Few Tickets Left for Dinner to Honor Jean-Louis Palladin Saturday
By • October 4, 2021 0 971
This Saturday at 6 p.m., Chef Jean-Louis Palladin will be remembered by D.C. community with a “Black-and-VAXXED-tie” dinner at Marcel’s.
The evening will be held under the high patronage and attendance of the Ambassador of France to the U.S. and Madame Phillippe Etienne. The event will introduce a documentary film underway called “All the Best, Jean-Louis.” Photographer Fred Maroon’s stunning food photography will be interwoven through the documentary story.
The event will feature D.C. chefs Cathal Armstrong, Amy Brandwein, Jeff Buben, R.J. Cooper, David Deshaies, Roberto Donna, Katsuya Fukushima, Todd Gray, David Guas, Ris Lacoste, Brian McBride, Kaz Okochi and Robert Wiedmaier.
Wiedmaier got involved in the event because he’s always been “a big fan” of Palladin. He took over for Palladin at the Watergate Hotel and called the chef “instrumental” to his own life as a chef.
“I got involved in the event because he is one of the best chefs in the country and I am trying to make sure his name stays alive,” Wiedmaier said.
Palladin’s first restaurant in the U.S. was “Jean-Louis at the Watergate,” which opened in 1979. According to the New York Times, it drew political elite, chefs and foodies from all over the world. Palladin passed away from lung cancer in 2001 at the age of 55.
“I’ve been to France with him, eaten with him many times and got to know him,” Wiedmaier said. “I was there in the tough times with his cancer too.”
The chef community in D.C. was very tight knit 20 years ago, Wiedmaier added. Things have now changed with the onset of many new restaurants but decades ago, the handful of chefs in the D.C. area were what Wiedmaier called “pretty tight.”
The event will also feature jazz and pop vocalist Jane Monheit singing on a Steinway grand piano wheeled into Marcel’s specifically for the event. Guests also won’t want to miss a special tribute to Chef Francois Dionot of the L’Academie de Cuisine.
You can purchase tickets to the dinner here.
