chefsteph07
- 3,206
As 250 well-dressed friends of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum enjoyed cocktails in the Rock Hall's lobby on Tuesday night, dinner was being furiously prepared just outside their view.
The frantic preparations turned out to be all part of the plan, diners learned, because the special event was being filmed for the Food Network show "Dinner Impossible."
Chef Robert Irvine spent the day in Cleveland and was challenged to produce 20 dishes reflecting the types of music at the Rock Hall. Another twist: Cincinnati native and Rock Hall inductee Bootsy Collins was part of Irvine's kitchen staff.
Silhouetted by the setting sun at about 7:30 p.m., Irvine could be seen assembling dishes on makeshift tables in a small parking area in back of the Rock Hall.
The show's premise calls for Irvine to prepare a meal with no notice and little in the way of provisions. He had four hours and a head start miles away at Executive Caterers at Landerhaven in Mayfield Heights, but the assembly was very much makeshift on folding tables by Lake Erie.
Tuesday's event was months in the planning and had plenty of anticipation. Todd Mesek, the Rock Hall's vice president of marketing, said the Food Network first approached the museum staff last year to ask about producing a show in Cleveland. From there, the two sides worked out how many people would attend and other logistics. The event ended up as a summer appreciation party for donors and a fund-raiser for the Rock Hall's education programs.
Because the network wanted to keep the show's outcome a secret and control the crowds, e-mail invitations weren't sent out until one week before the event. Invitees were told they had to call the Rock Hall's member services office by the next morning to reserve a $100-per-person ticket. The invitation said the event would be tied to the Food Network, but gave no details.
Tom and Jennifer Tonkli of Mentor, who have been members since the Rock Hall opened, knew right away they wanted to attend. They suspected at first that Cleveland native Michael Symon would be featured, but the avid Food Network viewers quickly figured out it had to be "Dinner Impossible." Symon served as host of "Dinner Impossible" for a short period before Irvine returned to the show in the spring.
The Tonklis didn't find out that they had guessed correctly until the entered the Rock Hall on Tuesday.
So what did they eat? Did Irvine -- gasp -- fulfill the mission? The Food Network insists that you wait until the show airs in the fall to find out.
The frantic preparations turned out to be all part of the plan, diners learned, because the special event was being filmed for the Food Network show "Dinner Impossible."
Chef Robert Irvine spent the day in Cleveland and was challenged to produce 20 dishes reflecting the types of music at the Rock Hall. Another twist: Cincinnati native and Rock Hall inductee Bootsy Collins was part of Irvine's kitchen staff.
Silhouetted by the setting sun at about 7:30 p.m., Irvine could be seen assembling dishes on makeshift tables in a small parking area in back of the Rock Hall.
The show's premise calls for Irvine to prepare a meal with no notice and little in the way of provisions. He had four hours and a head start miles away at Executive Caterers at Landerhaven in Mayfield Heights, but the assembly was very much makeshift on folding tables by Lake Erie.
Tuesday's event was months in the planning and had plenty of anticipation. Todd Mesek, the Rock Hall's vice president of marketing, said the Food Network first approached the museum staff last year to ask about producing a show in Cleveland. From there, the two sides worked out how many people would attend and other logistics. The event ended up as a summer appreciation party for donors and a fund-raiser for the Rock Hall's education programs.
Because the network wanted to keep the show's outcome a secret and control the crowds, e-mail invitations weren't sent out until one week before the event. Invitees were told they had to call the Rock Hall's member services office by the next morning to reserve a $100-per-person ticket. The invitation said the event would be tied to the Food Network, but gave no details.
Tom and Jennifer Tonkli of Mentor, who have been members since the Rock Hall opened, knew right away they wanted to attend. They suspected at first that Cleveland native Michael Symon would be featured, but the avid Food Network viewers quickly figured out it had to be "Dinner Impossible." Symon served as host of "Dinner Impossible" for a short period before Irvine returned to the show in the spring.
The Tonklis didn't find out that they had guessed correctly until the entered the Rock Hall on Tuesday.
So what did they eat? Did Irvine -- gasp -- fulfill the mission? The Food Network insists that you wait until the show airs in the fall to find out.
