D'Artagnan Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary with a 32 Star Progressive Dinner

by Deb West (RSS feed)
Jan 17th 2010 at 2:02PM

True foodies think nothing of spending exorbitant sums on their passion. Fine wines, and four star meals, often in foreign countries, are their version of luxury. The names they drop are not Prada or Manolo but Keller and Ripert. Twenty-five years ago Ariane Daguin from France and her partner George Faisan started D'Artagnan. It was really the first company to focus on providing consumers in the United States with food products from Ariane's native region of France, Gascony. It has become the premier supplier of specialty food products from the foie gras to truffles to high end American restaurants and gourmet shops.

This February the company celebrates its 25th anniversary with a week long celebration in New York starting on February 17, 2010. The highlight of the festivities is a "32 Star Progressive Dinner" on Saturday February 21rst. The special event features celebrated chefs from the Gascon region of France in various four star kitchens around Manhattan. The evening kicks off with cocktails at 5pm after which the participants will board the "Armagnac-fueled" bus to experience each course at a different 4 star restaurant.

Participating chefs include:

Daniel Boulud with Jean-Marie Gautier, M.O.F. of Hotel du Palais, Biarritz
Jean-Georges Vongeritchen with Michel Trama of Aubergade, Puymirol
Daniel Humm with Jacques & Laurent Pourcel of Le Jardin des Sens, Montpellier
Thomas Keller with Hélène Darroze of Restaurant Hélène Darroze, Paris
Eric Ripert with Thierry Marx of Cordeillan-Bages, Pauillac and Philippe Urraca, M.O.F.

The above list is just for the main course! There are others chefs cooking their native cuisine for the other courses. Wines from top producers including Chateau Lynch Bages will be featured and Trou Gascon Armagnac will be served on the bus between courses.

The finale occurs at Le Bernadin where all the chefs will celebrate after dessert. Seating is limited and costs $600 per person for the evening.

Tags: 25th anniversary, 25thAnniversary, Armagnac, celebrity chef, celebrity chefs, CelebrityChef, CelebrityChefs, Daniel Boulud, DanielBoulud, DArtagnan, Eric Ripert, EricRipert, fine dining, FineDining, french food, FrenchFood, new york restaurants, NewYorkRestaurants, thomas keller, ThomasKeller