Photos: Caroline Voagen Nelson

Last night, many of New York’s best chefs and food-world heavyweights headed over to the French Culinary Institute to mark the cooking school’s 25th anniversary. The event started with a panel discussion about the past, present and future of French cooking, led by FCI founder Dorothy Cann Hamilton, and featuring Jacques Pepin, Andre Soltner, Drew Nieporent, Michael Batterberry and Eric Ripert. Read more »

Last week at the New York Wine and Food Festival, TONY’s own Eat Out editor, Gabriella Gershenson, held a panel with the esteemed André Soltner, former chef-owner of Lutèce and dean of Classic Studies at The French Culinary Institute. As to the question of whether fine dining is dead, Soltner replied in the negative, but that doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate simple, classic food like the humble omelette—especially when you make it as well as Soltner. So here’s a how-to by the master himself, with written step-by-step instructions here. Maybe you’ll feel like pairing it with a Bloody Mary tomorrow morning.

Hot off the cyberpresses, an updated list of programming at the 2009 New York Wine & Food Festival. Plug alert: This year marks the participation of the Feed’s own Gabriella Gershenson, moderating a panel on the future of fine dining with culinary all-stars Daniel Boulud, Andrew Carmellini, Kate Krader and André Soltner. It’s way off—October 10 at 3pm, to be precise—so you must surely be free that day! Save the date, or buy your ticket now. See the full event description after the jump.
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