US chef comes for $1,000 plate dinner

Top American chef Marcus Samuelsson has not reneged on his promise to his friend — 1998’s Miss Universe Wendy Fitzwilliam — to assist in her pet project of raising funds to construct a new Cyril Ross Nursery for children living with HIV. Samuelsson arrives in Trinidad tomorrow for a week-long visit. His visit will culminate in a gala charity dinner at the Hilton Ballroom on March 27 in which he, along with Hilton Trinidad’s finest chefs, will prepare an exotic meal for the occasion. The meal is set at $1,000 per plate.

The benefit dinner, hosted by the Hibiscus Foundation, is the first of a series of fund-raising events to generate the required funds to finance the new home estimated at a cost of TT$3.5 million. Speaking to Sunday Newsday, Fitzwilliam said she was happy to see her dream coming true and was indebted to Samuelsson, chef and co-owner of New York restaurant Aquavit, who has taken a week off from his busy schedule to come to Trinidad. “We discussed the Cyril Ross Home the very first time I met him in 1999 and he almost immediately volunteered to help me raise funds, and he’s never forgotten that promise. Consistently throughout the years he has reminded me, and his coming is a sign that we must do this work,” said Fitzwilliam.
Cyril Ross Home of the St Vincent De Paul Society provides shelter for some 30 children. The site earmarked for the construction of the Home is in Caura.