Foodie Notes: Chefs Dinner to Benefit Jeff’s Kitchen, Scholarship Fund at Hayground School

BRIDGEHAMPTON: Top Manhattan and Hamptons chefs will be featured at the 2013 Chefs Dinner this summer in the Hamptons. The event, now in its ninth year, will be held on Sunday, July 28, starting at 5:30 p.m. on Hayground School’s campus. The Chefs Dinner is a benefit for Hayground School’s Jeff’s Kitchen and the Jeff Salaway Scholarship Fund. The event will include a cocktail party from 5:30–

7:30 p.m., featuring notable Manhattan chefs as well as top local chefs preparing tastings using local bounty.

The VIP dinner following the cocktail party, honoring four-star chef Eric Ripert, will be held at the home of Toni Ross from 7:30–10 p.m. Guests will dine on a four-course meal prepared by a select few of the participating chefs and paired with wines by Aldo Sohm (Sommelier – Le Bernardin). A portion of the produce used will be sourced from Hayground School’s Slow Foods Greenhouse. There will also be a live auction with culinary and travel packages.

The “Meet the Chefs” Cocktails and Tastings party will be held in a festive tent on the Hayground School grounds as well as in the newly expanded Jeff’s Kitchen. New this year, the family-friendly event will feature demonstrations in Jeff’s Kitchen.

The Chefs Dinner series is the primary fundraiser for Bridgehampton’s Hayground School and a tribute to the late Jeff Salaway, a respected and beloved restaurateur and one of the school’s co-founders. Toni Ross, who was also the late Salaway’s wife says, “Jeff believed that the growing, preparation and sharing of food is a primal human experience and the foundation of family and community.” Jeff’s Kitchen is a full service professional kitchen and classroom fitted with top-of-the-line Viking appliances and a new pizza oven. Classes in nutrition, food science and cooking are held there for both children and adults.

Tickets may be purchased online at greatchefsdinner.com.

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Andrew Zimmern, host of the Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods, was honored at the James Beard Foundation’s Chefs & Champagne New York event held at Wölffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack last weekend. Participating chefs included Morimoto’s Masaharu Morimoto, Fresh’s Todd Jacobs, Delmonico’s Billy Olivia and Madison & Main’s Eric Miller. And the wine flowed like…wine!