For hospitality-minded individuals that make restaurant reservations for a living, it’s highly unusual to see a collective of professional concierges on the other end of the food line—prepping, cooking, serving and cleaning. Yet that’s what several of my colleagues and I did recently when we, as members of the Philadelphia Concierge Association, volunteered to be guest chefs at the Ronald McDonald House in University City.
Some of us have a fairly broad knowledge base when it comes to cooking, especially Mimoza who is a concierge-by-day at the Ritz-Carlton in Center City. Seeing the way she roasted peppers, made sauce for pasta and washed and dried pots and utensils (all simultaneously!), Mimoza showed her years of kitchen experience, and is without a doubt a really good home cook. I could tell as well that Fran, head concierge at The Sonesta, also knows her way around a stove. And, I’ll admit, too, to having my own fair share of hours spent in restaurant kitchens. I love to cook. (Disclaimer: I sideline once a month as a guest chef, locally).
The rest of our small group, though, went from being fairly adept, to “I’m a terrible cook. I’ve burnt water before!” No matter. We all followed each other’s directions to a T.
The final result were the many smiles and satisfied bellies we’d brought to the eighty or so children and their family members who would ultimately enjoy the feast we so lovingly prepared for them.
This particular Ronald McDonald House was the first facility of its kind to open in the U.S., providing room and board for families who have children that are receiving care from nearby Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. After so much time spent shuttling back and forth to C.H.O.P., and then, hour after hour of sitting through treatment – trying to fortify with a meal is the last thought running through most of the minds of those staying at the House. Not to mention the ongoing costs of three squares a day. That’s where the guest chef volunteer program comes into play.
It’s easy and it is fun.
Companies and individual groups (both professional and non-professional) simply supply the food and a few hours of their time. The rest pretty much falls into place.
All the RMH staff asks is to have at least one vegetarian dish on hand. It’s best to make a salad or a soup, a main course and a vegetable side dish. This year the concierges provided Caesar salad with grilled chicken, pasta shells with a chicken sausage and tomato sauce, stewed red peppers, fresh bread and dessert. Thankfully, the cupboards and shelves of this kitchen are fully stocked. Forget the basil? No problem. It’s next to the other twenty or so containers of herbs and spices.
Of course we appealed to several of our allied members who quickly joined the cause to become tasty benefactors: Starr Restaurant Organization baked yummy bread (from Parc restaurant), and it supplied scrumptious s’mores for dessert (via Barclay Prime Steakhouse). Garces Restaurant Group chipped in fresh produce and ripe cherry tomatoes.
The concierges did the rest.
Serving sixty to eighty individuals seems like a daunting task. It wasn’t. It is amazing how well the six of us worked together (RMH allows up to ten cooks in their kitchen). The recipients enjoyed the food and we certainly loved the camaraderie. For an exercise in team building, nothing beats working the dinner or a breakfast shift at RMH.
It was a lot of hard work to accomplish in a little bit of time, but the effort came from the heart. Not bad for a bunch of concierges who are usually telling groups of people where to go to get great food!
For information on Guest Chef volunteer specifics, you can visit the RMH website at philarmh.org.
- Top photo: Ken Alan
- Other photos: Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House
- Featured photo: Ronald McDonald House Charities
