aGreatChef.com Blog – Food Blog of Chef Robert Conaway

June in San Diego is…well June. A thing we all call “June Gloom” seems to settle in and makes this city, for the better part of the month resemble San Francisco in summertime, minus the chilly wind howling off the bay. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, but everyone here (including myself) seems to question on a daily basis when the grey stuff will lift and we can start our summertime fun in the sun. Today was your stereotypical June day in San Diego, except for we were making the (horns please) world’s largest Caprese salad!

Now I would think that the first question would be “how big is the world’s biggest caprese salad?”, I know that was what I was asking myself when I opted in to help on this project. Well, let me tell ya…it’s 24 feet, 7+ inches to be exact. Of course once this hits the Guinness Book of World Records it will grow in size and complexity, but for now 3 Little Italy chefs celebrating the 1 year anniversary of the Little Italy Mercado own the title.

So here it was, 9 am on a Saturday morning an hour before I am suppose to help make this salad and it is misting…hard. Suppose it beats the heat and when making a giant salad that consists of buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil and tomatoes the weather was a gift from above. We all met and quickly introduced ourselves and then it was off to shop the farmers market (Mercado) for the tomatoes and basil for the salad.

With the guidance and support from Catt White, the 3 chefs (Eric Bauer from Anthology, someone’s whose name I forget and will post when I find it out and myself, Robert Conaway from the Glass Door) did a meet and greet with the local farmers, snagging some of the finest product I have seen in years here in San Diego and headed for the corner of State and Date streets, where we would be assembling the masterpiece.

With all the fanfare and support from the community, there was a cause behind the making of this salad. Tickets were sold for 3 dollars to support Washington elementary school, the only elementary school in downtown San Diego. So we have 2 great reasons for taking part in this, 1 is to help raise some money for the school, the other is to celebrate Catt’s hard work and determination that has gotten the Mercado through it’s first year…my hat is off to you!

10 am rolls around and the 3 of us commence the coring and slicing of the tomatoes, chiffonading the basil and slicing up the fresh mozzarella cheese. Under dreary skies a crowd gathers, with the help of Little Italy’s honorary mayor whose announcements over the loudspeakers must have been heard at taco stands throughout Tijuana. In little over an hour we were almost done…just spritz some olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the salad and we are good to go…but how is this thing going to be authenticated?

Well…let me tell ya how. Catt breaks out a industrial tape measure and lays it out along the length of the table…24 feet 7+ inches. I had asked one of my staff members to drop off my camera bag so I could get some shots of the final masterpiece…12 or so minutes of fame in a 15 minute world is just fine by me, as long as the cause is good. So without further a do…here is the world’s largest Caprese salad.

Happy Birthday Little Italy Mercado!

cheers!

chefRob

Here is a write-up from our local NBC affiliate, enjoy!

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/around_town/dining/Thatsa-Lotsa-Mozzarella.html