Bludorn and Truth BBQ Chefs Cook Up World Central Kitchen Fundraiser

TALK ABOUT TASTE buds! Pals and chefs-of-the-moment Aaron Bludorn and Leonard Botello served a most delicious four-course fundraiser for World Central Kitchen. The international nonprofit is currently providing meals for refugees in Eastern Europe.

Bludorn hosted the dinner at his eponymous Montrose hot-spot, where a sold-out crowd sipped on craft cocktails like the mezcal-based Verdad Swizzle with smoked pineapple juice and observed pitmaster Botello, who owns Truth BBQ, doing what he does best: smoking meats outside. Once settled in the dining room, guests enjoyed plates like pit-roasted prime rib and duck-and-crawfish-filled puff pastry — all showcasing a mouthwatering melding of Botello's Central Texas-style barbecue and Bludorn's French-flecked Gulf cuisine.

Dessert was a berry-topped Basque cheesecake with smoked-vanilla ice cream. But the sweetest part of the evening? Raising more than $22,000 for World Central Kitchen's relief efforts in Ukraine.

Duck and crawfish puff pastry (photo by Ben Sassani)

Aaron Bludorn (photo by Alex Montoya)

Leonard Botello (photo by Ben Sassani)

Beef tartare with crispy tendon and polish baerii caviar (photo by Alex Montoya)