Paradise Rock Club catered to a different crowd on Sunday night, hosting some of Boston’s biggest chefs for the third annual Eat Your Heart Out benefit. Eat Your Heart Out brings together 13 Boston chefs and four local bands to raise money for Zumix, an East Boston-based organization that teaches music to young adults, and Future Chefs, a program aimed at directing high schoolers towards careers in the culinary industry.
The event kicked off at 6 p.m. with a two hour tasting of the chefs rock-themed dishes. Tiffani Faison, season one runner-up of Top Chef, currently of Rocca in the South End, offered a pork belly sandwich with homemade “hots” and crispy onions, inspired by Ray Lamontagne’s “New York City’s Killing Me.” Faison’s sandwich ran out within the first hour, though I was lucky enough to snag one of the last five. It was really spicy, and the pork belly was very tender, which is difficult to achieve when it sits in a chaffing dish for a while. Similarly, Chef Barry Maiden, of Hungry Mother in Cambridge, served “meatloaf” with “bat out of hell sauce.” There wasn’t much hell, or bats, but there was a deep, earthy flavor in a super moist bite.
A common theme of bacon, caramel, and apples emerged in all of the desserts with Sel de la Terre’s Louie DiBicarri’s “American Pie”—apple pie with vanilla ice cream and bacon caramel, The Gallows’ Seth Morrison’s bacon-caramel Chex mix, Lineage’s Anthony Marco’s brownie sandwich with caramel and bananas, and TW Food’s Tim Weichmann’s brown sugar cake with apple compote and bourbon whipped cream. All were good, but the brown sugar cake was the standout of the bunch, as it was the only one that did not succumb to sogginess.
The music portion was kicked off with two students from Zumix, Renee and Jennifer, each singing songs they had written on acoustic guitar. Both delivered the sort of singer/songwriter ease rarely seen in the Paradise. Their performaces were even more impressive when it was revealed that they are both still in high school. Next, blues group Dwight and Nicole performed with the help of Chef Tim Weichmann on guitar and Chef Will Gilson of the Garden at the Cellar, playing harmonica. Nicole Nelson’s vocals were powerful enough to be heard in the Paradise sound system, where drums usually drown out the singing.
Next came local indie rockers Brenda, Magic Magic, and You can be a Wesley. Unfortunately, most of the crowd left after the food was gone, but the Maine trio, Brenda, unveiled some brand new songs, which is the kind of loud, fast rock most associated with the Paradise. Magic Magic and You can be a Wesley, each with their light, surf-rock inspired tunes, closed out the six-hour-long benefit.
Eat Your Heart Out goes by the motto “Rock hard, eat well, give back,” and the event succeeded in each of those ways.
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