“Through the Kitchen” Dinner at the Four Seasons Restaurant Raises Record $550,000 to Benefit the Cancer Research Institute
260 Guests Salute the Parades of New York City
The Cancer Research Institute hosted the 26th annual “Through the Kitchen” Dinner at The Four Seasons Restaurant on May 4, 2008, where 260 guests helped raise $550,000 for the organization. Broadcast journalist Perri Peltz and her husband Eric Ruttenberg hosted the memorable evening along with Cancer Research Institute trustees and event co-chairs Don Gogel, Andy Paul, and Tom Tuft, and their wives Georgia Wall, Margaret Paul, and Diane Tuft. Sotheby's Jamie Niven drove a successful auction of fine Bordeaux wine verticals, a dinner with journalist Charlie Rose, and a day with Chef Christian Albin preparing a menu for six at The Four Seasons. Event décor guru DeJuan Stroud masterfully created 26 themed tables, each in salute to one of New York City’s parades.
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The evening began with cocktails in the Four Seasons' famous Grill Room, where guests like Princess Firyal of Jordan, Sir Evelyn & Lady Lynn de Rothschild and Israeli Ambassador Daniel Gillerman and his wife Janice marched past a pair of baton-wielding drum majors to mingle with Jessie & Rand Araskog, Henry & Marie-Josee Kravis, and Sid & Mercedes Bass, among many other distinguished attendees, many of whom have for years come in support of the event’s founder and Cancer Research Institute trustee Lauren Veronis, who was joined by her husband John Veronis. Hot dog vendors evocative of sweltering Fourth of July festivities competed with passed hors d’oeuvres from each of the different nationalities that holds a NYC parade, including Cuba, Mexico, China, and Greece.
When it was time for dinner, the doors to The Four Seasons’ legendary kitchen were opened up to apron-clad guests, who lined up along the buffet to help themselves to specialty dishes like roasted TICKERTAPE turkey, ceviche CONFETTI, and OOM-PA-PA empanadas. Plates in hand, guests made their way into the restaurant’s famous Pool Room, where a live mermaid floated in the room’s bubbling centerpiece pool, trident scepter in hand. Tables around the pool were decked out in amazing detail according to the parade named on large placards set atop each one.
The Tartan Day Parade table gave a send up to Scotland's best, including butterscotch candies, black licorice in the shape of Scottish terriers, and Lorna Doone shortbread cookies scattered around a bagpipe centerpiece set on tartan patterned tablecloth. Scottish construction mogul Sir Fraser Morrison and his wife Lady Patricia Morrison, and Cancer Research Institute trustee Ronald Weiner and his wife Vicki Weiner were among the guests seated here.
Poland sprang eternal at the Pulaski Day Parade table, with its flowered wreaths, long-stemmed flower batons, Alamiko candies, and a Torún gingerbread tower centerpiece flanked by a hurricane candle lamp supported by a multi-tined stag (a nod to Krakow's infamous stag parties?). Seated here with others were broadcast journalist Deborah Norville, Sotheby's Jamie Niven and his wife Lee Niven, Cece Cord-Baldwin, Lynn Nesbit, among others.
Large black spiders, cob webbing, and a giant ghoul's hand gave a chilly air to the spooky Village Halloween Parade table, where Kathy Thomas, Charles & Kiane VonMueffling, Louis & Alexandra Rose, Elizabeth Asch and others donned pirate hats and vampire fangs while a funereal skeleton watched over the festivities.
After dinner, the Pool Room Terrace was opened to reveal a richly laden dessert buffet, which included “dancing delights” like CAN-CAN cannolis, HULLABLOOberry cheesecake, and lemon meringue MERENGUE, to name a few.
“Through the Kitchen” is one of New York City's favorite annual events, founded 26 years ago as a benefit for the Irvington Institute for Immunological Research. The annual benefit now supports the Irvington Fellowship Program of the Cancer Research Institute following CRI’s merger with the Irvington Institute in late 2007. (See our press release announcing the merger). The program provides annual awards to postdoctoral fellows continuing their professional training in the world’s top immunology and tumor immunology laboratories. Their basic research helps contribute to the development of new ways to treat, control, and prevent cancer, autoimmune diseases, and infectious diseases.
For more information, please call our Events Department at (212) 688-7515, or email events@cancerresearch.org.