The volunteers who are planning the St. Louis Public Library's Taste of Fiction, a Must-Read, Must-Eat Event scheduled for next Friday, March 7, have enlisted thirteen of the finest pastry chefs in the area to interpret literary works in pastry.
The chefs' artful interpretations will be on view at the cocktail party but are for eyes only. The pastries will remain in the library's Great Hall until the following day so they can be viewed by the public. Taste of Fiction kicks off Food for Thought, a full month of culinary programming at the main library and its branches.
Twenty-four (see list* at end of post) of the sixty committee members live in the neighborhood, including co-chair Sally Nikolajevich (the other co-chair, Erica Leisenring, is a former CWEnder). A couple of local businesses, including a pastry chef, are participating too. The committee chose the following books for the chefs to interpret:
- A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin: Chris Desens, the Culinary Institute of Hickey College
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare: Stephen Schubert, River City Casino
- Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger: Bob Zugmaier, Sidney Street Cafe
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl: Casey Shiller, Jilly’s Cupcake Bar and Cafe
- Faust by Goethe: Martin Lopez and Sandia Hoorman, Piccione Pastry
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel: Julie Weldele, Scape
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: George “Skip” Guthier, Companion Bakery
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: Simone Faure, La Patisserie Chouquette
- The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: Nathaniel Reid, The Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodges Burnett: Tim Brennan, Cravings
- To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee: Danielle Bush, Annie Gunn’s
- The Twenty-Seventh City by Jonathan Franzen: Anne Croy, Pastaria
The fabulous invitation, above & first photo, was designed as a hard-cover cookbook you might check out of the library by Mary Kunnath, a designer for Cheree Berry Paper at 3 S. Newstead (open by appointment). The invitation, a real keeper, includes a recipe card for Fairy Loaf Cake.
Cheree Berry was the subject of a post on this blog in 2010, shortly after it was announced that she designed Chelsea Clinton's wedding invitation. Liz Reeves, Director of Development for the SLPL Foundation, said that Cheree has been a loyal supporter of the library since she moved to St. Louis in 2006. That's the same year she created an invitation for the Celebrate Central event. The talented designer is also providing all the signage, including chef bios, for A Taste of Fiction.
Photo courtesy of St. Louis Public Library
The photo above shows several prototypes chefs made for a recent tasting held at Central Library for the press. Liz Miller of Feast Magazine was at the tasting and followed up with a glowing report that was published in the Post-Dispatch.
Taste of Fiction benefits Central Library's Culinary Collection which is located in the Science and Technology Room, which also includes information on patents and books on botany. I visited with Spruce Fraser, above, Librarian, Patent & Trademark Resource Center last week. Spruce, who has been on the staff since 2002, is so enthused about the culinary collection that she writes a very informative slpl food blog and also hosts a culinary book club on the 1st Wednesday of each month. The next book club meeting on spices is March 5 from noon to 1 (reservations are not required).
The vast culinary collection consists of approximately 12,000 titles and is sought after by chefs looking for inspiration and recipes, sous-chefs who want to be chefs, new restaurateurs, sommeliers, culinary students, and home cooks who may want to research a particular cuisine. If you have questions about the collection, email Spruce: [email protected].
Amanda Barr Evola is head of Special Collections at the library which includes historic menus and cookbooks, including an 1886 edition of the Pilgrim Church Cookbook. Special Collections is located on the third floor of Central Library.
It seemed more than appropriate to photograph a section of the culinary collection devoted to books on cakes, above.
Two books that I thought were of particular interest are Spanish chef Ferran Adria el Bulli's cookbook and The Colors of Dessert, above. Another gorgeous book, The Photography of Modernist Cuisine, not pictured, is a reference book I hope to get back to soon.
Julie Weldele, above, is the new pastry chef at Scape on Maryland Plaza. She left The Ritz for this as she says, "amazing opportunity," and on her first day (a few weeks ago), was asked if she would participate in A Taste of Fiction. She jumped at the chance perhaps because she was assigned her favorite book, A Life of Pi. It was one of the few books she read in high school she remembers really enjoying and feeling connected to.
Julie came to her pastry career after working at Michael's and finding she enjoyed cake decorating classes offered at the store. She was in interior design at the time, but decided to enroll in the culinary program at Forest Park Community College where Casey Schiller, who is decorating cupcakes for a A Taste of Fiction, was her instructor. Julie has worked at the Sidney Street Cafe and, when she was at The Ritz, worked under Simone Faure, who went on to open La Pastisserie Chouquette. It seems that everyone in the St. Louis restaurant scene is connected somehow.
Julie shared her sketch for the cake she will create based on A Life of Pi, above. She is planning to bake a cardamom carrot cake with pistachios, filled with a cardamom cream cheese mousse with mango, iced with an Italian buttercream. Sounds fabulous doesn't it?
Linda Pilcher of Something Elegant Catering will serve appetizers at A Taste of Fiction with a literary twist, including Satanic Verses, Chipotle-Deviled Quail Eggs, Unbearable Lightness of Brie, Catcher in the Rye, Rueben Gougeres with Smoky Pastrami, etc. and Three Little Pigs, a Tempting Trio of Pork Appetizers. Restaurateur Vince Bommarito, Jr. has designed the signature drink using Monkey Shoulder Whisky.
Taste of Fiction, Friday, March 7, 6:30 to 8:30, St. Louis Public Library (Central Library), 1415 Olive. Tickets, $50, can be purchased online until the end of the day Friday, February 28. Following that, tickets can be purchased by calling the library, (314) 539-0359. The event is sold out at 450 tickets!
*Volunteers from the CWE include Annie Schlafly, Paula Abboud, James Afflixio, Sue Aman, Holly Brigham, Holly Cousins, Deborah Dolgin, Alison Ferring, Peggy Guest, Pat Hernandez, Cabanne Howard, Kelly Hynes, Peasy Love, Jen Maclean, Beki Marsh, Barbara Martin, Peggy McClellan, Connie McPheeters, Marianne Murphy, Francoise Oliver, Dana Romeis, Eloise Schlafly, Mary Sexton, Teg Stokes, and yours truly.
P.S. – To support the St. Louis Public Library, chef Casey Shiller of Jilly's Cupcake Bar (and instructor at St. Louis Community College Forest Park), has designed four cupcakes, each based on a character from the 1964 children’s classic, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, by Roald Dahl. “Charlie’s Golden Ticket”, the “Violet Beauregarde”, the “Veruca Salt” and the “Willy Wonka” will be available for purchase during the month of March at Jilly’s Cupcake Bar and Café and at Straub’s Fine Grocers with a portion of the proceeds benefitting the St. Louis Public Library.
Yum!