Claiborne’s A Feast Made for Laughter (1982) relates the anecdote of the “Chefs’ Picnic” (1965) staged on Gardiners Island, East Hampton, NY, for twenty-five and catered by five four-star chefs.
According to Claiborne, he was the star. His collaborator Pierre Franey gets second billing, though a Life magazine article makes Franey the star. Claiborne is absent from Mark Kaufman’s photograph. (See separate entry for Pierre Franey’s version of the picnic.)
As planned, the picnic would combine Haut cuisine and casual dining on the beach. Picnickers wore bathing attire, the chefs cooked on two charcoal grills, and the food was served on paper plates, but the wine and champagne were served in Baccarat crystal. The group was caravanned to a dock in a Land Rover and motor-boated to the island. “No meal at the grandest restaurant ever tasted so good,” wrote Claiborne, “nor was it ever consumed with more warmth, good, grace, and friendship.”
It was especially helpful that Claiborne, then starting as restaurant critic for The New York Times, was on an expense account, subsidized by a deal with Life magazine, and supplied with wines he could advertise. The Gardiner family, owners of the island, provided the champagne.
Menu: Mussels Ravigote, Pâté, Bluefish au Vin Blanc, Beef Salad, Seviche, Poached Striped, Bass with Sauce Rouille, Grilled Squab; Cold Stuffed Lobster, Mélange of Fruits, Watermelon, Brie, Camembert, Chevre, French Bread, Chablis, and Beaujolais Supérieur
Featured Image: Mark Kaufman
See Pierre Franey with Richard Flaste and Bryan. A Chef’s Tale. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994; Mark Kauffman. “Magnificent Pique-Nique: Five Celebrated Chefs on a Cookout.” Life, August 27, 1965; Craig Claiborne. Craig Claiborne’s a FeastMade for Laughter. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1982; Tessa Raebeck. Cookbook Revolutionaries: East Hampton Chefs Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey. The Sag Harbor Express, May 20, 2014.