Attendees ate a wide variety of fine food prepared by some of the region’s most revered professional and amateur chefs as they helped St. Andrew’s Mission raise more than $50,000 Thursday night.
The fundraiser, held at the McComb Mill, helps the mission support its outreach programs, including a free medical clinic, homeless shelter, soup kitchen, food pantry and activity center.
“The money that we raise here, it goes directly back into the mission,” said St. Andrew’s board member Vickie Webb.
Organizers said they sold some 530 tickets at $100 each.
Although chilly, organizers said the weather was perfect for the event compared to what’s it’s been in the past.
“We’ve seen rain, sleet and snow. I remember running my windshield wipers one year just to get the snow off,” Webb said.
The ninth annual Shuffle featured a science theme, with smoking beakers filled with mysterious colorful liquids gracing each tasting station and a large periodic table of elements and portrait of Albert Einstein looming over the crowd.
The event first began after St. Andrew’s director Ed Codding brainstormed fundraising ideas with board members.
“One day, Tina (Brumfield) said, ‘Why don’t we have a $100-plate lunch with a celebrity chef like Emeril Lagasse?’ ” Webb recalled. “And I told her, ‘Tina, that’s a good idea, but that’s crazy. Who would pay $100 for a plate lunch here?’ So, we began to put our heads together and decided on a progressive lunch.”
It started out being hosted in four homes, and participants would take buses to each to sample food and drink before moving to the former textile mill.
Some of the offerings Thursday included dishes that had been featured at Shuffle to the Chefs since the beginning, such as ahi tuna from The Caboose and three variations of shrimp and grits, from Jacmel Inn, Rockin’ Willy’s and Chef Doyle Orlando.
Other hits with attendees included maple-bacon cupcakes from Sweet-T’s by Tara Price, an assortment of smoked sausages and boudin from JD’s Smoked Sausage, a rustic shrimp and biscuit with venison sausage from Sam Sanders, New Orleans-style Shrimp Creole from Sweet Tooth Cafe, Ann Jackson’s “crabtinis,” grilled eggplant with shrimp in Orleans sauce from La Mariposa Cafe, pulled pork egg rolls from Potbelly’s Catering, fried chicken ziti and king cake cheesecake from Georgia Blue, among others.
Kendra Miller, a first-time attendee of Shuffle, said she’s going to return to the event. “I’m having a wonderful time. It’s good food and great people,” she said. “It’s all been very good and people are very hospitable.”
For veteran participants like Paul Brock, Chance Kinchen and Ken Dixon, the Shuffle is a way to generate business.
Brock, a chef with Sweet Tooth Cafe in Summit, said he’s been participating in Shuffle since it started and has been a supporter of the mission since it began. He was raised a Methodist, he said.
“The mission that they do is great. It’s such a great service to the community and state,” Brock said.
Kinchen, general manager of in Jacmel Inn in Hammond, said he’s been participating in Shuffle for seven years.
“We’re just in Tangipahoa Parish and we have such a good rapport with people here,” he said. “We’re just 45 minutes away in Hammond and they travel to come visit with us.”
Ken Dixon, the chef for Mitchell’s Catering in Brookhaven, said he’s been participating in Shuffle for six or seven years.
“We’ve picked up a good bit of business from Shuffle,” he said. “The ladies that run it are really good friends of mine and they always ask me to come back.”
First-time participants included John Grafton of Georgia Blue in Brookhaven, Randy Dougherty of JD’s Smoked Sausauge in Summit, Tara Price of Sweet-T’s and Clay Russell, a former assistant to then-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Price said it’s her first year participating but she’s attended for the past two years.
“I’m exhausted but I’m having a blast,” she said.
