Chef J.T. Turner serves another happy customer

BY MARCY SHORTUSE - When the lights came on and the Steve Chapin played at the 11th annual Taste of Boca Grande, more than 500 people packed the tent and the grounds of the Boca Bay Pass Club. It was a success, to say the least.

Chef J.T. Turner from PJ’s Seagrille looked in awe at the empty chowder vat at his table. It only took an hour and 15 minutes to empty it. Apparently, that is one of the drawbacks to serving really, really amazing food.

“We did 300 servings of this and 300 servings of the cheeses from The Grapevine,” he said in amazement.

Meanwhile, across the tent, one of the wine servers was near tears. Her plastic cups had run out. Word spread around the tent quickly, though, and those Taste-goers who had no qualms re-using their cups found her. Because the line was shorter, she ran out of wine quicker than some of the other drink tables that still had cups.

The weather was beautiful, and the food and drink took the chill out of the air for most who attended. By the time the band started to play, the sights and sounds of merriment were apparent.

Some crowd favorites appeared to be Chef James Searle’s buttermilk quail at the Boca Bay Pass Club table, pretty much everything at The Temptation table (peanut butter cheesecake pops, oh my!), South Beach’s pork belly sliders and whitefish and the smoked corn cake with blue crab at The Waterside Grill table.

The duck poutini at the Libby’s table was highly praised as well. And then there was the lobster and crab mousseline and the strawberry and basil compote at the Boca Grande Club booth. And the sea scallop ceviche from the Coral Creek Club (thanks, Chef Myriam!), and the shrimp and grits from The Crow’s Nest.

Chef Kono manned the Gasparilla Inn/The Pink Elephant table with Lobster BLTs and chocolate bread pudding that was incredible. Prime Time’s fish tacos were a big hit, as well as the raspberry creme brulee.

According to Nick Kaiser, one of the event’s organizers, it was another great year.

For more “Taste” photos, see the latest issue of the Boca Beacon.

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