But when he walked into his kitchen with close out of town friends and family who had already ambushed him at a bar to discover the CBs highly engaged in the prep process, if he wasn’t totally surprised, I hope he was at least confused or bemused, and I think he was. And things were just getting started.

The Chief Conspirator In Residence, Mrs. Jeanne Oostdyk, had recruited the CBs earlier in the month leading to covert E mails and calls and one final planning meeting to propose the final menu. (The CBs, having done a few of these surprise gigs are getting pretty crafty at being sneaky.) Old friends Bob and Victoria Holly made the trip from New Jersey, Jeff and Kathy Idler parachuted in from Philadelphia and were joined by Scott’s brother Dale and wife Paige along with CBJ’s wife Jan. You can always tell when authentic old friends unite because the interrupted conversations of years before are restarted with such ease, it is as if they had all been together the day before. Wine of course was involved at this stage of the gathering and that can quicken the alchemy of a reunion like this.

CBJ, as noted on these pages previously, is pathologically incapable of not creating a theme around a CB dinner. And in this case, as he has known Scott since college, was able to map out his life through the menu. And although we always collaborate on our cooking gigs, I’ll give a full tip of the toque to CBJ on this one as executive chef. Here’s the menu:

A LIFE BEGINS – When he was a Baby: Miniature Crabcakes topped with Poached Quail Eggs, Caviar and Old Bay Hollandaise

GREEN IN JUDGMENT, COLD IN BLOOD – His Salad (Days) of Spring Awakenings: New Potatoes, Hearts of Palm, Asparagus Tips and Red Grapes over Spring Greens with Champagne and Grape Leaf Vinaigrette

INTERMEZZO -A Spicy Kiss (Jeanne) Cleansed his Palate and Sharpened his Focus: Lemon Sorbet with Creme de Menthe and a Kiss of Mint.

THE HEART OF THE MATTER – What Feeds His Soul (Family) and Sticks to his Rib(eye)s: Prime Bone-In Ribeye Steak with Sauteed Mushrooms, Gorgonzola Polanta and Mixed Baby Vegetables

THE JUST REWARDS – Well-Earned Bread (Pudding); the Fruits of his Labor: White and Dark Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding/Mixed Berry Garni

As a chef I have to say that the crab dish that CBJ came up with is awesome. The tedious stage are the quail eggs. They have tough shells and a fairly thick membrane, so delivering an unbroken yolk to the poaching liquid was a bit of an adventure. This dish killed.

Also, the ribeyes were spectacular pieces of meat. We had the butcher “French” the bone for a prettier presentation, then sliced them perpendicular to the bone and fanned each steak over the polenta. Birthday Boy showed a bit of amazement when his Flintstone sized beef was served Pittsburgh Style. Apparently Scott didn’t think his grill out back could crank enough heat for the proper char. I was able to get it really fired up, so with the combination of super high heat, closed lid and beautifully marbled fat dripping into the flame, well just let me say, we were fired up! There were clean plates all around, and in our business, it doesn’t get any better than that.

So happy birthday Scott, nice going Jeanne and thanks to all Scott and Jim’s friends and family for doing your part and for letting me in on the action. Oh, Scott, you look great in that new Comfort Brother ball cap, but not quite as fetching as your bride in her CB apron!

Comments (1)

1. 

   RG

   Magical! The CB’s strike again! [Reply]

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