurant, we are buried all the way in the farthest corner bar and it is an absolute mess. Mr. Karlitz is surrounded by dozens of open wine bottles, some dead soldiers, but many still partially filled, all with precious wines, all of a 1990 vintage, which (I actually knew this before he told me) was a nearly universally good year for wines around the world. And he is hand-washing glasses so that his guests can drink more of his expensive wine.
In this case it is a 1990 Mommessin Clos de Tart Grand Cru Burgundy, which would set you back between $350 and $700 a bottle at auction if you could find it, I learn from research the next day. But what is really impressing me is that he is here himself washing glasses and pouring wine when there are bartenders and servers all around. And I realize right away this is the secret of his success. He is a gracious host, and it is infectious.
And I know that some of the best chefs in the world, like Marcus Samuelsson, Daniel Boulud, and François Payard on-hand here tonight, don’t just show up for any old anniversary party.
Herb Karlitz has carved out a niche, and it's a big one, as the king of multi-chef extravaganzas, like the New York City Wine & Food Festival, and I suspect that there must be more to it than just being a bon vivant. So I get him to tell me some of the secrets of his success.
Build Careful Relationships With Elite Chefs
“We are perhaps most proud of the confidence and closeness of our relationships with the very top chefs both here [in the United States] and around the world,” Herb tells me. “We were thrilled when Bobby Flay recommended us to serve as organizers for what became an annual event, ‘Taste of the World’ on Breeders' Cup eve. We assembled a mind-numbing group of global chefs to prepare food for one of horse racing's most elite contests in California.” Those toques included Bobby Flay, who at the event took off his host hat and donned a chef’s jacket to do a demonstration of a pineapple-plated dish.
Photo: Matt Sayles/Invision for Breeders' Cup/AP Images
Provide Plenty of Choices
“We launched the New York City Wine & Food Festival as the agency of record with Lee Schrager of Southern Wine and Spirits, which was our partner as well for the South Beach Wine & Food Festival for many years prior. Now the event has an in-house staff, as it should, but the first few seasons were tremendous undertakings for us, with not only the Grand Tasting Pavilions (pictured), but with events all over the city. We booked every single venue,” Herb says. Herb explained that having tons of choice, “a complete menu” to choose from for these multiday festivals, makes the experience richer for attendees. As an attendee of the event for the first few years, I remember some of the events were a little neater and tidier than others, but the scope and scale of the citywide undertaking was one that I realized was a monumental effort (and inarguably an instant success).
Photo: Courtesy of the New York City Wine & Food Festival
Get Guest Excited Before They Step Inside
I can imagine how excited I would have been as I approached the beautiful tent set up for the Breeders' Cup “Taste of the World” event, which is so striking from far away, and knowing that I was about to taste foods from all over the world. There is a certain kind of magic that happens, that I can personally attest to, when you are present in a setting where a number of the top chefs are all preparing dishes at once for your pleasure. And Herb Karlitz, is, in my opinion, the original and still reigning king of this medium. At the event, in addition to Bobby Flay, Herb fielded Raymond England of Craft, Masaharu Morimoto, Susur Lee—whom I love watching on TV—and Matthew Lambert, a hot up-and-comer, who had just opened the Musket Room in New York.
Photo: Matt Sayles/Invision for Breeders' Cup/AP Images
Think of the Event Entrance as an Airport Landing
One of the very best gourmet food events I ever attended was the Relais & Chateaux Grand Chefs dinner, which featured 60 chefs from around the world. I had no idea who Herb and Karlitz & Company were when I attended. But I do remember the event being sublime from almost every point of view, including the entry tent, which was both beautiful and efficient. I asked Herb for his point of view about event entries. “I liken the experience of landing at an airport: check-in and coat check can be a real drag, so why not make it as pleasant as possible,” he explains. “First off, always overstaff both check-in and coat check. You can always shift them later if you don’t need them, but a wait at either can ruin the guest’s entry experience and will color their whole perception of the event. And why not bring a tray of champagne out front or serve them some appetizers?”
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
Show Chefs the Big Picture
Herb shared with me a table seating chart for the Relais & Chateaux event, which only hints at the complexity of having 60 chefs preparing food at one dinner. The room as you can see was divided into segments, and the assigning of chefs is both a culinary and political tightrope. “We slaved over the assignment of chefs. Each grouping needed a superstar like a Jean-Georges [Vongerichten] or a Daniel Boulud, but you also need to balance the mix of American and international chefs, who may have been less well-known than their domestic counterparts, but just as, if not more prestigious,” he says. “One secret is to walk the chefs not only through their kitchen area, but through the others as well, to give them a sense of the whole event. Also, know that everyone will suggest a ceviche, because it is the easiest thing to prep on site.”
Photo: Courtesy of Relais & Chateaux
Train Greeters to be Helpful, not Decorative
While Karlitz & Company is known best for its multi-chef extravaganzas, the company does top-quality event work for all types of luxury marketers, evidenced by its multiyear relationship with Chanel. A few seasons back for a major anniversary, Chanel landed a spaceship/art exhibit in Central Park for a six-week series of private events and open-to-the-public-by-appointment viewings. Karlitz & Company was hired by (and continues to do projects for) Chanel for all of the front-of-house coordinating, including tour guides and security. “It was an extraordinary success, beyond Chanel’s expectations. The mostly male greeters were instructed to be friendly and informational, and held to an all-black wardrobe," Herb explains. Here, security guards kept watch over what must have been a very expensive handbag.
Photo: Adam Kaufman
Use Height to Make Tables Magnificent
One of the pictures that ran with my story about the Relais & Chateaux Grand Chefs dinner a few years ago shows how beautiful the setting inside was and how really breathtaking a culinary dinner can be. What was so great about the tables was that they used slender floral vessels that did not block diners’ sight lines. But the height of the arrangements allowed them to hang hand-painted votives, creating a magical canopy of twinkling gold lights for each table that was magical.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
Share the Stage
At culinary events, chefs and restaurant pros are like everybody else, and they like to let their hair down once in a while, and dance and sing. I was really struck by the photo from the private concert for Kenny Loggins hosted by Kraft Food Services in Chicago during an annual trade show for one reason: the giant stage apron that allowed guests to get up and dance on the same level as the band. “We did this event for four or five years in a row, always with a comfortable and familiar name act, like Kenny Loggins or Crosby, Stills & Nash, where guests knew all the songs. Then we built out the stage at the Shakespeare Theatre and the Navy Pier in Chicago,” Herb tells me. “Allowing guests to get up on the stage gives them a real thrill; the trick is handling the talent so that they feel comfortable with an unusual setup.”
Photo: Courtesy of Karlitz & Company
Impress Chefs Where They Eat
Herb explains, “As Godiva becomes a larger global brand, they have to fight the perception that the brand is being diluted, with Godiva chocolates available in groceries and drug stores. Our job was to help them reassert Godiva’s position as top-quality chocolates, and to remind the foodie world that the company still has masters creating and testing new chocolates. This brunch we organized helped us [send that] message to the chef and fine foods markets.” The brunch was held toward the end of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and invitees included chefs and restaurant owners who were all in place and happily tanned, a target market that would otherwise be very hard for Godiva to get access to. The menu and wines incorporated or were designed to complement chocolate. Flowers were done by Pistils & Petals in Miami. Doesn’t the dazzling staging and towering height make you wish you were there and allowed to grab a truffle? Guests were encouraged to take as many truffles as they liked from the display when the event ended.
Photo: Courtesy of South Beach Wine and Food Festival
Get the Local Bigwigs Involved
The choice of Red Rooster for Herb Karlitz’s celebration was for a reason (I think I’ve learned that Herb doesn’t make any choices for dining or wine without a carefully thought-out reason): it was symbolic. In May of 2014, Herb Karlitz and Marcus Samuelsson announced the inaugural Harlem EatUp!, with no less than Harlem Resident-in-Chief Bill Clinton on hand to make the announcement. It also didn’t hurt to have New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio there as well. The festival, which will take place May 14 to 17 this year, will benefit Citymeals-on-Wheels. It looks like it will be a sprawling Harlem-wide affair, with over 20 separate events I can count so far already on the docket; the highlight will be “the Stroll.” “We didn’t want the same old grand tasting tent format,” Herb explains. “The Stroll will spread out in Morningside Park, with one tent each dedicated to food, culture, and art.”
Photo: D Dipasupil/Getty Images for Harlem EatUp! Festival
Offer More Adventurous White Wine Choices
At Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster nightclub Ginny’s for Herb’s 25th anniversary, there was so much food and wine to enjoy, and while I admired the 1990 Mommessin Clos de Tart Grand Cru Burgundy, I was just as impressed by a little white wine station. I mostly drink white wine at events, it is safer (I’m clumsy), but the lack of choice and indifference of selection mostly makes it a yeoman's job to hoist back the vino (though somehow I seem to manage). And really this is a mistake I see all too often at events of every kind where they offer you a commercial brand of pinot grigio or chardonnay that you see all the time. But the impressive little selection of whites at Herb’s affair—I tried them all—could only be surpassed by Herb’s dizzyingly precise explanation of how they were chosen, presented unedited and unproofread: “Two of the wines were ‘projects’ of somms, who are friends of mine: Raj Parr from San Francisco (worldwide wine director for Michael Mina) has Sandhi Chardonnay, which is wonderful. Josh Nadel, worldwide wine director for Andrew Carmellini has Ophelia Chardonnay. Quite different. One sees more oak (Sandhi), the other steel. Since the Bordeaux Wine Council is a sponsor of our upcoming Harlem EatUp! Festival, I thought it would be a nice touch to include a white Bordeaux, which was the Michel Lynch selection.”
Photo: Ted Kruckel
Sometimes a Simple Gift Is the Most Powerful One
At the end of Herb Karlitz’s soiree at Red Rooster, a mountain of François Payard boxes was the lovely send off. I don’t really eat dessert, but the beautiful presentation and simplicity at the exit was thought provoking. I couldn’t wait and opened mine in the taxi, three or four times, and finally decided, alone in the taxi with 10 minutes to go, why wait. I salute Master Herb on a masterful 25 years.
Photo: Ted Kruckel
