A well-known Los Angeles chef tricked a group of foodies with an elegant meal prepared entirely out of McDonald’s food.
Chef Neal Fraser, who hosted the meal last week at the Carondelet House in downtown Los Angeles, told about 40 “food influencers” in attendance he would be “cooking with experimental” and “fresh ingredients”, the Orange County Register reported.
The twist: every dish served throughout the course of the evening came from the same ingredients used for McDonald’s menu staples like egg McMuffins and quarter pounders. The tasting menu included an avocado soup made with McDonald’s guacamole, a salad topped with bacon bits and buttermilk dressing (the crowd favorite), spicy meatballs, bacon-wrapped chicken and a coffee custard dessert.
By the third course of spicy meatballs, diners became a little suspicious, questioning what new thing Fraser, chef and owner of the popular restaurant Redbird and former Top Chef Masters contestant, had included in the food.
“It seemed a little off from what he normally serves,” said Danielle Salmon, “Chief Eating Officer” for a restaurant discovery blog called Follow My Gut. “We were thinking it was a weird secret ingredient.”
Not everybody was fooled. At the end of the meal, Fraser asked the guests to guess what the meal was made from and some shouted: “Golden arches.”
Fraser said he collaborated with McDonald’s because the ingredients he uses at Redbird are not all that different from McDonald’s ingredients. McDonald’s put on the publicity stunt to change public perception of the fast-food chain.
Before the reveal, Fraser worried his guests, which included food bloggers, food photographers and chefs, would be upset.
“I just hope no one hits me,” he said.
No one was angry, although some seemed somewhat shocked. Dinner guests, who were encouraged to share pictures of the meal online with the hashtag #atasteofsocal, indicated that they had been fooled on Instagram. Cameras and microphones hidden throughout the dining room captured guests eating, and a video of the event will be posted online later this month.
On Follow My Gut’s Instagram account, Salmon posted a picture of the spicy meatballs and wrote: “At the ‘Not @nealfraser Dinner cuz it’s Really McDonalds’ dinner and this came my way. Not sure if these were meatballs or just rounded quarter pounders with cheese but without buns and veggies, and the cheese.”
Los Angeles-based cooking instructor and chef Eric Crowley said he enjoyed the meal, although the food lacked a lot of bold flavors. When he learned the ingredients came from McDonald’s, “it all made sense”, he said.
Lifestyle blogger Roshonda Payne, who runs the blog The Savvy Sistah, said she had no idea she was eating food from McDonald’s.
“It just goes to show you that McDonald’s is [real] food,” she said.
