As the saying goes, the story of the world is found on the plate, and that’s never truer than today. Courtesy of globalization and advanced logistics, “local” can describe meat, fish, produce and ingredients cultivated and harvested from nearby farms and waters—or delivered overnight from half a planet away. This has contributed to an age of limitless culinary innovation, which in terms of tourism, hospitality and events has helped destinations such as Washington, D.C., Richmond, Va., Pittsburgh and Dallas establish dining as a primary calling card.
At the same time, chefs and institutions are not neglecting tradition. Often set in heritage venues and relying on original or recreated recipes and techniques, historically themed culinary experiences offer appetizing transport back in time. With F&B programs providing natural common ground for enhanced conversation, networking and relationship-building, groups enjoy the extra flavor of history at these options around the nation.
Starting Courses
The past is a constant reference point in culinary hotbed San Antonio, where the third U.S. campus of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) was established to preserve Latin American food culture while improving career opportunities for Latino chefs.
Local son and CIA (NY) graduate Johnny Hernandez champions diverse Mexican food traditions at event-capable concepts that include El Machito and La Gloria, his flagship homage to the street foods of interior Mexico. Along with the CIA, the restaurant led the culinary-driven transformation of the historic Pearl Brewery complex. Now featuring some 15 restaurants, cafes and bakeries, including Cured from Chef Steve McHugh, a James Beard finalist for Best Chef: Southwest this year, the campus debuted Hotel Emma last November.
Housed in an update of the Pearl’s 1894 brewhouse, the 146-room meetings-capable property is a wonderland of preserved brewing equipment and fittings. With Midwest-meets-South Texas culinary programming throughout from Executive Chef John Brand, group venues include a prefunction exhibition kitchen and Sternewirth Bar. Referring to the “Sternewirth Privilege,” which entitled workers to freely draw beer while on the job, this historic vaulted space includes intimate seating inside 20-foot tall cast-iron finishing tanks, once holding 10,000 gallons of beer each.
Along with organizing the annual Paella Challenge fundraising event at the Pearl, Hernandez also delivers the goods at the newly renovated and expanded Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center via a new partnership that unites his long-running True Flavors with two other local catering and event management institutions, Black Tie Affairs and the RK Group.
Founded in 1946 by San Antonio icon Rosemary Kowalski, the preeminent RK Group serves distinctive occasions and venues in San Antonio, Austin and now Houston.
These include the Smithsonian-affiliated Witte Museum, San Antonio’s oldest museum, dating to 1926. Featuring Rattlesnake Dinners in the 1930s and 1940s, the museum is renowned for its annual fundraising Game Dinner, created 46 years ago by the still-active Ms. Kowalski, now 92.
This year, through its Rosemary’s Catering flagship, the RK Group is producing “Maya–An Epicurean Adventure” in tandem with the museum’s “Maya-Hidden Worlds Revealed” exhibition running until Sept. 5, 2016.
Designed for private groups of 65 guests or more, this custom experience pays homage to the earthy and rustic food culture once enjoyed by Mayan royalty, with enhancements that include curator-led tours and Maya-themed entertainment and servers. Menu highlights include Slash and Burn Red Snapper, Mayan chocolate and fiery Xni-Pec salsa.
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The exhibition itself is the first to debut in the Mays Family Center, which opened this spring as part of the $100 million transformation of the Witte Museum. Designed to showcase blockbuster exhibitions during the summer, this marquee venue was also created as a premier new event venue, seating 700-plus guests inside with outdoor garden space for 1,000 guests.
Also in San Antonio, CIA graduate Michael Sohocki relies exclusively on pre-1850 ingredients, equipment and techniques in creating his acclaimed hand-made dishes at Restaurant Gwendolyn.
Perched on a mesa an hour west of Albuquerque, N.M., Acoma Pueblo is the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in North America. With venues such as the conference-capable Sky City Casino Hotel, Sky City Cultural Center and Haaku Museum, groups can arrange for catered events featuring the traditional cuisine of the Native American Acoma people.
Themed events in Branson, Mo., include Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede Dinner & Show. With new elements for 2016 that include a panoramic video wall projection system, this popular extravaganza features riders on 32 horses and dinner seating for 1,100 in a 35,000-square foot arena.
From Tombstone, Ariz., to Cheyenne, Wyo., chuckwagon suppers and cowboy-themed dinners are popular throughout the West. In the Black Hills of South Dakota, coordinates include the Fort Hays Old West Town & Dinner Show in Rapid City; 1880 Black Hills Central Railroad, which offers Western-themed meals in its tours; and Circle B Ranch Chuckwagon experience in Hill City, shoot-outs included.
Established in 1876 during gold rush days, Deadwood, S.D., a National Historic Landmark in its entirety, offers Western-themed dinner shows at the Deadwood 1876 Theatre.
Culinary Constitutionals
Among his many accomplishments, Thomas Jefferson introduced ice cream to the nation. At Mount Rushmore’s Carvers Cafe, hosting banquets for up to 450 people, the menu includes vanilla ice cream based on Jefferson’s hand-written recipe from 1780.
George Washington was once America’s leading whiskey producer, and along with wife Martha entertained thousands of guests at their Mount Vernon home just south of D.C. Their legacy continues at the Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant, where groups can savor early American cuisine and tour the historic Distillery & Gristmill, which supplies the restaurant with small batch spirits.
In Philadelphia, groups of 20 or more can book a private Independence After Hours experience. This authentic journey back to 1776 includes an 18th century-inspired dinner at historic City Tavern, and Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin reenactors discussing the Declaration of Independence. Located along Boston Harbor, the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum specializes in themed events such as Huzzah! Tavern Night!, in which groups of up to 80 enjoy rustic fare accompanied by reenactors of legendary Revolutionary-era Bostonians.
In New Bern, North Carolina’s colonial capital, the reconstructed 1770 Tryon Palace offers 18th and 19th century themed parties. Celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, the Old Sturbridge Village living history museum near Worcester, Mass., includes the Oliver Wight Tavern. Seating 300-plus guests in four dining rooms, this adaptation of an 1830s rural New England tavern features working fireplaces and historic New England hospitality.
Farther south, in Northeast Florida, St. Augustine holds the honor of being the U.S.’s oldest continuously populated European settlement, and offers plenty of its own tastes of history. One of the most unique portals to the past for group dining is the Raintree Restaurant, housed in an 1879 Colonial Victorian and showcasing event dining spaces ranging from an alfresco courtyard to an upstairs private room hosting 55. The venue has an intriguing background of its own, founded by the British family the MacDonalds—who sold all of their belongings and sailed to the U.S. from England in 1979 before opening the Raintree in 1981. A replica of their 45-foot yacht can be seen today in the restaurant.
Heading back west, planners can work with the catering team at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Calif., to create customized F&B experiences across a diverse range of historical and other themes.
Since 1927, the landmark Majestic Yosemite Hotel (previously the Ahwahnee) in Yosemite National Park has staged the Bracebridge Dinner. Inspired by Washington Irving’s tales of a 17th century Old English Yuletide, this enthralling Christmas celebration uniquely combines world-class musical theater with historic cuisine such as Peacock Pie and Plum Pudding.
In mountainous Estes Park, Colo., some 70 miles northwest of Denver, the 155-room Stanley Hotel, featuring 29,000 square feet of meeting and event space, inspired Stephen King to write The Shining after his 1973 stay there.
While not used in the 1980 film adaptation (the interior sets were partially based on the Ahwahnee), the national historic register-listed Stanley, opened in 1909 and reputedly the world’s most haunted hotel, ably capitalizes on its “shining” legacy.
Opened last summer, the large hedge maze inspired by the film is now taking shape. In October 2015, the hotel announced plans for the Stanley Film Center, the world’s first horror themed museum, film archive and film production studio. Themed F&B and other events for groups are also a specialty.
“Our great creative team can realize events built around almost any idea,” says Fredric Lahey, vice president of communications for the property. “These include reprising the final menu from the Titanic, plans for a Mary Shelley dinner, based on the Switzerland of 1816 that created Frankenstein, and our Halloween-time Shining Ball.”
The property also hosts the annual horror-centric Stanley Film Festival in April, usually concluding with a “bloody brunch,” and for the ultimate keepsake, The Shining-style group photos on concert weekends.
It’s the party that goes on forever, and ever, and ever.
