Legendary Chef Jacques Pépin to demonstrate celebrated cooking techniques at Culinary Festival, Spring 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON, March 2, 2010 – Industry icon, internationally respected Chef, cookbook author, television personality and cooking teacher, Jacques Pépin headlines a remarkable roster of Executive and Celebrity Chefs at the first annual Vintage Hotels Culinary Festival taking place this spring.
The month-long event runs every weekend beginning April 10th and gathers some of Canada’s finest chefs including Renegade Cuisine Queen Lynn Crawford, Food Network Celebrity Chef and author Anna Olson, multi-award winning Executive Chef Simon Smotkowicz, international competitors & members of Culinary Team Canada, and many more, for unforgettable epicurean weekend experiences set amidst the beautiful backdrop of Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Hosted at the acclaimed Prince of Wales, Queen’s Landing and Pillar and Post Hotels, the Culinary Festival is spearheaded by the Executive Chefs of Vintage Hotels—Andrew Dymond of Escabeche Restaurant, James Olberg of Tiara Restaurant, Randy Dupuis of Cannery Restaurant, Roberto Fracchioni of Millcroft Inn & Spa, and Michael Wilson of Vintage Hotels’ latest addition, Crush Wine Bar of Toronto. Also appearing will be Trevor Ritchie, Queen’s Landing’s Chef de Cuisine and 2010 World Champion of the Junior Chefs Challenge held in Santiago, Chile this past January.
Culinary dream teams have been assembled to craft the highly anticipated seminars, informative and interactive cooking demonstrations as well as personally design the menu for each weekend’s crown affairs—the exclusive Chef’s Dinner on Saturday evening, and a Sunday morning Brunch.
“I have heard many wonderful things about the distinguished history, fine cuisine, warm hospitality and incredible wine of Niagara-on-the-Lake. I look forward to experiencing all of it and I am honoured to join my peers and share my passion in this exciting celebration,” said Pépin.
Chef Pépin was the personal chef to three French heads of state, including Charles de Gaulle. He is also the author of 25 cookbooks and has hosted nine acclaimed public television cooking series. Pépin’s latest book, More Fast Food My Way, contains dozens of elegant “minute” recipes. In 2008, he won a Lifetime Achievement Award from The James Beard Foundation.
Each weekend the Festival will showcase an esteemed group of acclaimed chefs working together to educate, demonstrate, interact and execute a sensational, multi-sensory gastronomic celebration for the public. Dynamic menus will deliver impact and outstanding flavour combinations, paired perfectly with a selection of VQA wines from family owned, award-winning Château des Charmes, official winery partner in the first annual Festival.
All Festival fare will be prepared in multi-award winning Le Creuset cookware – a culinary industry quality benchmark since 1925 and the official cookware supplier of the first annual Vintage Hotels Culinary Festival.
All-inclusive weekend packages for the Vintage Hotels Culinary Festival are now on sale from $325 CAD per person and can be purchased by calling 1-888-669-5566. For more information on the Vintage Hotels Culinary Festival, please visit www.vintage-hotels.com
VINTAGE HOTELS
Vintage Hotels is a collection of CAA/AAA four-diamond hotels. Prince of Wales, Queen’s Landing and Pillar and Post in Niagara-on-the-Lake offer 374 guestrooms, 35,000 square feet of meeting space, three four-diamond restaurants, and two spas. 100 Fountain Spa and Secret Garden Spa are consistently ranked top spas by Spas of America. Vintage Hotels also owns the 24-guestroom Moffat Inn in Niagara-on-the-Lake. In 2008, the Vintage collection grew to include the Millcroft Inn & Spa located in the rolling hills of Alton-Caledon, 45 minutes northwest of Toronto. The Millcroft offers 52 guestrooms, 4,700 sq. ft. of meeting space, a four-diamond restaurant, and the renowned Millcroft Spa, Centre for Well-Being.
Offering classic style with modern sensibility, the hotel properties share a stellar reputation for delivering exceptional experiences in a unique destination. The elegant and refined Prince of Wales and the classic yet charming Pillar and Post were tops in Ontario on the Condé Nast Traveler Gold List 2006, with Prince of Wales repeating in the No. 2 spot in 2007 and in 2009 named Best Hotel in Ontario on Travel + Leisure Magazine’s List of 500 World’s Best Hotels. Queen’s Landing, voted number one Hotel in Ontario in the Condé Nast Readers’ Choice Awards 2009, sets the stage for everything from high-level corporate gatherings to romantic getaways in a Georgian-style waterfront mansion. The Millcroft Inn & Spa earned the Fodor’s Choice Award of Distinction in 2008 and placed 2nd in Ontario’s Finest Inns & Spas 2008 WOW awards as Top Spa, Destination & Dinner Experience. Vintage Hotels is a proud partner of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada. For more information: www.vintage-hotels.com.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Dianne Turner, Marketing and PR Specialist
Vintage Hotels
(905) 468-1362 ext. 8464
d.turner@vintage-hotels.com
April Brunet, VP of Sales and Marketing
Vintage Hotels
(905) 468-1362 ext. 8349
a.brunet@vintage-hotels.com
