ANDES – On Valentine’s Day, restaurant owners, chefs, and staff are at their busiest to prepare a dining experience for guests that epitomizes love using food as a love language.
Food that is prepared well and delivered nicely can make or break a date, Andes Hotel Head Chef Lon Kivell said.
Andes Hotel Owner Derek Curl and Kivell bear the weight of their guests’ expectations on Valentine’s Day with pride, through their shared fondness for old-school culinary preparation and food.
Kivell was a chef in New York City for 26 years, starting in the mid-90s during the “last breath of old-school cooking,” he said, when servers and maître d’s gave affection to every table. Restaurant staff were blocked into teams of three or four, Kivell reminisced, all with their own specific job to provide the guests with the best experience possible.
Curl and Kivell strive to provide their guests with an atmosphere that’s warm and inviting, where the servers are kind and want you to be there, Curl said. “This Valentine’s Day we’re serving food that encapsulates what we think is the perfect, romantic meal and how that feeds into the old school way of thinking about food and special occasions.”
A featured Valentine’s Day meal will be steak Diane, Kivell said. He learned how to prepare and appreciate steak Diane at the former Helmsley Hotel in New York City. Steak Diane is a French-inspired dish, Kivell said, that was prepared table-side on special occasions because of the added visual effects of flambéing - when liquor is poured over food in a pan and set alight briefly to remove the alcohol taste, but leave the subtle flavor of the liquor. “Until someone caught the curtains on fire, then they stopped doing that in the dining room,” Kivell joked.
Taking the time to savor and appreciate each course of the meal is another component of a special dinner, Curl said. “Savor the champagne or special bottle of wine you ordered, then share a shrimp cocktail over conversation before the next course, maybe Oysters Rockefeller,” he continued, rather than breezing through a meal. Enjoying a meal course-by-course allows for buildup, Curl explained, “The expectation of having a great meal starts to unfold in a way that’s slow, methodical, and thoughtful. It really ensures the evening is full of love and love in the food.”
“Expectations of special occasions can be very daunting,” Curl said with a smile, and said delivering on those expectations through specialty foods and great service is how guests truly enjoy the evening.
Though, Curl said, the first step to a perfect Valentine’s Day evening is choosing the right person to dine with. “If you mess up who you’re dining with, we can’t do much to help it,” Curl said, laughing.
Personally, if Kivell was preparing his Valentine a special dinner, which he does nearly seven nights a week, he said, he would keep it “simple.” Kivell said his wife is a big fan of steak, so he would prepare a 22-ounce Porterhouse steak, purchased locally, for the two to share with a paired wine and crusty bread. “That’s something that maybe sounds simple, but it’s not. If it’s cooked right, served with good wine, and local ingredients, it’s something special. I’d be in my wife’s good graces if I did that.”
With a fond memory of spending his childhood Valentine’s Day at Red Lobster, Curl said he would prepare his Valentine an homage to Red Lobster, serving snow crab legs, peel-n-eat shrimp, a loaded baked potato, and an iceberg salad with ranch dressing. “I’d cook it myself now but influenced by Valentine’s Day at Red Lobster. That’s what I’d cook for my love.”
The Andes Hotel offers a Valentine’s Day menu Friday, Feb. 10 through Tuesday, Feb. 14. Reservations are encouraged.
For more information visit theandeshotel.com/valentines-day
