Sherry Yard is an impish cross between Sherry Lewis and Lambchop, bringing her pink chef’s jacket and bright smile to every Wolfgang Puck event. In past years, her section of the Wine and Food fest was relegated to a little corner of the backlot if Universal, but this year at Decadence she had room to stretch out and party. And party she did, wrapping glo-necklaces around everyone’s necks, shoving her famous mud cookie pops in their hands and then ending the night dancing on top of one of the Lexus sponsor’s cars to grooves spun by ?uest Love of the Roots. ?uest (pronounced Quest) proved himself to be the hottest DJ around, spinning everything from Rappers Delight and Snoop Dogg to Katrina and the Waves.
And Sherry wasn’t alone, she brought along Top Chef: Just Desserts contestants, Yigit Pura (winner) and Zac Young, who kept a bottle of Maker’s mark hidden behind the table. Just Desserts host Johnny Iuzzini walked on the wild side by pairing his dessert with a curry sauce. Citizen Cake owner and my current girl crush, Elizabeth Faulkner added ripe concord grapes to her frozen dessert, which made me stare at her with delight. And of course Mozza was there with Budino. Budino forever.
Ben Spungin topped the curry dessert by making a plate of “drugs” with dried yogurt “cocaine” chocolate “joints” and little squares of marshmallow dusted with ground sage that kind of did taste like hashish, you know, according to what people told me. The hazelnut feulletine 8-ball was delicious. I freaked Ben out by snorting the yogurt dust out of curiosity, which unsuprisingly is not a good idea. It was odd how shocked he was considering he was handing out trays and straws, and there was an open bar at every turn. Let’s just say I wasn’t the only one.
The outdoor space was wall-to-wall partiers, and it was impossible to walk from one end of the room to the other without frequent bumps and apologies from both sides. The crowd, the lights, the music, the bubbles and the craziness did make it a little hard to find specific chefs, if that was your goal. So, sorry, no Duff Goldman. Charm City Cakes did have a freaky monster cake. I asked them why anyone would want that cake, and they said, “Well. it’s not really a cake. It’s just an idea of what a cake could look like.”
