• Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen is hosting a Friends for James Beard Benefit on Sunday, April 14th.
The theme of the dinner is “Know Your Food, Know Your Roots” and will feature 7 course highlighting the regional fare from 5 guest chefs: David Posey of Blackbird in Chicago; Jason Fox of Commonwealth in San Francisco; Jason Stanhope of Fig in Charleston; Jeff McInnis of Yardbird in Miami Beach; and Stephanie Prida of Manresa in Los Gatos, CA.
From the press release: “Each chef will be encouraged to use products rooted in their respective regions, and to create a dish that symbolizes their “roots” — whether their hometown, their present city, their ancestry or childhood inspirations.”
Proceeds from the dinner benefit the James Beard Foundation.
Cost for the dinner is $300, Beard foundation members $250. Seating is limited. For reservations email brittney@enjoyam.com.
In related news, Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman are in the running for Food & Wine’s The People’s Best New Chef, Southeast.
Readers vote, and winners will be considered for inclusion in F&W’s annual Best New Chefs issue.
Voting continues through Monday, March 18th. Vote here.
• The next Memphis Dishcrawl is set for Sunday, April 7th during the Midtown Opera Festival.
The neighborhood to be crawled this time is Overton Square. More information here.
• There will be a Phillip Ashley Chocolates pop-up shop on Wednesday, March 20th, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., in the lobby of the iBank building at 5050 Poplar.
• Doesn’t look like the chocolate and coffee bar conversion of Sharon’s is happening. The space has been emptied and there’s a for lease sign in the window.
• Not Memphis-related, but … The International Biscuit Festival in Knoxville is May 15th-18th. And … Patron tequila is hosting The Art of Patron contest. Participants rework the bottle into a piece of art. The contest runs through April 30th.
