Tuesday the Soup’s On! fundraiser for the Stewpot Alliance really ramped it up. Just five years ago, the luncheon that serves up soup by area chefs started on an icy day at House of Blues with around 250 guests supping. The following years the event was at Union Station with the crowd growing each year in numbers. This year Co-chairs Trish Weigand and Kay Lunceford moved the whole kit-and-caboodle to the Omni Hotel Dallas’s Trinity Ballroom with over 700 in attendance.
Besides the beneficiary and the support of First Presbyterian Church, the one common factor of the years has been the dedication of the participating chefs. And while the guests like Robyn and Don Conlon and their family, Fred Hegi, Hayley Hamilton, Gary Cogill, Erin Mathews, David Nichols, Brent Christopher and Sarah Nelson checked out and bid on the amazing piece of art by Stewpot artisans, the chefs (Chef Randall Copeland of Restaurant Ava, Chef Bruno Davaillon of Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, Chef Omar Flores of Driftwood, Chef Keith Hanks of The Capital Grille, Chef Al Havens of Salum, Chef Jason Maddy of Oak, Chef Danyele McPherson of The Grape, Chef Chad Kelley of Café Pacific, Chef Janice Provost of Parigi, Chef Anastasia Quiñones of Komali, Chef Abraham Salum of Salum, Chef Nathan Tate of Boulevardier and Chef Host Jason Weaver of Omni Dallas Hotel) assembled in the kitchen with Chef General Brian Luscher going over the POA. He advised his team of top-notch chefs that everything would go according to plan, because “these folks have schedules.” He and the others had made arrangements for almost any situation. If there was a guest who was vegetarian, there was a soup for that one. If someone was lactose intolerant, there was another soup prepared and ready to be served. Each chef had not only prepared enough soup for 60-70 people, they had also provided their recipes to be given to the guests.
Then they were all off to their stations for final arrangements. Well, almost all of them. The three lady chefs (Danyele, Janice and Anastasia) huddled to see the newest members of the Dallas culinary scene — Anastasia’s four-week-old baby daughter, Isabella. No, the baby wasn’t there, but mom had plenty of photos on her smartphone to show off the most adorable baby with the fattest cheeks. It was Anastasia’s first day away from the baby.
While the chefs prepared for the soup presentation, guest speaker Wes Moore chatted with Honorary Co-chairs Joan and Elvis Mason. The Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and
Visual Arts Varsity Choir performed magnificently. After buttonholing Wes, Karen James tried and tried to find her table. First Presbyterian’s Rev. Dr. Joe Clifford and his wife Jennifer chatted
with Dallas Morning News columnist/emcee Steve Blow. Hockadaisies (Hockaday students) had floor plans ready to advise guests where their tables were.
The room started filling with the aroma of soup, as bowls of soup were presented to the tables. The sound of spoons and china coming together was heard as guests lapped up the last bits of their soup. “Oh, WOW!” was heard throughout the room.
Then it was on with the show recognizing some of the notables in the audience, including Mayor Mike Rawlings. Rev. Clifford advised the crowd that if all things went according to Trish’s and Kay’s plan, Soup’s On! would cross the million-dollar mark. Trish and Kay announced that Gail Davis would be chairing the luncheon next year. They also revealed that guests were in store for more goodies in addition to the chefs’ recipes. They would be taking home soup bowls designed by the Saturday School Children and a commemorative coin that sculptor Brad Oldham had created in honor of Soup’s On!
What they didn’t reveal is that Brad also created spoon sculptures to be presented to each of the chefs.
Then it was time for the presentation of the chefs. But before they entered the room, Brian proved himself to be an inspirational speaker telling how
- in the past 35 years, more than five million meals had been served through the program.
- 365 days a year, 1,500 meals are served daily through the Stewpot.
As the chefs were announced and entered via the back of the ballroom, all were cheered with some receiving high-fives as they passed friends.
Then it was time for the chefs to get back to their restaurants after a group shot, and for the guests to enjoy the entree course and speaker Wes, who told of his journey from a challenging childhood to a success story of today unlike a young man, who was also named Wes Moore, but is spending the rest of his life in jail. It was the same talk that he gave last June for Jonathan’s Place, but the passion and inspiration were still amazing. At points in his talk when he would pause, the silence in the room was breathtaking. The room was devoid of even the sound of coffee cups being returned to their saucers.
What was the highlight of his talk? Expectations. As Wes told the group, it’s not a question of not living up to one’s expectations. That was the problem. Both of the Weses lived up to their expectations. Each man’s expectation was just different.
With that in mind, the luncheon proved that the Stewpot Alliance expectations are not only “lived up to,” they’re surpassed every year, thanks to volunteers, sponsors, patrons and the chefs of Dallas.