Sound Bites and Celebrity Chefs at LuckyRice's Grand Feast

Clarissa Wei

Todd English

The LuckyRice Grand Feast had an impressive food and chef line-up. Although not everyone on the star-studded culinary council could be found in person, industry notables like Susur Lee, Angelo Sosa, Masaharu Morimoto, Jeffrey Steingarten, and Todd English were spotted among the crowd. We talked to founder Danielle Chang, Lee, and Sosa on their thoughts of the event. Details after the jump.

Clarissa Wei

Susur Lee

Susur Lee, chef: "I love the people. People are very relaxed and at the same time, there is a lot of cultural exchange. There are people from a lot of different parts of Asia, a lot of Asian faces, and they just like to stare at food. It's very good-spirited. It's not very stuffy, or serious, or foodie -- no wine glasses or anything like that."

Clarissa Wei

Danielle Chang

Danielle Chang, LuckyRice Founder: "This is actually the third time we have done the Grand Feast at the Mandarin Oriental and I'm actually most pleased with this year's festivities. I think we just have a great mix of chefs here from local favorites to chefs from Asia, Taiwan, Macau, and Thailand. Also there are chefs like Todd English and Gramercy Tavern who are non-Asian restaurants and are participating for the first time in a Asian food festival. I think it's really fun to see what these chefs make with the different flavors."

Angelo Sosa

Photo from LuckyRice 2011

Angelo Sosa, Top Chef alum: "I love the event. Danielle Chang is actually a really close friend of mine. I'm actually on the culinary council. I'm just very proud that she's taken this to the next level. Asian food has a long way to go, there's so much to learn. There's so much to bring back from the East to the West and I'm very excited."

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