Thursday, November 28, 5:00 p.m. reception, 6:00 p.m. dinner*
Members $85, guests $110

*Please note special time.

Thanksgiving is no piece of cake. Sure, some people make it look that way. But when you're making it, that's when all hell breaks loose. The turkey is burned, the turkey is raw, or the turkey is done three hours too late, as all the side dishes turn to ice. And through it all, the TV is blaring, your kids are eating too much dip, and your in-laws are sitting on your couch, taking in your failure in all its glory. Can we make a suggestion? Why don't you take yourself out of the kitchen entirely? Multiple-course feasts with excellent wines are most definitely our slice of gâteau, and this year, the Beard Thanksgiving dinner will be in the extremely capable hands of Joseph Shilling, the newly appointed Dean of Education at The Art Institute of New York (formerly the New York Restaurant School.)

This fall, Shilling made the trip north from a post in the culinary education department at sister school The Art Institute of Philadelphia. Shilling's distinguished career began with degrees from both Penn State University and the CIA, and he has also studied at La Varenne, Le Cordon Bleu, and Johnson & Wales in Providence. He has held high-ranking positions at numerous big names in the Big Apple, including the Helmsley Palace Hotel, The Ritz-Carlton, New York, and the beloved Windows on the World, and he ran his own restaurant, Café Chardonnay. In Philly, he worked at The Ritz-Carlton there, and founded Your Private Chef, a company that offers at-home cooking lessons for clients and personal chef services (clients include hip-hop group Boyz II Men). Shilling also developed the Chef's Creation line of prepared foods, and served as chef consultant for a hospitality consulting business and as the chef director for Culinary Tours, which provides food-related tours of Philadelphia. Talk about multitasking! Which is why we think he's the perfect man to take on an endeavor like Thanksgiving. Put yourself, and your family, in his hands. Because if someone else is cooking, it's as easy as (pumpkin) pie.