Tour and Tasting Class at Culinary Institute of America

The classic car show wasn’t the only event exhibiting good taste at the LCOC Eastern National Meet in Hyde Park, N.Y. On the Friday before the meet, over 60 club members toured the Culinary Institute of America facility in small groups and then reunited to take a tasting class. Participants toured behind the scenes at the most prestigious cooking school in America. Watching students master a variety of culinary skills was humbling for even the most accomplished of amateur chefs. Their curriculum includes labs in food science and prep; mincing, slicing and dicing; menu creation; sauces and the latest cooking techniques; baking bread; making desserts; and creating chocolate masterpieces and exotic decorations for cakes beautiful enough to be in an art gallery. The aromas wafting through the halls were beyond enticing. Students in the hospitality program learn skills in that field in addition to their cooking program. At different points in their education, the students work in the kitchens of the various restaurants on the campus that are open to the public. Those of us lucky enough to snag a reservation had the treat of our lives.

Our dining experience was enhanced by what was learned in our tasting class, conducted by one of the master chefs who lectured on the physiology of taste to a packed house. Chef David Bruno walked us through 8 different tests related to how we taste, confirming that Taste + Aroma = Flavor. Our sensory experience of flavor is enhanced by seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling and, not surprisingly, emotional memory. Additionally, our learnings about what different items can enhance flavor will inform both future cooking and dining experiences.

LCOC Show Cars Celebrate Continental Nameplate’s 80th Anniversary at LCOC’s Eastern National Meet (Part 2)

There were so may excellent late 20th century Lincolns and Continentals at the Eastern National Meet that I am glad not to have been a judge!

Latter-year Continentals from Mark IIIs to Mark VIIIs were on display (and early ones too) along with Town Cars, Town Coupes and LS models. See below for some lovely examples.

Town Cars and Town Coupes were popular with entrants as well. Here are a few photos of those models.

Even post-2000 Lincolns were there—2002 and 2004 LS models owned by Mike Bradley and Charles Beatrice, respectively. They joined a 2018 Continental owned by Erling Onsager. Thus, all the generations of Continentals were represented at the Eastern National Meet.

Click here to read part 1 of this post.

LCOC Show Cars Celebrate Continental Nameplate’s 80th Anniversary at LCOC’s Eastern National Meet (Part 1)

Nine decades of Lincolns and Continental models graced the show field at the LCOC Eastern National Meet held in September at the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, N.Y. From Tony Russo’s 1927 Model L roadster to Erling Onsager’s 2018 Continental some of America’s finest luxury vehicles provided a kaleidoscope of colors and styles covering nearly all eras of Lincoln history. What an impressive sight!

Beautiful first-generation Continentals were among the most admired entries along with John Talbourdet’s ’37 sedan and Danial Falco’s ’41 Zephyr. Others were Paul Wilson’s ’40 Continental, Tony Rosso and Franklynn Koehler’s ’41 Continentals and Bruce Anderson’s ’46 Continental.

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Rare and elegant ’56 and ’57 Mark IIs, a ”59 Mark III and other ’50s Lincolns delighted spectators. James Dunn’s ’55 Capri and Rusty Rentsch’s ’56 Premiere were there as was William White’s ’59 Mark III, Walter Blankenship and Dave Kirkpatrick’s 54 Caprils were shown along with ’56 Mark IIs owned by Peter Mann, Kenneth Lewis, John Keesee, Lawrence Durocher, Joseph Armstrong, and Keith Collana and ’57 Mark IIs owned by David Kraus and Edward Avedisian. Below are some prime examples of these coveted vintage cars.

Several iconic slab side Continentals of the 1960s—both sedans and convertibles—were on hand for the fun. Among these were Mid-Atlantic Region host Owen Clarke’s ’63 convertible, Wayne Sawyer’s ’63 sedan, Jeanne Talbourdet’s ’67 convertible, and a ’66 Lehmann-Peterson limo owned by Joe Columbe. Ray Mastronuzio’s ’65 Continental was on display along with David Moyer’s ’66 convertible. See below.

Continue to part 2 of this post.

Seven Decades of Lincolns Starred at LCOC Western National Meet Car Show

Great cars and scorching Colorado weather added sizzle to the centerpiece car show of the LCOC’s 2019 Western National Meet in Grand Junction. But triple digit temperatures failed to wilt the enthusiasm of LCOC members on hand to show off their beauties. Eight decades of Lincolns and Continentals made it to this year’s meet, with cars from the 1970s and newer predominating—perhaps because they were equipped with A/C? No matter, all that were on the show field were spruced up and looking their best!

Gala Awards Banquet Caps LCOC Western National Meet

Happy, but exhausted LCOC members, family and friends dined in style at the grand finale awards banquet following days of action-packed adventures at the 2019 LCOC Western National Meet hosted by the Rocky Mountain Region in Grand Junction, Colorado. Many left the July 14 banquet not only well-fed but smiling and toting some well earned hardware for their Lincolns and Continentals displayed at the meet’s centerpiece car show earlier in the day.

Lincolns visit Albuquerque’s High Desert By Bob Johnson

At the 2018 LCOC Board meeting it was proposed to select Albuquerque, NM as the site for the 2018 Western National Meet. The dates October 17-21^st was selected for the meet. This was one week after the Annual International Balloon Fiesta, October 5-14^th, when hotel room rates returned to normal. I volunteered to be the Meet Chairman for this meet. What a challenge, 1400 miles away from my home and only 16 LCOC members in the whole state of New Mexico! The LCOC national would put on meet with the New Mexico region being the host; in theory that should work. This was a rehab of the New Mexico region and was the greatest effort I’ve taken on with the LCOC. We had a small but great meet, thanks to key efforts by Bill Fletcher and Jim Fletcher. They led the Driving tours, did the Field layout, did the Mechanical Judging, and made the show field numbers. National Director Dave Gustafson did the name tags, meal tickets and meet booklets for this meet, with Jeanne Talbourdet doing the meet registration, so this was a truly a National-produced event. Other key LCOC members who worked to make meet a success were Dennis LaGrange as the auctioneer, Joan Denney as auction clerk and 50/ 50 tickets sales person. Chris Gray, Janice Eby and Mary Johnson also sold 50/50 tickets. Acting Chief Judge Paul Temple ably filled in for Steve D’Ambrosia who is recovering from major surgery and cancer treatments.

The theme for this 2018 Western meet was October in the High Desert and the ABC’s of Albuquerque – Atoms, Balloons and Cars. We toured to the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History and the Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday the weather returned to sunny with normal temperatures in the 70’s for our traditional Lincoln car show. An added bonus was we invited the local TBird and Cadillac car clubs to visit and park adjacent to our show field. Ten of their cars were parked there; this is what the old car hobby is about.

We had 20 Lincoln’s judged and 5 more exhibited with cars for all decades on display. The Meet bought Jock Finley back into LCOC after absence of five years, with a goal to show four cars. Only one made it, but it was a beauty, a 1939 Blue K Sedan. At the awards banquet Paul Temple announced the Elliston Bell Award winner: a yellow 1978 Continental Coupe owned by Michael and Diana Vickery from Junction, IL. The People’s Choice Awards voted by meet participants were: First Place to a Black Satin 1967 Lehmann Peterson Limousine, Tom and Terry Machado, Stockton, CA; Second Place to a Capri Blue 1940 Continental Cabriolet, Eric Freeh, Alamagordo, NM; and Third Place to a Red with Black Top 1952 Capri Hardtop, Mike and Joan Denney, Tulsa, OK.

On Sunday morning John Walcek photographed the major trophy winners with their cars for Continental Comments using the arches of the hotel as his background. The day was not over for those that wanted to travel to Jock Finley’s home in Estancia, about 60 miles east southeast of Albuquerque, to see his unique car collection. Dave DeGeer, transporting Jocks 1939 Lincoln, led the way. Twelve people were treated to many beautiful cars, several being Lincoln’s. Then it was time to say our final farewells and Mary and I headed back to Shafer, MN.

Hopefully, the New Mexico Region is back on track with Matt Martinez becoming the Region Director, assisted be Dave DeGeer, Nick Manole, Tony Carson, Jim Deck, Paul Bowman, Gerald Gerken and Eric Freeh.