Your guide to the region's top events, mixed with some commentary about life, media, gossip and politics in Washington, DC.
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Inauguration Nation: The Chefs
This week, we chat with the chefs at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel to find out what they’re dishing up for the inauguration.
By
Emily Leaman
Georg Feldschmied (left) and Horst Lummert are the top chefs at Marriott Wardman Park. Photograph by Chris Leaman
Horst Lummert is executive chef at the Marriott Wardman Park. He’s been in kitchens around the world for more than 40 years.
Lummert left Germany in 1967 after completing his apprenticeship, a requirement for German chefs. He went to Canada for two years before landing in Washington with a job at the Mayflower Hotel. He’s been with the Marriott company for 33 years and at Wardman Park since the Clinton administration.
Lummert’s right-hand man is Georg Feldschmied, the hotel’s executive sous chef. Feldschmied hails from Austria, where, after completing his culinary apprenticeship in 1990, he did a short stint in the military. From there, he bounced around hotel kitchens in Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Florida, and the Czech Republic for more than a decade. In the fall of 2001, he applied for a job at the Marriott Wardman Park, but the events of September 11 froze the hiring decision. The following March, Lummert called Feldschmied to see if he was still interested in the job; he began at Wardman Park a month later.
On a normal day, the pair are on the job for ten to 12 hours, spending most of their time planning menus and coordinating with the events staff. Less than 20 percent of the chefs’ time is spent actually cooking in the kitchen. They leave that to their staff of 78 cooks.
Wardman Park has six kitchens: two for the hotel restaurants, kitchens for cold and hot foods, a room-service kitchen, and a pastry kitchen. With 80 percent of the hotel dedicated to banquets, the staff usually executes more than one event at the same time. Smaller banquets—those with 100 to 150 people—can happen 30 at a time.
That’s a lot of events to juggle, food to cook, and meals to plate. “When there’s ten different banquets going on at the same time, you really have to be coordinated and make sure your timing’s exactly right,” says Lummert.
But the chefs say all bets are off during inauguration. While Lummert has cooked for two inaugurations and Feldschmied for one, this year’s celebration is proving exceptionally daunting: The hotel’s events straddle six days, double the party time allotted for President Bush’s last inauguration. What’s more, the hotel has lined up back-to-back events on each of those days, and on more than one occasion there will be several large-scale events happening at once. One group is carting in a celebrity chef to do the cooking—meaning extra coordination for Lummert and Feldschmied—while a group of 4,000 youth will be eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner for several days at the hotel. In all, Lummert estimates that Wardman Park will serve 49,000 meals in six days.
“We’re trying to plan as far out as we can,” says Feldschmied, who’s already begun placing massive orders for thousands of pounds of food. At this point, quantities are a guessing game. “Many events are still tentative or the menus aren’t yet planned,” he says. “How much food we need to order is really just a gut feeling.”
During inauguration, it’s all hands on deck in the kitchen. Lummert and Feldschmied will be cooking and chopping alongside a beefed-up staff of culinary students from as far away as Pennsylvania and borrowed kitchen staff from other Marriott hotels. They’ve already hired another pastry chef to help out, and they’ve recruited students from DC Central Kitchen’s culinary training program pitch in as well.
The biggest curve ball, they say, will be Secret Service. The president’s security team will do a security sweep of the kitchen, complete with bomb-sniffing dogs, and they’ll monitor all kitchen activity while Obama’s food is being prepared. Lummert recalls that during President George W. Bush’s first inauguration, the Secret Service cordoned off a hallway and wouldn’t let servers bring food to the dining room.
“We had to talk them into it,” he says. “We got it over there a little bit late, but it got there eventually.”
As with any event, food selection for inaugural soirees is largely up to the customer; Lummert and Feldschmied offer a fully customizable menu, and they’ll cook any cuisine from African to Asian to Caribbean.
Is there any food that won’t work for large groups? “Soufflé,” the chefs answer simultaneously. But Feldschmied adds the Marriott’s mantra: “If the customer wants it, we’ll do it.” Earlier in this series:
The Ringmaster
The Ten Commandments of Inaugural Events
All Inauguration Nation articles More>> Capital Comment Blog | News & Politics | Society Photos
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Comments
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I am one of the nine Greene County CTC culinary arts students that have the chance to come and cook with you. Mr. Wagner has me pumped I am very excuited! See you in a few days.
Thanks
Hope Johnson
Posted by: Hope Johnson, Jan 13, 2009 10:36:51 AM
Dear Georg & Horst,
I am sure you are in total control of this very thrilling event.
Very best to you both and your brigade. Its always an honour & pride in carrying out these very high profile tasks effectively & effeciently.
I wish you all the success for the same.
cheers!
Posted by: Chef Jolly, London Marriott West India Quay Hotels & Executive Appartments, UK, Jan 07, 2009 01:33:03 AM
Good Luck to you and your kitchen team! Have a great time..
Posted by: Kitipong Jaramornburapong, Executive Chef CY by Marriott Phuket at Surin Beach Thailand, Jan 05, 2009 05:26:18 PM
It seems to me that the Nation Inauguration is in
fine hands. Wish you and your team all the best.
The Marriott "Spirit To Serve" will carry on if
it’s 1 person or 49,000 people. Great picture!
Posted by: Leonard La Verghetta , Chef De Partie, Park Ridge Marriott , N.J., Jan 03, 2009 06:11:16 PM
Horst,
I see you are still at it. Bravo. From our days at the Atlanta Marquis I know your finished product will be excellant and fit for any King, Queen or President as always.
Congratulations.
p.s. - you look great in the photo.
Posted by: Jesse M. Bowman, Jan 03, 2009 01:35:38 PM
You are all amazing. Wish I could be there to
eat your food and baked goods. By the way, I would like the Souffle please.
Posted by: Joan E. Yowell, Jan 03, 2009 12:20:02 PM
Dear Horst & Georg....
AFTER all this planning and cooking, come on over to my house in Tampa, Florida and I’ll be happy to cook for you........give you some peace and quiet......and have you meet my wonderful nephew, Banquet Captain, Kyle, employed at the Marriott Waterside in Tampa.
GOOD LUCK TO BOTH OF YOU!! I’m sure everything will be delicious!!!
Posted by: Vicki , Jan 03, 2009 11:43:58 AM
Nice picture, gentlemen! Good luck to you and all my Marriott counterparts in the DC, MD, VA area who will be on the "front lines" during Inauguration!!
Posted by: Kevin Randles, Exec Chef Tampa Marriott, Jan 03, 2009 05:34:22 AM
Best of luck to you all!
Posted by: Vince, Jan 02, 2009 06:29:45 PM
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