A restaurant recommendation for Dys; Dinner ala nude
A restaurant recommendation for Dys - BBB
Dinner a la nude
St. Louis Post Dispatch, July 5, 2001
When Chris Leahy and Andrew Hagene serve a meal, the platter is at least as interesting as the food.
A nude woman lies on a round, mirrored table as Chef Chris Leahy places small pieces of sushi atop each of her legs.
He completes an interweaving pattern of cucumber and tuna rolls that snakes from her ankle to her neck. He nestles a bowl of wasabi in the crook of her right arm, then puts a plate of ginger at her feet. He steps back to admire his work.
The well dressed partygoers watch with watering mouths. Leahy works quickly, arranging pieces of smoked salmon terrine in a circular pattern on the table. He places sweet corncakes and crawfish served on mustard toast points on and around his subject's body.
He attempts to place a duck cake wrapped in caul fat on her chest, but it slides off. A Vanilla Stoli cherry brownie stays in place much better.
He outlines the woman's body with chocolate covered strawberries like a chalk drawing as she lies perfectly still. When finished, Leahy addresses the crowd. He thanks them for coming and describes the food they are about to eat.
"And please respect the model," he says. "If the model is not respected, the party is over."
And then, dinner is served.
Eating crawfish cakes off the body of a nude woman may sound like bliss to some, and disgusting to others, buts its commonplace if you are attending a party thrown by Raw Catering, a new service started by two recent college graduates.
Leahy, 24 a graduate of St. Louis Community College at Forest Park's culinary arts program, and Andrew Hagene, 24, an M.B.A. student who will graduate in July from Webster University, started Raw Catering last September.
The two have displayed their work at private parties and art showing, including last winter's "Arousal" art show held at the Monkey Building on Washington Avenue.
Leahy says the idea to use a live woman as a serving tray for his hors d'oeurves cam to him out of the blue one day.
"I love women, and I love food," he says. "What better combination."
"This is art to me. My food is art. I want people to enjoy the entire experience of eating the food I serve. And this is one more way that people can get into it."
A typical party by Raw Catering consisted of a tapas-style meal of hors d'oeuvres and desserts, prepared by Leahy and his assistant, Herb Ramirez.
Guests are charged from $40 to $60 a person with alcohol included. And of course, that includes eating food off the body of a naked person.
"Some people get the wrong idea about us," Hagene said. "They think this is pornographic, buts it's really not. We attract all kinds of people to our parties. It's more of an upscale thing. We've had our parents come to our parties."
Everyone was well behaved at the recent party. The room was silent for a moment when the model, a young attractive brunette, disrobed and was lifted on the table by Leahy and Hagene. Leahy adjusted her body on the table and placed a bouquet of plastic flowers on her middle, then adorned her in his appetizers.
Some people made nervous attempts at humor. "Why that's a full bodies meal," and onlooker said. But after people had helped themselves to a couple of rounds of food, the novelty seemed to wear off.
No one seemed to notice the woman lying on the table, now only partly covered in food.
Some guests debated whether the display was "art."
"It's a forbidden fruit theme," said Joe Wendling of St. Louis. "You can have your way with the food, but you can't have your way with the model."
"I think it is art," said Anna Mandlman of Wildwood. "Eating is sensuous. This heightens the sensuality of eating."
"This is done in good taste said Mandlman's husband, Steve, an attorney in Clayton. " We didn't really know what to expect. I think it makes the food even more attractive."
Throwing a Raw Catering party is more and less fun then you might expect, Leahy says. For this particular party at a private residence in University City, Leahy started cooking at 4 a.m.
Before his first party, Leahy practiced on a model. "I learned very quickly that there are some foods that work for this and some that don't," he said. "You have to take into account the body temperature of the model. Some foods, like cheese, will almost cook on the body."
Leahy has found that foods such as sushi and brownies stick extremely well.
"It was a whole experimental process" he says. "My kitchen was a mess afterward."
Finding models is another thing. Former models have been friends or acquaintances. Others have responded to ads placed in newspapers or on college bulletin boards. Leahy and Hagene usually pay models $100 an hour, with most sitting lasting two hours.
Leahy said he knows of male models who are interested in working for him, but no one has requested a party with a male thus far.
Amy, a college student who declined to give her last name, was the model for this most recent party.
"The time passed by really quickly, actually," she said afterward as she joined the party clothed and ate a plate of food. "It was something I wanted to do for the experience."
"Everyone was so pleasant. I think people appreciated it in an artistic way. Yeah, I'd do it again."
By the way, Amy didn't tell her mom about what she was doing. Parents don't always understand the beauty of art, after all.
ORIGIN:
http://www.rawcatering.com/news.html
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