We’ve mentioned on more than one occasion that Dirty Kitchen bandleader Frank Solivan is a man of many talents. On top of his demonstrated skills as a singer, songwriter and mandolinist, Frank is an accomplished gourmet cook, something that he demonstrates from time to time on the road with his Dirty Kitchen Experience.
This involves Frank and the band coming in for either a house concert or community center show to both cook and serve a three course meal, and perform live after dinner. Solivan shops for all the food locally, using all fresh ingredients, and prepares the meal with the band delivering it all to the tables.
Back in April when their On The Edge album came out, Frank hosted a Dirty Kitchen Experience near his home base in the DC area as a CD release event. As David Morris related in his review at the time…
The evening started with a three-course dinner with wine – “Frank’s Famous Caprese Salad,” “Frank’s Meatballs with saffron Risotto,” and a frozen custard with a fruit compote topping. That’s a long, long way from Bill Monroe’s legendary – and perhaps invented – downing of stale ham on biscuit sandwiches. (This isn’t a food review, but it’ll probably be a long time before I serve my version of a Caprese salad. I thought mine was good. I was wrong.)
Also on hand for that event was Frank’s uncle, Jesse Gift, an accomplished movie and television professional, with an Emmy Award to his credit. Gift filmed the whole evening’s proceedings, and edited it into this promotional video.
Solivan says that he doesn’t do a lot of these, as it makes for a very long and hectic day. But he and Jesse have given some thought to pitching Dirty Kitchen Experience to some of the television networks that focus on food.
Tasty eats and some bluegrass music. Sounds like a hit to me!
