Outerlands Benefit Serves Up a Taste of Global Food Chronicler Eric Wolfinger

By John Birdsall, SFoodie Editor Thu., Sep. 16 2010 at 5:12 PM

Categories: Events, Food for a Cause

Eric Wolfinger/Open Kitchen blog

Chilean longaniza ― touched by the hand of Eric Wolfinger.

Us, we pitch in at dinner parties if the host asks, slicing bread, tossing a salad, even fixing a sauce when it curdles. Eric Wolfinger? He spent six years cooking with strangers in their homes around the world, then used his camera to document it. The result: Wolfinger's Open Kitchen project. Last week, the Outer Sunset's Carville Annex (4037 Judah, at 46th Ave.) mounted a show of Wolfinger's peripatetic kitchen prep ― it ends Oct. 6. And next Monday, Outerlands is hosting a dinner to celebrate the exhibit, at the same time raising money for Haiti relief.

Turns out Wolfinger hasn't merely been spending his time in the global outback ― he's also done photographs for Slanted Door, Delfina, and Tartine, including work on Chad Robertson's Tartine Bread, due out this fall from Chronicle Books. And some of his restaurant buddies are making food donations for the five-course Outerlands dinner, a benefit for Mari-Med, which is helping provide health care in post-quake Haiti. Cost is $125, which includes the tip. And unlike some dinner parties we've been to, chances are you won't feel compelled to pitch in with the dirty dishes.

The menu:

Peru: Ceviche, crispy cancha, and calamari, paired with cerveza Cusquena

Cotes du Rhone: Foie gras with apples and saffron, paired with Chandon, Sparkling Pint Reserve

California: Sable and chayote in five limes, paired with Newton Unfiltered Chardonnay

Tuscany: Harves lamb with rosemary and truffle, paired with Newton Unfiltered Puzzle

Colombia: Caramelized banana and maiz dulce, paired with cappuccino de la Sierra (coffee laced with ginger, espuma de cana)

Open Kitchen in the Annex
When: Mon., Sept. 20, 7-10:30 p.m.
Where: Outerlands, 4001 Judah (at 45th Ave.), 661-6140.
Cost: $125, gratuity included; tax deductible.
RSVP: E-mail ewolfinger@gmail.com

Follow us on Twitter: @sfoodie. Contact me at John.Birdsall@SFWeekly.com