Essays on People's Platelist Finalists

Aug. 26, 2010 — -- Essays appear as submitted

RAYMOND ARPKE, Euphemia Haye, Longboat Key, Fla.

Chef Raymond Arpke grew up in a mental institution, the Sheboygan County Hospital in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. He wasn't a patient, his parents ran the place. It's where he learned to cook and it provided fodder for his recently published cookbook, "You Don't Have To Be Crazy, But It Helps, Recipes and Rantings of a Madman."

As of 2010, Chef Ray and his wife, D'Arcy, have been proprietors of Euphemia Haye Restaurant on Longboat Key, Florida for 30 years. Chef Ray refers to his cuisine as global eclectic. Euphemia Haye and the upstairs Haye Loft Lounge and Dessert Room, which features live jazz nightly, is arguably one of the finest and most romantic restaurants on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Two signature dishes always on the menu are the Roasted Duckling with a succulent nightly sauce, and their Prime Peppered Steak, a memorable feast for any avid meat eater. In the dessert room it's the Apple Walnut Crumble Pie. Nightly specials are a joy.

Chef Ray is a very personable local "character" who can break out the lyrics to most any 60s hit (or Frank Zappa composition) in a finger snap, and keep a cooking class of 50 laughing and entertained for three hours, with the help of the wine pairings. He has a personal dedication to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), and his generosity to community organizations is exemplary. I would like to formally nominate Chef Raymond Arpke as a People's Platelist member in good standing.

CLIVE BARNES, Sweet Fingers Restaurant, San Leandro, CA

Its seductive lore set my senses on fire and took me to another place. My eyes were immediately drawn to Jamaican flags, Bob Marley photos, tablecloths dawning rich Jamaican colors, people smiling, laughing, socializing while enjoying homemade ginger beer, rum punch and blue mountain coffee. Listen to Rasta music humming in the background, people speaking Patois, and the knocking of pots and pans amongst roaring flames in the kitchen. Smell fresh cut onions, garlic, rosemary, thyme, pineapple, coconut, and lime. Taste crab cake hors d'oeurves, sizzling shrimp, mouth watering oxtails, and succulent chicken entrees seasoned to perfection. Feel the Ire vibe.

Chef Clive Barnes created this piece of Jamaica nestled away in San Leandro. This describes my first experience at Sweet Fingers Restaurant and the reason for nominating Chef Clive Barnes for the Nightline People's Platelist.

Born and raised in rural Jamaica (near Kingston) Clive Barnes' passion and gift for cooking was influenced by his grandmother's unique flair for making flavors dance. At age 20 Clive packed his bags to come to the United States to begin a new chapter in his life. One year later he was hired as a short order cook at a corporate café at the infamous World Trade Center in New York. It was there that many top executives took notice of his gift with food and encouraged him to open his own restaurant. Soon Clive began studying at the New York Food and Hotel Management School to become a professionally trained chef. He graduated at the top of his class. Fast forward 20 years, Clive opened his first restaurant in Sacramento then relocated to San Leandro in 2007, appropriately naming it Sweet Fingers.

I asked Chef Clive to share his philosophy behind cooking. He says, "Food is the 'staff' of life so it should always be clean and fresh. We eat to live so always demand the highest quality then you will feel your best." Why did you become a chef? "The reason I became a chef is food is my first love. I cook because I love people." The menu at Sweet Fingers has more than 30 entrees; however his specialties are jerk chicken, oxtails, and curry goat. My favorites are red stripe chicken, lamb stew, and the Jamaican jambalaya.

What sets Chef Clive apart from other chefs is his ability to infuse love, the perfect balance of spices and flavors in every bite, in every dish, every time. Some folks have a talent for cooking, but Chef Clive has a true gift. He has a relationship with food that is indescribable and different to forget. His distinctive taste is created from an explosion of flavors from Italy, America, Mexico, Poland, Germany, China, and the Caribbean.

It is my wish that Chef Clive Barnes be the Nightline People's Platelist contest winner and his talent showcased for the world to enjoy his savory Jamaican cuisine.

MICHAEL DANA BENZO, Nestle USA Catering, Glendale, CA

Being brought up in a very poor home with no opportunities, at 18 with no direction in life, Michael entered the United States Air Force. After 10 years, he was honorably discharged as a disabled veteran. Still with no direction Michael moved straight from the Air Force into a civil service job with the United States Post office. Michael had always felt unfulfilled and always thought that there had to be something else out there for him.

Midlife had hit – and after 15 years with the Post Office, Michael got a wild hair. He bought a custom Harley Davidson Fat Boy and shortly thereafter drove to the Cordon Blue. With everything on the line Michael and his wife sunk every dime they had into the tuition and he quit a secure job with benefits to pursue a dream. Throwing caution to the wind, Michael was on his way to becoming a chef.

At 42 years old, standing at 6'2, 260 pounds, tattooed from his neck down to his knuckles, he walked into the Cordon Blue and knew instantly this was what he was meant to do. An ominous character, one of the oldest in his class, while putting young punk students in their places for wasting time and not appreciating the opportunities they had been given, Michael pushed through and graduated. He was now a chef.

Three years from graduating, without the gift of youth and time on his side Michael pushed hard and landed at the corporate offices of Nestle USA in Glendale, CA. He is the Catering/Private Chef in charge of catering events and formal plated events for up to 300 individuals. In addition, he is in charge of private executive parties for the CEO, other corporate officers and their high profile guests such as Wolfgang Puck, Magic Johnson and Jerry Rice.

He has changed the face of catering within this company and has turned it from a mediocre product into a first rate product that creates profitable revenue for his company. The wife of the CEO has requested that her husband limit is consumption of Michael's cooking because her husband had gained 10 pounds since Chef Michael's inception with the company. Michael has told the CEO first hand that he is neither his conscience nor his doctor, he is a chef that cooks to feed peoples' souls.

Before Nestle, on a temporary assignment with a huge company responsible for the world's entertainment, as not to offend the corporate officers by his appearance, this gentle giant was told move from the front of the house and sit in the back of the house to eat his lunch.

While first raising a few eyebrows at Nestle, the clients no longer see the ominous tattooed biker but now see a Chef who has a deep passion for the creation of beautifully prepared food and finds deep fulfillment in sharing his gifts with all who will partake. Chef Michael's mantra: Experience life and love through the art of food.