Pensacola Celebrity Chefs Offer Locals Taste of the James Beard House

Pensacola, Fla. – Feb. 23, 2011 - On March 27, Global Grill will be transformed into New York's acclaimed James Beard House as the Pensacola Celebrity Chefs showcase their menu for locals before serving the intimate New York audience in June.

In January, 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 were invited to prepare a regional tasting menu at the James Beard House. 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.

"We are privileged to have the opportunity to showcase our cuisine at the prestigious James Beard House, but we're even more honored to share the experience with our guests here at home," said Taylor. "At our prelude event in March, we'll be serving the same wines and same cuisine that we're preparing in New York at the James Beard House. It will be a very special evening."

At the event, guests will enjoy a 2006 Spanish Marquis de Gelinda Cava and hors d' oeuvres featuring Irv'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. Wines include the 2009 Italian Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, 2009 New Zealand Allan Scott Sauvignon Blanc, 2008 Sonoma Kistler "Les Noiceteir" Chardonnay, 2008 Willamette Valley Adelsheim Pinot Noir and the 2006 Napa Bommarito Cabernet Sauvignon.

For dessert, the chefs will feature Alabama goat cheese and housemade ricotta-filled crepes with caramelized Chilton County peaches and spiced candied pecans served with a 2008 Spanish Pedro Ximenez de Anada Alvear.

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.

The event is sponsored by STOA Architects. Seats for the March 27 event can be reserved by calling Global Grill at (850) 469-9966. Tickets are $120 and include taxes and gratuity. Dinner begins at 5:30 p.m. Tickets for the June 28 event at the James Beard House are $175 and will be available in March at www.jamesbeard.org.

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