Chef Bill Bracken has a long, colorful history plying his culinary craft locally.
He’s the ex-executive sous-chef for the former Four Seasons in Newport Beach, now Fashion Island Hotel. He opened Dive Bar on Coast Highway in the spot once guarded by NBA provocateur Dennis Rodman’s eponymous watering hole.
The chef’s latest is Bracken’s Kitchen, launched a few years back and aimed at high-quality food for those in need.
Through food recovery—gleaning edible food that would go to waste from restaurants and other outlets—culinary training, and a community feeding program, he “recovers, repurposes and restores” food and lives.
One event is “Hunger Game 2.0,” held on Sept. 19 in Garden Grove. It pitted restaurants in a life-match, so to speak, to see who’d be voted “Best Dish” by 400 attendees.
The top prize brings bragging rights for a year; everyone involved gets the chance to do good.
“We know there are a lot of great chef-driven events out there, all raising money for a good cause,” Bracken said. “Great chefs and great food are a powerful attraction for fundraising.”
Hence his Hunger Game.
In “trying to define what an event would look like for us, we could not put on a fancy black-tie event in a ballroom while people down the street from us are struggling to put a meal on the table.”
Decidedly non-fancy, the event was nonetheless delish.
Chefs giving time, talents, and cuisine to the cause included Jason Montelibano of Chapter One in downtown Santa Ana; Jeffrey Boullt of Social and Brian Huskey of Tackle Box, both in Costa Mesa; and Trevor Kotchek of Newport Beach’s Sgt. Pepperoni’s, among others.
The group raised more than $175,000. Sgt. Pepperoni’s won; Tackle Box close behind.
Bracken will be among the honorees at the National Philanthropy Day luncheon on Nov. 14 in Anaheim.
Visit brackenskitchen.com.
