GLAAD Hancock Park “Chef Invasion” event was star-studded and absolutely delicious!

Okay, twist my arm.

GLAAD invited me to attend its annual “Chef Invasion” benefit Sunday afternoon at the beautiful Hancock Park estate of Tim Corrigan. I love this home and wonder if Tim would notice if I took up residence in a backyard guest house for about a year or so. General Hospital star Carolyn Hennesy also liked the place as she inspected the art hanging out the walls before  heading out to her party and said to her husband: “Mr. Corrigan and I are going to have to have a talk!”

I’m not sure if Tim was even present this year but how generous of him to make his beautiful home available once again for this fun event.

The party was outside in the expansive garden/pool area where chefs Elizabeth Falkner (owner/partner, Citizen Cake, San Francisco) and Mark Peel (executive chef/owner, The Tar-Pit, Los Angeles and The Point, Culver City) squared off in a cooking challenge.

Playing hosts were chef Susan Feniger (executive chef/owner, Street, Los Angeles and, of course, one of the Two Hot Tamales!) and chef Paul McCullough (Next Food Network Star).

The chefs had 20 minutes to whip up a meal and it had to include cherries. Elizabeth prepared a breaded pork loin with a cherry relish for the pork while Mark made ice cream with a cherry sauce.

The celebrity judges were Noah’s Arc stars Jensen Atwood (Wade) and Darryl Stephens (Noah) as well as actress Jessica Collins who appears in the current ABC series Scoundrels.

The gorgeous trio of Jensen, Darryl and Jessica tasted the dishes and proclaimed the winner to be  … Elizabeth!!!

But the real winners were everyone in attendance which included actor Brad Rowe (Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss, Shelter), former GLAAD President Neil Giuliano and Jon Barrett, editor of The Advocate.

The drinks flowed (most included POM Wonderful) and the food available at various tasting stations was from restaurants Bastide, Cream by Crystal, Dominick’s/Little Dom’s, The Foundry on Melrose and Paul’s Kitchen and was to die for. There were oysters from Dominicks that made my day as they were cooked on the grill and seasoned with garlic, butter, smoked paprika, fresh oregano, parmasean cheese.

Eric Greenspan, chef at The Foundry served up a grilled cheese on raisin bread. It was made with Taleggio cheese and also included tomato and arugula and some kind of apricot flavor and Eric told me it is: “quite possibly the best sandwich in America.”

Bastide chef Joseph Mahon made made a couple of delicious dishes: pork rillettes with pickled cherry and toasted cashews and chillled corn soup with orange poached shrimp and curry oil. Campanile served eggplant puree with Pecorino cheese on crostini.

In addition to the food stations, there were servers walking around with trays of appetizers and there were these Salmon treats that, if I were wearing pants with an elastic waist, I might have eaten a dozen of them. They were the perfect combination of salmon, cheese (not sure what kind) and fresh cherry inside a little dumpling like pastry.

But hey, did not spend the entire time stuffing my face. Stay tuned for interviews with Brad Rowe, Jenson Atwood and Darryl Stephens!