A recent Gallup poll reveals that beer and wine are bottle neck and neck at 36% and 35%, respectively, as America’s preferred swig. But why must everything be a competition? Daniel Joly, chef-owner of the acclaimed Mirabelle Restaurant in Beaver Creek, Colo. (www.mirabelle1.com), believes in their copacetic co-existence.

So don’t think that Joly, who also happens to be Belgian brew Stella Artois’ master chef, was cheating on his “…thing of beauty” when he headlined a couple weeks ago at a fundraising wine and tapas pairing at the Miami Vice-like oceanfront home of Chuck Patty (owner of Sonoma Wine Bar & Bistro at Virginia Beach’s Town Center) to benefit the Chesapeake Bay Wine Classic (CBWC), a non-profit, charitable organization uniting people through their shared love of wine.

For while buffalo tartar in a crisp wonton shell, the first of nine courses, popped when paired with a 2009 Comte Lafond Sancerre (a Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc) and roasted duck breast with Soya honey reduction found its soul mate in 2009 Belle Glos “Las Alturas Vineyard” Pinot Noir, the night really wasn’t about wine. Or food. It was about the future.

“I have an army of students here helping me,” Joly said, indicating the servers, Hampton Roads high school students in scrupulously-ironed chef coats who participate in the Careers Through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP), a nationwide non-profit assisting underserved youths become foodservice professionals. CBWC, whose mission bolsters education primarily through ACCESS College Foundation, is a C-CAP benefactor.

Earlier, students chopped onions and balled dough with Joly at Terrapin, where chef-owner Rodney Einhorn (see box) opened his kitchen for prep. “I was really nervous and worried about messing up,” confessed Grassfield High senior Christopher Johnson. “But [Joly] made it fun and relaxing.” Great Bridge High senior Danielle Ray, too, savored the experience of working with a world-renowned pro. “His accent made it hard to understand at first,” she admitted of the Belgian-born culinarian. “But then I got used to it, and I learned how to plate.”

Nowadays, when donors are accosted by charts showing how little of their generosity often goes to some chosen causes, it was thrilling for those who had paid the $250 ticket price to witness the direct, immediate result of a sixteen-year old aspiring chef tremulously announcing: “This is herb crusted elk tenderloin,” followed by a wide-eyed, excited whisper: “He let us try some earlier. It’s the first time I ever had elk!”

“Working with young people with a goal and love for the profession is rewarding,” said Joly, who began his European apprenticeship as a teen. “They are full of ambition and hungry to learn…I see some of myself in them.”
Still, for all the goodwill, when the ultimate dessert (there were a few) of vanilla and pineapple croustillant had been washed down, Joly was joshingly pressed: “Wine or beer?” à la the boxers/briefs line of inquiry. He was an unwavering diplomat, stressing the importance of options and finding balance between food and beverage flavors. Yet there was a not-so-subliminal tip off earlier in the evening. Edible, doll-sized mugs made of chocolate-beer brownie decorated plates of mini-Gruyère cheeseburgers. Stella needn’t worry.

The Chesapeake Bay Wine Classic Foundation hosts an array of annual events, highlighted by a Grand Auction on November 12 this year. Visit www.cbwc.org.

Put O’doodleDoo’s On Your “To Do”
PurpleFeatherBoa…HippyDip…HotPepperCreamCheese…Funky Monkey…Coco Loco. Indie-rock bands? Cocktail contest entries? Nope. Just several of more than 200 (and counting!) ever-changing varieties at whimsically wonderful, uniquely divine O’doodleDoo’s Donuts, the five-month-old Suffolk shop delighting folks on their daily commute.

In the wee hours (pre-cock-a-doodle-doo, if you please), owner Reeva Luecke and crew scratch bake batch upon batch. Scratch that. They don’t just bake, they hand-craft, decorating and dipping to their imaginations’ content. Typically, sturdy, stodgy bakery case dwellers, donuts here are cuter than cupcakes. And while satisfying and substantial, OdD’s remain feather-light; not gritty-sweet or sugar-rush, headache-inducing.

Some are fashioned for kids like “Under the Sea,” a vanilla cake donut with Gold Fish grahams afloat on blue icing. Others veer to the adult such as “My Boss is a Raving Lunatic” with dyed coconut for wild hair, crazy eyeballs, wide-o mouth, you get the picture. Some are seasonal – caramel and pumpkin ride high now – and Luecke is perfecting a carrot cake flavor. Look for turkeys at Thanksgiving and the inevitable (but this time guaranteed-to-be-delicious/not-to-be-regifted) fruitcake for Christmas. “We do stuff that makes us laugh,” she explains.

Into experimentation, she’s tickled by her latest invention: a flying saucer donut. “We figured out how to put legs on it and make it stand up with pretzel stix,” she exclaims, sounding almost like a Ferran Adrià adherent. Folks can see the day’s selection on Facebook - the only constant being bestselling red velvet cream cheese (with blueberry pancakes ‘n’ bacon in second). And, believing as much in fresh as fun, Luecke produces just enough to sell out by closing.

“I believe that people are seeking the homemade and less manufactured, processed, hole in the wall type places,” she says. The anti-Starbucks. Speaking of which, there’s coffee here, too…to go with Suffolk’s newest ‘nuts.
1601 Bridge Rd., Suffolk. 745-7323. Open daily from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. (or until they’re gone). (95 cents/each, $5.25/half doz., $9.95/doz.) www.odoodledoos.com.

Coming And Going On…
Woody McGee’s Barstro (clever title denoting a split personality – a bar with separate ventilation for smokers and a non-smoking bistro) has opened at Holland Plaza Shopping Center (4356 Holland Rd., Va. Beach, 222-6775). Brought to you by Don and Deb Stull of Deuce McGee’s and Baker Street fame, it offers a swell lineup of entrees and sandwiches (hamburgers served on pretzel rolls is a cute twist) and a DJ nightly… Sweet Temptations Dessert Café just debuted at Town Center Marketplace (4725 Virginia Beach Blvd., Va. Beach, 354-2133, stdesserts.com). Formerly known as Sweet Temptations Cupcakes, its seductive repertoire (with options changing weekly) has expanded to brownies and bars, cookies and crème brûlées, cheesecakes, pies, French macarons and more...Later this month, SoCal-based Yard House (named for the 17th century, tall ale glasses) will pour forth its brand of multitudinous drafts, American grub and classic rock at Va. Beach Town Center (4549 Commerce St., Va. Beach, www.yardhouse.com).