Monday, January 19, 7:00 pm
Members $90, guests $115

While we can’t coax so much as a turnip from the frozen ground at this time of year, elsewhere in the country, other more fortunate regions are still reaping the bounty of their milder climes. Those lucky folks are enjoying tender lettuce not grown in a hothouse, and lemons, oranges, and grapefruits from nearby orchards. A quintet of chefs from the Southern and Westerly states will be coming to share a little of their sunshine with us this January, their suitcases packed with regional delicacies.

You can thank chef Dean James Max, of 3030 Ocean in Fort Lauderdale, for coordinating this gathering of chefs, who know one another from stints at The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead, or Woodside restaurant in Brentwood, California, or both. Floridians are devoted to Max has for his modern American seafood preparations, accented with world flavors. In the Sun-Sentinel, M. L. Warren called Max a “culinary dynamo” and described his food as an “unadulterated joy.” Max came to 3030 from Woodside, where Gourmet critic Caroline Bates praised his “stylish” and “tongue-tingling” cooking. His résumé also lists Brasserie Savoy in San Francisco; Gerard’s Place in Washington, D.C.; The Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City, in Virginia; and The Ritz-Carlton and Mumbo Jumbo in Atlanta.

Stephane Gregoire’s menu at Pisces in Burlingame, California, offers marine dishes from his Brittany childhood and his surroundings in Northern California, as well as all the places he has traveled during the course of his culinary career. After graduating from cooking school, Gregoire moved to England to work at the Webbington Hotel in Axbridge and for Marco Pierre White at Harvey’s restaurant in London. He relocated to Paris, completing his military service as chef de partie at the Elysée Palace, then flew to St. Martin to be executive chef of Le Santal restaurant. Back in Paris, he ran Café de Mar before accepting a job at Le Pavillon at the Hotel des Bergues in Geneva. Gregoire dreamed of San Francisco, and he edged nearer with a job at The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead. His ship came in in the form of an executive chef-ship at Chapeau, a small French bistro in the City by the Bay. Earlier this summer, Gregoire was named executive chef of Pisces, a member of the Charles Condy restaurant group. TV station KTVU reported that Pisces’ “excellent seafood…attracts a crowd.”

Late last month, Keith Latture became the opening chef of The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach, an Art Moderne/ Miami Modern masterpiece that was formerly the DiLido Hotel. Although his menu is yet to be written, at his previous post at Capriccio at The Peabody, Little Rock, he was known for his award-winning interpretations of Italian dishes. A Southern boy, Latture attended the CIA, externing at the fabled Star Canyon in Dallas. He returned South after graduation, specifically to Atlanta, for jobs with Jean Banchet at Riviera and Joël Antunes at The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead. In Brentwood, California, he worked at Woodside restaurant, which was followed by his Peabody posting.

Just seven months after he joined the staff of the prestigious T. Cooks at the Royal Palms Resort and Spa as executive sous-chef, Derek Morgan was promoted to executive chef. The following year, the restaurant was named best hotel restaurant in the world by Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report, and it received four Mobil stars in 2002. That same year it was also on Travel + Leisure’s list of the world’s best hotel restaurants. “If you’re at all romantic, you’ll fall in love with this Mediterranean-inspired restaurant,” wrote Citysearch Phoenix. Morgan started cooking at the Villa Christina restaurant in Atlanta under Aaron Hurdle. He followed Hurdle to Boulevard Bistro, also in Atlanta, before moving to Woodside in California, as sous-chef for Max. Morgan came to the Phoenix area to work at The Ranch (now Sanctuary) on Camelback Mountain, where the folks at T. Cook’s got a taste of his cooking and eventually hired him.

After traveling around the country working for Ritz-Carlton, California native Peter Rudolph returned home to the San Francisco Bay Area at the breathtaking Navio at The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay. Rudolph, a graduate of the California Culinary Academy, has worked at The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead, and at Jer-ne at The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey. In his current job, “Rudolph showcases the bounty of Half Moon Bay produce—and his Southern cooking experience” in dishes such as fish with grilled pumpkin, candied turnips, and apple-pecan broth, Deborah Grossman wrote in the (East Bay) Daily Review.