April Meeting of the ACF Naples Chefs Chapter

The American Culinary Federation  (ACF) is a group of chefs and food industry professionals. ACF has almost 18,000 members and 200 chapters in the U.S. Their mission is education, certification (more on that in a later post), scholarship and inclusion in international competition.

The kick off meeting for the Naples ACF Chefs chapter 2015 season was at the Windstar Clubhouse.

Windstar was one of Naples, FL first, if not the first gated communites and has been around for over 25 years.

After entering a very nicely appointed lobby area,

the dining area of the club was on the second floor.

The format of these ACF meetings is always a social hour, followed by chapter business/educational presentation and a sit down dinner.

Attendees mingled in the bar area

and were treated to samples of VoornCroquettes

and given information about products by Oakes Farms

and Skuna Bay Salmon, all of these vendors donating their wares for the evening’s meeting.

Skuna Bay Salmon is distributed by North Star Seafood on the east coast of Florida. Their Product List is extremely impressive and they are also another generous donor to local ACF functions.

After a discussion of chapter business by the chapter president

and an awards ceremony,

attendees

started on the meal for the evening. Here was the menu.

The first course

was a delicious take on Gazpacho. I loved the Yin and Yang thang.

After that, the second dish

was served with scallop, Tuna “Tar Tar” and Bang Bang Shrimp. This and other dishes were beautiful plated atop vegetables or flowers.

What followed

was Cedar-Planked Skuna Bay salmon, microgreens with a lemon-Truffle vinaigrette and perfectly cooked Short Ribs on a bed of cinnamon-flavored sweet potato.

Dessert

was totally over the top with coconut Sorbet in a Praline Basket, with Pina ColadaCreme Brulee and berries and creme.

Hats off to Executive Chef Joe DiPrima for a delicious and over the top meal!

That’s that for the April Naples ACF Chefs meeting and another post on Forks.