Rocco's Dinner Party: Exclusive Interview with Vicki Ferentinos
by Gina Scarpa
On last night's episode of Rocco's Dinner Party, caterer Vicki Ferentinos was able to take down experienced chef (and food truck owner) Chris Thompson. He thought he had the competition in the bag but Vicki proved to be worth competitor, with strong dishes such as a deconstructed Cuban sandwich and carrot ginger soup with coconut shrimp. Today, we talked to Vicki in an exclusive interview to learn more about her win at Rocco's Dinner Party.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: When did you first get involved in the catering business?
A. Vicki: It was the day after 9/11, actually. I always cooked for comfort and I always cooked since I was a kid. Every few years of my life, I would say, "I'm going to open a restaurant." After 9/11, I started selling jams and chutneys and I don't know why. I started to do that, I started to cater parties, and I started doing what I wanted to be passionate about.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made you want to do Rocco's Dinner Party?
A. Vicki: I reached a point in my life where I was just like, "I am who I am," and I felt comfortable. I didn't feel like I had to be anybody else. Somebody sent me an email and I thoguht, "Well this sounds fun," and it went from there.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Rocco is notoriously tough on his contestants. What comment of his got to you the most?
A. Vicki: I wanna admit the whole time, you could tell my face was kinda deer in headlights. The whole time I was like, "Are you breaking up with me?" I didn't know. All of his critiques were really valid. I, by all means, know that I don't know everything. I keep learning.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Were you intimidated by Chris at all? He seemed to think he had the whole thing locked up.
A. Vicki: I kinda just decided to have fun and do the best I could and don't look to the right or left. I saw his warrior headband the second day. I was like, "I should've worn a cape. He's bringing it." I kind of grew up in all kinds of situations. If this is the toughest I'll face, it's nothing. He made really fancy, beautiful food and I told him that.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Your Cuban sandwich was a hit and you said you had never made it before. How did it end up being such a successful dish?
A. Vicki: I have no idea! [Laughs] I've had it before and I do remember having that in my head somewhere. I always like a little salty, sweet bite. That was that blend so I thought it would either go really well or really bad. I had no idea they would like it so much.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How did you cope with the pressure of being timed?
A. Vicki: In catering I'm used to cooking for 10 or 600 people. I've literally had people take food out of my pan. My number one thing was like: get food on the table immediately. I'm used to cooking for people who are hungry.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What do you think gave you the edge over Chris to win this week?
A. Vicki: I just had fun. I think if you have fun, it works out. And I had fun the whole time. Everyone was nice, the crew was great, and I had a good time. It ended up working out.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What does winning the $20,000 do for you, personally and professionally?
A. Vicki: Going to Disney World! No, just kidding. I'm going to keep pushing forward. I have my catering business, Soulfully Good, and people can check me out on my website.
Rocco's Dinner Party airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Bravo.
(Image courtesy of Bravo)
Rocco's Dinner Party, "Perfect Pairings": the pampered chef vs. the carefree caterer
Quick Take: Rocco’s Dinner Party, “Perfect Pairings”
“I’m sorry one chef has to die.” – Samantha Bee, party guest
Review: Rocco’s Dinner Party, “Perfect Pairings”
(S0109) I think I’m behind the curve on Rocco DiSpirito. While I'm plenty aware of his renowned culinary talent, I never saw his appearances on The Biggest Loser or Dancing with the Stars or even his notorious NBC reality show, The Restaurant, which featured the implosion of his New York City restaurant venture. My exposure before Rocco’s Dinner Party was vaguely remembering him guest judging on Top Chef. So imagine my surprise at registering that DiSpirito is really a rather charmingly, prickly reality host on his Bravo reality series. When I say prickly, I maybe should qualify that more as frighteningly intimidating without resorting to Gordon Ramsay-style yelling.
DiSpirito is like the anti Tim Gunn or Tom Colicchio. Where Tim and Tom are always honest with Project Runway or Top Chef contestants, they still manage to come off as very encouraging and empathetic with the working contestants. Rocco on the other hand walks into the kitchen with his competing cooks and immediately strikes like a cobra with menu withering questions. He doesn’t have to say much – he just stands over them and their food a little too close – and in an instant you can see the cooks start to drip flop sweat from his observations. There's an utter dearth of hearts and flowers in the kitchen and I kind of love it. DiSpirito is the living, breathing embodiment of “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
In the "Perfect Pairings" episode, three cooks compete to cook for a DiSpirito dinner party with the winner eventually walking away with $20,000. Funny, flighty NYC caterer Vicki Ferentinos squares off against “Japazuelan” non-professional Yuki Tsutsui and the extremely well-trained culinary chef-turned-food truck owner Chris Thompson.
Chris immediately postures himself as the food snob that is going to wipe away the two women. Vicki is confident but goofy and is thrown a bit by DiSpirito’s side-eye appraisal of her signature dish of buttermilk chicken with maple based sauce. Yuki is energetic but completely thrown by the pace and her lack of technique when she puts together one of her fusion sandwiches for Rocco. Chris produces some beautiful food but a blueberry sauce that’s far too tart for Rocco’s palate. In the end, Yuki is sent home while Vicki and Chris go head-to-head.
The challenge is to create a full meal consisting of perfect pairings – a duet of two great tastes together on a plate that are tastefully in harmony. The theme is to celebrate the 10th wedding anniversary of The Daily Show reporters Samantha Bee and Jason Jones. DiSpirito also invites along the couples of Simon Doonan and Jonathan Adler, and engaged food and wine masters, Tia Keenan and Hristo Zisovski.
Vicki decides to create a sexy and fun formal dining room with white flowers, candles and the vibe of eating romantically in bed. She cooks carrot ginger soup with coconut shrimp, lamb chops with risotto, pumpkin doughnuts with vanilla custard and take-home jam and scones.
Chris goes for a New England beachy vibe with the patio room, candles, picnic tables and the air of a relaxed wedding. For dinner, he cooks tuna and lobster, short ribs and French onion soup and pot de crème and crème Brule.
Both rooms look great, so it really comes down to the meals. And of course, there’s a twist! Sam and Jason are asked to inspire the two chefs to come up with another plate that reflects food they love which turns out to be Cuban food from their honeymoon.
Vicki lands the appetizer course, the Cuban course, and the desserts, but she overcooks the lamb. Chris takes 30 minutes to get his first course out which is tastes good, but he really sticks the Cuban course, the short ribs and the desserts. Aside from the time crunch, he also forgets to alter his menu for the shellfish allergic guest and the vegetarian like Vicki did.
In the end, Chris gets his James Beard, name-dropping comeuppance as Vicki gets the toast (and check) from Rocco. A sour Chris walks out of the kitchen offended and snitty, while Vicki is delightfully shocked at her achievement and accepts face-time and kudos from the guests.
BY TARA BENNETT
Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2011, by Tara Bennett
