Frank Brigtsen Culinary Weekend Sept. 10-12

Viking Range is homegrown and headquartered in the lovely Mississippi Delta town of Greenwood, Mississippi. The Yazoo, Tallahatchie and Yalobusha are the muddy rivers that flow through the rich farmlands and converge in Greenwood, once known as the Cotton Capital of the World. Today walking the streets of the historic downtown you’ll find visitors from around the country converging in this place which still honors cotton but because of Viking has become a culinary capital, too.

Cooking classes are held in the state-of-the-art Viking Cooking School (www.vikingcookingschool.com) most every day of the week, but four times a year Greenwood becomes ground zero for unique culinary weekends bringing together the best chefs in the South with culinary enthusiasts from around the country. The Alluvian hotel, the much-honored luxury hotel owned by Viking, plays host for the weekend as guests and chef mingle in cooking classes, at dinner, or enjoying Blues music in the Lobby lounge.

In September we’ll be hosting one of my favorite chefs from my favorite food city, Frank Brigtsen from New Orleans. An early protégée of Chef Paul Prudhomme both at Commander’s Palace and at K-Pauls, he opened his own restaurant, Brigtsen’s, in 1986. A Times-Picayune restaurant critic described Frank’s interpretation of Creole/Acadian food as a “reaffirmation that Louisiana cooking is America’s most durable and satisfying. Brigtsen’s is now the place against which all other restaurants serving South Louisiana cuisine have to be measured.” Over the years Frank has been named a Food & Wine “Best New Chef,” New Orleans magazine “Chef of the Year,” and Best Chef Southeast by the James Beard Foundation. In the 2009 Zagat survey, Brigtsen’s Restaurant was voted “top food,” “top service,” and “top wine list” in New Orleans.

So join me September 10-12, 2010 for our Frank Brigtsen Culinary Weekend. For more information, go to www.thealluvian.com or call my colleague Meagan Litton at the Viking Cooking School, 866- 451- 6750 or email her at mlitton@vikingrange.com.