Celebrate Julia Child with Chef Jean Claude at Randolph’s

Chef Jean Claude, left, and Julia Child.

Today marks Julia Child’s 100th birthday.

For most of us, we can only associate the legendary chef via a cook book, a YouTube video or the movie Julie and Julia.

But for one of us, Mrs. Child is more than kitchen folk lore, she was a friend.

Jean Claude Cavalera is the executive chef at Randolph’s Restaurant and Bar in Denver. He wrote a small essay for PBS’s food blog.

Here’s a bit:

I met Julia for the first time three weeks after my arrival in the Bean city. Julia had complained to some of her entourage that the Ritz was not the Ritz anymore. So here I was on a mission to meet her and tell her that I was a young brave chef full of vigor. We met at the Café at the Ritz; she was having a lobster salad and a glass of la Doucette. Right away she spoke to me in French; her accent was heavy [probably like mine in English]. Once she found out I was from Nice, she told me about her house in Vallauris that she had with Paul. She talked about the local market; the fruits, the vegetables, and the flavors of Provence. The long time we the French spend at the table with a never ending “joie de vivre,” the Moulin de Mougins and Roger Verge with his fabulous menu.

After a long conversation about cuisine from Nice I decided to invite her to dinner at my house in Chelsea. She accepted.

To find out what happened at dinner, continue reading here.

And don’t forget to visit Jean Claude at Randolph’s. The restaurant, locacted inside the Warwick Hotel, is honoring Julia with a $36 three course meal inspired by her through the month of August.