It's All Good at Cheftopia: The 30th Annual Chefs' Tribute to Citymeals-on-Wheels

Fried Chicken, Whipped Smoked Onion Butter, Smoked Bacon Waffles and Chipotle Mustard Maple Syrup (Jonathan Wright, Rainbow Room, NYC). Photos by Yours Truly.

Early Summer Tartine: Cloumage Cheese, Young Vegetables and Herbs (Octavio Becerra, State Grill and Bar, NYC).

Seeded Foie Gras Lollipop (Barbara Lynch, Menton, Boston).

IT is not a mouthful of chocolate. It is a Seeded Foie Gras Lollipop.

Who knew cow tongue could be so beef-stew beefy?! It has been left to Tongue Tacos, Fermented Chilies and Wild Garlic to point it out.

These are just some of the more than 30 dishes on the menu at Cheftopia: The 30th Annual Chefs' Tribute to Citymeals-on-Wheels at Rockefeller Center Plaza.

Rumor meal has it that the Pacific Oyster Pan Roast on Jim's Toasted Yeast-Raised Corn Bread (Larry Forgione (LF), The Conservatory for American Studies CIA Greystone Campus, St. Helena, CA) is decadently delicious. It looks it, too.

Likewise, the forecast for the Bourbon Crab Succotash, Green Peas, Chantarelle, Pickled Cherry Tomato (Sebastien Archambault, The Back Room, NYC.)

Assistant chef Daniel Tackett presents Pressed Duck and Ground Cherries (Scott Conant, Scarpetta, Los Angeles).

Fact is, every Cheftopia dish is some form of delicious. Sumptuous. Scrumptious. Heavenly. Divine. After all, these delights, such as the aforesaid foie gras lollipops (Barbara Lynch, Menton, Boston) and beef tongue taco (Marc Forgione, Restaurant Marc Forgione / American Cut, Khe-yo, NYC), are the creations of top chefs (and team) from around the country.

That's how they roll (chop, mince, grind, simmer, saute) at Cheftopia. By now, Cheftoria is a familiar story: honorees this year and founding chefs, LF and Johnathan Waxman, got it into their heads in the mid 90s to birthday gift Citymeals co-founder James Beard with a cookarama event to raise funds for his charity.

Amuse bouche is an apt description of the Pressed Duck and Ground Cherries (Scott Conant, Scarpetta, Los Angeles). What an explosion of flavor on the palate!

Indeed, Cheftopia is a birthday gift that keeps on giving! How wonderful! How marvelous! How ecstatic are foodies! How helpful for the chronically disabled senior citizen population that
Citymeals serves!

Sunflower Risotto with Shaved Button Mushrooms (Eli Kulp and Jon Nodler, Fork Restaurant / High Street on Hudson, Philadelphia and NYC).

A welcome combination of hard and soft textures in the Early Summer Tartine: Cloumage Cheese, Young Vegetables and Herbs (Octavio Becerra, State Grill and Bar, NYC).

Monday night's Cheftopia 30 raised more than $850,000. Since its founding, it has raised nearly $20 million for Citymeals, a really good friend to the homebound elderly.

At this moment, a certain palate is doing cartwheels. The cause of this commotion: chicken&waffles. Specifically, Fried Chicken, Whipped Smoked Onion Butter, Smoked Bacon Waffles and Chipotle Mustard Maple Syrup (Jonathan Wright, Rainbow Room, NYC).

JW's iteration of c&w is set apart from others because it is not cloyingly sweet. Sweet!

Visit http://www.citymeals.org to learn more about "Cheftopia" and Citymeals-on-Wheels.

Pacific Oyster Pan Roast on Jim's Toasted Yeast-Raised Corn Bread (Larry Forgione, The Conservatory for American Studies CIA Greystone Campus, St. Helena, CA).

Bourbon Crab Succotash, Green Peas, Chantarelle, Pickled Cherry Tomato (Sebastien Archambault, The Back Room, NYC).

Fixings for Tongue Tacos, Fermented Chilies and Wild Garlic (Marc Forgione, Restaurant Marc Forgione, / American Cut, Khe-yo, NYC).