No Way to this Cassoulet!

On January 17, my sister and I headed out in the cold to Jimmy's No. 43 for the Cassoulet Cookoff. The event promised cassoulet samplings from noon-5pm from seven chefs for a $20 donation at the door to support the Greenmarket. Participating chefs included: 

Cathy Erway, noteatingoutinny.com
Chef Mark Bello of pizzaacasa.com
Chef Phillip Kirschen–Clark, formerly of WD~50, Jimmy's No.43, and Pegu Club
Melissa Rebholz, Greenmarket supporter and cook at Roberta's in Brooklyn
Kelly Geary, chef/owner of Sweet Deilverance.

Sounds promising, no?  What we discovered after we arrived at 3pm and paid our $20 was the bottom drippings of only three samples.  I would like to tell you which of three were edible, but alas that would be NONE!    The selections included pork fat cassoulet, uncooked bean cassoulet, and vegetarian cassou-something.  To her credit, the chef of the veggie cassoulet had prepared enough.  Unfortunately her dish reminded me of the the free food I used to eat at the Hari Krishna festival in Washington Square Park when I was a poor grad student.  What's worse, the hostess continued to accept the $20 "donation" at the door from customers as they entered Jimmy's long after they had run out.  We left Jimmy's annoyed and still hungry.

After the event we understood what it must  like to be a judge on Top Chef.  I had often thought that perhaps the judges on the show must have exceptionally high standards.   But after my experience at Jimmy's I understand what it must be like to be a Top Chef Judge.  The judge's table would have gone something like this.

Colicchio:  You know, when you plan an event to last five hours, you better make enough food for five hours.  They simply were not prepared.

Gail:  It just wasn't good.  I mean they served fat and uncooked beans.  That just isn't good enough.

Padma:  I spit mine out.