Sherry Howard, who pens the Auction Finds blog, writes here about her experience last weekend at the annual Food and Wine Festival in Atlantic City.

Up front Ted Allen, the host of several Food Network TV shows, was mumbling into a microphone. I think he was urging us diners at Buddakan’s midday brunch in Atlantic City to join him at his event that night.

We could barely hear what Allen was saying. The three of us – my friends Kristin and Valorie, and I – were drinking sake, Sunrises and Green Mountains, and thoroughly enjoying our dim-sum dishes too much to pay much attention to him. (Dish above is Char Sui Spare Ribs.) 

Then we heard Allen invite the chef to join him. And up stepped a young African American man with thick locks flowing down his back. It blew our minds. This delicious meal – which we had oohed and aahed over since the first shrimp dish (minced shrimp encased in dumpling) was placed on our table – came from the kitchen of a brother? We were clapping as much for him as we were for the meal. (Dish below is Shrimp Sui Mei.)  

Here’s what we had, served unadorned in simple white elongated plates. If each of us had had a star to give, he would’ve gotten our 3 stars:

Chicken and Ginger Dumplings (with sesame soy sauce)

Vegetable Fire Cracker Rolls (with ginger mustard)

Crispy Mushroom Dumplings

Roast Duck and Chanterelle Bao Buns

Shrimp Sui Mei (with pickled watermelon relish)

Vegetable Fried Rice 

Char Sui Spare Ribs  

Before Chef Darrell Raymond was introduced, I don’t believe it ever occurred to either of us that he would be African American (Valorie had already said that she wanted to send compliments to the chef). It’s not often that we come across a black chef; restaurants just don’t hire them that often. And one whose specialty was Asian fusion? Highly unlikely. We were very happy that Buddakan AC was daring enough to choose the best chef it could find and that he just happened to be black. (Dish above is Vegetable Fire Cracker Rolls.)

Buddakan was one of several restaurants participating in the Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival last weekend. Several big-name Food Network chefs were hosting events from Thursday through Sunday at $75 to $100 a pop. Chef Marcus Samuelsson hosted a wine pairing dinner for $1,000 per person.

Guy Fieri of “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives“ – I just love his show; he seems to be having so much fun – oversaw a Cheesesteak Battle ($75) and a Big Bite Brunch (seafood, $100). Pat and Gina Neely of “Down Home with the Neelys” held a Gospel Brunch at the House of Blues ($50), and joined bluesman Robert Cray – who was added to the festival after we bought our tickets (Sigh!) – for Blues, Brews & BBQ ($75). Other hosts included Sandra Lee, Paula Deen and Sunny Anderson. The festival benefits the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, an organization that fights and seeks a cure for breast cancer.

Harrah’s held the first festival in 2007, a two-day event called Toast to the Coast in Atlantic City, with several chefs conducting small events. Two years later, it was recast as the Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival, and this year was the first year it was co-sponsored by the Food Network. This year was also the first year that Buddakhan has participated, according to one of the managers at the restaurant. (Dish above is Chicken and Ginger Dumplings.)

It was a good thing for us that it did. From the festival’s offerings, we chose brunch at Buddakan at the Pier (I’ve had meals at the flagship spot in Philadelphia and the food was superb) and the Grand Market later that day in two of Bally’s ballrooms. (We gave the market a thumbs-down: For me, there was too much wine and not enough food samples.).

At Buddakan, we got a chance to meet chef Raymond and I took his picture. At first, I thought it would be a bit dark: Buddakan is a cozy restaurant with a gigantic golden Buddha stationed against a center wall and a twilight ceiling. It gives you the feeling of night-time dining even though, outside, it was the middle of the day. Raymond was low-key (shy, perhaps), modest and very accommodating.

He has been at Buddakan since it opened in AC in 2007. He became enamored with Asian cooking after watching Martin Yan’s “Yan Can Cook” on public television as a boy growing up in Brooklyn. At age 17, he studied culinary arts at the Art Institutes of New York in 1997, according to a bio on the Atlantic City Restaurant Week website. He has been a sous chef at the Grand Havana Room, Ruby Foo’s and Zoe in New York, and the executive chef at the Tribeca Grand Hotel. He left New York to come to AC and Buddakan’s.

“My cooking philosophy is very simple,” Raymond said in one interview I found on the web. “Food should never be masked; the natural flavor of a dish should speak for itself.”

In a note on the back of the menu, he mentioned that dim sum (which means “touch the heart”) had evolved from a tea-house snack to a global dining experience. It originated in tea houses among the Cantonese in southern China, and is very much a part of the Chinese dining culture today. I liken the idea of it to Spanish tapas.

At the brunch, our waiter – who appeared a bit unfriendly to start – brought us a Sunrise (Van Gogh vodka, lychee, domaine de canton liquer and kalamanski) before even asking us our choices. Valorie and I didn’t like the drink (I don’t like vodka). He brought us a menu and my eyes settled on the Hou Hou Shu Sparkling Sake. Soon, Valorie and I were gulping it down, and I asked the waiter to leave the bottle (he kept walking away with it). Valorie also liked the Green Mountain (Van Gogh citron, green tea and lemon). Kristin stuck with the Sunrise. (Dish above is Roast Duck and Chanterelle Bao Buns.)

The experience ended much better than it started: We got stuck in traffic on the Atlantic City Expressway (like us, the manager said, several of his staffers called in about the traffic backup), so we were about 40 to 50 minutes late. First, we were told that we’d have to be separated: each of us would be placed at communal tables where people were on their third or fourth dishes (we later wondered how that would’ve worked).

We mulled that for a minute – neither of us liked the idea – until Kristin had the presence of mind to ask for our money back (tickets were $65 each). We waited, the hostesses talked among themselves, and finally we were seated at a booth. It was in the back (I never like sitting in the back of a restaurant) but we didn’t complain. Also on the menu was Pork Pot Stickers with a red vinegar dipping sauce, which never made it to our table. But we didn’t mind though – me, especially, since I don’t eat pork – because we got doubles of mushrooms and shrimp.

It was good friends, good conversation and great food. What a fun way to spend a Saturday in AC without sitting in front of a slot machine. (Dish below is  Crispy Mushroom Dumplings.)

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