Evening star., 1938-10-28
By JOHN ]. DAILY.

When a kitchen is called a coquina
the cook a chef, the manner or style
OF cooking cuisine and the epicure;
or gourmets who enjoy the food are
known as esthetic connoisseurs, then
as Ganymedes. the cup bearer of the
gods. would say to Epicures, the phi
losopher. You got something!'
All by way of announcement that
the Epicurean Club of Washington
and Les Amis d'Escofier-in plain
English, the Friends of Escoffier, King
Of the Saucepans-are in training for
their winter banquet. to be staged on
the night of November at the Shore
ham Hotel.
That happens to be the night after
election day. While politicians cele-
brate their victories at the polls or
nurse their wounds the gourmets will
sit, themselves down in silence to a
repast that was scheduled back in
March, when Col. c. c. Schiller,
founder and permanent chairman, in
troduced Washington to its first din
ner of this kind-n the Raleigh Ho-
tel. The chef who prepared that
meal-Claude Jarrin, with the merry
twinkle of France in his eyes-had
to satisfy the delicate tastes of rival
culinary masters from New York,
Philadelphia and Baltimore. Chefs
came from everywhere.
Haeringer in Charge.
This time the precious herbs are
turned over to Jacques Haeringer, dean
of Washington chefs. who wears the
white cap and pearl buttons in the
coauina-the kitchen-of the Shore
ham, where l.. Gardner Moore. man
sger, will play host to 100 trained
palates Some of these belong to men
who served with Escoffer, the late
king of chefs. whose last triumph was
. dinner to the late King of England,
In the silences, then-for they do
not permit conversation at these re-
poseful repasts-attention will be GEN.
tered on gastronomy. With no pa
laver on personal affairs. politics or
professional propensities. quiet eve
ming will be enjoyed by all, it is hoped.
@AiN ~ WILL eohC pioSe III d IiCdl az
mosphere, since smoking is not per-
nlitted until the coffee and liquor
way at the end of six-course dinner.
Pipes are parked at the door.
Now, there is the set-up for as nifty
a gathering of gourmets as this old
town has seen since the days of John
Cnambcrlin and George Harvey. when
the Canvasback Club fourisiled and
the gourmants were shamed into OBJ
llvion-2ourmants being to gourmets
what plain. ordinary hooters" are to
the ballet advertisement, with a bal
lerina in golden slippers Those gour-
mants, Incidentally, were forefathers
OF the stuffed shirts Of today.
Consomme to Reveal Art.
Any way. it's going to be great
night for the gourlnets. They will
meet and stuff their napkins in their
collars-an old Escofier custom. Then,
when the walters bring on the con-
somme anything may happen-for
that consunme will in some measure
reveal the culinary art of the chef.
For instance. the consumme at the
last Escoffler dinner was made so the
gourmets, when they looked in their
plates saw faint reproduction of
the armament of heaven This time
they are liabl2 to see anything from
an air raid in Barcelona to the OPEN
ing of the Worlds Fair in New York
with Grover Whalen balancing the
Statue of Liberty or maybe the budget.
All this is done by an array of precious
herbs. called cerfcvil in French and
si1ervil in English. Garcon, bring on
the soup!
When you understand that these
gentlemen will sit down at 8 o'clock,
Eastern standard time, and get up
if they are able-some time between
midnight and the witchirg hour, you
know the last word has been said at
silent banquet.
Since nobody-not even One Eyed
Connolly-can crash the gate on this
occasion, it might be well to state
that Robert Kehl will be in charge