Charles Koh
All-Star chef to join Local Star Matt Dillon and Pastry Chef Baruch Ellsworth on Oct. 13 at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel for once-in-a-lifetime culinary experience
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The James Beard Foundation (JBF) is pleased to announce that tickets for the fifth anniversary year of the Taste America® national culinary tour are now on sale at jamesbeard.org/taste-america-tickets. The cross-country program will heat up this fall in ten dynamic culinary destinations including Austin, Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle.
Seattle’s weekend-long Taste America program will feature a one-of-a-kind benefit dinner prepared by a Taste America All-Star to be announced soon, Local Star Matt Dillon, host chef Paul Shewchuk, and pastry chef Baruch Ellsworth (Canlis, Seattle), as well as free in-store consumer events at Sur La Table® – Kirkland with celebrity chef appearances, cooking demonstrations, book signings, tastings from local producers and artisans, and more.
This marks the third time Seattle has been honored with inclusion on the Taste America itinerary; the culinary tour was also here in 2014 and 2015.
Seattle’s itinerary will kick off on Friday, Oct. 13 at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel with A Night of Culinary Stars, an exclusive dining event benefiting the James Beard Foundation. The evening will begin with a reception filled with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres from local chefs and restaurateurs, including Josh Henderson (Vestal-Huxley Wallace Collective, Seattle), Nathan Lockwood*** (Altura, Seattle), Holly Smith* (Cafe Juanita, Kirkland, WA), Rachel Yang** (Joule/Revel/Trove/Revelry, Seattle), and Maximillian Petty*** (Eden Hill, Seattle). Afterwards, guests will be seated for an extraordinary one-night-only dinner prepared by a Taste America All-Star along with Local Star Matt Dillon (Sitka & Spruce/Bar Ferdinand/The London Plane, Seattle), host chef Paul Shewchuk (Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Seattle) and pastry chef Baruch Ellsworth.
On Saturday, Oct. 14, free in-store consumer events will take place at Sur La Table® located at 90 Central Way, Kirkland, WA, 98033. Activities of the day will include cooking demonstrations by a Taste America All-Star along with Local Star Matt Dillon, book signings, tastings from local producers and artisans, as well as product demos and tastings from our national sponsors. Reservations for the free cooking demonstrations will begin Friday, September 29, at jamesbeard.org/taste-america-seattle.
The James Beard Foundation’s Taste America 2017 is made possible by the generosity of our sponsors and partners, including supporting sponsors Blue Circle Foods®, Breville®, Kerrygold, Sodexo, TABASCO®, and Windstar Cruises; national media/marketing partners The Daily Meal®, Destinations International and Off Duty / The Wall Street Journal; and founding partner Bowen & Company. Additional support is provided by Chefwear, Hansgrohe, and VerTerra Dinnerware.
“More and more, we are hearing from our passionate community of food lovers that they wish our famous Beard House dining experience in New York would be available in their city,” said Susan Ungaro, president of the James Beard Foundation. “How exciting that we are in our fifth anniversary year and able to bring James Beard Award−winning chefs, many of whom are returning All-Stars, to 10 great cities across the country. We thank all the chefs, partners and sponsors who make it possible to help support our many educational programs at a time when culinary tourism is exploding in popularity.”
The James Beard Foundation is proud to donate a portion of the evening’s proceeds to the Taste America Scholarship Fund. Local culinary students in the ten participating states were invited to apply for this culinary scholarship between April 1 and May 15, 2017, via jamesbeard.org. Candidates will be reviewed by the JBF Scholarship Selection Committee, chaired by JBF president Susan Ungaro.
For more information on JBF’s Fifth Anniversary Taste America culinary tour, please visit jamesbeard.org/tasteamerica.
About the James Beard Foundation
