The hotel instituted its Latin night in September after the banquet chef, Albert Ripollo, came up with the idea.

The banquet chef begins preparing for dinner after lunch, and the kitchen staff assembles the hors d'oeuvres and prepares the salads and vegetables.

Paul Foley, a 50-year-old banquet chef, said he did not think any of the candidates offered a convincing solution for crime.

The cook, Yun Lee, is a highly respected new-generation national banquet chef from China.

The chef, Christian Fantoni, had been banquet chef at Le Cirque 2000.

For this event, he had left his station in the kitchen upstairs to serve as the banquet chef.

Back in the kitchen, Alex Pilas, the restaurant's banquet chef, placed a plastic pouch of broth into the cavity of the presentation pig.

The banquet chef, Richard Moeller, offered four creations that he felt were efficient and elegant.

"A lot of people look forward to their four-star meals," a banquet chef said, "and then there are the ones who look forward to their cheeseburgers and pizza."

Neil Kleinberg, 31, from Brooklyn, a banquet chef at the same restauarant, said: "We work nights, and afterward we don't want to go home.