Chef hopes to pull patrons from stage

By: CHARLES HAND - For The Californian | Wednesday, August 30, 2006 2:21 PM PDT ∞

Visitors to this weekend's Temecula OnStage in Old Town will have no trouble finding food. It will come from a variety of local establishments in a variety of forms.

One will be, however, offering something different in both technique and philosophy. Leah DiBernardo is rapidly getting a name in a style of cooking known among its followers as slow food. It is prepared to the smallest detail using traditional methods. DiBernardo will braise the pork she plans to serve for two days before it goes onto the table using native ingredients grown and handled organically, then served in a relaxed and social atmosphere.

DiBernardo has achieved enough stature in the type of cuisine to be invited to what amounts to the world's fair of slow food in Terra Madre, Italy.

DiBernardo came to slow food by living it during her childhood and adolescence, before the world lured her to Los Angeles, where she was rapidly working her way up the Hollywood food chain until she got pregnant.

"When I looked around me, I saw all the people I knew, all my girlfriends, had nannies, and not just five days a week, but six or seven days a week," DiBernardo said. "I didn't want my child raised by a nanny."

That left her in a predicament. It is not possible to work oneself into the role of producer and director through increasingly responsible projects and raise a child. DiBernardo decided her time in film was done.

"Something clicked in me," she said.

She moved to Temecula for the cleaner air, to be closer to relatives and to find an atmosphere she thought more conducive to raising a child. She also moved back into one of her first loves ---- cooking.

"I was raised in a large Sicilian family," she said. "We were always in the kitchen."

What they cooked in the kitchen came from a garden not far from the house, food raised with care and skill to be the best of which it was capable in taste and nutritional content.

That is what the slow food movement is about, she said.

"It goes back to the history of breaking bread together," DiBernardo said. "We've lost touch. We live so fast."

Though the worldwide depletion of soil makes it increasingly difficult to find 100 percent of what a slow cook chef needs organically grown, at the least, it is the original form. The slow food movement is not just about cooking. It is a partnership between farmers and chefs, and both will be in Terra Madre. And both will be behind the creme fraiche chipotle pork she will serve at Temecula OnStage.

DiBernardo's Delyte's Boutique Catering is among the establishments that will provide food to be sampled by visitors to the fifth Temecula OnStage. Others include The Mill, Front Street Bar & Grill, Killarney's Pub & Grill, Rosa's Cantina and the Temecula Olive Oil Company. It should come as no surprise that wineries will be around as well, including Andalusia, Callaway, Ponte Family, Stuart Cells Wilson Creek, Frangipani Estate, Keyways, Temecula Hills and Oak Mountain.

Entertainment will be provided on four stages, three musicals and one comedy. Headlining the musical entertainment is three-time Grammy Award winner Richard Street, lead singer for The Temptations from 1971-95, the period during which they recorded their chart-topper "Papa Was a Rolling Stone."

Comedian and actor Ronnie Schell will perform at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater on Saturday night. Schell is probably best known as Duke Slater on the TV series "Gomer Pyle USMC" and Harvey Peck on the series "That Girl." Also on the entertainment bill are Sounds of the Supremes, with former Supreme Florence Ballard and several local groups, including Aunt Kizzyíz Boyz, Michael Paulo and vocalist Joelle James.

Entertainment will be continuous on the four stages, two of which are outside and two inside. A single ticket buys admission to everything for $85. Those wishing a more formal dining experience can pay $125 for a sit-down three-course dinner on the porch of the Children's Museum, which includes an all-evening seat at the main stage.

Tickets are also available for $25 for the Schell performance only. The cost includes wine tasting at the Stellar Cellars.

Money raised will go to the Theatre Foundation, the umbrella group for all of the region's community theatrical groups. Auctions of trips, artwork, theatre tickets and other merchandise will be conducted as well. Tickets are available through the foundation's Web site at www.Temeculatheaterfoundation.org.

Temecula OnStage


When: 6 p.m. Saturday

Where: Old Town Temecula

Tickets: $85

Information: (951) 699-6820

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