la toque

Going to Boot Truffle Camp is New Year's Resolution You Meant to Make

There are base camps, boot camps, band camps, and low-rent gatherings in faraway locations for every sport known. But what if you want to ditch the grind and shack up somewhere idyllic and secluded so you can really focus on... truffles? What kind of options would you have? As fate – and Chef Ken Frank – would have it, there is exactly one: Truffle Camp in Napa Valley.

Chef Frank is the owner and culinary mind behind Napa's La Toque, one of but a dozen restaurants in the world to have a truffle menu. To begin your initiation into the arcane world of gourmet fungi – and distinguishing your Italian tuber magnatum pico from your French tuber uncinatum – you'll fly to Napa and settle into your room in the in the Westin Verasa. The first night you'll relax, to be ready for your first 3-hour truffle-laden cooking lesson under Chef Frank's tutelage the next morning.

Afterward, Chef will take you on a tour of Long Meadow Ranch to sample the local farm's delicacies. The next day begins with another 3-hour truffle extravaganza, followed by a tour of a private winery and barrel tastings with Chef Frank and La Toque's wine director, Scott Tracy. The evening concludes with an "All Truffle Dinner," paired with Tracy's wine selections. And you're not finished there: to properly prepare you for return to native lands, you'll be fed a truffle omelet breakfast and then plied with goodies to take home.

The camp runs from January 17-19, 2010. No, it doesn't have the awkward tenderness of a few weeks spent in a dorm with the tuba section, but you'll probably enjoy reminiscing about it a great deal more.

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Tags: california, cooking, journey, journeys, ken frank, KenFrank, la toque, LaToque, napa, napa valley, NapaValley, travel, truffle camp, TruffleCamp

Truffle Camp At La Toque

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events

We know truffles are luxurious and tasty but using them effectively is a bit of an art. By the end of Truffle camp at the La Toque restaurant at The Westin Verasa, Napa you'll exactly what to do with the prized fungi. Ken Frank, executive chef and owner of La Toque restaurant will teach eight students at a time over the course of three days. It begins on a Sunday evening with a reception and dinner prepared by Chef Frank. Monday morning there is a hands-on cooking class followed by lunch and a trip to to Long Meadow Ranch to tour the farm and taste produce. The next day there is another class and lunch followed by a trip to a local winery for a private tour and barrel tasting. Dinner is at La Toque where a truffle-centered menu will be paired with different wines. It winds up on Wednesday morning with a a farewell breakfast of truffle omelets and the bestowing of a truffle "goodie bag" to create your own truffle specialties at home.

Ken Frank's Truffle Camp at La Toque is $2,900 per student based on single occupancy or $4,800 per couple based on double occupancy and is held January 11-14, 2009 and January 18-21, 2009. The price includes three night's accommodations at The Westin Verasa, Napa in a deluxe one-bedroom suite, the five meals mentioned above, two hands on cooking classes with Chef Frank, the field trips to the farm and winery, goodie bag, recipes, wines served during the event and gratuities. The only thing that's missing? A truffle hunt to source the musty treasures.

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Tags: la toque, LaToque, napa valley, NapaValley, westin verasa, WestinVerasa