Doug Ruley cooks at Heart’s Delight Wine Tasting & Auction in D.C.
Master winemakers, culinary personalities, chefs and guests gathered in Washington, D.C., from April 22 to 25 for the annual Heart’s Delight Wine Tasting & Auction. This year, Doug Ruley, corporate chef for Rehoboth Beach-based SoDel Concepts, was among the featured chefs.
Ruley was in good company. Event chefs also included Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune in New York, Zac Young of the David Burke Group in New York, and Javier Romero, Taberna del Alabardero in D.C.
“World-renowned culinary personalities from all over the East Coast come to Heart’s Delight,” said Scott Kammerer, president and CEO of SoDel Concepts, which owns eight Delaware restaurants, Plate Catering, Big Thunder Roadside Kitchen, a food truck, and hospitality consulting and management firms. “It’s a real honor to be asked to cook at this event in D.C., and we were thrilled to participate.”
For the grand tasting and auction held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, Ruley created slow-cooked scrambled eggs, featuring eggs from Good Earth Market in Clarksville, with lobster, topped by truffles from North Carolina. “It was a really great to participate in this fundraiser and to mingle with so many famous chefs,” Ruley said. “We made a lot of friends, and the event raised a lot of money for a great charity.”
Heart’s Delight Wine Tasting & Auction has raised more than $13 million for the American Heart Association since it started 15 years ago. Eighty-four cents out of every dollar raised at the event goes to the charity, which seeks to build healthier lives free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
Ruley’s next celebrity chef event will take place during the Midatlantic Wine and Food Festival with the groundbreaking event Breaking Bread Behind Bars. For information and tickets for this event to be held at the Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution Thursday, May 14, go to the Midatlantic Wine and Food Festival website at mawff.org. For more information on SoDel Concepts, go to sodelconcepts.com.
