I have been an admirer of Jordan Caterers for some time now.
Jordan Caterers was founded by husband and wife Jeffrey and Debra Rappaport, who met in the 6th grade while growing up in Waterbury. After a number of years working in fine dining establishments from Boston to New Orleans, they opened a restaurant called The Eaterie in 1979. Over the next six years, catering and event planning became an increasing part of their business, leading to the establishment of Jordan Caterers.
A number of things separate Jordan Caterers from the typical banquet and catering business. The first is the food, which operates on a high plane in both quality and creativity. The second is a commitment to sustainability (something which you’re going to be hearing more and more about). The third is the formation of close relationships with great catering milieus like the New Britain Museum of American Art. And the fourth is the 2010 hiring as corporate chef of Kevin Cottle, a great talent and all-around good guy.
Kevin, as some may recall, was a Plymouth, Massachusetts native who was working in Middletown when he became a contestant in the 6th season of Fox TV’s Hell’s Kitchen. In one of the show’s closest finales, Kevin wound up as the runner-up. Most observers, including myself, felt he was the best chef on the show, exhibiting creativity, technique, consistency, confidence and grace under fire, and should have won the grand prize. Some speculated that Kevin must have somehow ticked off show host Gordon Ramsay, but my take, borne out by subsequent seasons, is that Gordon has a soft spot for underdogs and likes to make surprise picks. That season’s winner, Dave Levey, had a slacker demeanor that belied his underlying toughness and had battled through a serious arm injury. At any rate, Gordon’s loss was Connecticut’s gain.
In April of 2011, I visited Jordan Caterers’ Cheshire location, checking out not only its showrooms
but its kitchens. I took a few pictures of Kevin at work creating a new surf-and-turf dish,
as well as a photo of the dish itself.
A month later, I ran into Kevin at the Vina Musica fundraiser held at Chamard Vineyards in Clinton, photographing him with best buddy (his and mine) Bun Lai of Miya’s Sushi in New Haven.
For the Star Chefs Wine Dinner held afterward, Kevin contributed an absolutely delicious miso-butter-pecan-crusted Connecticut striped bass with a fennel-jícama-cilantro slaw and a Szechwan cantaloupe nage.
For a stretch after that, I ran into Kevin twice daily, as his son went to the same school as my niece, whom I was transporting during my sister’s illness.
In February of 2012, I got the chance to get to know Jeffrey Rappaport, whom I ran into at a sustainability meeting held at Miya’s Sushi. Here is a photo showing Jeffrey listening in the back.
And finally, when I visited the New Britain Museum, I got to meet Jeffrey and Debra’s son, Jordan Rappaport, presumed namesake and director of sales.
But that’s getting slightly ahead of the story. Although I had visited adjacent Walnut Hill Park a couple of times,
it was my first visit to the New Britain Museum. I accompanied my wife, Ann, who works for CT1 Media, to a party held at the museum.
A bit particular when it comes to art, I was in for a pleasant surprise. Founded in 1903, this was no quaint little local museum but the first institution in the United States to focus exclusively on American art. With more than 10,000 works of art, the museum describes its greatest strengths as colonial portraiture, the Hudson River School, American Impressionism, and the Ash Can School, not to mention the important mural series, The Arts of Life in America by Thomas Hart Benton. The museum states that it relies heavily on its permanent collection for exhibitions and programming, yet also displays a significant number of borrowed shows and work by emerging artists. I can’t speak to which works were permanent and which were on loan, but I can say that any Nutmegger who hasn’t yet made it to this museum has missed an iconic Connecticut experience.
I snapped only a couple of photographs, because I didn’t know if it was appropriate and wanted just enough to make my point about the museum. Remember that you can click on photographs to enlarge them. Enjoy this Currier & Ives,
this Thomas Moran,
and this Frederic Edwin Church of West Rock in New Haven.
My wife and I were especially taken by this Albert Bierstadt, finding the skill with which the translucent wave was rendered equal to or better than in any painting we had ever seen.
But the work that made me cry out with pleasure was one of my favorite N.C. Wyeth illustrations. From Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, it’s captioned: “One more step, Mr. Hands,” said I, “and I’ll blow your brains out.”
My family has a small island in Maine that, before we owned it, was painted a number of times by N.C. Wyeth. We knew both son Andrew and grandson Jamie. Gathered from the internet, here is an N.C. Wyeth showing the view from our island toward Port Clyde, Blubber’s Butt, and Hooper’s Island.
I had yet another pleasant surprise to come, and this one was of a more culinary nature. (Yes, I know my blogging is at times self-indulgent, but I have always believed that life happens while one eats and that food isn’t an isolated topic but something which intersects with all aspects of living.) After getting glasses of wine at the drinks station,
my wife and I headed to the food station beyond it
and immediately recognized Van Hurd,
a disarmingly charming contestant from the 6th season of Hell’s Kitchen. Van had pretty good culinary chops himself, having finished among the six finalists who qualified for a black chef’s jacket. Apparently, Kevin invited Van from Texas to join him at Jordan Caterers, which was starting to look like “Heaven’s Kitchen.” It was funny, because we felt as if we already knew Van, asked him how he had been doing since the show, and then realized we hadn’t explained who we were. Except it turned out he had an idea who I was because he had seen me the day I came to Jordan Caterers to photograph Kevin and his dish.
What helped make the food at the New Britain Museum affair really special is a client who trusted Jordan Caterers enough to give them license to be creative. As a result, the offerings were wonderful and unpredictable, rivaling catered food I’d been served at top culinary events in New York. We began with the delicately flavored pho that Van was preparing, Asian noodles with sriracha-and-soy-marinated flank steak in a ginger lemongrass broth.
Van was also serving delightful green wakame seaweed salad and a hijiki seaweed salad topped with crunchy noodles.
There was also a cheese station, but that was unmanned.
As we circulated among party guests,
we grabbed food from passing servers like this one.
Veterans of such events know there’s an art to positioning oneself where servers emerge, but at times I had to subjugate my desire to graze to the social niceties required of me. No matter—there were plenty of goodies to go around! Among the treats were these smoked trout, prosciutto and fingerling potato bites,
this coffee-cured beef tenderloin with caramelized cipollini onion and port wine reduction served over a garlic croustade,
and smoked duck breast with Brie cheese and a berry chutney served upon an herbed crostini.
I somehow failed to get a photo of the pepper-seared tuna with seaweed salad, wasabi crème fraîche and mango “caviar” served over a wonton crisp, inexcusable considering how many of the little treats I scarfed down. But my favorite savory item was the wild mushroom profiteroles with a hint of apricot glaze and pistachio dust. I could have eaten one for every year I’ve been on this earth, and I’m no longer a spring chicken.
Neither savory nor sweet but both, the grand finale was as scrumptious as it was unusual. Thick-cut, maple-glazed country bacon was dipped in dark chocolate, an incredible collision of flavors that produced an umami sensation on the palate.
My wife and I felt that this simple, elegant offering exemplified what really first-rate catering is all about.
Jordan Caterers, 1718 Highland Avenue, Cheshire, 203-272-0519,
or 1480 Post Road, Darien, 203-889-3354
www.jordancaterers.com
New Britain Museum of American Art, 56 Lexington Street, New Britain,
860-229-0257
www.nbmaa.org