The Chef de Cuisine Association of California, ACF-Los Angeles

It has been a very long time since I have written anything new here!

Hopefully everyone has had a Great Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Passover, Easter and Mother’s Day!  We hope that you will have a Fantastic Memorial Day and Fourth of July!

Since we last updated this page, a whole lot of great stuff has happened and a bad thing or two also.

  I will start with the bad.  Our beloved member, board member and Outstanding Chef, Asif Ahmed, passed away at too young an age.  Chef Asif will be greatly missed by all!

Now for the good stuff!

In December, we had a dinner at the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica.  A great dinner & time was had by all.

In January, we went to the Hyatt Regency Valencia, where Chef Daniel Csotai did a stupendous job with dinner for us all.

In February, we had our Chef and Child Golf Tournament at the Porter Valley Country Club in the San Fernando Valley. This was overseen by or own Chef Alexis Higgins. She did a tremendous job with the help of Foster Farms and US Food Service supporting her.

In March, we had a truly phenomenal dinner at Lawry’s The Prime Rib in Beverly Hills.  If you missed this one, you missed one of the best CCAC Dinners of all time! Chef Dana Dare wen out of his way to make a Superb Prime Rib Dinner for almost 70 members at the event.

In April, we flew into the Airtel Hotel at the Van Nuys Airport, where Chef Desi prepared us an amazing dinner.  Chef Desi’s piece de resistance was Polenta with a Wild Mushroom Ragout!  It was plate licking good!  We also had an educational piece on the Tower Garden.

Now for the Great Stuff!

I went to the Central and Western Regional Convention in Chicago in February.  I had a good time, but forgive me!  We won some awards as a chapter and some of our members.  We won Chapter Achievement for the Western Regional & Chapter of the Year for the Western Region.  Chef Luis Martinez, CEC, AAC and all around great person, won the Herman G. Rouch Professional Chef for the Western Region.

The Fort Irwin Army Culinary Team went to the Fort Lee National Military Competition and won Seven Silver medals and awards at the Military Culinary Competition.  Thank you to all of the CCAC Members that helped and supported them in their quest. Daniel Drumlake, Asif Ahmed, Brian Reff, Robert Phillips & Tommy Padgett of Solo Meats who support our brothers in arms train from Fort Irwin! They will be supporting the AAC Dinner at USC. Where those Medals Troops!

On Saturday Night, May 13, 2017, many of our members attended Chef Basil’s Broken Soldiers Awards Gala, at Los Angeles Trade Technical College, where they were recognized and presented certificates of appreciation for their hard work and support of veterans here in the Southern California Area.  The crew at Trade Tech Steve Kasmar, Chefs & Culinary Students did a great job!

Upcoming Stuff!

In May, we will be having a dinner in the Long Beach Area at Paradise LA.  Stay tuned for updates.

In June, we will be have a dinner on the Southside of Los Angeles.  Stay tuned for updates.

June also will have Chefsnet at U.S.C.  The Chef has arranged a special deal for us.  If you are interested please contact me hopefully you have seen the flyer I sent out..

We also are having an American Academy of Chefs Dinner on June2, 2017.  I am sorry to say, but we are sold out.  If you are interested in being put on the waiting list, please contact me. This should be one of the biggest events of the year. I hope you got a ticket. This will be the biggest AAC Dinner on the West Coast in over 25 years.

In July, I will be attending the National Convention in Florida.  If you are interested in attending, please contact me about a possible contribution from the chapter to help pay for your trip.  Chef Richard Morgan will be receiving a Presidential Medallion and recognition of his being the oldest active member of the ACF!

In August, we will be having a booth at the Western Restaurant and Hospitality Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center.  We will need volunteers to help man the booth throughout the three days.  We look forward to seeing you there!

We also are awaiting confirmation of the date and location of the Annual Multi- Chapter Chefs Picnic.  Please stay check back for additional updates. I think this will be late August at this point.

Thanks for reading this!  I am looking forward to seeing you at upcoming events!

CCAC President

Robert W. Phillips

CEC, CCA, AAC