PALETTE PLEASERS

TWO x TWO Gala preserves culinary traditions while keeping them current.

BY DIANA SPECHLER

Art 2 Catering serves a signature caviar course each year at TWO x TWO.

Guests will be able to taste the new Casa Dragones Reposado Tequila this year. Courtesy of Casa Dragones.

Picture a parfait inside an elegant glass dome—egg mousse on the bottom, a layer of crème fraiche with chives, another layer of crispy onions, and a crown of Regiis Ova caviar—the caviar company of Michelin-starred Chef Thomas Keller of The French Laundry fame. Beside the dome, placed over white china, a lemon cream cheese cannoli sits atop a perfect black circle of leek and onion “ash” adorned with tiny, bright flowers. It is a plating masterpiece, a feat of negative space calling to mind a painting palette. Now picture 500 of these colorful dishes and there you have a signature caviar course prepared by Chef Juan Garrido of Art 2 Catering at the TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art’s annual gala dinner and art auction, an event that has raised over a hundred million dollars for AIDS research and the Dallas Museum of Art.

TWO x TWO is an incomparable event based on culinary traditions known for its aesthetically pleasing and delicious multicourse dinner. “Much thought, planning, and research go into the food every year,” says Lisa Runyon of the art advising and management firm Runyon Arts, who co-hosts the gala with her husband and business partner John Runyon and TWO x TWO founders Cindy and Howard Rachofsky, owners of the renowned contemporary home where the event is held. “We try to keep the menu exciting, not redundant, but we do have a crowd favorite: the caviar course provided by Regiis Ova Caviar out of Napa Valley, California. The guests have grown to expect it. I’m sure we’d hear about it if we ever omitted it.” Cassandra Moses of Art 2 Catering concurs: “If you cut the caviar course, there would be a riot.”

Each year Chef Garrido aims to outdo the previous year’s caviar course. “We love the challenge,” says the talented chef, who prepares this top-drawer course out of a field kitchen in

a tent with a staff of 30 line cooks. He’s gone several times to The French Laundry as a guest of Chef Keller to work in the kitchen for a couple of weeks and glean inspiration for the TWO x TWO menu. Last year he served the caviar with onion dip, buttermilk-chive waffle creme fraiche, and onion gel; another year with sea urchin custard. “Caviar is a unique item,” Garrido says. “Either you love it, or you don’t. And anyone who loves it has his favorite way of eating it. A big dollop, straight. With toast points. With feta. Cindy [Rachofsky] loves it with potato chips.”

This year’s gala will include a more recent tradition of cocktails by Casa Dragones tequila, among the most elite tequilas in the world, a brand so painstaking in their approach, they spent 14 years making four expressions of sipping tequila. They employ touches like aging their product in barrels made from the wood of a Japanese tree that takes 200 years to mature. They’re also the most sustainable tequila producer in the industry, known for using less water, less energy, and less waste than their competitors. And thanks to an enduring partnership with Moët Hennessy, Belvedere cocktails and Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame are always flowing at the ever-inventive bars designed by Todd Fiscus.

Though the full menu for this year’s gala is still a surprise, previous years’ menus have included such delicacies as burgundy, black truffle risotto with king trumpet mushrooms and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and duck confit with tagliatelle and truffle jus. “We’re going for drama and excitement,” Chef Garrido says. “Last year we served a whole dover sole, head off, split in half at the belly, the bones left inside. Then we seared it and served it with butter sauce.” The visual effect was striking—bones fanning out like a crown adorned with flowers. “This group is an art crowd,” Moses says. “So the food has to have a tremendous visual appeal.”

The evening would not be complete without one more TWO x TWO institution. After exiting the geodesic tent extraordinaire, guests are greeted by servers with trays of after-dinner Brandy Alexanders, a sweet cocktail made of Hennessy, crème de cacao, and cream. “One year the theme was ‘Green’,” Moses recalls, “so we did Grasshoppers instead of Brandy Alexanders. People were mortified.” She adds, “TWO x TWO sells out a year in advance, and then there’s a waiting list. These guests count on the traditions.” P

Regiis Ova caviar and potato chips is a crowd favorite. Photograph by Bruno.

A signature bar keeps Belvedere and Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame flowing. Photograph by Bruno.