©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Vinest dinner from Hill’s former ‘celebrity chef’
by LEN LEAR

At one time, food writers seemed unable to write about chef Alison Barshak, of Alison at Blue Bell, without mentioning her red hair as well as her food. For more information or reservations, call 215-641-2660 or visit www.alisonatbluebell.com (Photo courtesy of Courtney Grant Winston.)

Chef Alison Barshak and Jonathan Newman, chairman of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB), will pair fine food and fine wines at a special dinner on Monday, June 12, to promote the PLCB’s Chairman’s Selection program at Alison at Blue Bell restaurant. The dinner’s wines will be hand-picked by Chairman Newman to match a special four-course menu created by Chef Barshak.

“Since we’re a BYOB, Chairman Newman will be our sommelier for the evening,” said Barshak. “We’re all looking forward to having a chance to discuss wine with the person who is leading the dramatic and positive change at the PLCB and bringing PA wine enthusiasts an international selection of premium highly-rated wine at an amazing price.”

In advance of the dinner, guests will be given a list of recommended wines, hand-selected by Chairman Newman, to bring that evening. Throughout the dinner, Chairman Newman and Chef Barshak will engage guests in a discussion about the evening’s pairings.

Since becoming Chairman of the PLCB in 2002, Chairman Newman has led the development of many major marketing and alcohol education initiatives. Chef Barshak specializes in contemporary American cuisine with Mediterranean, Southwestern and Asian influences, with an emphasis on seafood and incorporates flavors, ingredients and cooking techniques she learns on her extensive international travels.

Alison at Blue Bell has 65 seats indoors and 20 seats outdoor, weather permitting.

Cost for the wine dinner is $69 per person plus tax, tip and beverages. For reservations, call 215-641-2660. Alison at Blue Bell, 721 Skippack Pike, Blue Bell. For more information about the restaurant, visit www.alisonatbluebell.com. For more information about Chairman’s Selections, visit www.pawineandspirits.com.

Not many chefs achieve the kind of celebrity Alison Barshak, who formerly worked with Paul Roller in Chestnut Hill, experienced when she helped open Striped Bass at 1500 Walnut St. as its executive chef more than I0 years ago. The Lafayette Hill native had also worked at The Commissary, Apropos and Central Bar & Grill, but with the high profile of Striped Bass, the charismatic chef with long red tresses suddenly became the poster girl for a profession dominated for centuries by male chauvinism (which is ironic since most home cooks have always been women).

Suddenly the open kitchen at Striped Bass looked like stage central in a TV studio; there was a parade of invading cameras that wanted to film Alison going about the business of being a young, glamorous celebrity chef, formerly about as common a sight in Philadelphia as visitors from Mars.

Alison’s private life was chronicled and dissected as if she were Madonna in an apron. Esquire magazine named Striped Bass “Best New Restaurant of the Year” in the entire country in 1994. Barshak was the subject of a cover story in Philadelphia magazine and was featured on the PBS “Rising Star Chefs” series. She was mentioned and profiled in more national magazines than most members of the U.S. Senate (of course they cannot cook nearly as well as she can), and weekend reservations at Striped Bass were like World Series tickets.

After two and a half years, however, Alison’s meteor came crashing down to earth as her boss, Neil Stein, trashed her in print, and gossip columnists wrote more about her personal life than about her cooking.

“I never aspired to be anything more than a very good chef,” said Alison in her current restaurant, which has introduced outdoor dining on a 20-seat deck with umbrella-shaded tables encircled by lush flowerpots, heaters and a white fence. “I think I did achieve that at Striped Bass, but I never encouraged all that publicity and notoriety I received.

“I was not ready for it. When you see your face on the cover of Philadelphia magazine and people recognize you everywhere you go, it’s strange and somewhat scary. I could never get over the fact that even people in my industry, whom I really respected, were actually interested in me. I just wanted to be a chef, but it became much more than that.”

After her departure from Striped Bass, Alison opened Venus and the Cowboy on the Parkway, but it received mixed reviews, and a real hatchet job by Craig LaBan in the Inquirer was the final nail in the coffin after less than a year. Alison then moved to New York and worked with some friends there, but she returned a few years ago and opened Alison’s Cafe on Route 73 in Cedars, eastern Montco. It proved to be too small, however, especially in the cold weather when outdoor dining became impossible, so one year ago Alison moved to a much bigger property at 721 Skippack Pike (Route 73), just north of Pennlyn Pike, about a 10-to-15-minute drive from Chestnut Hill. The 65-seat BYOB, which serves lunch Tuesday through Friday and dinner Tuesday through Saturday.

(The restaurant has a five-seat counter bordering the open kitchen, and on weekdays customers sometimes sit there to watch their meals being prepared. On weekends the counter is used as a reception area.)

We recently had dinner at Alison’s during her “Book and Cook” dinner in which she collaborated with Joanne Weir, host of PBS’ show, Weir Cooking in the City, and author of From Tapas to Meze. The March 19 event featured savory “small plate” flavors of Tuscany, one of the world’s greatest food regions.

All after-dinner sweets are prepared in-house by pastry chef Amelia Dietrich, whose desserts “capture a perfect sense of upscale comfort,” according to Inquirer critic Craig LaBan, who gave the restaurant an almost-unheard of three bells in a review last year.

For more information, call 215-641-2660 or visit www.alisonatbluebell.com