Pittsburgh has many attractions and Midwest Bailli Provincial Peter Hanowich along with Pittsburgh Bailli Barbara Hanowich, carefully planned the Midwest Regional Assemblage weekend to represent not only Pittsburgh the city, but Pittsburgh the Baillage. The weekend began with the arrival of over twenty guests representing their baillages. The Hilton Hotel graciously accommodated not only out of town guests, but local members who chose to stay over after the Saturday night extravaganza.

The Pennsylvania Culinary Institute, located in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh, hosted the first dinner of the weekend. Under the direction of Chef Grillardin William M. Hunt, CEC, CCE, Dean of Culinary Arts at the school, the evening was planned to the last detail. It served as an elaborate lesson for the students, a chance for the teachers to show off their students to a very food savvy group of guests, as well as a delight to the taste buds of everyone present.

Casually dressed Chaîne members arrived at the high rise that houses the institute and were escorted up the elevator to the school cafeteria by well-dressed student maitre D's. The cafeteria was elegantly decorated with centerpieces of pulled and blown sugar in the shape of fruit and the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute logo. Before the evening ended several people had plucked and eaten some of the fruit. (OK - I confess to being one of them). There were cold and hot passed hors d'oeuvres consisting of curried mussels on toast, macaire potato with salmon mousse, prosciutto and basil crostini (which reminded me of miniature croque madame sandwiches), cauliflower and leek tarts. At an action station, we could try bronzed lamb on herb croutons with different sauces. This was the perfect beginning of a delightful weekend, and you could feel people sighing and letting go of any worries they may have had.

Bailli Provincial Peter Hanowich welcomed everyone and introduced Chef Grillardin Hunt , who told us it was with great pleasure that he and his staff planned the evening. Pennsylvania Culinary counts among its staff the following Chaîne members in addition to Chef Hunt: Conseillor Provincial-Midwest Norman Hart CEC, CCE, AAC, Chef Grillardin Art Inzinga, CEC, and Professional du vin et Culinaire Patrick Bouchard, FMP. Each of these gentlemen has hosted or attended many Chaîne dinners and were excited at the prospect of sharing the Chaîne experience with their students. One young lady informed us that she had taken the evening off from her paying job just to have the opportunity at a "Chaîne experience".

Conseiller Provincial-Midwest Norm Hart described each course. The wines were discussed by Echanson Provincial Shelly Margolis who we "borrowed" from the Mid Atlantic Province. It's always nice to welcome Shelly to Pittsburgh, particularly when he brings great wines with him. Tonight was no exception. We began with a consommé printanier with quenelles accompanied by a 1993 Corton Charlemagne, Bonneau de Martray - an incredible wine to begin the meal. This was followed by a paupiette of sole with lobster mousseline. Our intermezzo was an absolutely delightful blood orange granità with mango. Chef Norm conceded that the blood orange was a frozen concentrate, which easily held its own with fresh oranges.

The main course was a beef tenderloin with spinach, fennel and foie gras garnished with black truffles and ratatouille ravioli. Shelly outdid himself by managing to procure a supply of 1978 Talbot to accompany this elegant dish. There may be no greater pairing in food and wine than perfectly prepared beef with a vintage Bordeaux. Thanks to the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute and Echanson Provincial Margolis, we were able to experience this wonderful combination. This was followed by an interesting salad of young field greens with Gorgonzola custard, served with a delightful champagne vinaigrette. The dessert course was a chocolate praline semifreddo, with figs steeped in port nicely accompanied by a semi-sweet Lafaurie Peyraguey, 1996. We ended a wonderful evening of food and wine with petit fours and coffee. A rousing series of ovations accompanied Chef Grillardin Hunt's introduction of the dedicated teachers and eager students of the institute.

Despite our desire to linger at the table and revel at the talent and care that went into the evening, we gathered up our miniature logo spoon favors, and went back to our homes and hotel rooms. We knew we had a busy weekend ahead and were going to need our sleep to enjoy it to the fullest!

The Midwest Regional Assemblage continued Saturday, August 25th with some very early classes at the Pittsburgh Hilton. Those who did not attend the "business " portion of the weekend were able to take a cooking class with Hilton Chef Mark Dayanandan. They made coffee crème brûlée, which was served in large coffee mugs and tasted marvelous in the early hours. "Leftovers" were delivered to the business meeting, where they didn't last long.

Peter and Barbara Hanowich held a roundtable meeting with the intent of sharing information to help each baillage find ways to improve upon their current success. Pete spoke on regional and local inductions and how to determine the size membership each baillage should aspire to. As always the most important fact remains that the goal of the Chaîne is to hold sold out gastronomic events, while having a good time planning and attending them. Pete handed out an interesting statistical study that would be helpful to any Bailli. Chambellan Jeanette Boucher led an interesting session on ways to improve our Gastronome articles, particularly through photography.

After several other very informative reports on different aspects of the Chaîne, we were treated to a fun Italian wine tasting led by Professional du Vin Stan "The Wine Man" Lalic, a legendary local Italian wine importer. We had the opportunity to taste several rare (in the sense that they are not easily available in the U.S.) Italian red and white wines. Stan encouraged anyone with a particular interest in Italian wines to contact him for further information.

After an educational morning we headed off to the Strip District for a fabulous lunch of the biggest omelettes you'll ever encounter. The Strip District is an area near downtown Pittsburgh where many food wholesale companies are located. Trucks and rail cars arrive all night from everywhere in the U.S. delivering food items. Local restaurateurs and food aficionados regularly shop in the Strip for specialty foods, as well as the freshest fish, meat and produce in the city. The truck drivers are always ready for a big, home style meal and there are several restaurants that remain open all night to cater to these folks. The Strip has also become the locale for many nightclubs and the party crowd also gets hungry at a late hour.

JoJo's is one of those places, tucked away on a side street, that many Pittsburghers have not yet discovered. But leave it to Pete and Barbara to ferret out interesting dining experiences. They are regulars at this small 50's-like diner that serves a full menu all night and closes at one o'clock in the afternoon. Frank and Robin Mannetti own JoJo's and work there along with their three children, Cristina, Frankie and Patricia. They pride themselves on serving large portions of fresh food made to order with homemade Italian sweet sausage, fresh vegetables and lots of Tabasco sauce. For the Chaîne, they closed the restaurant to the general public and whipped up 24 made to order omelettes. We simply arrived, sat down, and moments later a steaming plate arrived. Ah bliss! JoJo's may not remain a secret for long, since they were recently mentioned in the September issue of Gourmet magazine. The article detailed an evening in the Strip District of Pittsburgh, including dancing and food.

Sated and ready for either a long walk or a long nap, the group was left to their own devices. Some chose to visit Mount Washington for a panoramic view of the city while others checked out the very hip Andy Warhol Museum. A few chose to mill about in the Strip District and shop for everyone's favorite thing - FOOD.

Saturday evening found us back at the Pittsburgh Hilton where Chef Rôtisseur Mark Dayanandan, Hilton Executive Chef, opened his second Chaîne des Rôtisseurs dinner with a spectacular array of hors d'hoeuvres. He even titled the champagne reception "A Culinarian's Approach to Cocktails." There were various food stations to visit and the many choices were impossible to pass up. The food was so bountiful that many of us could have made a meal out of the cocktail hour alone. Fresh oyster "bloody caesar" shooters, jumbo shrimp in Mandarin gazpacho, lobster cappuccino, tuna tartar and jasmine rice tuile with wasabi cream, marinated salmon and crêpe roulades with spiced guacamole were all so delightful, you couldn't eat just one! It all went down very easily with the Mumm Napa Brut Prestige NV.

We then adjourned to the dining room for the "serious" Ordre Mondial induction. Midwest Bailli Provincial Peter Hanowich assisted by Shelly Margolis, Vice Echanson Philip Bucci and Vice Chargé de Presse Ken McCrory inducted three new members to the Ordre Mondial - Chevaliers Dick Schwieger, Andy Tepper and Dick Teodori.

The extra large root Shelly Margolis brought from Philadelphia was greatly commented on (grape vine root, that is). Before the first course, we had the pleasure of watching Bailli Provincial, Peter Hanowich attempt to open his Nebuchadnezzer of Pol Roger, a 15 liter (20 regular bottles) bottle which he had saved for an intimate dinner with some of his closest friends. Tonight certainly seemed to fit the bill! Due to the size of this bottle, Peter stood it on a table and circled it slowly then crossed his fingers that it wouldn't explode and ricochet off one of the crystal chandeliers. After we toasted Pete's success in opening the big one, we all settled down to a terrific first course of lobster and sea scallop gratiné on a garlic paillete with white truffle coulis topped with elephant garlic chips.

The second course brought a baby brioche filled with foie gras mousse accompanied by pickled melon and an arugula mint salad. This was served with a semi-sweet 1998 Wolf Blass "Noble Gold" Late Harvest. The third course was a quail breast "en crépinette" on a bengali mustard sauce with crisp haricot vert and pappadams. It was served with a 1997 burgundy from Tollot-Beaut Chorey Cote du Beaune. This offering exhibited how Chef Dayanandan has a special talent for blending some of his native food traditions with French recipes to create a whole new taste.

During the course of dinner we introduced many verses to the Ordre Mondial song of "vintners, cooks, and company…" Table by table we tried to out do each other and the result was an evening filled with many, many laughs. Dame de la Chaîne Janice Colker even introduced some "doo wop" harmony (well almost harmony) into her table's verses.

Our Intermezzo was absolute ingenuity. Patis and fennel granità with oven dried Fennel had a perfect combination of sweetness with a hint of licorice. Very refreshing! Following this was a roasted loin of lamb with an herb mousse, William potatoes and golden chanterelles and a rosemary lamb reduction. A 1997 Banfi Rosso di Montalcino went perfectly with this course.

The cheese course consisted of crottin de chavignol "fondue" with micro greens, sautéed figs and raisin nut bread. A 1981 Château La Lagune brought out the best in the slightly melted cheese.

We finished with a mandarin mousse in chocolate lattice with poppyseed and pistachio fan, ganache flowers and candied oranges accompanied by La Famiglia di Robert Mondavi Moscato Bianco. As Pete Hanowich presented the special Nicole Miller Chaîne tie and cummerbund sets to Chef Rôtisseur Mark Dayanandan and Banquet Manager Don Lee, they were given a well-deserved ovation, followed by a similar ovation for the whole kitchen and service team.

The evening's food wasn't over, however. As we adjourned to the lobby, our eyes beheld a "far eastern" assembly of sweets - including chocolate samurai swords, a dragon and candy "sushi". The talented crew at the Hilton had even provided chocolate "chopsticks". With our eyes and waistlines bulging at this beautiful display, we were hardly able to put a dent in it (although we tried).

Our final song verse seemed to sum up the weekend -

"We showed some of Pittsburgh's best
to our friends from the Midwest.
Good memories once again
of our friends from the Chaîne.
Vintners, cooks and company …"