Trick-and-Treating with Bobby Chinn

For someone known to lecture for 6 hours straight... on gluten... TWICE in a day, it sure is ironic that I would be at a loss for words at any time. But I do. I get starstruck... actually, more like DUMBSTRUCK: Gary V, Sam Milby, Piolo Pascual, Freddie Roach, internationally renowned 3-time Grammy Award-winning jazz singers... Either I say something stupid or I don't say anything at all. Once, I queued up by Rockefeller Center from 5am to jostle for a ringside spot by The Today Show's outdoor jam. And as Al Roker worked the early morning crowd, my cousins and I practiced our best smiles and rehearsed our small talk JUST IN CASE. Then when, as an obvious afterthought, Ann Curry finally made her way towards our giddy Pinoy huddle, I began to hesitate... palpitate... and finally glaciate. Seriously. Cultural connotations of adobo were discussed around my inanely frozen grin. It was beyond embarrassing, it was downright pathetic.

Having students in strategic departments has its uses-- rumors were quickly confirmed that top chef Anthony Bourdain was in town earlier this week to shoot a segment for his Discovery Channel show, No Reservations. Having friends in high places has its perks-- like preferential seating at BOBBY CHINN's demo-signing for Wild, Wild East at Fully Booked.

I traded trick-or-treating in Ayala Alabang and made my way across 3 cities through payday/Halloween Night/All Soul's Weekend traffic just to satiate the curiousity for an authentic celebrity chef. Bobby Chinn of World Cafe Asia is FUSION incarnate: he was born in New Zealand to Egyptian-Chinese parents, educated in England and the US, was a stockbroker in New York, even a comic in LA (BC about Kwek-Kwek: "It is so good that you have to say it twice!"), before finally settling as a restaurateur in Hanoi.

More than a sampling of his Vietnamese cooking, Top Shelf's packed house got a mouthful of this Puto Bong-Bong fan's cheeky humor throughout the animated monologue which was peppered with Chinn's signature irreverence. I was, however, most impressed by the sustained energy level that put this braggart to shame and Little Lumix to the test.

Thanks to Joanne who, at seeing the beginnings of my notorious lock jaw, thought to give me a nudge-that-ended-up-as-a-shove, or I again wouldn't have evidence to show for this encounter.




It reads: "Peachy, you are the fruit of my eye!..." Show-biz!


*both pictures of me taken by Joanne Limoanco