CHELSEA — New York foodies eager to try gourmet fare from the world's top chefs this weekend may want to readjust their eating schedules.
"Le Grand Fooding 2011: Exquisite Corpse," a cooking marathon based on a French Surrealist parlor game, debuts this Friday, bringing with it thirteen chefs and 52 hours of nonstop feasting at a pop-up restaurant in Chelsea.
Even as early as 5 a.m., mouth-watering dishes such as fois gras, poached oysters, raspberry-beet mackerel, and black truffle-coated cod will be served alongside a half-bottle of le Veuve Cliquot.
The festival will honor the world-renowned cooks and their gastronomic creations, as each chef must include a dish previously made by their predecessor chef during their allotted four-hour shift.
Three chefs from New York will be participating, including Andrew Carmellini from Locanda Verde, in Tribeca, and The Dutch, the SoHo restaurant and oyster bar. Starting Friday at 9 p.m., Caremllini will serve langoustine à la plancha, foie gras and "something flambeed table-side."
Hugue Dufour, from the Long Island City restaurant M. Wells, will cook on Saturday night, and Del Posto's pastry chef Brooks Headley will begin Sunday morning at 5 a.m. Dufour's creations will include green fennel ravioli-filled potato ears, balls of fried oysters and fish and a salmon creamsicle.
In the spirit of the game after which the feast is named — "Exquisite Corpse" — the 13 chefs will take turns, and each must add an ingredient to the dish they are borrowing from the chef before. Headley, for example, will take Dufour's ravioli-filled potato ears and add soured herring to it, serving it with a side of vegan chocolate and a dish of celery and figs.
Le Fooding founder Alexandre Cammas even added word play to the event in honor of the original game, which involves words or images instead of food. Cammas has created the super chef Nikoalan Nselurfueymardcora, a pseudonym made by taking two letters from each chef's name and cramming them together into one title.
“He is the chef’s chef for our generation," chef Corey Lee, from Benu in San Francisco, said on the Le Fooding website.
"Le Grand Fooding 2011: Exquisite Corpse" will take place at a Chelsea art gallery, from Friday at 9 p.m. to Sunday at midnight. It's a ticket only event.
