Pelting rain and roaring winds accompanied the arrival of more than 300 ticket-holders at the Cleveland’s Top Chefs Culinary Experience June 14 at the International Culinary Arts and Sciences Institute in Chester Township.
For the fundraiser to raise money for scholarships, the 12,000-square-foot culinary school, with its five professional kitchens, had been transformed into a showcase for 20 chefs who served small plates of their creations. A large tent erected behind the building held a musical band and several other chefs, as well as those providing wines, beer and cocktails to the tasters.
Chef Loretta Paganini, founder of ICASI, greeted ticket-holders in the foyer at the door. The professional culinary school opened in 2005 in the purpose-built structure at 8700 Mayfield Road. Her Loretta Paganini School of Cooking, where most recreational classes take place, is just down Mayfield Road to the west.
Ticket-holders for the Top Chefs event had paid $175 to be there. Raffle tickets to win a gastronomic trip for two to Portugal with Loretta and husband Emil Paganini, a dinner for four at Cru Uncorked in Moreland Hills and baskets of gift cards to Northeast Ohio restaurants also served to raise scholarship funds…