Last weekend I took my mom to see Richard Blais do a cooking demonstration at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta. I always loved watching Blais on Top Chef, and I was happy to see that his reality tv persona was pretty similar to how he acts in real life (or as much as being on stage can be real life). I observed to my mom that few people come away from reality tv experiences looking good. Richard Blais managed to not look like an asshole on Top Chef, and I respect that.
The cooking demonstration was accomplished with the help of Blais’s team, the Trail Blaisers. He made four different courses: oysters and pearls (a play on Thomas Keller’s famous dish), chips and salsa, grouper “filet o’ fish,” and a pork belly BLT.
Because we were sitting close to the stage, we got to try the oysters. I forgot to take a picture (bad food blogger!).
Blais was affable and charming, making fun of himself and sharing anecdotes from his life as a quasi-celebrity chef. He had a helper walking around with a mic taking questions from the audience. All in all, it was a fun way to spend an afternoon.
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