{"id":235615,"date":"2012-06-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-06T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/mamas-day-event-to-support-mamas-kitchen\/"},"modified":"2012-06-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-06T07:00:00","slug":"mamas-day-event-to-support-mamas-kitchen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/mamas-day-event-to-support-mamas-kitchen\/","title":{"rendered":"Mama\u2019s Day event to support Mama\u2019s Kitchen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Downtown restaurant, The MerK Bistro, shows off new menu at fundraiser<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Anthony King |\u00a0Downtown News<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 21st annual Mama\u2019s Day fundraiser for Mama\u2019s Kitchen was held on Friday, May 11 at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla. This year\u2019s fundraiser featured over 60 restaurants, including several from downtown, showcasing food and drinks to approximately 700 guests.<\/p>\n

Mama\u2019s Kitchen is a non-profit organization that oversees the delivery of freenutritious meals to individuals affected by AIDS or cancer, and Executive Director Alberto Cort\u00e9s said the annual event is the organization\u2019s largest fundraiser of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal and aim is to see that the cost of putting together an event like this makes it possible for the highest percentage of every dollar that we raise to go to mission-related activities,\u201d Cort\u00e9s said at the event. \u201cUnlike most fundraisers, we are able to put almost 85 percent of every dollar that you spend today into mission-related activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mama\u2019s<\/a>
Mama's Kitchen Executive Director Alberto Cortes (center) with supporters at Mama's Day 2012. (Photo by Big Mike Phillips)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Attendees were able to bid on silent auction items, including private, catered concerts and hotel packages in local establishments, while sampling food and drinks. The Keating Hotel, located at 452 F Street, donated a hotel package for the auction, and their restaurant, The MerK Bistro, offered samples of their food.<\/p>\n

Jesseca Crissey, public relations spokesperson for The Keating Hotel and The MerK Bistro, said in addition to the hotel package, the restaurant donated a catered dinner for the auction. \u201cWe\u2019re always here and we love to give back,\u201d Crissey said. \u201cWe love to be a part of this because it\u2019s such a big event and it\u2019s great that San Diego comes out \u2026 in such a large way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MerK\u2019s samples included a spring pea gazpacho and maple-glazed port belly, which Crissey said highlighted their menu perfectly.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we use for the restaurant is all fresh ingredients,\u201d Crissey said. \u201cWe want to bring in more fresh ingredients so [we] can change [our] menu. \u2026 It\u2019s representing what we have here. A lot of people always outsource and they don\u2019t realize that here in San Diego we have so many different things going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bistro\u2019s menu is not large, Crissey said, with only approximately 10 entr\u00e9e items and a selection of appetizers. \u201cWe have lots of daily specials, so it\u2019s always ever-changing,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s actually more fun that way. Our chefs [are] really great about making the different food combinations that you would not usually come up with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, The MerK unveiled their new menu, which was developed by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. Ramsay was at the hotel and bistro in December 2011, filming episodes for his upcoming television show \u201cHotel Hell.\u201d The show is set to premiere in June 4 on Fox channel 5.<\/p>\n

While at the restaurant, Crissey said one of Ramsay\u2019s influences was providing new recipes for their chefs to use. \u201cFrom there, we took it to another level,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was his inspiration.\u201d In addition to The MerK, owners of The Keating operate Sway Lounge and Krust Pizzeria, which Crissey said was also influenced by Ramsay\u2019s stay.<\/p>\n

New this year for the Mama\u2019s Day event were large-scale photographs on display throughout the room, showcasing people who are involved with Mama\u2019s Kitchen in different ways. Event chairperson Heather Bowden spearheaded the photography exhibit and called the photographs \u201cprofound\u201d and integral to the mission of the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea we had was to capture the essence of volunteers, clients and donors who support or are active with Mama\u2019s Kitchen and [show] how profoundly everyone is affected by the work at Mama\u2019s Kitchen,\u201d Bowden said.<\/p>\n

Also new was the pre-event VIP reception, where Sam \u201cthe Cooking Guy\u201d Zien and Ian Ward, a mixologist from Snake Oil Cocktail Co., gave a food and cocktail presentation before the main portion of the evening began.<\/p>\n

Anthony King is the Editor of San Diego Community News Network (SDCNN)\u2019s Gay San Diego. You can reach him at editor@gay-sd.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Downtown restaurant, The MerK Bistro, shows off new menu at fundraiser By Anthony King |\u00a0Downtown News The 21st annual Mama\u2019s Day fundraiser for Mama\u2019s Kitchen was held on Friday, May 11 at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla. This year\u2019s fundraiser featured over 60 restaurants, including several from downtown, showcasing food and drinks to approximately 700 […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":235616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Mama\u2019s Day event to support Mama\u2019s Kitchen","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}