Dinner Impossible visits Wildwood boardwalk

“Good Morning chef Michael Symon,” the Food Network show will most likely begin when it airs. “Your mission today is to cook dinner for 300 employees of Morey’s Piers in Wildwood, New Jersey, where they are celebrating their 40th year of providing the best boardwalk amusement rides at the Jersey Shore. You will have to create a gourmet menu solely based on classic boardwalk food. The catch is, you will not be able to shop at any grocery stores. You will have to use product from boardwalk restaurants or those just off the boardwalk.”
And the catch?
“You will be traveling in none other than Wildwood’s infamous tram car to shop for your ingredients.”
“Dinner Impossible,” the Food Network’s popular reality show, came to the Wildwoods Sunday, May 4, to record a show for the second season with their new chef, Symon, who replaces Robert Irvine, whose contract was not reviewed in late March after it was revealed he had exaggerated some experience on his resume.
The show’s visit was kept closely under wraps, even to the invitees – the Morey’s employees – until the day of the visit. But Morey’s higher-ups obviously knew about it to organize the details that needed to be ironed out, like scheduling the tram car, recruiting local sous chefs from the Hot Spot, Boyd’s Barbecue and Jumbo’s Seafood, and the inclusion of host Jack Morey, who gave Symon his challenge and enjoyed a day of on-camera cameos as well watching from behind the scenes.
“It was really great. I’m not really a big TV or Hollywood guy,” Morey said. “I don’t even watch the show. I didn’t really know about it, that’s just not me. But I was there participating and observing the whole day and found it really interesting to be behind the camera.”
It’s one thing to live the Wildwood experience, to see the iconic sights on the boardwalk that lure generations of tourists year after year, but to see it through the camera’s lens really impressed Morey.
“(The cameramen and crew) really have their thumbprint on what American popular culture is. It was really interesting to see,” Morey said. “I’ve always liked the tram car, but to see it on camera, it’s really a spectacular thing. And to see these (Dinner Impossible staffers) shopping on it, all of the sudden it stands out as a major icon of this very unique boardwalk experience. To see the Hot Spot in action on camera, and all the other locations (Neil’s Steak and Chowder House, Juan Pablo’s, Laura’s Fudge, et al) that participated, made me feel very proud of what we have here in the Wildwoods. And then to see (Symon) take basic boardwalk ingredients and making something unique out of it – well that was just really special.”
How unique? Try – and these may be coming to a certain Wildwood boardwalk location near you real soon – corn dog shrimp and – steady now – chocolate covered bacon, made at Lori and Dave Roach’s Laura’s Fudge.
Did you just say yuck? I did too. However…
“First of all, the corn dog shrimp was fantastic,” Morey said. “And everyone talked about how they were afraid to try the chocolate covered bacon. But it was really, really good. And when (Lori and Dave Roach) explained the theory of mixing something salty and something sweet, it made sense. I’d love to borrow that one, and the corn dog shrimp, as well as the clam bake that they made. It was just this gorgeous display of colors with corn on the cob, mussels, clams, lobster and everything they put into it. It was extraordinary.”
What the Morey’s employees -- other than the higher-ups -- didn’t get to see was the fun that will be part of the show, which isn’t expected to be aired until late summer, that Symon and his crew had trying to obtain product from the boardwalk merchants and a couple of places on Pacific Avenue.
“When I gave Michael his mission and told them their gourmet shopping cart was the tram car, that was funny,” said Morey.
“And to see them do that in the tram car, and then hop in a surrey to get the other items from Neil’s and Juan Pablo’s was just comical,” said Angel Daniels, of Morey’s public relations department. “It was a great coup for Wildwood because they focused on our history, and they even interviewed (the voice of the tram car) Flossie Stingel.”
Symon was told he had eight hours to prepare the meal, but it wound up being about six hours after all was done. The event was put together over four weeks with a production company in Philadelphia owned and operated by Mark Somers, who is known by Food Network fans as the host of “Unwrapped.”
“It was just great fun,” Morey said, “and obviously it will be great for the Wildwoods when it airs.”

Rob Seitzinger can be e-mailed at seitz [at] catamaranmedia.com or you can comment on this story by calling 624-8900, ext. 250.

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