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NEWS RELEASE

Pensacola Celebrity Chefs To Cook At James Beard House

Pensacola, Fla. - Jan. 20, 2011 - The acclaimed James Beard House has selected the Pensacola Celebrity Chefs to showcase Gulf Coast cuisine this summer in New York City.

On June 28, chefs Dan Dunn of H2O at the Hilton Pensacola Beach Gulf Front, Irv Miller of Jackson's Steakhouse, Jim Shirley of the Fish House, Gus Silivos of Skopelos/Nancy's Haute Affairs and Frank Taylor of Global Grill will prepare a regional tasting menu to an intimate foodie audience at the James Beard House.

"We all feel very privileged to be invited to cook at the James Beard House," said Dunn. "The James Beard House hosts noteworthy chefs and winemakers throughout the year to help celebrate America's culinary heritage. We are proud to be among this elite group while representing the Pensacola Bay Area."

The James Beard Foundation was established in 1986 in honor of James Beard, a cookbook author, teacher and father of American gastronomy. Beard's Greenwich Village townhouse is now the stage for America's finest chefs. The foundation's events and programs are designed to educate, inspire, entertain and foster a deeper understanding of American cuisine.

At the opening reception, guests will enjoy Spanish Cava and hors d' oeuvres featuring chef Irv Miller's crab cakes with roasted Renfroe pecans and caramelized onion aioli; fried green tomatoes with seared tuna and uni finished with a Cambodian vinaigrette and daikon sprouts; brochette of Alligator Point clams wrapped in house-grown mustard greens and house-cured hog maws, pickled mirliton and okra; andouille-crusted oysters; and seared scallops with Captain Morgan sauce.

Dinner will include small plates featuring asparagus-crusted soft-shell crab over polenta and reggiano cake finished with a smoked ham and spring pea butter; Grits à Ya Ya - local grits, Sweet Home Farm smoked Gouda, Ocheesee dairy cream, house-smoked bacon, house-farmed spinach and Milton mushrooms, spiced Gulf shrimp and sweet potato hay; Scamp Cervantes - fresh, sautéed scamp filet topped with jumbo lump crabmeat; crispy pork belly, beet risotto, black trumpet and golden chanterelle mushrooms with ham hock and truffle butter sauce; and pan-seared prime filet of rib eye, Cabernet and fresh herb pan sauce, sweet corn bread pudding and steakhouse succotash. Each course will be paired with wine hand-selected by the chefs.

Dessert includes house-made pralines, Sweet Home Farm cheese, and local berries and pecans.

"We want to bring the taste of the Gulf Coast to the food capital of the U.S.," said Ed Schroeder, director for Visit Pensacola and creator of the Pensacola Celebrity Chefs program. "Our local chefs are some of the finest in the South, and we are honored to showcase the Pensacola Bay Area through food. We've long been known for our beaches and Blue Angels, and now we can tell America another story through our outstanding cuisine, which combines our Spanish heritage, Southern culture and fresh Gulf seafood."

Visit Pensacola joined forces with the five chefs in 2008, creating the Pensacola Celebrity Chefs program to highlight the Pensacola area's unique culinary offerings. In 2009, during the city's 450th anniversary, the chefs cooked for King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain at a banquet of 500. They previously hosted five, sold-out events.

Tickets will be on sale in February online at www.jamesbeard.org and on www.opentable.com 

Contact: Laura Lee
Director of communications, Visit Pensacola
(850) 434-1234; (800) 874-1234
llee@visitpensacola.com
or
Raad Cawthon or Lindsay Pieler, PR managers, EW Bullock Associates
(850) 438-4015, raad@ewbullock.com, lindsay@ewbullock.com

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