Taste of the Town / Nancy Leson
Upcoming culinary events offer chance to be charitable

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Generous chefs, restaurateurs and food and beverage purveyors are stepping up to the plate at benefit functions all over town, donating time, talent, comestibles and auction items to one charitable cause after another. So what are you waiting for? Grab your calendar and your credit card and consider attending one of these upcoming culinary events, knowing that your hard-earned money is going to a worthy cause.

Chef's Night Out

Share Our Strength's Sixth Annual Chef's Night Out will be held Sunday at The Golf Club at Newcastle, and tickets are going fast (call 206-694-6846, ext. 2). Miss this and you'll miss an opportunity to dance to the Motown sound of Timeless Soul, sip martinis, nosh on hors d'oeuvres and take part in a silent auction followed by a four-course dinner.

Fifteen Eastside chefs are each poised to prepare a one-of-a-kind dinner for a table of 10 and to prove there's plenty of talent on the other side of the Big Lake. Who cooks for whom depends on which table you score and which chef wins the "spin of the wheel" that bears your table number. Tickets are $175 per person. Proceeds benefit Seattle-based Operation Frontline, providing education-based food programs for low-income families in conjunction with Share Our Strength and the Fremont Public Association.

Participants include: Will Anderson (Ruth's Chris Steakhouse), Marcel Beauclair (Sahalee Golf Club), Bill Beck (Calcutta Grill at The Golf Club at Newcastle), Tom Black (Barking Frog), Roy Breiman (Salish Lodge & Spa), Greg Campbell (Third Floor Fish Cafe), Mike Davis (26 brix), Julie Hawkinson (Spazzo Mediterranean Grill), Jonathan Knowles (DC's Grill on the Plateau), Paul Marks (The Bellevue Club), Alex Nemeth (Waters Lakeside Bistro), David Thierry (Harbor Club), My Linh Tran (Lynn's Bistro), Jerry Traunfeld (The Herbfarm) and Jonathan Zimmer (Lisa Dupar Catering).

Chefs of Seattle Gala

	BRUCE CARROLL The Chefs of Seattle Culinary Gala will feature noted local chefs (clockwise from left) Tom Black of Barking Frog, Daisley Gordon of Campagne, Yarrow Bay Grill's Vicky McCaffree and Mauro Golmarvi of Assaggio.

Even at a hefty $250 per person, Chefs of Seattle Culinary Gala, to be held May 27 in support of the American Liver Foundation, is nearly sold out. This grand event at the Grand Hyatt Seattle will feature 23 chefs, each prepared to put their signature on a five-course dinner for a table of 12 (guests/chef assignments will be random).

The night's live-auction items include Italian culinary extravaganzas from near (dinner for four at Café Juanita) and far (a vacation for two "under the Tuscan sun," with stops in Venice, Cortona, Chianti and Pisa). Call 206-443-3805 for ticket information.

Rubbing elbows in the Hyatt's kitchen: Chris Ainsworth (Fish Club), Tom Black (Barking Frog), Mike Bryan (Palisade), Greg Campbell (Third Floor Fish Cafe), Matt Costello (The Inn at Langley), Kevin Davis (Oceanaire Seafood Room), Kaspar Donier (Kaspar's), Shannon Galusha (727 Pine), Maro Gjurasic (Il Bistro), Mauro Golmarvi (Assaggio), Daisley Gordon (Campagne), Jonathan Hunt and Russell Lowell (Lowell Hunt Catering), Franz Junga (Il Fornaio), Peter Levine (Vivanda), Vicky McCaffree (Yarrow Bay Grill), Kevin McNamee (Columbia Tower Club), Walter Pisano (Troiani), Kevin Rohr (Chandler's Crabhouse), Brian Scheehser (Hunt Club), Chris Schwarz (Etta's Seafood), John Sundstrom (Lark), Dan Thiessen (Salty's On Alki).
 
Taste of the Nation

On June 10, Share Our Strength's nationwide fight against hunger gets a local face at the 17th annual Taste of the Nation. This granddaddy of gastronomy will be held again this year at Seattle Sheraton Hotel and Towers, with more than 80 restaurants, wineries, breweries and coffee-roasters represented.

Tickets are available online at www.tasteofthenation.org/seattle, via e-mail at seattletasteofthenation@yahoo.com or by calling 206-268-2293. Cost is $95 per person ($125 VIP tickets include a private pre-event reception); $1,500 buys a reserved table for 12. Ticket sales benefit a range of local hunger-relief organizations including Food Lifeline, FareStart, Fremont Public Association, the Market Foundation and the Children's Alliance Food Policy Center.

Among the high-profile participants are Tom Black (Barking Frog), Kaspar Donier (Kaspar's), Tom Douglas (Dahlia Lounge, Etta's Seafood, Palace Kitchen), Christine Keff (Flying Fish), Thierry Rautureau (Rover's), Charles Ramseyer (Ray's Boathouse), Kerry Sear (Cascadia) and Ludger Szmania (Szmania's), who with their esteemed colleagues are inviting you to nosh till you drop from 6 till 9 p.m.

'Sea Into the Future'

Ever wish you were fortunate enough to cadge a seat in front of sushi-chef Hidekazu Tojo at his four-star Tojo's in Vancouver, B.C.? Always dreamed of stopping by Zuni Cafe in San Francisco to taste the rustic delights of James Beard Award-winning chef Judy Rogers? Sorry you never got to Portland's Genoa, where chef/co-owner Cathy Whims wowed patrons for a decade? And what do you mean you've never sampled the cunning confections of Seattle's beloved Sue McCown at Earth & Ocean?

Well, get this: On June 13, Kevin Davis, executive chef at the Oceanaire Seafood Room, teams up with the aforementioned pros to host a benefit dinner for the Marine Stewardship Council, in support of their efforts to promote sustainable fisheries.

Where better to do so than at the Oceanaire, whose menu is rewritten twice daily to reflect its ever-changing tide of global seafood offerings. They're calling this seafood-centric shindig "Sea Into the Future." I'm calling it a food-lover's fantasea: five chefs, five courses and a world of sustainable seafood paired with wonderful wines.

For tickets ($125 per person plus tax and gratuity) call the Oceanaire (1700 Seventh Ave., Seattle) at 206-267-2154.

Cascadia Culinary Arts Conference

Serious food fans — that's you, right? — are invited to immerse themselves in a weekend's worth of culinary communion when Whidbey Island becomes the retreat of choice for the second annual Cascadia Culinary Arts Conference. Held May 21-23, the conference features dozens of notable Northwest chefs, food writers, winemakers and food producers from Washington, Oregon and British Columbia.

Kicking off the event Friday evening is a discussion of "Food in Film," with a screening of "Babette's Feast" followed by a reception, awards presentation, silent auction and dinner.

Saturday's festivities begin with keynote-speakers Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (authors of "The New American Chef" and "Becoming a Chef," among others) taking on the topic of chefs' impact on their local community with Café Juanita's chef/owner Holly Smith.

During the next two days, participants may attend panel discussions including "Bridging Food Cultures" (with Rob Feenie, Bruce Naftaly, Cathy Whims, moderated by Cynthia Nims), "Sustainability at Your Table" (Vitaly Paley, Heidi Noble, Jon Rowley, Stu Stein, moderated by Greg Atkinson) and "Can You Taste Terroir?" (Harry Peterson-Nedry, Jerry Traunfeld, Sinclair Philip, moderated by Lisa Shara Hall).

They'll schmooze at a buffet lunch and a food-and-wine tasting and attend the "Community of Food Symposium" — a Sunday lunch and lecture featuring the culinary artistry of John Sundstrom (chef/owner of Lark), with words of wisdom from keynote speaker Christine Keff (chef/owner of Flying Fish).

For an "a la carte" fee, attendees might take a trip afield to meet farmers, winemakers, shellfish growers and foragers; rub elbows with well-known chefs during a "residential dinner program" (prepping, cooking and dining with said chefs at private island homes); and check out the local food scene when Whidbey Island restaurants roll out the red carpet with special-dinner menus.

Partial proceeds from ticket sales support various Whidbey Island community organizations ($195 buys the weekend package; tickets to individual activities are available $7-$100).

For tickets and more information view the conference Web site at www.cascadiaculinaryarts.com or e-mail ccac@att.net.