Rosebud chef says farewell with Valentine’s Day feast

Times Contributor     

 

Rosebud Centre of the Arts invites couples to come celebrate Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14 – 15. This year, Valentine’s Day guests will also say good-bye to Pat Murphy, the chef who’s fed Rosebud guests and patrons for 17 years. Murphy’s farewell act is to prepare the four-course Valentine’s Day Dinner.

Ever since Rosebud began inviting guests to join them for Valentine’s Day, Executive Director of Rosebud Centre of the Arts (RCA) Adam Furfaro says the events have sold out. These weekends have grown along with the restaurant and catering facility, to the point that, this year, Murphy will feed three sittings at the Valentine’s Day supper.

Many patrons who come for Valentine’s Day also come to Rosebud theatre events, but on those occasions, “They don’t get the details of what we do,” Furfaro says. This weekend “enables them to look behind the curtain a little bit, and get the backstage tour, tour our facilities.”

Guests at Valentine’s Day 2014 will again enjoy backstage theatre access, a historical walking tour, theatre sports games, a campfire with traditional treats, and a cooking class with Rosebud’s chefs. The weekend also features gourmet coffee-tasting and wine-tasting, and, of course, Valentine’s Dinner prepared by Executive Chef Pat Murphy. On Saturday night, there’s also a buffet dinner and concert with Lewis and Royal, Rosebud-based musicians who perform all over Alberta. And, for this weekend, four Rosebud bed-and-breakfasts will open to accommodate guests.

Patrons who can’t attend the whole weekend can purchase separate tickets for the Valentine’s Dinner and the Lewis and Royal buffet and concert.

For many guests, the planned activities are a platform for something even more special. 

“One of the biggest things that they enjoy is the camaraderie and the fellowship,” Furfaro says. “These folks who came last year are, a lot of them, coming back this year in anticipation of seeing each other. They became friends over the course of the weekend, because they had so many other great things to do.”

One of the special friends they’ll see, and say good-bye to, is their chef Pat Murphy. 

“It’s going to be (Murphy’s) big last meal, so I think he’s probably going to go out with a little bit of a bang,” Furfaro says. “It’ll be fun to spend that night in (the kitchen) and to get Pat out for a little bit of a curtain call.”

Murphy and his wife Shauna will continue to live in Rosebud, and Furfaro is glad Murphy will continue to play a role in village life. 

“I’m looking forward to using Pat as a consultant,” Furfaro says. 

He hopes Murphy will teach culinary classes and provide catering. 

“He likes spending time there. He likes spending time with people,” Furfaro says. “We anticipate seeing a lot of Pat.”

Furfaro also looks forward to the contributions of the new executive chef, for whom a search is underway. 

“We don’t believe that losing Pat means we have to lose what we hold dear,” Furfaro says. Rosebud patrons may see “a new style” on the menu, he says, but will experience “the same great hospitality and the same great service, and treating people well.”

To register for Rosebud’s Valentine’s Day weekend, see www.rosebudtheatre.com. For tickets to the Lewis and Royal concert, call 1-800-267-7553.